Editing Junction, Illinois (section)

==History==
[[File:The Old Slave House.jpg|thumb|left|200px|1970s photograph of the [[Crenshaw House (Gallatin County, Illinois)|John Hart Crenshaw House]] near Junction]]
Junction was founded in the 1880s, and was named for its location at the junction of the [[Louisville and Nashville Railroad|L&N]] and [[Baltimore and Ohio Railroad|B&O]] railroads.  When a post office was established in 1884, it was named "Cypress Junction."  The name was changed to "Junction City" in 1888, and shortened to "Junction" in 1894.<ref>Edward Callary, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZvHgwa-XImcC&dq= Place Names of Illinois]'' (University of Illinois Press, 2010), p. 180.</ref>

Junction's location in a relatively flat area leaves it prone to flooding along the [[Ohio River]], which can cause waters in the nearby [[Saline River (Illinois)|Saline River]] to back up.  A major flood in March 1997 displaced several area residents and blocked all but one road leading into the village.<ref>Southern Illinois Regional Planning and Development Commission, et. al., "[https://www2.illinois.gov/iema/Mitigation/documents/CountyPlans/plan_GallatinCounty.pdf Hazard Mitigation Plan, Gallatin County, Illinois] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222023858/https://www.illinois.gov/iema/Mitigation/documents/CountyPlans/plan_GallatinCounty.pdf |date=February 22, 2017 }} (2011), p. 36.</ref>

On June 1, 2022, Junction General Baptist Church burned down after lightning struck the steeple.<ref>{{cite web |title=Church destroyed by fire in Gallatin County |date=June 2, 2022 |url=https://www.wevv.com/news/church-destroyed-by-fire-in-gallatin-county/article_2568de76-e279-11ec-98ef-f37c67f1e19d.html}}</ref> 

===Crenshaw House===
The [[Crenshaw House (Gallatin County, Illinois)|Hickory Hill mansion]], almost five miles west of Junction, is the 19th-century home of illegal slave trader and slave breeder [[John Crenshaw|John Hart Crenshaw]]. It was infamously known as the "Old Slave House," as it was used as a criminal front for the kidnapping of free blacks who were illegally sold into the Southern slave trade on the [[Reverse Underground Railroad]], as well as a farm for slave breeding.<ref>Molly Parker, "[https://thesouthern.com/news/local/future-of-crenshaw-house-or-old-slave-house-in-question/article_40effc33-b49f-564e-a733-249c7324478d.html Future of Crenshaw House, or Old Slave House, in Question]," ''The Southern'', February 21, 2016.</ref>