Harco is an unincorporated community in Saline County, Illinois, United States. The Harrisburg Colliery Coal Company Mine was sunk in November 1916, in the center of section 27, township 8, range 5, Saline County, Illinois, and the town of Harco soon grew up around it. The name of the town is derived from the first three letters of Harrisburg and the first two letters of Colliery, spelling “Harco.” The Harrisburg Colliery Company was organized by J. H. Kilmer of Chicago, and Ed Qualkenbush, D. K. Seten, and O. D. Norman, of Harrisburg, Illinois. D. K. Seten was a grocer and O. D. Norman, his brother-in-law, was the husband of Mrs. Hattie Norman and the father of Mrs. Mary Lindsay, of Harrisburg. History Mining Harco was founded based on discovery of coal. The first coal was hoisted January 6, 1918. In later years, it was known as the Saline County Coal Corporation, and later as the Peabody Coal Company Mine No. 47. Harco was plotted June 24, 1919, with the plate showing 121 lots 50 by . It is listed that 134 men died in accidents at the Harco mines, Peabody no. 47, and west of Harco, Peabody no. 40. There were 11 killed in an explosion August 31, 1921 and 8 killed in an explosion December 28, 1941. Harco mine was closed April 25, 1951, but the coal washer continued to process coal until 1954. The mine was then dismantled. To accommodate its workers, the coal company built four-room houses on the east side of town and the five and six room houses on the south side. The houses were prefabricated Sears Catalog Homes shipped by railroad to the mine and then delivered to the building sites by wagon. Some of the families were living in tents and were so anxious to move in that they did so before the doorknobs were placed on the doors. When the Harco mine closed in April 1951, families living in the company houses were given evacuation notices. The houses were offered for sale at $50 a room, and several of the houses were moved intact. Some of the empty houses burned, and rest were torn down, for the land was not sold with the houses. Facilities The Harco post office was established on November 21, 1917, and Thomas Hoffman was its first postmaster. In later years, Lois C. Naugle was postmaster for twenty