After the lumber boom died out, Coal mining had a great influence on Carrier Mills. Over one hundred coal mines were privately and publicly operated around Carrier Mills between near the turn of the 20th century and the late 1990s. from 1913 to 1933, was the southern terminus of the Southern Illinois Railway & Power Company's Interurban Line. The trolley would take residents from downtown, and along Carline Street toward Harrisburg. During the town's heyday, some 3,000 people bustled around the busy streets. After the coal mines closed the population dwindled to nearly 1,500 according to the 2010 census. The entire county has suffered dearly from the closing of the coal mines, making Carrier Mills a near ghost town. In 2009 Carrier Mills ended a 70-year-long prohibition. During the 2012 Leap Day tornado outbreak an EF-4 tornado touched down just north of Carrier Mills at 4:51 a.m. on February 29, 2012, destroyed a church and damaged homes along Town Park Road and then traveled ENE toward Harrisburg, where it damaged and destroyed entire neighborhoods of the city.