Chariton, IA

Court square

     When James G. Robinson arrived to assist in Chariton’s birth on Monday, Sept. 10, 1849, he found five men and a boy seated around a deck of cards in tall grass at what now is the southwest corner of the square. Another boy was on a horse pointed southeast toward Buck Townsend’s cabin, ready to ride for more whiskey.

     Three of the men were commissioners appointed by the Iowa Legislature to locate Lucas County’s seat --- Wareham G. Clark of Monroe County, Pardon M. Dodge of Appanoose County and Richard Fisher of Wapello County. They had roamed the countryside for several days and, well before Robinson arrived that day, had decided on the spot --- 160 acres surrounding a survey stake that marked the intersection of Sections 19, 20, 29 and 30 of what now is Lincoln Township.

   Robinson was one of Lucas County’s first three county commissioners (now called supervisors), picked by voters during Lucas County’s first election a month earlier.

     The next day, Sept. 11, the locating commissioners reported their choice to the full county commission and it was official. Some wanted to call the new city Polk; Greencastle was suggested as an alternative.

     Finally, Wareham Clark’s son, John, voiced the prevailing opinion --- that it should be called Chariton, after Chariton Point --- a mile south and long a landmark along the native and pioneer trail that followed a high ridge across south central Iowa dividing the Des Moines-Mississippi and Chariton-Missouri river drainages.

     The point was formed, and still is, by the bend at the most northerly spot along the Chariton River where its flow shifts from northeasterly to southeasterly.

     Four years earlier, during October of 1845, Lucas County had opened to Euro-American settlers upon expiration of Sauk and Meskwaki rights to it. Permanent settlers did not arrive until 1847, however.

     But during the late spring and summer of 1846, the ox-drawn wagons of Mormon pioneers had begun to pass through the future town site by the hundreds after Brigham Young directed those following him to Utah to abandon a more southerly trail through Wayne County and follow what now is called the Mormon Trace.

     Elder Freeman Nickerson’s family party, forced by weather, worn out equipment and exhausted livestock to find refuge along the point’s heavily wooded eastern flank during the winter of 1846-47, became its first long-term residents; Nickerson himself, the first known non-native to die here.

     The point continued to be a stopping place for Mormons during the next two years, a wooded and well-watered place to rest before continuing to Garden Grove or Mount Pisgah. William S. “Buck” Townsend, Kentucky-born adventurer and pioneer entrepreneur, and his family were the point’s first permanent settlers, arriving perhaps during 1848 and buying a Mormon pre-emption land claim. The Trace remained the most popular route across southern Iowa for pioneers, California-bound ’49ers and others through the 1850s.

     The first challenge Lucas County faced, once the town site was selected, was figuring out how to purchase it. The land was not yet officially on the market and the commissioners had no money.

     The county solved the first problem by making a pre-emption claim to the site. The money issue was resolved by Robinson, who purchased a military land warrant that entitled the bearer to claim 160 acres. Two years later, Robinson used the warrant to obtained title to the town site in his own name and transferred it to the county.

     Chariton was platted soon after it was located and the first lots, mostly around the square, sold on Nov. 5, 1849. Almost immediately, Nelson Wescott built the first store --- a cabin at the intersection of what now are Braden Avenue and North Main Street. The original plat was resurveyed and corrected during 1851.

     Chariton’s first boom began in the spring of 1853 when the U.S. Land Office was moved west from Fairfield. Until 1858, when the office was moved from Chariton to Des Moines, all who purchased public land in southern Iowa did so here and new settlers, land speculators and all who served them, previously a trickle, became a flood.

     The city was incorporated after an authorizing election on Feb. 26, 1857, and Daniel Iseminger was elected the first mayor. He would die in combat during the Civil War Battle of Shiloh during April of 1862, five years later.

     Although Chariton prospered during the 1850s, transportation options were limited. Construction of the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad route across southern Iowa commenced in the 1850s, but that project stalled at Ottumwa until the Civil War ended. Until July 4, 1867, when the first trains rolled into town, all supplies were hauled overland to Chariton by horse- or ox-powered wagon and stage coaches were the only form of public transportation.

