The Company Town that Outlived the Company: Haydenville, Ohio

Abstract

The company town is often an ephemeral phenomenon on the landscape. When the mine or factory closes, the town closes too, and its houses are removed or left to decay. A few company towns survive the removal of their economic base. Haydenville, in the Hocking Valley of southeast Ohio, has physically changed little since the boom days of the clay products industry. Its founder, Columbus industrialist Peter Hayden, wanted to build a self-contained community where employees and their families would live, work, play and worship together. The kiln-dried building tiles and conduit made at the company plants were used to build family houses, a church, post office, community center and store. The generally benevolent rule of the company gave the town social cohesion. When the plants closed in the 1960s, many families chose to stay in Haydenville, buying the company houses they had rented. Although the town has lost the sense of community that a single employer provided, most of the houses and public buildings still stand today—a striking testimonial to Haydenville's industrial past.