Buxton, Consol, Haydock and Muchakinock Iowa
Stories and Newspaper Articles
My Remembrances of Bucknell/Haydock, Iowa by Francis Butcher
I was born in Buxton, Monroe County, Iowa. My father’s name was R. W. BUTCHER and my mother’s name was Ethel May (CHAMBERS) BUTCHER. My father became a Surveyor in his early days in Buxton and worked for the Consolidation Coal Company in Iowa and the Superior coal Company in Illinois until he retired in 1952.
I told you my father was a surveyor. In the case of a proposed coal mine a great amount of survey work must be done. First the owners of the land and the Coal Operators must agree to the boundaries on the land under which Coal Operators want to mine out coal. Surveys must be run then and boundaries must.... Click to read the full "Rembrances by Francis Butcher" story
Where Was Haydock, Iowa by Gordon Peterson
As a tour guide on one of the two buses to the coal mine camps of Bucknell and Haydock during Monroe County’s 150 year celebration in 2009, it was interesting that the other guide and I didn’t agree on the boundary location of Haydock and Bucknell. Neither coal mining camp was an incorporated town, which accounts.... Click to read the full "Where Was Haydock" story
Buxton's 1918 Railroad Viaduct by Gordon Peterson
The 1918 date engraved on the cement facing of the railroad viaduct that during the coal mining era of the early 1900’s carried coal trains north out of Buxton towards Coopertown and Gainestown and south towards the Consol coal fields has all but.... Click to read the full "Buxton's 1918 Railroad Viaduct" story
Live an Afternoon in the Coal Camps by Gordon Peterson
Consol, Haydock and Bucknell 2009 Coal Mining Camp Tours
Come ride with us as we tour the Monroe County coal mining camps of Bucknell, Haydock and Consol Iowa that once housed nearly 5,000 miners and their families. The towns were built from the ground up and virtually closed after existing but a single.... Click to read the full "Live an Afternoon in the Coal Camps" story
Life in a Mining Camp During the Early 1900’s by Hazel Nylander
I wonder if many of you could visualize what life was like in a coal camp around 73 years ago at the beginning of the century.
I was born in Evans, a coal mining camp in Mahaska County. My parents were John and Elizabeth Smith. Most of the men worked in the mine around Evans. But it was not entirely a coal camp since it was also a railroad town with individually owned.... Click to read the full "Life in a Mining Camp During the Early 1900's" story
Buxton, IA - The Coal Mining Town That Died by Hazel Nylander
Buxton, which has been described as “the toughest town east of Dodge City,” wasn’t really such a tough town. I lived there for a number of years. There was gambling, drinking, knife wielding and gun shooting, but most towns of the time had a certain degree of lawlessness. The social life of Buxton more than balanced the shady side.Click to read the full "Buxton - The Town That Died" story
Buxton Wonders Baseball Team by Gordon Peterson
With spring comes baseball and my mind wanders to a time a century ago on the northern boundary of Monroe County in a place called Buxton where the Buxton “Wonders” played baseball at a very competitive level. The reputation of the team became legendary.... Click to read the full "Buxton Wonders Baseball Team" story
Ebenezer Lutheran Church and Birger Sandzen Painting Lost to Fire in 1954 by Gordon Peterson
On December 20, 1954 the final death knell for the Monroe County Coal Camp of Buxton was written when fire destroyed the Ebenezer Lutheran Church in what was known as Buxton’s East Swedetown. East Swedetown was located at the southwest corner of what is now the intersection of 650th & 340th Streets....most miners had left Buxton, in 1915-1918 to follow 20 miles to the southwest to the new mining camps of Consol, Camp 18, Bucknell and Haydock, the church continued to sit on the hill overlooking the west that was once Buxton. Click to read the full "Ebenezer Lutheran Church and Birger Sandzen Painting Lost to Fire in 1954" story
Muchakinock Lutheran Church and Early Ebenezer Lutheran
Church History 1882-1901
In the late 1860s, a new coal-mining town sprung up in Mahaska County a couple of miles south of Oskaloosa. The name of the town was Muchakinock. After 1881, when the Chicago and North Western Railroad purchased the... Click to read the full "Muchakinock Lutheran Church, Early Ebenezer Lutheran Church History 1882-1901" story
