In 2017 and 2018, I traveled throughout Iowa speaking about Buxton, Iowa and why it was a coal mining town ahead of its time. Marshalltown Community Television/McTV aired my May 2018 presentation, which was held at the Marshalltown Public Library. New 2019 presentations with information from my new book, “Creating the Black Utopia of Buxton, […]
Buxton / People
1918-19: Black Man in Buxton, Iowa Invents Train Signal and Control Apparatus
Leroy Wright, an African American resident of Buxton, Iowa in the early 1900s stated that Jack Brookins, also African American, invented a railroad signal. “He made a patent on the railroad trap out of a mouse trap and they tried to get people to take out shares but they wouldn’t do it but it passed,” […]
A Day in Buxton / Buxton / People / Research Finds
1905: Black Author Writes Science Fiction Novel About Race
In 1906, Robert Gilbert Wells, an African American author and publisher in Buxton, Iowa ran ads soliciting agents to sell his new book, “Anthropology Applied to the American White Man and Negro.” The ad placed in the March 3, 1906 issue of the Richmond Planet provided a summary of the book: AGENTS WANTED. To Sell […]
Buxton / The Writing Life
13 Amazing Months for LOST BUXTON and Rachelle Chase
Buxton, Iowa—a 1900s coal mining town of 5,000 in which blacks and whites lived and worked side by side and blacks received equal pay and thrived—is an amazing story of inclusion and equality. I’m doing my part to make sure it is not forgotten. A HUGE “thank you” to everyone I have — and have […]
Buxton / People
Hattie Hutchison: First Black Woman To Obtain A Pharmacy Degree In Iowa
In 1907, The Iowa State Bystander announced that Hattie Hutchison was the first African American woman to obtain a pharmacy degree in Iowa. A large photo of Hutchison accompanied the article. But despite this announcement—and her accomplishment—the details of her life remain a mystery. Early Years Hattie Hutchison was born in 1878 in Lancaster, MO. […]
A Day in Buxton / Buxton / Research Finds
12 Things That Only Existed in Buxton
John Jacobs, an avid collector of Iowa history memorabilia, shared an article from an unidentified newspaper that lists the twelve things that no other town in Iowa – and in some instances, “the world” – had. While I have not been able to verify that these items existed only in Buxton, here’s what I know: […]
Buxton
The Inspiration Behind ‘Lost Buxton’
My first glimpse of what remained of Buxton, Iowa came in 2008. Standing in the middle of farmland, gazing at the crumbling ruins of a stone warehouse, I closed my eyes and tried to picture the amazing town that once was – a thriving coal mining town established in 1900 that was integrated, its 5,000 […]