Before Buxton: The Muchakinock Years

Before Buxton, there was Muchakinock... Coal camp, company town, and the largest settlement of African-Americans in Iowa, Muchakinock thrived from 1874 to 1900. Located on top of the coal seams which ran through southern Mahaska County, Iowa, Muchakinock existed because of Consolidation Coal – and when the mines played out and the company moved on, so did the town. Even the houses of Muchakinock were loaded onto railroad cars and moved to Buxton, in Monroe County, where new mines offered the promise of economic stability to black and white families alike.