Lucas is a city in
Lucas County,
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...
, United States. The population was 172 at the time of the
2020 census.
History
The
Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company established a station at Lucas in 1866, named after
Lucas County and
Robert Lucas. A
plat
In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bea ...
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
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 . 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 down, employing 24 men.
The Big Hill
mine in Lucas worked a coal seam below the surface using
room and pillar
Room and pillar or pillar and stall is a variant of breast stoping. It is a mining system in which the mined material is extracted across a horizontal plane, creating horizontal arrays of rooms and pillars. To do this, "rooms" of ore are dug out ...
methods, with a shaft not far from the
Burlington station. 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
The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the Unit ...
.
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 southwest of Lucas (). 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
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...
in the 1930s. The CCC established the pine and hardwood forest that now dominates this land.
[Stephens State Forest](_blank)
web page of th
Iowa Department of Natural Resources
/ref>
Geography
Lucas's longitude and latitude coordinates in decimal form are 41.029843, −93.461595.
Lucas is located on the north bank of White Breast Creek, a tributary of the Des Moines River
The Des Moines River () is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the upper Midwestern United States that is approximately long from its farther headwaters.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe Na ...
that flows east through the Southern Iowa drift plain.
According to the United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of t ...
, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.
Demographics
2010 census
As of the census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...
of 2010, there were 216 people, 89 households, and 59 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...
was . There were 112 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 95.4% White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...
, 0.5% African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, and 4.2% from two or more races. Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...
or Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
of any race were 1.9% of the population.
There were 89 households, of which 27.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.6% were married couples living together, 6.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 9.0% had a male householder with no wife present, and 33.7% were non-families. 28.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 2.88.
The median age in the city was 47.4 years. 22.2% of residents were under the age of 18; 7% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 16.7% were from 25 to 44; 34.2% were from 45 to 64; and 19.9% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 53.2% male and 46.8% female.
2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 243 people, 95 households, and 68 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 101 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 98.77% White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...
, 0.82% Asian, and 0.41% from two or more races. Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...
or Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
of any race were 0.82% of the population.
There were 95 households, out of which 37.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.0% were married couples living together, 3.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.4% were non-families. 26.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.56 and the average family size was 3.07.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 28.4% under the age of 18, 7.4% from 18 to 24, 31.3% from 25 to 44, 21.4% from 45 to 64, and 11.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.0 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $31,250, and the median income for a family was $38,750. Males had a median income of $26,458 versus $21,607 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,145. About 6.9% of families and 10.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.4% of those under the age of eighteen and none of those 65 or over.
Education
Chariton Community School District
The Chariton Community School District is a rural public school district headquartered in Chariton, Iowa, USA
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country prim ...
serves the community.[Chariton]
" Iowa Department of Education. Retrieved on June 18, 2018. The district operates Chariton High School
Chariton High School is located in Chariton, Iowa, part of the Chariton Community School District.
There are students from six towns including Chariton, Russell, Williamson, Lucas enrolled in the school.
Athletics
Athletic teams of Charit ...
.
Notable people
* George Bennard
George Bennard (February 4, 1873 – October 10, 1958) was an American hymn composer and preacher. He is best known for composing the famous hymn, " The Old Rugged Cross".
Early years
Bennard was born in the coal-mining and iron-production ...
, composer of "The Old Rugged Cross
"The Old Rugged Cross" is a popular hymn written in 1912 by American evangelist and song-leader George Bennard (1873–1958).
History
George Bennard was a native of Youngstown, Ohio, but was reared in Iowa. After his conversion in a Salvation ...
"
* John L. Lewis
John Llewellyn Lewis (February 12, 1880 – June 11, 1969) was an American leader of organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMW) from 1920 to 1960. A major player in the history of coal mining, he was the d ...
, president of the UMW
See also
* Thomas W. Williams (Los Angeles), school principal in Lucas at the age of 18
References
External links
The John L. Lewis Museum
Comprehensive statistical data and more about Lucas
{{authority control
Cities in Iowa
Cities in Lucas County, Iowa
Company towns in Iowa
Robert Lucas family
Populated places established in 1868