I had a query regarding the history of this house in a comment section on the Williams Creek Basin Website. I supplied quite a bit of detail in my reply to the query. That reply was morphed into this short article about this house.
Here is a nice image of the house, click on the image for a larger view:
This large two story white house is at the mouth of Black Leg Hollow and is directly across from the US Post Office at Rush KY.
This house, along with many others in Rush , was constructed by coal mining companies active in the area for decades (primarily 1880’s to late 1930’s). Only a few of these mining company houses remain. Most of these houses have been torn down over an extended time span, and a few may have burned. A few others remain in the “Greasy Row” and “New Row” sections in Rush KY. These houses were for company employees and were rented. The houses in “Greasy Row” and “New Row” are much smaller and were for individual miners and their families. This large house was LIKELY built in about 1880 (or so). It was LIKELY the residence of the mining operations superintendent, or some other high placed mining company official, originally for the “Ashland Coal and Iron Railroad (AC&I)”. Later the mining operations part of the AC&I was spun off to the “Ashland Iron and Mining Company”. A mining superintendent named Sam Seaton and family lived in this house in 1920. The image below is from an Ashland Coal and Iron Railway publicity publication from about 1900. It shows most of this house at image right and indicates “Superintendent Heron’s Residence”. The caption is not absolutely clear as there are two houses in the image. Click on the image for a larger view.
A man named Oscar Stewart purchased this house and 1.67 acres (lot 92) in Feb of 1941. Oscar lived there and owned it until at least the 1960’s. Oscar Stewart was the first private owner of this house. Arthur and Thelma Bates purchased the house from Oscar Stewart. The Bates had previously lived in the now dilapidated house on the hill to the left as you face this house. The former Bates residence is at image left in the photograph above from about 1900. Both of these houses were mining company properties and LIKELY constructed at the same time. Thelma Bates (1907 – 1998) had taught in area schools in both Boyd and Carter Counties for over 40 years and was well known and beloved in Rush and surrounding communities.
I have also heard some nonsense regarding this house indicating it was somehow associated with slave owners, the underground railroad, and other such outright goofiness. This house was definitely not even built until after the Civil War. There were few people in Rush prior to the railroad coming there in 1871. This railroad dead ended at Rush for several years only going one way to Ashland KY.
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Enjoy! Lon