Map of Lovilia city

Lovilia is a city in Monroe County, Iowa, United States. The population was 472 at the time of the 2020 census.

Lovilia city overview:
Name:	Lovilia city
LSAD Code:	25
LSAD Description:	city (suffix)
State:	Iowa
County:	Monroe County
Elevation:	915 ft (279 m)
Total Area:	0.52 sq mi (1.35 km²)
Land Area:	0.52 sq mi (1.35 km²)
Water Area:	0.00 sq mi (0.00 km²)
Total Population:	472
Population Density:	904.21/sq mi (349.25/km²)
ZIP code:	50150
Area code:	641
FIPS code:	1946830
GNISfeature ID:	0458647

Online Interactive Map

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Lovilia online map. Source: Basemap layers from Google Map, Open Street Map (OSM), Arcgisonline, Wmflabs. Boundary Data from Database of Global Administrative Areas.

Lovilia location map. Where is Lovilia city?

Lovilia location on the U.S. Map. Where is Lovilia city. — Lovilia location on the U.S. Map.

Lovilia location on the Iowa map. Where is Lovilia city. — Location of Lovilia in Iowa.

History

Lovilla was laid out in 1853.

Coal was known north and south of Lovilia in the early 1900s, and there were scattered “country mines” in the area.

On March 30, 1953, there was a dust explosion at the O’Brien Mine, a coal mine near Lovilia. Two men, including the mine foreman, were in the mine to fire the black-powder shots at the end of the work shift. Both were killed in the blast. Volunteers from Lovilia went into the mine and brought out the bodies, and then the owner of the O’Brien mine, along with three officials of a nearby mine and an employee went underground to investigate. Of the five, only two survived; the others were overcome by bad air. The ensuing investigation determined that the dust explosion was caused by a blow-out in two of the blasted holes. A blow-out occurs when the force of the explosion blows the stemming out of a hole instead of breaking up the surrounding material. In the case of the O’Brien mine, the stemming used was a mix of coal dust and clay.

In 1972, the Lovilia Coal Company was operating one of the last two underground coal mines in Iowa. The mine employed 21 workers and produced 245,000 tons of coal that year. This was a room and pillar mine.

In 1985, the Star Coal Company of Lovilia was the largest employer in Monroe County, Iowa, with 150 employees. Coal production was 500,000 tons per year, about 80 percent of Iowa’s total coal production.