Oskaloosa, Iowa
| Oskaloosa, Iowa | |
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| City | |
The Mahaska County Courthouse in Oskaloosa is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
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| Nickname(s): Osky | |
| Motto: "Note the Difference" | |
 Location of Oskaloosa, Iowa |
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 Oskaloosa
Oskaloosa
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| Coordinates: 41°17′38″N 92°38′40″W / 41.29389°N 92.64444°WCoordinates: 41°17′38″N 92°38′40″W / 41.29389°N 92.64444°W | |
| Country |
 United States
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| State |
 Iowa
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| County | Mahaska |
| Incorporated | February 4, 1875 |
| Area | |
| • Total | 7.45 sq mi (19.30 km2) |
| • Land | 7.43 sq mi (19.24 km2) |
| • Water | 0.02 sq mi (0.05 km2) |
| Elevation | 840 ft (256 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 11,463 |
| • Estimate (2012) | 11,555 |
| • Density | 1,542.8/sq mi (595.7/km2) |
| Time zone | Central (CST) (UTC-6) |
| • Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| ZIP code | 52577 |
| Area code(s) | 641 |
| FIPS code | 19-59925 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0459908 |
| Website | Official City of Oskaloosa website |
Oskaloosa is a city in and the county seat of Mahaska County, Iowa, United States. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, it was a national center of bituminous coal mining. The population was 11,463 in the 2010 census, an increase from 10,938 in the 2000 census.
The town was formally platted in 1844 when William Canfield moved his trading post from the Des Moines River to Oskaloosa. The town was designated by the legislature as the county seat in the same year.
On January 6, 1882, most of the buildings in the north half of Oskaloosa were severely damaged and most of the plate glass windows in the area were broken by an explosion. Three boys were killed in the explosion. The boys had been seen shooting at the A. L. Spencer gunpowder magazine half a mile north of the town center.
In the 1880s, more than one million tons of bituminous coal was mined in the area from 38 mines. The first mine in the area was opened shortly after 1853 by Robert Seevers, who drove a drift into a 4-foot coalbed in an exposed creek bank east of town. Initially, coal was mined entirely for local consumption, but with the arrival of the railroads, coal from the region was shipped widely. By 1887, the report of the state mine inspector listed 11 coal mines in and around Oskaloosa. By 1895 the coal output of Mahaska County surpassed that of all other Iowa counties, and production had reached more than one million tons per year. In 1911, coal mining was reported to be the primary industry in the region. In 1914, the Carbon Block Coal Company of Centerville produced more than 100,000 tons of coal, ranking among the top 24 coal producers in the state.
Several major coal-mining camps were located in the Oskaloosa area. Muchakinock was about 5 miles south of town, on the banks of the Muchakinock Creek. Lost Creek was a mining camp about 8 miles southeast of town. On January 24, 1902, there was a mine explosion in the Lost Creek No. 2 mine. This was one of only two major mine disasters in Iowa between 1888 and 1913. A miner setting shots to blast coal from the coal face re-used a hole left over from a previous failed shot, and the result was a coal dust explosion that detonated barrels of gunpowder stored in the mine. 20 men died on the site and 14 more were badly injured. The explosion sparked a statewide miner's strike. As a result, in April 1903, the legislature enacted a law to regulate blasting in coal mines.
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