Horrible Train Wreck Happened Here
Chatsworth, Illinois
The state historical marker is in a flat, quiet area of cornfields and distant farms. It's hard to visualize the 19th century freak calamity that killed 85 train passengers in the crash and inevitable fire that seemed to accompany every train wreck back then.
The Great Chatsworth Train Wreck happened at midnight on August 10-11, 1887. The crash of the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad excursion train was a horrific disaster of the era, still considered one of the worst wrecks in American rail history, according to the historical marker.
The marker goes on to point out that the train had "two engines and approximately twenty wooden coaches -- [traveling] from Peoria to Niagara Falls, struck a burning culvert. Of the 500 passengers, about 85 perished and scores were injured."