Buxton's East Swede Town - Dad's Home Town
Buxton’s East Swede Town was and still is a very special place for me and my Dad’s family. It was my Dad’s (Reynold “Ray” Peterson) home town. Dad was born in Buxton’s East Swede Town to David and Emma (Nylander) Peterson in 1909. He was the second of ten children born to his parents. The name East Swede Town was appropriately named... Click to read the full "Buxton's East Swede Town" story
Together Once, Together Again by Brian Chambers
Most everybody has a worn, faded, black and white family photograph that stands as a testament either to a previous generation either displayed in a frame, laying between the pages of an old album, or tucked nearly into a drawer. It is an image that captures a moment in time and when looked upon, transports the viewer to the past... Click to read the full "Together Once, Together Again" story
Consol, Iowa “Sampson Movie Theater” by Gordon Peterson
Most revealing about exploring the ruins was the fact that there were two brick buildings. The second building behind the main building, no it wasn’t a “back house”, but a building that housed the electrical generator for the movie hall. The generator was gas run. Ted’s diary shows that he purchased 20 gallons of gas at 20 cents a gallon for the MH (movie hall)... Click to read the full "Sampson Movie Theater" story
Consol, Iowa Post Master David A Peterson
David A. Peterson, my grandfather, was the Post Master in the coal mining camp of Consol, Iowa from 1917 to 1922. The Consol Post Office was located in the front part of grandpa’s store that was located next to the Falvey Brother’s Lumber Yard in the Falvey addition. Grandpa’s store was a hardware type store with rolls of barbed wire and fencing for sale on the front porch of the store. Ed Sampson, my grandmother Emma’s uncle, became the Consol Post Master after grandpa moved the family from Consol to Haydock in 1922. Ed and his brother Ted also owned and operated in Consol the silent “Movie Hall,” as it was called. The movie house... Click to read the full "Consol Iowa Post Master David A Peterson" story
Bucknell, IA 1921 - Armstrong Meat Market Robbery
Safe Blowing Attempted - An attempted robbery was made Monday night to blow the safe at the Armstrong Meat Market. Blast was in safe but didn't work - Sheriff Dearinger was called Teusday evening and went to the scene... Click to read the full "Armstrong Meat Market Robbery" story
“The Wash House” by Brian Chambers
Very little is left of the old mining camps and towns of almost a century ago. If one kicks around in the country many concrete foundations will be found or — in the case of Buxton — portions of the old warehouse and bank vault can be seen. Rarely, however, does one come across an almost intact... Click to read the full "Wash House" story
Carl Blomgren "A Coal Miner's Son"
Carl’s great grandfathers, grandfathers, his father and his uncles all worked in the mines. Carl was truly a “Coal Miner’s Son”. Carl’s Uncle’s, Art and Manny Blomgren, even had the Four Star coal mine on the Blomgren family farm just north of Buxton in Mahaska County. The mine produced..... The video is of Carl’s presentation at the Monroe County Museum on July 30, 2009 during the 150th year celebration of Albia and Monroe County. Carl remembers his life... Click to read the full "Coal Miners Son" story and watch the video.
Haydock’s Peterson Store, A Coal Mining Camp Legacy
The ruins of the Peterson Store in the coal mining camp of Haydock, Iowa are a lonely reminder of an era nearly 100 years ago when “Coal was King” in Monroe County and, for that matter, in the state of Iowa. Iowa was one of the... Click to read the full "Haydock's Peterson Store, A Coal Mining Camp Legacy" story.
Buxton's Housemaid Emma Nylander-Peterson
My grandmother, Emma Nylander Peterson, was a house maid in the Ben Buxton family home in the coal mining camp of Buxton, Iowa. Mr. Buxton was the mine superintendent for the Consolidation Coal Company from 1896 to 1909. The Buxton home was located to the west of what was considered downtown Buxton... Click to read the full "Buxton's Housemaid Emma Nylander-Peterson" story.
