Looking Back

This week's Looking Back photo is the property of Marie (Ahrens) Mindrup of Alhambra. It shows the company houses at DeCamp Mine. Marie lived in the farmhouse on DeCamp Road nearest the mine until 1959. She said some remnants of the mine operation were still there when she was a young girl.

DeCamp Mine and the village that popped up around it was located south of Staunton, off of State Route 4 on DeCamp Road. The houses shown above were occupied by miners and their families. The village also had a store, tavern, boarding house, and church. The Riddel Store was converted to a private residence many years ago and is all that remains from that era.

The DeCamp Coal Mining Company was in operation from 1903 until November 1913. Supposedly, many of these houses were relocated to Staunton following the closure of DeCamp Mine – some on West Mill Street.

Marie brought in several pictures of DeCamp village and the mine operation which we will be running in future editions.