MONROE COUNTY, Iowa — What's left of Buxton, Iowa is easy to miss. The town sits off a minimum-maintenance road in Monroe County. Many Iowans might not have even heard of it.
"One conversation I had with my grandmother mentioned that her father ran this store in Buxton, the general store," Martha Boesenberg said. "And so I was fascinated to come and hear about this."
Despite her family connection, Boesenberg didn't know much about the town. That's what brought her out to the North Side Library in Des Moines—author Rachelle Chase has written two books on Buxton, and she was happy to share what makes the community so special.
"There's no segregation, there's equal access to opportunities, jobs, etc," Chase said. "So you have this happening in this small town in Iowa in 1900, where this is not the norm for that time period."
Buxton was majority Black—as much as 55% of the population. At a time of widespread segregation, the town was largely unique for being almost completely integrated. Black and white miners lived and worked alongside one another.
Chase's presentation inspired Boesenberg to do even more digging on her family's connection to the town.
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"Going to look at my great grandmother's obituary, if I can find it, and find out about what her father's name was, and which side of the family was involved in the Buxton general store," Boesenberg said.
More than 100 years later, Chase said there's still a lot to learn from the mining town.
"Buxton had a level playing field. So of course, we can learn from that," she said. "We can also learn what happens when people are allowed to just thrive, to rise to be leaders, to live the life that they want to have."
Buxton was once home to several noteworthy Iowans including E.A. Carter, the first Black graduate of the University of Iowa College of Medicine, and George H. Woodson. Woodson co-founded the Niagara Movement, which eventually became the NAACP.
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