How did Coal Mine Road in Kansas City get its name? A failed company and a ghost town

For this installment of “What’s Your KCQ?,” the joint project of the Kansas City Public Library and The Star, the Missouri Valley Special Collections staff tackles this reader question:

How did Coal Mine Road get its name?

One reader noticed a short stretch of street named Coal Mine Road near the Blue River and Eastwood Park and wondered if it was named for an actual coal mine. Not only was there a mine in the area, but also a now forgotten town that trusted its future to the mine’s success. Both were short-lived.

In the early 1880s, geologist John A. Gallaher found traces of a coal bed along Brush Creek. At the same time, real estate developer George W. Neumer settled near the find. Gallaher and a group of investors sank a coal shaft along Brush Creek about one and a half miles south of Leeds and started mining as the Kansas City Clay and Coal Co. While observing the progress of the mine, Neumer dreamed of establishing a town to capitalize on its success. He bought up land around 43rd Street and Indiana Avenue and named the area Cedar Springs.

The company didn’t last long, though. Due to poor ventilation in the mines and Gallaher missing a payday, his workers went on strike and came close to hanging him in 1894. The mine closed and its property and assets were sold off later that year. Consequently, Cedar Springs became a ghost town and faded from memory. By 1900, the mine reopened as the Brush Creek Coal Mining Co. Continued poor management and working conditions caused the mine to be closed permanently shortly thereafter.

In 1916, a Kansas City Star article reported that a delegation of area farmers had asked the city to grade what had become known as Coal Mine Road, described at the time as one of the oldest roads in Jackson County.

Have a question of your own? Email kcq@kcstar.com or visit kclibrary.org/kcq.

This story was originally published June 18, 2021 at 5:00 AM.