[5] In 1876, the Whitebreast Coal and Mining Company began working a 250-foot (76 m) shaft one mile (1.6 km) east of Lucas.

This proved successful, and in 1878, they platted a company town there, which they named Cleveland 41°1′57.21″N 93°26′38.71″W / 41.0325583°N 93.4440861°W / 41.0325583; -93.4440861.

By 1880, Cleveland had a population of 380, and the first mine was producing 650 to 700 tons of coal per day by the labor of 280 miners and 33 mule drivers.

[9] The Big Hill mine in Lucas worked a 4-foot-thick (1.2 m) coal seam 274 feet (84 m) below the surface using room and pillar methods,[10] with a shaft not far from the Burlington station.

This mine was closed in April 1904 and stripped of equipment, but by mid-1905, plans were in place to reopen it.

[11] The reopening lasted until 1907, when the mine was again closed, as the rock directly above the coal was sandstone and it was saturated with water.

United Mine Workers local 799 was organized in Lucas in 1899; its membership was 121 in 1902, but it fell to 57 in 1907 and just 24 in 1912.

[17] The former mine site is now in the Lucas Unit of the Stephens State Forest.

The CCC established the pine and hardwood forest that now dominates this land.

[20] Lucas is located on the north bank of White Breast Creek, a tributary of the Des Moines River that flows east through the Southern Iowa drift plain.

The racial makeup of the city was 95.4% White, 0.5% African American, and 4.2% from two or more races.

28.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

26.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

About 6.9% of families and 10.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.4% of those under the age of eighteen and none of those 65 or over.