On the evening of March 15, 1999, the southbound Amtrak train City of New Orleans collided at the McKnight Road crossing on the northern edge of Bourbonnais with a flatbed truck carrying 22 tons of steel. The train, made up 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 Railroad employees when it struck the loaded truck at 9:48 p.m. The crash derailed equipment, set cars ablaze, killed 11 passengers, and seriously injured many other passengers and train personnel. A Bourbonnais police officer and workers from the nearby Birmingham Steel plant were first to respond, followed within minutes by members of the Bourbonnais Fire Protection District, who entered the burning and twisted sleeper car, the locomotives, and five derailed passenger cars to rescue passengers and the train’s engineer. In the aftermath, 146 personnel from seven police agencies, 16 fire departments, and 47 emergency service agencies responded under the Kankakee County Disaster Plan, with help coming from as far as 100 miles away. Amtrak officials established headquarters in the Hampton Inn, uninjured passengers and victims’ families were cared for at the Holiday Inn Express, Lee’s Inn, and Fairfield Inn, and injured passengers were triaged at Blain’s Farm and Fleet and the Bourbonnais Upper Grade Center before being taken to Riverside Medical Center or Provena St. Mary’s Hospital. The Red Cross, Salvation Army, Illinois Emergency Management Agency, local hospitals, churches, businesses, hotels, restaurants, dry cleaners, funeral directors, Olivet Nazarene University, and neighboring governments all assisted survivors, families, and rescuers, and Governor George Ryan visited the scene the next day. The deaths of Helena Adkins, Wendy Vant, Leona Vant, Vergil Vant, Marie Munson, Kelichi Nomura, Jessica Tickle, June Lee Bonnin, Rainey Lipscomb, Lacey Lipscomb, and Sheena Dowe were mourned, while the broad, selfless response across the Kankakee River Valley was remembered as an extraordinary act of community heroism and humanitarian service.