Buxton Wonders

The Buxton Wonders was a small club of black baseball players formed in Buxton, Iowa running from approximately 1900 to 1920.[1]

Undated team photo of the Buxton Wonders

Buxton, Iowa was a company town founded by the Consolidation Coal Company in 1900. It remained a productive coal mining town until at least 1919. During many of those years, the company and town were host to the Buxton Wonders. The team also toured much of Iowa and the surrounding states.

In 1909, The Buxton Wonders won one game and lost one game in Buxton, Iowa against the Chicago Union Giants, facing pitchers, "the Lyons brothers" Jimmie Lyons and Bennie Lyons.[2] The Wonders were one of few teams to beat the Chicago Union Giants that year, where the team won 46 out of 56 games played.[2] The Union Giants appear to be regular visitors to Buxton's team. [3]

George L. Neal, Richard S. Lee, Washington[4] and Riley Sales[5] are often listed as the managers of the Buxton Wonders, and list the team address as 34 East Fourth Street in Buxton, Iowa. [6]

A partial team list includes:

  • Charles Adams, 1909[7]
  • Mule Armstrong
  • Blair [8]
  • George Bowman
  • Bremner, 1903, Second Base[9]
  • Herman Brooks, 1903, Right Field[9]
  • Frenchy Brown, 1903, First Base[9]
  • Clinne Carter, 1910, Short Stop[5]
  • John Cross, 1910, Catcher[5]
  • Higbee, 1905, Pitcher[4]
  • Ed Lee
  • Richard S. Lee, 1910, Manager[5]
  • McBridge
  • George L. Neal, 1903-1911, 2nd Baseman, Short Stop[5][9]
  • L. Nichols, 1909[7]
  • Lefty Pangburn
  • C. Rhodes, 1903, Left Field[9]
  • J. Rhodes, 1903-1905, Center Field[4]
  • Martin O. Russell, 1903, Catcher[10][9]
  • Steel, 1903, Pitcher[9]
  • Walter Taylor [8]
  • Cliff Wallace, 1910, Catcher[5]
  • Washington, 1903, Third Base[9]
  • Watkins
  • Robert Weaver, 1910, Left Field[5]
  • Dee Williams
  • Adolph Wilson, 1910[5]
  • Horace Wilson, 1910[5]
  • Skinny Wilson
  • E. Wise, 1905, Catcher[4]

In 1938, the Federal Writers Project Guide to Iowa reported that the site of Buxton was abandoned and that the locations of Buxton's former "stores, churches and schoolhouses are marked only by stakes." Every September, hundreds of former Buxton residents met on the former town's site for a reunion.[11]

The abandoned Buxton town was the subject of archaeological survey in the 1980s which investigated the economic and social aspects of material culture of African Americans in Iowa.[12]

References
  1. "Mr. Johnson..." The Bystander, Des Moines, Iowa, Friday, June 25, 1920, Page 4, Column 1
  2. "Chicago Union Giants Close Successful Trip" Indianapolis Freeman, Indianapolis, IN, September 25, 1909, Page 7, Columns 3 and 4
  3. "Chicago Unions Win and Tie." Indianapolis Freeman, Indianapolis, IN Saturday, July 13, 1912, Page 4, Column 4
  4. "The Brownies Won" Iowa State Bystander, Des Moines, Iowa, Friday, July 14, 1905, Page 1, Column 3
  5. "Buxton News" Iowa State Bystander, Des Moines, Iowa, Friday, November 4, 1910, Page 1, Column 3
  6. "LEADING BASEBALL CLUBS" Indianapolis Freeman, Indianapolis, IN, April 1, 1911, Page 7, Column 5
  7. "Colored Ball Players Fight" Ottumwa Tri-Weekly Courier, Ottumwa, Iowa, Saturday, August 14, 1909, Page 3, Column 6
  8. "Chariton News" Ottumwa Tri-Weekly Courier, Ottumwa, Iowa, July 4, 1908, Page 3, Column 7
  9. "Saylor Outclassed" Evening Times-Republican, Marshalltown, Iowa, Wednesday, August 5, 1903
  10. "Scandia, Iowa News" Iowa State Bystander, Des Moines, Iowa, Page 1, Column 7
  11. Federal Writers' Project, The WPA Guide to 1930's Iowa, Viking Press, 1938, reprinted by the University of Iowa Press, 1986; page 81.
  12. Gradwohl, David M., and Nancy M. Osborn (1984) Exploring Buried Buxton. Iowa State University Press, Ames, Iowa.
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