2018 Map of Coal City

About this map

Coal City and its surrounding mining-legacy settlements sit at the heart of this Grundy County landscape. The map illustrates a complex water management and industrial network, from the Illinois River and Kankakee River in the north to the Dresden Cooling Lake and Heidecke Lake reservoirs. A significant portion of the northern terrain is dedicated to the Illinois and Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor, preserving the path of the historic waterway that once linked the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River. The residential patterns of Carbon Hill, Eileen, and Diamond show how these communities have expanded around the original rail-and-mine hubs. Local history is anchored by sites like Holderman Cem and Short Cem, while the southern edge reaches toward the outskirts of Braidwood and the rural crossroads of Gorman.