Buxton Historic Townsite
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Buxton Historic Townsite
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| Nearest city | Lovilia, Iowa |
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| Coordinates | 41°09′30″N 92°49′16″W / 41.15833°N 92.82111°WCoordinates: 41°09′30″N 92°49′16″W / 41.15833°N 92.82111°W |
| NRHP reference # | 83000392 |
| Added to NRHP | August 9, 1983 |
The Buxton Historic Townsite is a historical site located east of Lovilia, Iowa, United States in rural Monroe County. The unincorporated community was founded in 1895, developed by the Chicago and Northwestern Railway as a coal mining company town to supply the railroad. It was a racially integrated community, in 1905 consisting of European immigrants and a majority-African American population, that was developed in the midst of southern Iowa coalfields.
With changes in the industry and conversion of locomotives to electric or diesel operations in the early 20th century, mining declined here. A large fire in 1916 added to the exodus of population as well. By 1927 the community had lost all of its residents. The town site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
J.E. Buxton came to Iowa in the mid-1880s as an agent for the Consolidation Coal Company. Consolidation was a division of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway, and it mined coal in Iowa to fuel the company's trains. His son Ben succeeded him, and he was faced with a lack of workers, strikes, and the increased demand for workers from his competitors. The company sent H.A. Armstrong to the Southern United States to recruit African-American workers and white workers from nearby coal mines as strike breakers and cheap labor.
As the mines in Muchakinock in adjacent Mahaska County started to decline, the railroad extended its line to Monroe County. Ben Buxton, who became president of Consolidation Coal, founded his namesake town in 1895. All the coal mined there was bought by the railroad, which resulted in steady work for the miners and relatively high wages.
Ackers Coal Company and the Regal Coal Company opened mines near Buxton in the early 20th century. By that time Buxton grew to be the largest coal town west of the Mississippi River, and the largest unincorporated community in the United States. In 1905 there were 2,700 blacks and 1,991 whites. The European Americans included numerous immigrants, who came from Belgium, Bohemia, France, Germany, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and Wales. Even though Buxton had a mix of races and ethnic groups, there was no overt segregation and little racial or ethnic discrimination.
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