Real photo postcard documenting response activity during the Cherry Mine disaster, showing a steam-powered apparatus and onlookers, with a front caption referencing the mine fire and the 1909 disaster date. Real photo process on postcard stock. The reverse is stamped and includes a brief pencil note.



The November 13, 1909, Cherry Mine disaster at Cherry, Illinois, one of the worst coal‑mine fires in U.S. history. The fire in the St. Paul Coal Company’s Mine No. 2 in the town of Cherry started when a coal car loaded with hay for the underground mules caught fire from an open kerosene torch; burning hay ignited wooden timbers and spread through the shafts. 259 men and boys (and about three dozen mules) died making it the third‑deadliest coal‑mining disaster in U.S. history. These images are from a series of real photo postcards produced by Dunham Photo of Princeton, Ill. to document the aftermath of the disaster.



The front bears the printed text: “Fighting the Fire at Mine … Mine Disaster Cherry, Ill … Nov. 13, 1909.”. The reverse reads: “POST CARD” with “AZO” stamp box. Handwritten inscriptions read: “to Papa” plus pencil notations including “8/06/10” and a code-like word.