Chariton Square West Side July 4, 1876

Per the 2010 Census, Chariton, IA had a population of 4,321.

Derby, IA

  Thirteen miles southwest of Chariton Point, as it was known in 1870, English settlers migrated and the town of Derby sprang into existence. It is located on the southwest quarter of section twenty-four in township seventy-one, north of range twenty-three, west, Union Township.

     In June 1875, Mr. J.W. Riggle, laid out Riggle's addition to Derby, containing fifty-nine lots. While the population in 1880 (174) was not large, Derby was never the less a good point for business as it was situated in the midst of splendid farming country. The town contained a general store, grain elevators and a post office. Major Lewis and Mr. Throckmorton bought and shipped large amounts of grain and stock to Chicago.
     Derby Postal Service originated from Henderson, Lucas County, Iowa in July of 1866. The Post office was moved to Derby in February of 1872.
     Before there was a telephone office in Derby, different people had a switch in their homes or store. They would call people for you. The following places were switch stations. The A.J. Fight Home, Dunn's Drug Store, Grimes and Winslow Store and Charley Young home in the country.
     The worst fire in the history of Derby occurred on August 2, 1915, shortly after eleven o'clock. The fire started in the rear end of James Morrison's meat market. A few minutes after the fire began, the interior of the building was in flames and it spread rapidly to the buildings adjoining. In a short time the fire had gained such headway that it was impossible to save the frame buildings between the opera house and R.E. Brant's dry goods store, which were of brick. In less than three hours the seven frame buildings lay in ashes. The losses amounted up in the thousands and would have been much greater had it not have been for the water-soaked conditions of other buildings from recent rains and the timely efforts of the citizens.

From the Lucas County Heritage 2000 Book:

Derby City Council members are:  Ralph Conner - Mayor; Carla Mongar - City Clerk; and Council members Pearl Teater, Don Lavley, Joyce Halferty, Gary Fogle and Steve Porterfield.

LaGrange, IA

From the Lucas County Heritage 2000 book     

     As for the community of LaGrange, IA, a community 11 miles east of Chariton, Iowa - it was formerly a 19th century stagecoach town about halfway between Albia and Chariton, IA.

   We, the Allen family, were privileged to move into the community in the spring of 1951.  We met some of the best people of the world, the families of Leo Hull, Edna Hull, Albin and Andy Walbertg, Tom Wilson, Bill Parish, Wayne Parish, Sterling Sr. and Sterling Jr. Martin, Lawrence Willson, Glen Abrahamson, Jesse Askren, Leonard Tuttle, Hall Hensley, Raymond Levis, Virgil Lewis, Jonathan Chase.

     Many changes have taken place in the last 50 years.  

Lucas, IA

John L. Lewis, United Mine Workers President plaque located in Lucas, Iowa

     The Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company established a station at Lucas in 1866, named after Lucas County and Robert Lucas. A plat for the town was filed on May 9, 1868 and the town was incorporated on March 18, 1887. The town grew slowly until coal was discovered in the area.

     In 1876, the Whitebreast Coal and Mining Company began working a 250-foot (76 m) shaft one mile (1.6 km) east of Lucas. This proved successful, and in 1878, they platted a company town there, which they named Cleveland 41°1′57.21″N 93°26′38.71″W. By 1880, Cleveland had a population of 380, and the first mine was producing 650 to 700 tons of coal per day by the labor of 280 miners and 33 mule drivers. A second mine was opened 3/4 mile from the first, and the two mines sold coal to the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, and several other railroads to the south and west. The Cleveland post office was open from 1877 to 1891 and then reopened between 1899 and 1908. Very little remained of Cleveland by the 1930s.

     In 1893, the Lucas Coal Company was working a two-foot coal seam 83 feet (25 m) down, employing 24 men.

     The Big Hill mine in Lucas worked a 4-foot-thick (1.2 m) coal seam 274 feet (84 m) below the surface using room and pillar methods, with a shaft not far from the Burlingtonstation. This mine was closed in April 1904 and stripped of equipment, but by mid-1905, plans were in place to reopen it. The reopening lasted until 1907, when the mine was again closed, as the rock directly above the coal was sandstone and it was saturated with water. This mine is noteworthy because John L Lewis got his first coal mining job here, before going on to head the United Mine Workers of America.

