What Cheer

History

Robert Forsyth, born in Kilmarnock, Scotland, came to America in 1857, and made his way to Rock Island, Illinois, where he arrived penniless. He worked for most of a decade as a coal miner before coming to Petersburg, the future What Cheer. In the 1870s, he began buying coal lands around town, mostly on credit. When the railroad came to town, he leased his land to the coal companies and bought into a local drug store, eventually operating stores in What Cheer, Mystic and Jerome, Iowa. Other Scots from the Kilmarnock region (Ayrshire) also settled in the area. Robert Orr came in 1875 after working in the coal mines of Colchester, Illinois. His son Alexander went on a successful career as a mine owner in Mystic. The Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway (BCR&N) built a branch to What Cheer in 1879. With the arrival of the railroad, the What Cheer coalfield quickly became one of the most important coal mining centers in Iowa. The Starr Coal Company had over 200 employees and could produce 1,000 tons of coal per day. By 1883, they were operating three mines and took over several others. When, in 1884, the Chicago and North Western Railway built its line through What Cheer to Muchakinock, there was a further expansion of mining in the area. Local Assembly 1474 of the Knights of Labor was based in What Cheer and had a membership of 65 in 1884. On Oct. 15, 1884, 500 miners in What Cheer went on strike, demanding higher wages. The established wage was 3 cents per bushel, and the miners demanded an additional half cent. The state militia was put on alert, but after 6 weeks, the miners accepted a quarter-cent raise. This strike cut coal production in the What Cheer significantly. In 1886, the What Cheer Coal Company began to consolidate the local mines,…

Geography

The central business district and the larger part of the town is located on the north-east bank of Coal Creek, a tributary of the North fork of the Skunk River. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, is land and is water.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Sigourney Elementary
  Elementary · Sigourney · 323 students · 16.1:1 ratio
• Sigourney Jr-Sr High Sch
  High · Sigourney · 270 students · 14.2:1 ratio
• Tri-County JR/SR High School
  High · Thornburg · 107 students · 11.9:1 ratio
• Tri-County Elementary School
  Elementary · Thornburg · 104 students · 17.3:1 ratio