- The photo seen here was made a few years after the non-profit Van Lear Historical Society rescued the old Consolidation Coal Company office building at Van Lear from the scrap heap. One of the few major buildings remaining in the coal-mining town constructed by Consol in the 1910-1914 era, this building was given to the Society by Citizens National Bank of Paintsville. To arrange a personal or group visit to the museum, use the information below to call, write or e-mail VLHS. Danny Blevins is the current president. The old Consol office building now houses a collection of artifacts, including the following:
ON THE MAIN SECOND FLOOR: Old post office The old doctors' office Collection of miners' tools "Veterans' Wall of Fame"
ON THE THIRD FLOOR: Verne Horne Education Room A Video Documentary Model of 1930s Van Lear
ON THE FOURTH FLOOR: Future genealogy library
VLHS is supported by your tax-deductible contributions
- This photograph of the old office building was taken around 1920, some six to eight years after it was built by Consolidation Coal Company. At that time, the corporate headquarters was in New York City, the Kentucky-West Virginia mining operations were administered from Fairmont, West Virginia, and separate supervisory and accounting offices were maintained at Jenkins and Van Lear in Kentucky. The photo shows the old building in its original paint, dove gray, trimmed in forest green, a paint scheme used by Consolidation Coal Company on all of its major buildings and some of the company houses, many of which were painted in shades of green, yellow, and tan. Following the sale of all company real estate in the early 1950s, many renters purchased their homes and re-painted them in colors of their own choice, many of them white. The old office building, in its original incarnation, housed an office and blueprint room on the fourth floor, and storage rooms and a Masonic Hall on the third floor. During the 1930s and 40s, a dentist and two doctors shared the second floor with the post office. The lower floor at one time housed a jail and city hall. Icky's was not added until the 1950s.
- More Old Van Lear Photos
- Some Van Lear History
- Brief Van Lear Highlights
- More Van Lear Pages & Links
- Some Eastern Kentucky History via USAOL
The Vaughan Family in Wales and America
Our webmaster, James Vaughan, grew up in Van Lear, a company-built coal town in eastern Kentucky. In his eyes, Van Lear was a unique, a great place to "grow up in" despite The Great Depression and human tragedy. Van Lear's athletic teams were nicknamed BANKMULES, the title of Vaughan's new book, which KENTUCKY MONTHLY described as "a gem of a memoir." One Kentucky reader described it as a "beautiful book of unusual perfection." The Hardin County Kentucky News-Enterprise refers to it as "an uplifting book." If you wish to learn more about BANKMULES from the publisher (The Jesse Stuart Foundation), click here. and then return to this site.
Here are some other websites you may want to visit. When you do so you will be leaving our tripod homepage:
jevaughn@suddenlink.net
Or write us:
Van Lear Historical Society
P. O. Box 369
Van Lear, KY 41265
United States
Try this all-purpose internet directory. We think you'll like it:
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