Update! This article was updated in 2013. To read the latest, click here!
I love ghost towns. All ghost towns have a fascinating history, and this one in Schoper, Illinois is no different. It’s the real deal – a boom town that went bust and literally disappeared off the map.
It started in 1918, when Standard Oil of Indiana placed a $1 million order with Sears Roebuck and Company for 192 Honor-Bilt homes. Standard Oil purchased the houses for their workers in Carlinville, Wood River and Schoper, Illinois. Of those 192 houses, 156 landed in Carlinville, 12 were built in Schoper and 24 went to Wood River.
Standard Oil was grateful for the dandy little houses, as is evidenced by this thank-you note that they wrote to Sears.
This appeared on the back pages of the Sears Modern Homes catalogs for many years.
In Schoper, Illinois (about 8 miles from Carlinville), the 12 houses were built for the coal miners at a colliery that would become known as “Schoper Mine.”
Prior to the arrival of Standard Oil, this site had been a typical early 20th Century farm with one old house and a few outbuildings. By the late 1910s, more than 1000 people were living in “Schoper” and in 1920, the 500-acre farm was incorporated as a village and named Standard City.
Standard Oil needed a steady supply of coal to fuel the stills that refined the crude oil into gasoline. Carlinville and Schoper were ideal locations because of the seven-foot thick vein of coal, and also because of its location. The Chicago and Alton rail line ran between Standard Oil’s refineries in Wood River (near St. Louis) and Whiting, Indiana (near Chicago).
Providing homes to workers was a proven tact for creating a more stable workforce, and also attracted “family men,” who were more desirable employees for a plethora of reasons. And in these pre-OSHA days, it was a nice bonus. Mining was horribly dangerous, and an article in the Macoupin County Enquirer (dated September 19, 1923) said that 18 miners died that year in Macoupin County, which was in line with the national average of “one [miner] fatality per 279,354 tons of coal produced.”
Schoper was – at its peak – the largest coal mine in the state of Illinois, employing 650 men and hoisting up to 4,000 tones of coal each day. About 450 men worked at the Berry Mine (Carlinville), producing about 2,000 tons of coal per day.
Times were good. In the early 1920s, Schoper miners worked about 298 days per year, while nationwide, most coal miners were working about 200 days per year.
By the mid-1920s, the boom had gone bust. The price of coal dropped precipitously after The Great War (1918), and Standard Oil could now buy their coal from non-union Kentucky mines far cheaper than they could mine it in Macoupin County.
In July 1925, a small column on the bottom page of the Macoupin County Enquirer said the mine was closed for good.
Nine of the 12 little Sears Houses went out the way they came in: In pieces and loaded on a boxcar. They were disassembled (which must have been a massive project, but probably provided work for a few idle coal miners), and shipped by train to destinations unknown. Two of the Sears Homes were moved intact, to sites just outside of Standard City. The last Sears House at Schoper (The Sears Gladstone) was home to John McMillan and his wife, a supervisor with the mine. After the mine closed, he became a caretaker making sure the powerful fans kept the methane down to acceptable levels.
McMillan’s little Gladstone eventually became rental property and burned down sometime in the mid-1990s. The last remnant at the site was the Schoper Powerhouse and Mine Offices, a massive concrete structure which was torn down in Summer 2003.
There’s something about this former boom town that is compelling and even haunting. Driving into Standard City, you turn onto Mine Road to reach the site of the old mine, or hang a left for Cinder Road (made from old cinders). And then there’s Pershing Street, undoubtedly named for General John “Black Jack” Pershing, WW1 hero and commander of the American Expeditionary Force. Another street is Rice Street, probably named for Charles Rice, who handled real estate acquisitions for Standard Oil.
Standing on the plat land beside the abandoned, vandalized powerhouse, gazing out at Schoper Lake, you can close your eyes and almost hear the steam whistle signaling the end of a shift. Listen, really listen, and maybe you’ll hear the metal cables of the hoist groan and creak as a steel cage raises three dozen coal-blackened minders from 440 feet below grade.
Einstein said, “To those of us who are committed physicists, the past, present and future are only illusion, however persistent.”
Nowhere in my experiences have I intuitively felt that this illusion of time is more fragile and ethereal than at the site of Schoper Mine. And you if you’re not a romantic/tangential/historical fanatic dream (as I am), but just someone who enjoys visiting towns that boomed and busted, it’s still worth the trip.
Just don’t speed and don’t litter and don’t tromp on the crops. Standard City is still home to about 100 folks, and they (rightfully so) love their community.
To read more about Carlinville’s kit homes, click here.
The above was excerpted from The Houses That Sears Built. To buy the book, click here.
To read about a fascinating ghost town in Virginia, click here.
Enjoy the photos below!
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One of the only known photos of the Sears Homes in Schoper, Illinois. Note that the Sears Homes shown here have tar-paper roofs. After Schoper closed down, the houses were "wrecked" (deconstructed) and put back in railroad cars and shipped on down the line. Two of the houses were moved intact to other locations.
Picture of Mine 1 at Schoper, taken from the 1921 Stanolind Record
Vintage picture of the Schoper Powerhouse, also from the 1921 Stanolind Record. The Schoper powerhouse consumed more than 60 tons of coal per day. The smokestack was 213 feet tall and was the second highest point in all of Macoupin County. The highest point was the spire atop the Macoupin County courthouse.
This picture appeared in the 1921 Sears Modern Homes catalog, promoting their wonderful little kit homes. It was labeled "Schopper" (sic) but in fact, it's a street view of the 24 Sears Homes in Wood River. The houses in Schoper were laid out on three streets in groups of four houses per street. Further, Sears didn't seem to know how to spell "Schoper."