Stella's Front Gate to Her Buxton, Iowa Home
Hobe Armstrong was one of the most influential individuals in Monroe County, Iowa during the coal mining era of the late 1800 and early 1900s. He owned vast amounts of land that he used to farm and raise cattle. He, being colored (as African Americans were respectfully called in that era) recruited large contingencies of fellow African Americans from... Click to read the full "Stella's Gate" story.
Francis Butcher - A Buxton, Iowa Coal Mining Camp, Huckleberry Finn
Francis Butcher last lived in the Monroe County coal mining camp of Bucknell, Iowa in 1929. He was born in the coal mining camp of Buxton, Iowa in 1913. The Butcher family moved from Buxton to the new camp of Bucknell in 1918. Francis might have left the Monroe County camps physically in 1929, but his heart and love of Bucknell and Haydock never left him. For nearly 80 years he has cherished the memories of growing up in coal mining camps whose major history spans a mere decade from 1918 to 1927. Bucknell at one time had a population in the thousands was developed and closed in a little over a decade. Bucknell was located approximately.... Click to read the full "Francis Butcher - A Buxton, Iowa Coal Mining Camp, Huckleberry Finn" story.
Coopertown Iowa a Coal Mining Camp Suburb of Buxton, IA
The coal mining camp of Coopertown, Iowa is often referred to as a suburb of the Buxton, Iowa coal mining camp. It is doubtful that at the turn of the 20th century the word “suburb” was even in the English language.... Coopertown was named after B.F. Cooper who owned a pharmacy in.... Click to read the full "Coopertown Iowa a Coal Mining Camp Suburb of Buxton, Iowa" story.
A 1909 Coal Mining Camp Christmas Card
Johannes Blomgren, with the help of one other carpenter, built this two story house on his forty acre farm located in Buxton, Iowa. Five large rooms, a pantry and a bath on first floor; four large rooms and two closets upstairs. The house was white with green trim. The east kitchen door opened onto an open porch that led to..... Click to read the full "1909 Coal Mining Camp Christmas Card" story.
In Dads Own Words - Growing up in Monroe Counties Coal Mining Camps
My Dad, Reynold ”Ray" Peterson, began to write his memories of growing up in the coal mining camps of Monroe County. Dad died before he had completed his memories, but the memories he did write were brief glimpses of his cherished time as a kid growing up in the coal mining camps of Monroe County, Iowa. Click to read the full "In Dads Own Words" story.
Casey’s General Store | Iowa Coal Mining
Casey’s Gas Station General Stores history could well extend back into the 1880s and the coal mining era in Monroe and Mahaska Counties, Iowa. Legend has it that the founder of the Casey’s General Store, Donald Lamberti, got his idea for his concept while visiting the..... Click to read the full story "Casey's General Store | Iowa Coal Mining.
Agnes Carlson Stewart "Buxton's Coal Miner's Daughter"
Agnes Carlson Stewart who died in 2006 published a book of her families coal mining history called "Down Home". Prior to writing that book she wrote a story that she called "The Early Years". A copy of that story was amongst my dad, Ray Peterson, files he kept regarding his growing up in the Buxton coal mining camp.
The Carlson family in Buxton continues to this day as they farm much of the land that once was Buxton. The Carlson "Down Home" house still stands at the North entrance (102nd Lane and 340th St.) to where Buxton was located, a coal mining camp that numbered in the thousands of miners and their families. Click to read the full "Agnes Carlson Stewart The Early Years" story
NEW STORY - 1/4/2018
“Charley Bloom Home”, a Coal Mining Camp Historical Site
The “Charley Bloom Home” was and still is in the famous Buxton, Iowa coal mining camp, or more specifically in the East Swede Town section of Buxton. It remains one of the last two homes of the nearly 1,000 homes that existed in what was Buxton, a coal mining camp that once swept across northern Monroe County, Iowa over a century ago. Click to read the full "Charley Bloom Home story