Beginner

[Rollin]

Jim, this topic has piqued my curiosity. Looking at Google maps, I find that Chauncey, OH is a small village where the Hocking River is crossed by a rail line. Do you have more info on this structure? Perhaps there's a family connection to this historical photograph?

[JimF]

No, no family in the photo.

My wife was born and grew up in Chauncey. There was a good size coal mine there, her dad was a miner there when he was young, later the head maintenance man, till the mine closed in early 50's.

He was born in 1913. By then, the Sunday Creek coal company had been taken over by the New York Coal company. The store in the picture became a privately owned store, as the NY company built a new, brick one, further south along the main street, closer to the village center. The building is gone, I don't know it's fate. Father in law did open a hardware store, on the next block south of where the new company store was. That company store building is still standing, but her dad's, and a uncle's, and gone.

The rail line through town was the New York Central, after taking over the original company. It runs basically north south, and still active under NS. The Hocking Valley Rwy ran Athens to Toledo, and was the primary coal hauler for the area. Just below Chauncey, it ran parallel to the NYC till just outside Athens, where there was a interchange yard.

Jim