The Schoper Powerhouse, photographed in 2002, about a year before it was torn down. This building also houses offices for the Schoper Mine.
Another view of the Schoper Powerhouse. When completed in 1919, this powerhouse supplied electricity to the 12 Sears Homes (just across the street). In November 1919, the city of Carlinville authorized spending $2,056 to run underground electrical lines from the Schoper powerhouse to Berry Mine in Carlinville, electrifying that mine as well.
When Schoper was created in the late 1910s, a creek that ran through an area beside the powerhouse was damned to create a seven-acre, 40-foot-deep lake - which became known as Schoper Lake. Underground pipes drafted water from the lake to the powerhouse for the steam engines. It was claimed that the six dynamos in this powerhouse had the potential to create enough electricity for the entire state of Illinois.
This photo was taken in 2002, and it shows that all the remains of John McMillan's Gladstone is a little dip in the soil and a short piece of driveway.
To read more about the largest order in the history of Sears homes, click here.
To buy Rose’s book, click here.
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Rose,
Really enjoyed this article and photos. Remember meeting you at Carlinville Library and our research together. Especially recall interviewing Bob Mulenbrook. What a nice man.
Where are you located now? Glad to see you are still writing. I am widowed, having lost Frank in Jan., 2012.
Anxious to hear from you.
Why Carolyn Bettis, what a joy to hear from you!!!
I will never forget meeting you at the library and how much you helped me with that first book. Do you remember that you read the first draft? And I remember that you pointed out that I misspelled “wreak” (as in “wreak havoc”).
And boy was I grateful for that!!
So yes, I remember you very well and above all, I remember being very impressed with you, and thinking that you were a real class act, and someone I’d like to emulate.
BTW, check your email. 😀
Rose
I was fascinated to stumble upon you history of Schoper/Standard City. I am the youngest grandchild of John and Margaret McMillian. Their youngest daughter, Marion, was my mother.
It was fascinating to see the pictures of the places Mom spoke of when sharing childhood memories. I found the article shortly before her death and was able to share the pictures with her.
She was thrilled to see the “places of her youth”. What a blessing…thank you!!
I was facinated to stumble upon your history of Schoper/Standard City. I am the youngest grandchild of John and Margaret McMillian. Their youngest daughter, Marion, was my mother. It was fascinating to see the pictures of the places Mom spoke of when sharing childhood memories. I found the article shortly before her death and was able to share the pictures with her. She was thrilled to see the “places of her youth”. What a blessing…thank you!!
Thanks so much for your comment, Sandy. I’m so very grateful to hear this happy news! I spend a lot of time writing this blog, and I often wonder, is anyone getting a blessing from all this work? Thanks again!
Is anyone getting a blessing?!
My dear Rosie, you’ve most certainly improved my knowledge of historical architecture!!! At age 53, I am needing to keep the mind stimulated, and I’m beginning to recognize possible kit/plan book houses in my area.
I can see where you could go with this knowledge of yours — perhaps a version of Trivial Pursuit, or as I’ve already recommended, a registry of these homes if such doesn’t already exist.
Many blessings to you for digging up so much history!
Gemma, I love the Trivial Pursuit idea and as far as the registry goes there is one and it is hosted and updated by another Sears group that was started by people that believes in finding and keeping a list of Sears and other kit and plan book houses unlike Rose’s Sears House group.
By the way the other group is compromised mainly be defectors or people who were blocked by Rose or one of her admins for having a difference of opinion.
Rose’s reply.
Yikes! That’s a little harsh, Mr. Haynes!
In the last two years, I’ve lost more than a half-dozen dear friends to death, and I’ve also buried my own husband. Such things really help you re-order life and its priorities. Kit homes are a fun bit of history, but they’re really not THAT important.
Simply put, I won’t engage in pettiness or bickering on this site.
I started that Facebook group (“Sears Kit Homes”) many years ago with 12 members and it certainly has blossomed in the intervening time. These last 18 months, it’s been a lovely blessing in my life.
I agree with my good friend Rose and her comment “Kit homes are a fun bit of history, but they are really not that important.” With over thirty years of research into the subject I am still interested in kit homes but career, family and life reset my priorities as time passed.
Mr. Haynes failed to provide the link to his website documenting the kit homes in his area, which no doubt he found using the old analog books written by Katherine Cole Stevenson, Rebecca Hunter, Robert Schweitzer, Rosemary Thornton, Dale Wolicki and many other authors that predate the internet era.
In other words, mind your elders and your manners, Mr. Haynes.
I love the hunt for these old houses.
I have enjoyed many hours online looking up anything I could find about them. I wasn’t the first and won’t be the last. I know that people like Dale, and Rosemary, that put in the effort to share the knowledge they’ve acquired deserve my gratitude.
They spent their time and money traveling and researching before the internet and they were gracious enough to document and share what they found.
They are owed a great deal of thanks from me as I would not have been able to enjoy this hobby nearly as much without their efforts.
Other researchers like Rachel that spend their money on catalogs and willingly share them with the world so that this history isn’t lost also deserve a lot of thanks. So thank you all.
Thanks so much for the kind words, Mark!
I see that my last blog was almost six weeks ago. I’ve just lost that loving feeling. That, and I’ve had some other things on my mind.
But your kind comments might just spur me to write another blog! 😀
Thanks again.
@Sandy Hendricks
I saw your note regarding Standard City which is where my mother grew up in the 1920-1940 era. Her maiden name was Valeria Mikalauski.
Her parents were William and Cassie. My mother passed in 2013. Her brother Joe passed in 1996.
Her sister, Emma (Amelia) is still alive and just turned 99. She is living in the LA area with her daughter. I still have a few cousins in the Standard City and Carlinville area, too.
It’s great to connect with someone who shares something of my mother’s history.