     United Mine Workers local 799 was organized in Lucas in 1899; its membership was 121 in 1902, but it fell to 57 in 1907 and just 24 in 1912. UMW local 1120 was organized in Cleveland in 1899; membership was 350 in 1902, fell to 125 in 1907 and no membership was reported in 1912. Mine wages varied from $2.36 to $2.56 per day in Cleveland in 1907 (there are no wage figures for Lucas that year).

     In 1919, Lucas was home to the second most productive coal mine in Iowa, Mine No. 2 of the Central Iowa Fuel Company. This produced 217,169 tons of coal that year and employed 360 men. The last coal mine in the Lucas area was the Iowa-Nebraska Mine, closed in 1923. This mine was located about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southwest of Lucas (41°0′50.65″N 93°28′50.03″W).  The former mine site is now in the Lucas Unit of the Stephens State Forest. The site is now the site of Mine Pond and the Mine Pond Campground in the state forest. This forest was a base of operations for the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. The CCC established the pine and hardwood forest that now dominates this land.
Per the 2010 Census, Lucas, IA had a population of 216 people.

Norwood, IA

Norwood was never a town.  It was a Community Center.

  At one time, it could boast of two churches; a school house; Odd Fellows Hall; two general stores, - one operated by Charlie Ferguson, later by Lewis Ashby; the other one by Tom Nelson; a blacksmith shop, by James Benway grandfather of Mrs. Roy (Elsie) Cook of Chariton; drift coal mines; half a dozen houses scattered about; mines; a barber shop operated by Roger Martin; a granite boulder the size of a small house wantonly blasted to bits when the farm-to-market road went through; and last but not least, Aunt Kate Cackler’s sorghum pan – 10 ft. long, 3 ft.. wide and 10 inches deep.  Mrs. William Curtis states that people came from miles around to have Aunt Kate make their sorghum.  

                          

  The Lacona Ledger of October 16, loaned to this writer by Mrs. Robert Willets, features Aunt Kate's molasses in its "Peach Valley News" column stating that Aunt Kate and her son Ted had made 490 gallons that fall.  Then as now, Fuller's Earth was used to clarify and make it more like honey.  There were taffy pull parties and sleigh rides and the most popular driver was the one who could affect the most "spill" in the largest snow banks.

Setting Up the Altars

  Since time began people have felt the need to worship a Divine Being.  Noah, as soon as he had evacuated the Ark, "built an Altar unto the Lord and offered burnt sacrifices on the Altar".  A study of our pioneers shows that they were no less diligent than the Patriarchs and even as they unloaded their covered wagons they were planning to hold regular worship services in their log cabins until they could build their proper altars.  In 1853 the United Brethren and the Presbyterians formed their regular "Societies" and a little later the Methodists also organized – each with less than a dozen members.

Pioneers

  "They rise to mystery of rain and snow

  They go like soldiers grimly into strife

  To colonize the plain.

  They plow and sow and fertilize the sod

  With their own life

  As did the Indian and the buffalo"

