New Virginia, a village in section 25 of Herrin Township, was built to house the miners of the New Virginia Coal Company. Hoisting was begun in December 1901; the village was surveyed January 11, 1902. The
1908 New Virginia Plat Map
company built about forty cottages for the miners and their families in the original part of the town, just west of the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad.
The New Virginia Coal Company was incorporated in 1900. Silas Moore was president; Edwin G. Rorback, secretary-treasurer. John W. Mitchell was superintendent of the mine.
(Extracted from Pioneer Folks and Places, Barbara Barr Hubbs, 1939, on sale at the Williamson County Museum)