A shorter tip today but hope one of interest. How many of you remember the old Tennessee Ernie Ford song which includes the lyrics "I owe my soul to the company store"? [Sixteen Tons, Tennessee Ernie Ford's hit version was recorded at Capitol Studios, Hollywood, CA, on Sep 21, 1955.] The old company store was in the company town and in the Kentucky area, was most thought of as being a coal mining area. It also applied to logging areas, railroad towns and iron mining areas. The company town was in existence before the Civil War, the earliest days are lost in the pages of history. The company town was know to exist in Britain and it's practices brought to the United States. The "boss man" normally was well off and owned the land where the natural resources lie. He important laborers from all across the known United States and began erecting small homes for them. These were called by various terms including cottages and row houses. In the New England area, company or mill towns date back to the early 1790's. In Kentucky, the earliest known town was Airdrie (1853) which was an iron-producing area. Most of the workers were Scotts on the Green River close to Paradise in Muhlenberg County and Peach Orchard (1845) was just north of Prestonburg on the Big Sand River's Levisa Fork. Normally, these company towns did not arise in a populated town area, but were set in remote areas with scant transportation and almost no communication with the outside world. Although the towns lay within a county, they fairly well had their own governmental rules and regulations and saw to it that the employees were indeed "deeper in debt" to the company. The landlord controlled most of the lives of the workers and their families, deducting rent from the paycheck for totally inadequate housing. It was up to the company officials if the "town" had schools, doctors, churches, entertainment and stores. Goods were purchased from the company store, at inflated prices, adding to the coffers of the company and employees found themselves getting further and further into debt just to provide for their families. The employee could either be paid in cash, or in scrip. The scrip was good only at one store - the company store. Exacting books were kept on each purchase and how much scrip had been spent, or owed. Eventually, the press began harping away at the living conditions of these company towns and soon everyone knew of the plight of the coal worker, the iron worker and the railroad man. Some companies were shamed into improving the housing conditions of its employees and families including Benham Lynch (Harlan County) and Jenkins (Letcher County). After 1900 many coal and railroad towns purchased their homes from Sears, Montgomery Ward and other companies which offered cheap pre-fab homes. The company officials however, lived in fancy homes on fertile land. By the end of the 1920's, coal prices plunged and improved technology in strip-mining forced the reduction of workers and the county towns became a thing of the past slowly. Most of the towns are now collapsed, destroyed or used for other purposes now. See also: Ronald Eller, Mners, Millhands and Mountaineers, Knoxville, TN, 1892. Web site: http://wells.entirety.ca/feature.htm (examples of a company town not in Kentucky) Coal Company Town in Eastern Kentucky http://www.coaleducation.org/coalhistory/coaltowns/home.htm Mining Issued In an Era of Rural Dependence (WV): http://www.dailymail.com/static/specialsections/lookingback/lb05031.htm We Owed Our Souls to the Company Store: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Trail/6793/shortstory_iowe.html (c) Copyright 20 Feb 2003, Sandra K. Gorin, All Rights Reserved. sgorin@glasgow-ky.com Col. Sandi Gorin, 205 Clements Ave., Glasgow, KY 42141 (270) 651-9114 Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/ GORIN worldconnect website: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/~sgorin SCKY resource links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html