Tonti, Illinois
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Tonti is an
unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
in Tonti Township, Marion County,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
,
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. The community of Tonti is now little more than a bend in the road and a sign, near where the Illinois Central Railroad tracks cross Interstate 57.


History

The community of Tonti was named in honor of
Henri de Tonti Henri de Tonti (born Enrico Tonti; – September 1704) was an Italian-born French military officer and explorer who assisted René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle during the French colonization of the Americas from 1678 to 1686."A tour of M ...
, an early Italian/French explorer of Illinois. On June 10, 1971, Tonti was the site of the 1971 Salem, Illinois, derailment which was a derailment of Amtrak's '' City of New Orleans''
passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line, as opposed to a freight train that carries goods. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) push-pull train, ...
. It is sometimes referred to as the Tonti derailment. An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found that the derailment was caused by a false
flange A flange is a protruded ridge, lip or rim (wheel), rim, either external or internal, that serves to increase shear strength, strength (as the flange of a steel beam (structure), beam such as an I-beam or a T-beam); for easy attachment/transfer o ...
on a flat wheel caused by a seized axle bearing. The crash killed 11 people and injured 163. It was Amtrak's first train crash.GenDisasters.com.-Salem Il Passenger Trail Derails, June 1971
/ref>


References

Unincorporated communities in Illinois Unincorporated communities in Marion County, Illinois {{MarionCountyIL-geo-stub ru:Тонтитаун (Арканзас)