KANKAKEE, Ill. — The bronze tablet rests on a simple red granite platform in the triangular-shaped little park at Main and Marsile Streets, Bourbonnais. It tells the story of the worst single tragedy ever visited on the Kankakee area — a gut-wrenching calamity that made front pages and newscasts throughout the United States and much of the world, according to an editorial in the Kankakee Daily-Journal.
It is a story of incredible sadness, for many lives were snuffed out, many people maimed and scores of others scarred for life.
Yet the tablet also testifies to the innate nobility of humankind — and especially of those who made extraordinary efforts to save lives and relieve suffering.
It is a story of heartbreak and heroism.
The tablet simply, yet majestically, tells the story:
“Darkness engulfed the frozen landscape of the northern end of Bourbonnais Monday, March 15, 1999, when the Amtrak train, the City of New Orleans, heading south from Chicago, collided at the McKnight Road crossing with a flatbed truck loaded with 22,000 tons of steel. The city of New Orleans, a train of two locomotives, one baggage car, 11 passenger cars and two sleeper cars, was carrying 198 passengers, an Amtrak crew of 17, two off-duty Amtrak employees and two off-duty Illinois Central employees, struck the loaded flatbed at 9:48 p.m., the tragic accident resulting in the death of 11 passengers and serious injuries to other passengers and train personnel.
“The first emergency response was a Bourbonnais police officer and a contingent of workers from the adjacent Birmingham Steel plant. Minutes later, members of the Bourbonnais Fire Protection District arrived. The rescue workers heroically entered the burning and twisted sleeper car, the locomotives and five derailed passenger cars to rescue passengers and the train’s engineer.
“In the ensuing moments after the crash, 146 personnel from seven police agencies, 16 fire departments and 47 emergency service agencies responded in accordance with the design of the Kankakee County Disaster Plan. Help came from as far as 100 miles away.
“Later that night, Amtrak officials arrived, setting up headquarters in the Hampton Inn. Uninjured passengers and families of the injured and deceased passengers were cared for at the Holiday Inn Express, Lee’s Inn and Fairfield Inn.
“Injured passengers were triaged at the nearby Blain’s Farm and Fleet store and the Bourbonnais Upper Grade Center. They were quickly transported to the Riverside Medical Center and Provena St. Mary’s Hospital for treatment. The Red Cross and Salvation Army provided services for those in need and assistance to the rescue workers.
“The Illinois Emergency Management Agency also provided aid. Gov. George Ryan visited the scene the following day to lend whatever support possible to the emergency workers.
“Despite the heroic efforts of the tireless rescuers, 11 passengers died. The deceased will be remembered forever.
“The entire River Valley came together, giving of themselves and their possessions to help those they did not even know. Through this tragedy, the heroism and selflessness shown by the rescue efforts reaffirmed our belief in the innate goodness of humanity and the blessing of the wonderful people who live in our community.”
Except for the City of New Orleans tragedy, Lady Luck has smiled kindly on the Greater Kankakee Area, for while there have been spectacular fires throughout the region’s history, there have been no calamities to rival that of March 15, 1999.
None of the area’s most horrific fires has claimed lives. But the most spectacular left 70 people with a variety of injuries.
It occurred on quiet Father’s Day, June 21, 1970, in the sleepy little town of Crescent City. At 6:20 a.m., 11 cars of the Toledo, Peoria and Western’s eastbound train No. 20 derailed in the heart of the village. In the center of the line of cars were six liquid propane cars, one of which immediately exploded, literally jolting residents out of their beds.
A Daily Journal article on the anniversary of the event elaborates:
“The worried and merely curious grabbed what clothing was handy and ventured downtown to seek the source of the clamor.
“What they found was hellish. Terrifying. A twisted tangle of hot steel, billowing orange flame clawing skyward like the nuclear nightmare at Nagasaki.”
In the next three days, more tank cars exploded, sending huge fireballs into the air and injuring more than 70 people. More than three blocks of the community’s downtown were leveled in a strip between Illinois Route 24 and the TP&W tracks.
Sixteen businesses and 23 houses were destroyed.
Among the structures leveled on the north side of Route 24 were a service station, furniture store, restaurant, hardware store, barber shop, feed store, tavern, and old bowling alley that was used for storage, a grocery, a laundromat, the post office, a beauty parlor, a telephone company office, a welding shop, a boat manufacturer and a grain elevator, among others.
Part of the area today is a park.