San Toy, Ohio

San Toy is a ghost town in southeastern Bearfield Township, Perry County, Ohio, Perry County, Ohio, United States. A flourishing community in the early 20th century, it was a coal town created by the Sunday Creek Coal Company.

Remains of a wall in San Toy
Location of San Toy, Ohio

History

San Toy quickly outgrew its coal mining town size. At its peak, it had a baseball team, several saloons, a theater, a hospital, a post office, and many other various stores and schools. San Toy was practically a relic from the Wild West that grew out of the Appalachian foothills. It was a rough town where people frequently died in the saloons and streets. There were many deadly mining accidents as well. According to Addison Vanhorn, a local, "It was a tough place. If you took a walk up the railroad tracks with a lantern, somebody'd shoot it out." San Toy was a big moonshine town during the prohibition era.

On September 25, 1924, a group of disgruntled miners rolled a coal cart full of burning railroad ties into a mine. The subsequent fire destroyed the theater and hospital. The other mine in the town was closed down by Sunday Creek rather than update it.

Decline

According to the 1930 census, San Toy was the town in the United States whose population had decreased the most per capita since the previous census (976 in 1920 to just 128 in 1930).[1] In 1931, 17 of the 19 registered voters voted to abandon the town. Today approximately 50 people live in the area that was once San Toy. Many foundations and roads of the once busy town remain. A local road is named in its honor.

References
  1. 1930 Census of Population and Housing, Volume I, 857. United States Census Bureau, 1930; accessed 2009-08-26.
  • Ben Hayes, San Toy: A Ghost Town in the Hocking Valley Coal Fields (Ohio Folklore Society, 1959)

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