Hamlin Garland

Oakley, IA

Form the Lucas County Heritage 2000 book
       Oakley was named Oakley because the  40 acres on which it was located was covered with oak trees.  The Des Moines Railway Company built the railroad from Chariton to Indianola, Iowa.  They say it took five years to build.  They told people along the route, "If they would donate the land, they would put a station every seven or eight miles."  They found out later they were going to anyway.  They sold the railroad to C.B. & Q. Railroad, and they operated it from about 1878 to 1962.  There was a depot and stockyards there for many years.  Saturday was shipping day and there were three or four carloads of fat hogs and cattle shipped almost every Saturday.  Lafe Mauk and his son bought livestock there.  Oakley at one time had a depot where three or four trains a day stopped.  Some of the first business places were Jim Robertson's Store, Mikesell's Store and Henry Rose Store.  Each had one gas pump, Mr. Clark ran a blacksmith shop, and there was a big deliver barn.  Oakley had a lighted horseshoe court, a baseball team and a garage.  The big brick building had a college in it at one time.
     Some of the early settlers included the Mikesells, Burgetts, Niswenders, Krutsingers, Nusbaums, Oxenreiders, Cacklers, Clarks, McCormicks, Parrys, Fosters, Joneses, Newhouses, Keens, Petersons and Walls.
      Oakley, like a lot of little towns, has passed by the wayside.  The only business left now is Gillespy Salvage and Bill Welch Garage. 
      Oakley had two churches at one time.  Methodist Church and Christian Church.  The Christian Church has been a community center for several years.  
     Joseph Lincoln Piper and his wife came to Iowa from Illinois about 1890 and settled on a farm near Clio.  Soon after this he bought a general store in Oakley and began a lifelong career as a Lucas County merchant.  Several days a week he drove a huckster wagon, selling groceries and other merchandise to farm families near Oakley.

When his brother Rob came to work for him, Joe L. went to work part of each week for the railway mail service.  (In 1978, we have no passenger service to Chariton, but many freight trains).  Then, Mr. Piper got on the north branch of the C.B. & Q. (now the Burlington Northern) at Oakley, rode to Chariton, took a passenger train to Chicago where he boarded the mail coach on the train to Omaha, working the mail on the way.  He then rode the mail car on the passenger train bound for Chariton and then home to Oakley on the North Branch.

  In 1900, Joe L. sold the Oakley store and moved his family to Chariton to 1118 Ashland, which was the family home until Mrs. Piper's last illness.  He and his brother, Rob, opened a grocery in the north part of the Hollinger building on North Main and Joe L. continued part time in the mail service.

Russell, IA

Russell is a neat and flourishing town. Situated on part of Sections five and six thus locating it in the northwest corner of said Washington T.P.  The original town was platted by Henry S. Russell of Mass who was trustee for the owners of the land on the 8^th day of October 1867 and contained two hundred and nine lots. On March the 3^rd 1869 the same gentleman platted part of the NE 1/4 of the NE 1/4 of Section Six and the NW 1/4 of the NW 1/4 of Section 5 into various sized lots nineteen in all and this he called Smiths addition to Russell. The town was named in honor of this Mr. Russell. On the 9^th day of May 1877 Hon. Warren S Dungan of Chariton being owner of the land lying west and south of Russell surveyed and platted it into lots and called it Dungans addition. This addition contained seventy-eight lots varying somewhat in size. The first house built on the site of Russell was put up by a Mr. Jessie Lewis and was used as a temporary depot by the Railroad Co. Dennis Foley and M. L. Plotts erected the next two buildings. The first merchant to locate in Russell was Mr. H.  W. Elliott in the spring of 1869. His store bldg and stock of mdse was at that date like Bill Nyes first year's salary all OK but not enough of it.  H. W. has continued to sell goods here in R from that time to the present and has been remarkable successful as evidenced by the property and stock of General mdse of which he is now the absolute owner. The first church bldg erected was by the Episcopal denomination, Mrs. E. Fulkerson being the prime mover and largest contributor.

Per the 2010 Census, Russell, IA had a population of 554.

Williamson, IA

From the 1978 History of Lucas County

 The City of Williamson, Iowa, population 212, is located 6 miles north of Chariton in English township. It came into existence with the discovery of coal in this area. Originally it was known as Gunwald.

  In 1922, the name of Gunwald was changed to Williamson in honor of George Williamson, Sr., who in 1914 laid out a site for the town after the Des Moines-Kansas City Branch of the Rock Island Railroad was built through his land. He donated to the railroad space for its depot and yards. A two block square area in the center of the town, Mr. Williamson reserved for a park, which each year was the scene of Williamson’s Labor Day Celebration.

   In the early 1900’s, Inland Mines No. 1, 2 and 3 came into production and this brought many new families into the community.

  The first church in town was built in 1900, known as Central Church, and affiliated with the Christian denomination. It burned in 1919.

