Buxton coal production peaked during WWI but afterward, mechanization and conversion of train engines to diesel fuel decreased the demand for coal. Several severe fires ravaged the community and the mines. By 1919, Buxton’s population had declined to only 400. The last mine closed in 1927. Residents moved away but fondly remembered their Buxton days. Many African Americans moved to Des Moines or Waterloo. Very little physical evidence of the town remains today. There have been many articles and several books written about this unique African-American experience in rural Iowa. While it is only one of Iowa’s many ghost towns, it is probably the most famous.- from iowaculture.gov

Learn more: https://www.iowapbs.org/iowapathways/mypath/great-buxton and https://iowaculture.gov/history/education/educator-resources/primary-source-sets/buxton-lost-utopia

#CelebrateBlackIowaHistory