In the fall of 1956 a small company owned by John Crace from Brady Creek in Scioto County, OH submitted the low bid, to salvage for scrap, a large industrial engine at the Big Run Coal and Clay Company Brickyard (abbreviated BRC&C) at Princess, KY. John enlisted his 23 year old son, Ted Crace to help. John Crace also arranged assistance from another small southern OH salvage company called Cherrington Scrap Metal with the proprietor Paul Cherrington and an employee, Calvin Allen.
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The job at the brickyard consisted of dismantling and removing a huge industrial engine that ran on natural gas. The engine and associated generator had provided electricity for the mining operation, the brickyard plant, and the many local company camp houses at Princess before area rural electrification had rendered it obsolete. So for a few years this engine would have lit up the BRC&C camp houses at Princess in a perimeter of darkness, as none of the other houses in the area would have had electricity. The illuminated BRC&C houses at Princess would have really stood out for the many nighttime travelers bisecting this community on the pre interstate and main east-west national thoroughfare, US 60.
The engine had 3 cylinders and each piston weighted 1,100 pounds. It had a cast iron flywheel 20 inches wide, 8 foot tall, and weighed 8.5 tons. The drive shaft was 10 inches in diameter and with its cast iron base and oil pan weighed 10.25 tons. It was a monster engine. After the engine was removed from the brickyard to Ohio it was partially dismantled using dynamite.
The salvage crew of four showed up one Saturday at the brickyard to access the engine project. At lunchtime the four hopped in their vehicle and ended up at the lunch counter at the local truck stop, Star 60, about 1/2 mile away at Coalton, KY. Lunch was enjoyed and Ted Crace took special notice of his efficient waitress, Lou Ann Burton. Lou Ann was from the Norton Branch / Shanty Branch area on Williams Creek in Carter Country, KY. Lou Ann rode to work at Star 60 each day with her Father, Raymond Burton (1914 – 1968) who worked at the Princess Brickyard.
The crew commenced the job the following Monday and Ted graciously volunteered to pick up lunch at Star 60 “to save time”. This routine of Ted playing lunch jockey and retrieving the carry out lunches at Star 60 became the norm for the next 6 weeks. Ted also filled the scrap crew vehicles with gas at Star 60. So, Ted got to see Lou Ann often.
On Ted’s last day at work he asked Lou Ann if she would like to sometime see a movie together. Lou Ann recalls that “a lot of guys did that and I said sure” but she actually thought she would never hear from him again.
On one Saturday night Ted and a friend showed up at Star 60 unannounced hoping to go with Lou Ann to see a movie. Lou Ann declined, as she did not have permission from her Father, Raymond Burton, and according to Lou Ann “I was working, but Dad was in charge”.
Time passed and in July of 1957 Ted ventured to Washington, DC to find work. Ted initially accepted a job at National Geographic, but actually started to work at R&G Orthopedics in DC. This initiated Ted’s 42 years career in the field of orthotics and prosthetics.
Lou Ann was not dating anyone and indicated “if you were 18 and working and not dating everyone thought you were going to be an old maid”. Her friend and employer at Star 60, Jim Towler (1926 – 2000), was impressed with Ted and encouraged her to write Ted. Lou Ann thought this was a good idea, but only if “I ever hear from him again”.
A week or so later Lou Ann received a post card from Ted indicating he would be home for a Labor Day visit and would she pick him up at the C&O Depot in Ashland? One of Ted’s cousins from Cannonsburg, KY and Lou Ann picked up Ted at the depot at 5:00 AM. Ted kissed Lou Ann when he arrived and this really surprised Lou Ann, but she also realized “I really liked this guy”.
Over the Labor Day weekend Ted met Lou Ann’s parents Raymond and Ruth Brainard Burton (1915 – 1994), and Lou Ann met Ted’s parents John (1907 – 1965) and Blanche Rawlins Crace (1906 – 1986).
On Labor Day Ted and Lou Ann went to Central Park in Ashland, KY to spend some time together before Raymond Burton shuttled Ted to the C&O Depot for his return to DC. Ted and Lou Ann continued to correspond by mail. On October 23rd Ted flew home from DC, asked the Burton’s for permission to marry Lou Ann, and proposed to Lou Ann with a diamond ring.
They were married on Dec 20, 1957 and it was a community affair. Jim Towler’s wife, Carolyn Johnson Towler, also Lou Ann’s good friend, was the Home Economics teacher at Boyd County High School. Carolyn enlisted her Home Economics students to help make some of the wedding party’s appointments. The wedding took place at Cannonsburg Baptist Church. Jim and Carolyn Towler’s daughter Rhonda, and nephew, David Towler, served as flower girl and ring bearer at the wedding.
Jim, Carolyn, and the “home ec” classes also took care of all the needs for wedding reception at the Rush, KY Masonic Lodge. Lou Ann’s Father, Raymond, and Mother, Ruth, were prominent Mason and Eastern Star members at the Rush Masonic Lodge.
Lou Ann and Ted lived in DC for 7 years before they returned to the area so Ted could take a job at Jahnig Manufacturing Company, in Huntington, WV. They have two children, Debbie, born on Christmas Day in 1959, and Matt, born in 1968. Lou Ann and Ted have lived happily in the same house in South Point, OH since 1964.
A couple of personal asides to this story. Rhonda and David Towler were my personal friends and longtime classmates at both Cannonsburg Elementary and Boyd County High School. The area vacated by that huge industrial engine in a building at the Princess Brickyard allowed for an expansion of the employee wash room and showers. When I was a 4th grader living at Princess near the Brickyard, in a house without an indoor bath, I would accompany my friends, whose fathers worked at the brickyard, and take hot showers in the area once inhabited by that engine.
A big thanks to Lou Ann and Ted Crace for the article information and photographs and to Don Wise, a longtime Big Run Coal and Clay Company employee, for additional information about the brickyard facility. And, Steve Wolf for the image of the Rush Masonic Lodge.
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Lon,
Love your historical accounts of items related to Star 60.
We have not done a good job of keeping items and facts about that business that lasted from 1954 till about 1976.
Please keep me in the loop.
Steve Towler
Thank you, Lon! Love to read of the history of this area where I grew up and now live.
What a great story Lon! And so well written and fun to read. Good job and thank you!
What a great story Lon… and so well written and fun to read! Good job and thank you!
Hello from Colorado!
I recently came across a small black metal object in the shape of a coal bucket with Star 60 Ashland KY in white letters on the front. It was in a box of my grandmothers things.
She was born in Joplin, Mo but she lived in Picher, OK as a young wife and mother. I assumed it was a memento from a mine in the OK area. For some reason I just googled Star 60 Ashland and found your story! Now I know where it’s from. Maybe she went on a trip to Ashland or maybe my grandfather was there. Who knows.
What years was the restaurant in business?
Hope you get this since the original post was 5 years ago. It’s a wonderful love story!
Pat W
Colorado
Hi Pat,
I do not have exact dates for the operation of Star 60, but it was likely from the mid 1950’s to the mid 1970’s.
Where are you in Colorado, I am in Estes Park? I am typically in Estes Park for several months each year.
Enjoy! Lon