Mining for Stories in a Kansas Ghost Town

Cover photo: This photo, believed to be taken in 1908, is labeled “J.D. Henderson coal mine,” likely referring to James Doctor Henderson (1874-1936). Image courtesy of the Republic County Historical Society Museum. Caption information provided by Debi L. Aaron

A new documentary tells the little-known story of a ghost town. Minersville: The Town, the Mines, the People, the Legacy, supported by a Humanities For All Grant, features the rise of this mining town just north of Concordia, exploring what life was like for the miners and retracing the chain of events that led to the north central Kansas town’s demise.

When Heim Nelson discovered coal in 1869, mines quickly sprang up in the area, numbering more than 30 over the next 76 years. Miners—many of whom were transient workers moving from one site to the next—would dig holes of 25 to 55 feet deep to locate veins of lignite coal, which was then removed by wagon using buckets and rope. Deeper mines could extend up to 75 feet.

A town quickly developed to provide services to the mine owners and workers. Minersville boasted a store, school, boarding house, and two churches. Mine owners built sturdy stone houses while miners lived primarily in dugouts, spending their limited leisure time playing on the town’s baseball team or in the community band.

Like most towns, Minersville had its share of strangeness and mysteries. One colorful episode involves a miner who made a hobby of forgery. His cache of lead dollars, passed off as silver, was discovered years after his departure, hidden behind the loose stone of a cellar wall—much to the disgruntlement of the locals.

The story of Minersville is a story of change. As times change, so do markets. As railroads brought higher-quality coal into the region, demand for Minersville’s lignite coal fell. The town dwindled and by 1945 it was all but gone. Its existing structures now stand on private land.

Remnants of the Minersville church, pictured in 2012. Image courtesy of Debi L. Aaron.

The documentary will feature interviews with five experts and a walking tour of what’s left of the town. Project leader Greg Stephens hopes that the documentary will provide “insight into the courage, the resiliency, and the challenges that many of the early settlers had in the region. …It had a major role in the early history of Cloud and Republic counties.”

The film will have its debut screening at the Cloud County Historical Society Museum on March 22, 2025, at 2 p.m. An additional screening will be held at the Republic County Historical Society Museum in Belleville on April 24, with more to follow.

Join the Movement of Ideas

• ATTEND the premieres of the Minersville documentary at the Cloud County Historical Society Museum on March 22 or the Republic County Historical Society Museum on April 24. Explore the communities’ histories at both museums.

• VISIT the Miners Hall Museum in Franklin southeast Kansas to learn about the history of miner and mining communities in that region. 

• LISTEN to Linda O’Nelio Knoll tell the story of women who marched for miners’ rights in in 1921 in “The March of Amazon Army” on the Kansas Stories blog and find out how to bring her Speakers Bureau presentation “Army of Amazons: Women’s Fight for Labor Rights in Kansas Coalfields” to your community.