Editing Johnston City, Illinois (section)

==History==

Johnston City was founded in 1894 as a stop along the Chicago, Paducah and Memphis Railroad (later part of the [[Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad|Chicago and Eastern Illinois]]), and named for the contracting firm that constructed the railroad.<ref>Barbara Barr Hubbs, "[https://www.wcihs.org/history/johnston-city-history/ Johnston City History]," Williamson County  Illinois Historical Society website.  Accessed 11 June 2021.</ref>

The eastern part of the city was originally known as Jeffersonville. It was surveyed in 1853. During the American Civil War it was a prosperous village. The post office was established in 1852 under the name Lake Creek. It was moved to Johnston City in 1903 but it was not until several years after that that Jeffersonville was fully amalgamated into Johnston City.<ref>[https://www.wcihs.org/history/jeffersonville-history/ Jeffersonville History]</ref>

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a number of immigrant miners from Italy, Wales and other areas arrived to work in the coal mines. There were tensions among the different ethnic groups, especially when miners went out on strike for better wages and conditions.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

On June 10, 1915, the city was the site of the [[Lynching in the United States|lynching]] of Joe Strando, an Italian immigrant miner from Sicily, by a mob of 300 American men. He was taken from the jail where he was held as a suspect in the murder of Edward Chapman, a wealthy local citizen, and wounding of his daughter.<ref name="daily">[http://strangefruitandspanishmoss.blogspot.com/2016/09/june-10-1915-joe-strando.html "SLAYER LYNCHED BY ILLINOIS MOB"], ''Belvidere Daily Republican'' (Belvidere, Illinois), 11 June 1915; accessed 2 February 2017</ref> Sicilians were outraged and gathered reinforcements; Americans were arrayed against them. The governor sent in three companies of militia to suppress violence.<ref name="daily"/> Six years later, immigrant Settino de Santis confessed to the murder of Chapman, saying that the man was accidentally shot while visiting at the home of mine foreman Ben Schull. De Santis and two other men shot at Schull in retaliation for having been fired. De Santis confessed before he was executed in another capital case.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

With the decline of mining, the number of jobs fell. By 1940 the city's population was just under 4,000. For 2015 the US Census estimated the population at 3500.<ref name="USCensusEst2015">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/popest/data/cities/totals/2015/SUB-EST2015.html |title=Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2015 |access-date=July 2, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20160602200744/http://www.census.gov/popest/data/cities/totals/2015/SUB-EST2015.html |archive-date=June 2, 2016 }}</ref>

In the 1960s a decline in coal miners occurred due to safety standards in the coal mines.{{Citation needed|date=August 2020}}