Van Lear was a sparsely populated farm community at the dawn of the 20th century. Known originally as Millers Creek, its pastoral nature was soon lost as it transformed into a thriving municipality. John C. C. Mayo, a young schoolmaster, was the force behind this development. With his geologic knowledge and his forward-looking business savvy, he foresaw the economic power of the veins of bituminous coal that lay undisturbed in much of Eastern Kentucky. Mayo and a small nucleus of businessmen acquired vast tracts of land and mineral rights. In the case of Millers Creek, these holdings were sold to a corporate behemoth, the Consolidation Coal Company (Consol). Mayo became one of Kentuckys wealthiest citizens, and Millers Creek became Van Lear.

File No. 1387

The author recalled many incidents from the history of the town. Van Lear was created by the Consolidation Coal Company to serve its new mines along Millers Creek in Johnson County, Kentucky. From 1910 to 1940, Van Lear was a prosperous community of 3,000 people. The Bankmules athletic teams, so-called from the mules that hauled coal from the coal seams or "banks", were the pride of the town. The author tells of the games and amusements enjoyed with his boyhood buddies, of lessons and school, of his friends and family, of the dark day in 1935 when a mine explosion took the lives of his father and eight other miners. He describes the town itself and the men who shaped the town. With the depletion of the coal, the town declined, and in the 1950s, Consolidation sold off all its properties and abandoned the town. A small group of individuals tried to perserve the heritage of Van Lear by the creation of a museum and a historical society, and the publication of a newsletter devoted to the town's history -- Cover pocket.