  In 1901 mail was received by star route, which run from Chariton to Belinda. Star route carrier was Jonathan Lenig. About 1905 mail was delivered to about one-half east of town by rural route.

  The first post office was started in 1916. At that time the town was known as Gunwald. Mark Avitt of Williamson still has letters which bear the Gunwald, Iowa postmark. First postmaster in 1916 was Tom Greeley and the post office was in the Greeley Grocery Store. Fred Pern became postmaster in 1917, followed by Jerald Done, Lawrence Miller and Loren Miller.

 George Williamson, Sr. became the first postmaster after the name change. In 1922 D. L. (Moody) Smith was appointed postmaster and the post office was moved to the Moody Smith Hardware from the Tom Greeley Grocery Store. In 1940 Rubye Stegemann became postmaster and the post office was moved across the street. The post office is in the same location today. When Mrs. Stegemann retired on November 1, 1970, Mary Jo Polo became officer-in-charge and was appointed postmaster in May 1971.

 Railroad construction began in this area in 1910, with the depot being built in 1913. Pipeline was laid to the lake east of town to supply water for trains. Places of business came into existence around this time, including George Williamson Lumber Yard and M. H. Avitt Store. Railroad cars were moved into the area to provide housing for extra gangs of railroad workers for Greek and Turkish descent. M. H. Avitt platted lots in a pasture, and a man by the name of Clouse built the first one room house. The first shipment of Freight arrived via railroad on July 4, 1914 and the first depot agent in town was H. D. Shoafstall.

The first robbery in town occurred at the M. H. Avitt Store in 1914, when someone blew the door off the safe.

  A blacksmith shop, livery stable, Shore & Miller Store, water tank and turn around table for the railroad, and stockyards appeared on the scene in 1914. In 1915 a meat market, ice house and the George Williamson home were built.

   In 1916, C. A. Knudson organized and built the bank. 

 The sinking of the shaft for the Indiana Consolidated Mine No. 3 by the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad in 1925, the most productive mine in this area, brought an influx of new families, increasing the population to it’s peak in 1934.

The first mayor of the town of Williamson was John Y. Foster.

   The Volunteer Fire Department was organized in 1925 with Forrest Bingaman as chief.

Per the 2010 Census, Williamson, IA had a population of 152.

Abandoned Towns of Lucas County

I think every state has Ghost Towns.  Places that once thrived and prospered and became very important business areas while others were no more than a name on paper.  Some only had a post office and no other businesses.  When the railroads came through the state and by passed some of these towns, the businesses packed up and moved nearer the railroad.  The railroads meant business and the products could be moved in and out of town easier.  Gradually the people moved with them and the town would disappear.  

In 1930 and 1932, David C. Mott published two volumes, #17 and #18, in the Annals of Iowa.  "Abandoned Towns, Villages and Post Offices of Iowa".  From these volumes, listed below, are the Ghost Towns in Lucas County, along with a brief description.

ARGO

A post office in the northern part of Union Township from 1853-1875.  Union Township is located in the extreme southwest corner of Lucas County.  Argo was not incorporated.  Derby is the only incorporated town in this township.  Argo was located directly on the Mormon Trace, three and a half miles northwest of Derby.

The route of the Mormon Trace from Chariton through the former location of Argo is marked with signs, but a sharp eye is needed to locate them.

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BELINDA

A hamlet and post office in the western part of Pleasant township from 1858 to 1908.  A few scattered residences still remain (in 1930-1932).  Pleasant township is in the extreme northeast corner of Lucas County.    Belinda was never incorporated.  The Belinda Christian church was organized in 1848 and the building still exists, embedded in what now is a toy museum.  There were a few businesses and homes in the town; a hotel, blacksmith shop, a mill, two general stores, the post office, a brass band, eight dwelling houses with perhaps 50 people that ever lived there at one time and a doctor who spent some time living there.

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BUCYRUS 

Bucyrus had a post office from 1871 to 1880 in the southern part of English Township.  It was located a little more than three miles due north of Chariton and about two miles southwest of Williamson, north of the beginning of Highway 14's curve to begin a northeasterly descent to Little Whitebreast Creek.

