Betty Shaffer takes a photo of the information sheet for the Brass and Wire coal mine on Collar Price Road, a stop on the Brookfield History Discovery Trail. At left is Kim Krieger.
Kim Kreiger stands in a vehicle pull-off area on Collar Price Road.
It’s an open area with a slight rise to the east that leads to a beaver pond, with woods up the slope beyond. She is trying to picture what this site looked like in the 1870s and 1880s when the Brass and Wire coal mine was operational in the area. The Brookfield Historical Society has posted an old photo of the coal-mining operation to help her and others like her visualize what once was.
The mine was a drift mine, meaning the miners tunneled horizontally into the hillside to extract coal, which powered the Shenango Valley’s industrial development.
“It’s so cool to learn the history and see what it’s been,” said Kreiger, of Washington., D.C.
Kreiger is not from Brookfield and only has friends here, but every time she visits those friends, one of them, Jan Arnaut, vice president of the historical society, has “some little ditty” about Brookfield to interest her, she said.
Kreiger was one of about 30 people on nine teams to participate in the society’s History Discovery Trail on July 19. It was a race – the first one to complete the trail won a prize – but it also was a way to highlight part of the the rich history of Brookfield. Other stops were the Arthurholt mill site on Custer Orangeville Road, Jennings Manufacturing on Standard Avenue, the Osbourne mausoleum in Brookfield Township Cemetery and Idlewild Park, an amusement park that existed in the area northwest of what is now Route 62 and Standard Avenue, in the early 1900s
The event was delayed a day due to the Canadian wild fire smoke, but July 19 was sunny, not too hot and clear.
“It was a good day, overall, said society President Barb Stevens. “Everybody had fun.”
The society collected an entrance fee, accepted donations and sold copies of two books, Elizabeth’s Boozer’s “History in Our Back Yard” and Joe Tarkanick’s “The Brookfield That Was.”
“It was a nice little fundraiser,” Stevens said.
The Giglio family won the competition but donated the prize – lottery tickets – back to the society.
The society is looking to hold more history trails in the future, Stevens said.
The society resumes its monthly meetings at 7 p.m. Sept. 10 at the Brookfield Township Administration Building, 6844 Strimbu Drive. Belinda Weiss, historian and director of the National McKinley Birthplace Memorial Museum, Niles, will discuss President William McKinley’s military service.
The society’s Facebook page is at “Brookfield Twp Historical Society/Ohio.”
