Editing Whiteash, Illinois (section)

== History ==
Whiteash began as a coal mining community around the Chicago and Marion Coal Company's mine organized by Charles A. Gent of nearby [[Marion, Illinois]]. In 1903, Gent bought the site of the village from Samuel K. Casey, publisher of the ''Egyptian Press'' newspaper also of Marion. He in turn had inherited it from his grandfather George W. Binkley who had homesteaded the land and entered it with the government in 1837. Gent platted the village on July 3, 1903, in the northwest corner of Section 31, Township 8 South, Range 3 East of the [[Third Principal Meridian]], also known as [[Lake Creek Precinct, Williamson County, Illinois|Lake Creek Precinct]]. He named the town Whiteash after the trade name he used for the coal his mine produced.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

A post office opened there on February 29, 1904, with Robert T. Payne as postmaster. Residents incorporated the village the following year on June 16, 1905. The mine operated until 1922 when it filled with water and was abandoned. Mail service continued for another decade or so, finally closing on November 30, 1934. The population in 1960 was 160.<ref>James N. Adams, comp. 1989. ''Illinois Place Names''. Springfield, Ill.: Illinois State Historical Society. 545.</ref><ref>Barbara Burr Hubbs. 1939, Reprint 1979. ''Pioneer Folks and Places''. Marion, Ill.: Williamson County Historical Society. 230-231.</ref>