Bucyrus was one of those post offices that moved from place to place, then died because of proximity to Chariton and the inability to find a long-term postmaster.

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CEDAR GROVE and OLA

Cedar Grove was a post office from 1854 to 1868 in the central part of Cedar Township.  Ola was a post office from 1867 to 1902 in section 10 of Cedar Township.  Cedar Grove was located in the northwest portion of Section 11, very near Ola, in Section 10.  This suggests that the Cedar Grove post office became the Ola post office and moved slightly when one postmaster succeeded another.  Both Cedar Grove and Ola are located in the northeast quadrant of Cedar Township, two miles south of the Pleasant Township line and two miles west of the Monroe County line.

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CLEVELAND (Old)

A coal mining town in the 1880's in section 18, White Breast Township, about two miles east of the town of Lucas.  In 1930 there were a few scattered houses still standing.  It was actually in Jackson Township having its west city limits joined to the east city limits of the city of Lucas.  Cleveland's east city limit was the Jackson-Whitebreast Township line and the town spilled over.  By some accounts it had as many as 1,000 residents during its prime time.  It was an extremely clean, neat and well-mannered little boom town and tolerated no saloons, but as with most mining towns it flourished only briefly.  As the mines here were closed, the miners moved on to other mines, or to Lucas.

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 CLEVELAND (New)

New Cleveland is located approximately two miles southwest of Lucas in section 21 of Jackson Township.  It was established after 1896 when the failed Whitebreast Fuel Co. reorganized and during 1899, opened a mine named Cleveland No. 4 in that location.  It was never incorporated.  The community included a depot, pot office (discontinued in 1913), company store, saloons, boarding houses, churches, a school and substantial population.  The mine closed during 1908 and the community faded away.

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EARLE

A post office from 1869-1872 and railroad station in Union Township, about two miles southwest of Derby.  It was located on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy rail line connecting Derby and Wayne County's Humeston.  After Derby was platted May 1, 1872, so it seems likely that the railroad station was moved there from Earle and the post office ceased to exist when another nearby post office, Henderson, was moved into Derby.

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FREEDOM

Freedom was a village in the southeastern part of section 25, Warren Township, on Wolf Creek, laid out in 1856.  Post office, 1855-1876.  This town consisted of four blocks of eight lots each.  A store was established about 1860, by the Barnett Brothers.  They kept the post office for a number of years, but it and the store were both discontinued and the land was sold.  A saw and grist mill, for grinding corn was established , but the saw mill was removed some years ago into Benton Township.  The corn burrs made a first rate article of corn meal.  There was a grocery store and a blacksmith there and the total assessed valuation of real estate, for 1880, was seven hundre3d and niety-five dollars.

A mile west of old Freedom was Freedom Bible Camp, dating perhaps from the late 1940's or early 1950's denominationally independent but maintained by several congregations, and the site of summer youth camps and revival camp meetings.

To reach Freedom, travel south of Chariton on Highway 14 three and a half miles to the paved Derby Road, west on the Derby Road for a mile and then south on gravel approximately two miles to the Y intersection where Freedom once was located.

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FREELAND

A post office from 1854 to 1865, shown on the maps first in the northwestern part of Warren Township and later White Breast Township.

Located in the northeast corner of Section 5 , Warren Township, but provides no further information.  White Breast township joins Warren on the north.  This is in the general neighborhood of May Baptist Church in northwest Warren Township, but that congregation was organized much later, during 1890.  Apparently the post office moved frequently, then vanished.

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GREENVILLE

Had a post office from 1853 to 1864 in the eastern part of Washington Township. 

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GRUNWALD

The name of the post office from 1915 to 1923 at the present town of Williamson.

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HENDERSON

A post office from 1866 to 1872 in section 20 of Waren Township.

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IRISH GROVE

List in the 1852-1853 U.S. Official Register as a post office in Lucas County, but not found on maps of that period.

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LaGRANGE

A town in the southeastern part of section 25 and the northeastern part of 36, Cedar Township.  It was laid out in 1852, was on the main line of the Western Stage Company and was a prosperous town until the railroad came through a mile to the south in 1866.  Post office, 1855-1882.  A few scattered dwellings still remain (1930).

