In the early 20th century many immigrants from Poland, Lithuania, and England settled in the West City area to work in the numerous coal mines.

[4] On March 29, 1911, 33 citizens led by John Mulkey and represented by attorney Robert Hickman presented a petition to Judge Thomas J. Layman of the Franklin County Court to incorporate West City as a village.

When Congress passed the Volstead Act establishing national prohibition in 1919, West City became notorious for bootlegging and gambling.

In April 1923, 34-year-old Joseph A. Adams, a huge man of nearly 300 pounds (140 kg) and a roadhouse operator, was elected mayor of West City.

The six elected trustees were Bruce Panchard, C. C. Gant, George Clinton, H. E. Stewart, W.R. Rogers, and R. N. Long.

Mayor Adams aligned himself with the Shelton Brothers Gang, thus becoming the bitter enemy of Charlie Birger and his men.

Sheriff Jim Pritchard gathered evidence and arrested Birger for the murder of Mayor Joe Adams.

After the sensational downfall of the Birger gang and the repeal of the Volstead Act in 1933, West City earned much of its income from legitimate taverns and nightclubs.

Prospect, later called First Baptist, was the only organized church in the corporate limits of West City until 1921.

On December 21, 1951, West City and all of Franklin County mourned 119 coal miners, who were killed in an underground explosion at C.W.

Preliminary work of buying homes and clearing the right of way began for the construction of Interstate 57 from Chicago to Cairo.