Virden was the scene of an 1898 coal miners' strike, during which Mary Harris "Mother" Jones played a major role.

After the 1850s, when the Chicago and Alton Railroad was completed, it became possible to mine Virden coal and ship it long distances for a profit.

The Chicago-Virden Coal Company, fearing loss of key business in Chicago, refused to allow its Virden mines to be unionized, nor would it pay the nonunionized miners union-scale wages.

The Chicago-Virden Company knew that African-Americans, who were attempting to escape Jim Crow labor conditions, would not request union-scale wages.

They were motivated by racism, by labor solidarity, and by the desire to create decent lives for their own families.

[4] On October 12, 1898, a northbound train, loaded with potential strikebreaking miners, pulled into Virden and stopped on the tracks just outside the minehead stockade.

[4] A monument in the Virden town square commemorates the coal strike of 1898 and the battle of October 12 that was its bitter end.

The body of the bas-relief is made of symbolic representations of the Chicago & Alton tracks and the assault on the strikers.

[5] Illinois Route 4 passes through the city as Springfield Street, leading southwest 18 miles (29 km) to Carlinville, the Macoupin county seat, and northeast 22 miles (35 km) to Springfield, the state capital.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Virden has a total area of 1.89 square miles (4.90 km2), all land.