Union Miners Cemetery

Mt. Olive, Illinois is home to the only Union-owned Cemetery in the United States.

Four Mt. Olive miners killed at the Battle of Virden were buried in the city cemetery. Miners and their families came to the gravesites to demonstrate in honor of the men and the union. Some ministers and merchants in the community objected to the demonstrations, sided with the railroad and mining companies and demanded that the bodies of the miners be removed. 

In September, 1899 the original one acre cemetery was established by the UMWA. More land was added in 1902 and 1918. The final piece of land was added in 1931 for a planned monument to Mother Jones. In 1932, the Progressive Mine Workers, who were struggling to establish an alternative union for coal miners, took over the site. 

The Mother Jones Monument was erected in 1936. Fifty thousand union members and their families, activists, and government officials attended the unveiling.

 The cemetery today is maintained by the Union Miners Cemetery Maintenance Committee and a number of Illinois and national unions. The traditions of celebrating May Day and Miners Day at the Union Miners Cemetery continue. The Mother Jones Museum at Mt. Olive and the Union Miners Cemetery Committee jointly celebrate with labor music, parades, speeches and remembrances. General Bradley and Mother Jones actors welcome groups of school children and visitors from universities, unions, and service organizations every year. 

The story of Mother Jones and the mining families continues as new generations awake to the story of labor struggles and victories in Mt. Olive.

Scenes from the 1936 unveiling and dedication of the Mother Jones Monument at the Union Miners Cemetery in Mt. Olive.

Click on each image below to see an enlarged version.

Photos taken by William A. Cassens Studio of Litchfield, IL. Provided by Scott Millick, Mr. Cassens’ grandson.

See the Wayne’s World website for additional information about the Progressive Miners of America, formed in Gillespie, Illinois in 1932, in protest at what local miners saw as the anti-democratic management of the United Mine Workers:  https://hinton-gen.com/gillespie/pmwa1.html#intro