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LAST CHANCE
A post office from 1865-1888 in the western part of Union Township.

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LINN
A post office in the early 1850's at or near the town of LaGrange.

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MACEVILLE

Listed in the U.S. Official Register of 1859-1861 as a post office in Lucas County, but not found on maps of that period.

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MANSFIELD

A hamlet or place shown on maps of 1868 and 1869 in the northern part of White Breast Township.

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MILAN

A post office in the southern part of Benton Township from 1870-1881.

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OLMITZ

Olmitz, known as Mine #1, was a coal mining town in section 28, Pleasant Township.  Olmitz had a Post office between 1888-1905.  The town had a five-room schoolhouse and a two-year high school.  Located around the main street in town there were 103 company houses.  Across from these homes were two pool halls, (one of the pool halls also had a barbershop), a church (the priest commuted from Chariton), a garage and a restaurant, which had an ice cream parlor inside it.  The Langloes Sisters ran a show hall and a skating rink.  This was one of the most popular places in town where people could dance and roller skate.  The town also had an icehouse, a company store and a butcher house.  Jay Batten operated the company store, which housed the post office.  There was also one gas station in town.

The Northwestern Railroad Co. had a line that ran through the center of town and went on over to Tipperary, known as Mine #2.  The Inland Coal and Western Iowa Development Companies was organized in the early 1900's and a coalmine was sunk in Section 9, Lincoln Township, northeast of Chariton.  In 1902 coal options were first recorded for Pleasant Township at which time land was optioned to S.H. Mallory for $25 an acre.  In 1903 the Western Iowa Development Co. purchased the title and held it until 1913 when all mineral rights held by the company were deeded to the Central Iowa Fuel Company for $335,000.

When the mine closed in 1925 a lot of houses were moved to Williamson or Russell and some were bought by farmers in the area.

Reestablished 7/11/1916 and discontinued again 11/30/1928.

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POLK

The name first given the newly established county seat of Lucas County, but soon changed to Chariton

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TALLAHOMA

A post office in the northern part of Jackson Township from 1853-1875.

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TIME

A post office from 1859-1863 in the central part of Washington Township.

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TIPPERARY

A coal mining town in Lincoln Township a few miles northeast of Chariton.  It had a post office from 1916-1924.  The few houses that remained in1930 are now all gone.

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TROY

A village on the C.B. and Q. Railroad in section 18, White Breast Township, about two miles east of Lucas, as appears on maps of the early 1900's.

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WARREN CENTER
A post office in 1872-1874 near the center of Warren Township.

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WEST ALEXANDER
A post office in 1864-1865 in section 30, Cedar Township.

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WHITE BREAST

A post office from 1869-1879 in the southwest part of section 14 Liberty Township, on White Breast Creek.  White Breast was a coal mining town in the 1880's and 1890's in the western part of section 14, White Breast Township, a short distance west of Indianola Junction on the C.B. and Q. Railroad.

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ZERO

Was located in the far northeast corner of Washington Township.  Around 1880 a small mining village named Zero, owned by the Zero Coal Company was formed.  Zero’s life was short lived because the mine was plagued with too much water in its shafts.  Some time before the turn of the 20^th century, the Zero experiment failed.  The coal mine was closed.  There are a couple of versions why the town was named Zero.  Some said it was named Zero because it was half way between Melrose and Russell, but others say the name was probably taken from the Zero Coal Co.  In 1881 a vote for a  five per cent tax for railroad construction from Chariton to Russell on to Wabash and Appanoose counties, was taken and it was defeated.  At one time there was a Post Office in town and it even had a broom factory in 1881.  Zero Coal Company had the town platted in 1883.  In 1882 Cook Bros. started laying out the lots in Zero.  By the time they finished there were 61 lots, five streets and three alleys drawn into the town.  By 1887, 20 more lots were officially added.  This small mining town once had a population between 500 and 600 hard working people.  In October of 1883 the Odd Fellows of LaGrange moved their hall to Zero.

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