A short history of Kinmundy
The origins of the town of Kinmundy are rooted in the expansion of the railroads in southern Illinois, with the first significant economic influence being construction work on the Chicago branch of the Illinois Central Railroad. In April 1857, the town was initially laid out east of the railroad, in 15 blocks of varying sizes, and later, incorporated as a city in 1867.
In 1903 Kinmundy was struck by a fire in the evening that burnt down most of the downtown area, causing the sharpest drop in population in the town's history. One of the buildings that burnt was the opera house, which was rebuilt before burning again for the second, and final time in 1916, not being rebuilt afterward.
In January 1912, Illinois Central Railroad train No. 3, traveling at 50 miles per hour (80 km/h), collided with passenger train No. 25, which was standing at the station in Kinmundy taking water. The devastating train wreck demolished the private car at the rear of train No. 25, killing five passengers, among them James T. Harahan, the recently retired president of the Illinois Central Railroad.
Adapted (trimmed) from the Wikipedia article Kinmundy, Illinois, revision 1378283009 by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.