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town had "come to the fore", just as much as the new level of construction had demonstrated. Large gardens are an equally prevalent element in the older section of town, which speaks to the fact that miners and their families depended heavily on their own food production during the summer lay-off periods. The population in 1909 was 3,200, a.f gure which becomes more significant when one considers that the town was not des- ignated a city of the second class until 1962, when its popula- tion had climbed back to just exceed 2,500. This is another testimonial to the dramatic end to boom conditions following the strike of 1910-14, heightened by the inter -war growth slow down and the energy switch from coal to gas and oil. The strike did, however, ironically produce its own partic- ular construction development. Although small communities had earlier sprang up around individual mines like the Monarch and the Sunnyside, the Northern Coal and Coke Company began build- ing new structures at the Hecla Mine in 1910 to shelter the striker breakers it had brought in. Twenty-six cottages, a boarding house, and even a "casino" (now a farmhouse) were built. For the town as a whole, construction declined noticeably. Only one addition, Kimberly (platted in 1911), was developed af- ter the strike had begun. The older part of town continues to exhibit the boundary limitations of its pre -strike additions. The prolonged strike years seem to have had the inadvertent effect of protecting the existing structures from demolition or new development which might have attended unchecked rapid pros- perity. Instead many buildings have been altered and reused, or in the case of domestic housing, added onto. However, a num- ber of buildings have been lost through subsidence, as mentioned, or fire. A major fire on Main St, in 1926 demolished several buildings on the east side of the 800 block from the corner to the present location of Louisville Furniture. The historic Stein- baugh hardware and original blacksmith shops were also lost to fire in 1974 on Front St. Isolated examples of more modern architectural styles were built in the aftermath of the strike years. The popular bungalow,