Biohazard Cleanup Near Van Lear Historic District Van Lear, KY

Van Lear is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Johnson County, Kentucky, a historic coal town along Miller's Creek about six miles southeast of Paintsville.

Van Lear was built by the Consolidation Coal Company (Consol) and named for Van Lear Black, a Consol director; it owes its existence to John Caldwell Calhoun Mayo, who assembled the local coal rights that were eventually sold to Consol.

Consol built five miles of railroad into the property, and five underground mines operated in Van Lear from 1910 through 1946, worked around the clock by Appalachian, Irish, Italian, and Slavic miners and by Black and white miners together in integrated crews.

During the coal boom years Van Lear's population surpassed 4,000, and the 1930 census counted 2,338 residents.

Van Lear was first incorporated in 1912, but its charter was later dissolved; it was briefly incorporated again from 1991 to 1996 and is unincorporated today.

Consol merged with the Pittsburgh Coal Company in 1945 and divested its Miller's Creek holdings, giving residents of company-owned houses the first chance to buy their homes, while most of the major company buildings were torn down.

As of the 2020 census, the Van Lear CDP had a population of 893, spread over about 4.1 square miles.

Butcher Hollow, known locally as Butcher Holler and lying within Van Lear, is the birthplace and childhood home of country singer Loretta Lynn; her family homeplace is now a museum.

Loretta Lynn celebrated the Van Lear mines in her song "Coal Miner's Daughter" and in the title track of her album Van Lear Rose, and the town is also referenced in Dwight Yoakam's "Miner's Prayer" and Tyler Childers' "Coal."

Local landmarks include the Coal Miners' Museum and the Mine No. 5 Store, also known as Webb's Store and owned by Loretta Lynn's family.