Emergency Biohazard Cleanup Services in Willisville, IL

Willisville is a village in Perry County, in the coal country of southern Illinois.

Willisville grew up around coal — its mine was already operating by 1896, when Willisville miners struck for a raise of two cents per box, and the Willis Coal and Mining Company ran large mines in and around the village.

Coal sent Willisville's population soaring, from 398 in 1900 to 1,082 in 1910 and a peak of 1,485 in 1920.

When the mines faltered, the village emptied almost as fast as it had filled — by 1930 the population had crashed to 506, a drop of about two-thirds in a single decade.

Willisville's mines saw deadly labor violence, including a 1914 riot between American and Italian miners in which four lives were lost and state troops were held in readiness for riot duty.

Thomas Jeremiah, who had followed his Welsh-born father into the mines at age nine, served as both mayor of Willisville and general superintendent of the Willis Coal and Mining Company.

Willisville's post office opened in 1896.

The 2020 census counted 579 people in Willisville, and the village packs them into just 0.39 square miles — a density of about 1,487 people per square mile, unusually high for a rural village.

The 2000 census counted 694 Willisville residents, living in 270 households and 194 families.

Willisville's best-known athlete is Vince Castino, a catcher for the Chicago White Sox.