Benham is such a compact town (built in a circle by International Harvester around 1911) it is reflected in the rear view mirror before you realize you’ve been there, and a humble little thrift shop on the main street will hardly catch your eye. But if you care to stop and step inside, you'll find a group of ladies that can tell you a thing or two about turning a struggling coal town into a community their residents are proud of once again. They'll also tell you about the reputation they earned in the process.
At first, the term "Petticoat Mafia" evokes the image of a group of Annie Oakleys wearing leather and toting machine guns. None of these women, who call themselves the "Benham Garden Club" (a kindlier, gentler term that disguises their assertive approach to making change) live up to that description. In fact, many of the women in the Garden Club are retired or widowed, with graying hair and sweet smiles. Their determination, however, is made of steel.
But Benham was struggling to make ends meet, with too little funding for a new police car, much less the kinds of changes the Garden Club wanted. A town council member suggested they have a yard sale to raise money, but the women didn't think it was a good long term solution or lucrative enough to meet the financial demands of their plans.
So, they commandeered an empty city building with a leaky roof and no windows. They poured $10,000 into renovation, a debt quickly paid in full after the Garden Club opened its thrift shop, which began turning profits as high as $3,000 monthly.
However, the Garden Club's plans for improving the town weren't congruent with those of the existing town council; coincidentally, election year loomed close. Club members Thelma Brock and Wanda Humphrey decided to run for town council. Brock's daughter, Betty Howard – retired after 27 years as city clerk – ran for mayor. None were sure they'd win; in fact, Pauline Flanary says she simply "ran for luck" when she secured her seat on the council several years earlier. But as luck and enough votes would have it, the women won, and Betty Howard became the first female mayor in Benham’s history.
"We had a big day," Brock says of the park's opening, adding that all of the construction debt was paid in full by opening day. A marble wall now spans the length of the park, where families may purchase space in memory of loved ones lost to the mines.
Chiefly composed of women, the town council was quickly nicknamed "The Petticoat Government." But their successful moneymaking strategies, which included the thrift shop and bean suppers, as well as their no-holds-barred approach to asking for financial help from government agencies resulted in a new identity: "The Petticoat Mafia." The lone male member of the town council, Sanford Baskin, was aptly named "The Godfather" of the group.
With support from the growing Garden Club, the new council was able to dissolve the town's debt. The groups worked together to buy a state-of-the-art fire truck, maintenance trucks and a snowplow, just to name a few necessary items that were long overdue in Benham. Additionally, they created another park to commemorate Benham's war veterans.
Still, for all their hard work and achievements, there were sour grapes among the ranks. Howard says that because so many women held positions of power for the first time in Benham's history, the town's police officer, water plant operator, sewer plant operator and city clerk quit. But the Petticoat Mafia bounced back, gaining six police officers with a federal grant, along with three licensed water and sewer operators, and a new city clerk.
Communities hundreds of miles away began to take notice of what the Petticoat Mafia and Garden Club had accomplished together. Howard even traveled to New York to give a speech where she mentioned their hometown Mafia.
"Our Mafia didn't go over good in New York," Thelma Brock chuckles. "They've got a real Mafia there."
After eight years of service, the Petticoat Mafia relinquished their seats to a new council in 1999, but Betty Howard continues to serve as Benham's mayor, and the Garden Club continues to offer financial support to town projects when needed. In fact, the Petticoat Mafia's last official act was the purchase of a new police car.
"Togetherness is the best thing," Howard says of the recipe for Benham 's success. "And you have to be for the city. They don't have a personal agenda," she says of the Garden Club. "They don't say 'we want such-and-such on our street'."
"No one has an office here," Mary Creech chimes in, gesturing toward the thrift shop. "We all live on streets named for trees, so we say we have many branches," she adds with a chuckle.
In the best of working conditions, however, "togetherness" can still wear on the nerves. The women joke about firing each other and building pouting rooms in their thrift shop, but their love for each other and dedication to the community is unyielding.
"We've been accused of wasting our efforts, and we've been underestimated," Howard says with a smile. But the Garden Club always manages to accomplish what they set out to do, an ability they attribute to effective "long-range planning."
“We’ve had a good time,” Thelma Brock says, “but we’re not finished yet.”
Indeed, their plans for Benham remain ambitious. The Garden Club has set its sights on restoring the majestic coal company theater, and recently uncovered the plans for the company clubhouse, built in 1920 and now used by the town as a gathering place for bluegrass music on Friday nights.
Nona Elliot, who first envisioned the Coal Miner's Memorial Park, has an idea for an ice cream parlor in the clubhouse. Thelma Brock pats her arm. "One thing at a time," she says, "but we'll get it done."
An outsider might wonder how the women remain so dedicated to their cause.
“Well, I don’t like housework,” Thelma Brock quips as she rings up a customer, “so why not do this?”
But a 1944 International Harvester publication insists that the town was renamed for a nearby mountain ridge when it was built by the company in 1911. Whatever the origin of its name, Benham promotes its history as a coal town to tourists. The area's attractions, as well as the efforts of the Benham Garden Club, draw an increasing number of visitors each year to the following sights:
• Kentucky Coal Mining Museum. Located in the heart of Benham, the museum is housed in the old company commissary. Three levels of exhibits feature relics of Benham's coal past. The ground floor includes a gift shop. On the third floor is the "Coal Miner's Daughter Exhibits of Loretta Lynn." The newest exhibit, The Mock Mine, is locate d in the basement offering a brief walking tour along "coal corridors" with audio and video from present-day mines. Contact: 606/848-1530.
• Benham Schoolhouse Inn. Across the museum, atop a hill overlooking downtown Benham, is the Schoolhouse Inn, which was built in 1926 as a school for the coal camp children. It retains the charm of an aged school while providing all the luxuries of a warm mountain inn, and is one of the premier tourist stops in the region. There are 32 guestrooms, a grand ballroom and the Apple Room Restaurant. Contact: 100 Central Ave., Benham, Ky. 606/848-3000.
• The Portal #31 Mine Tour. Visitors can see the workings of a Kentucky coal mine, along with the machinery that was part of the operation. An outside walking tour features a granite memorial in memory of United Mine Workers president John L. Lewis, and a memorial to U.S. Steel District Workers who fell victim to the mine. Additionally, visitors can tour a 1920s lamp house, L&N depot and the portal of a mine that reaches 13 1/2 miles into the mountain. A special project featuring an underground mine tour is currently under construction. Contact: 606/848-1530.