Himlerville: Hungarian Cooperative Mining in Kentucky - The Filson ...

540 The Filson Club History Quarterly [October
company were $4,500 owed to Martin County and $4,000 owed to
the federal government. The receivers had only $12,382 to meet
these obligations. The bankruptcy court, after considei'ing the
depressed state of the coal industry, decided that the Himler
Coal Company should be sold to pay the tax liens and first
mortgage. A date of sale was set for 10 August 1928 at 10:00
A.M. 76
Adding to the cooperative's difficulties was the closing of
the Martin-Himler State Bank on 24 June 1928. Bank affairs
were placed in the hands of H. H. Shanks, deputy state banking
commissioner for Kentucky. Shanks was ordered to liquidate
the bank's assets. Depressed coal prices were blamed for causing
the bank's failure. At the time of its failure, the Martin-Himler
State Bank, which was also a cooperative institution, had capital
stock of $25,000, a cash surplus of $6,000, and deposits of
$80,000. According to the New York Times, no depositor lost a
penny as a result of the bank's failure.
The sale of the Himler Coal Company was delayed until 10
January 1929 to provide opportunity for the Hungarians to pay
off the indebtuess. After all efforts failed, the company was
purchased at public auction by Arch Hewit, a West Virginia
coal operator who changed the company's name to the Martin
County Coal Corporation. The $65,000 he paid was a fraction
of the company's actual worth. Two days after the sale Hewit
sent a work crew to repair the property in preparation for
resuming operations which had stopped in July 1928. American
workers moved into Himlerville; most of the Hungarians moved
away. Himlerville's residents scattered throughout Appalachia
and beyond. Some went to New Camp, West Virginia; South
Williamson, Kentucky; Red Jacket, Kentucky; Covington, Ken-
76 Ibld.
77 "Kentucky Bank Closes," New York Times, 25 tune 1928, p. 33 states that
Himlerville's bankruptcy was caused by "conditions in the mining industry on
which the town was dependent." For an excellent discussion of the effects of
the boom/bust coal cycle on eastern Kentucky, see Harry M. Caudill, Night
Comes to the Cumberland$, 141-215.