Carbondale, one of the principal towns of Osage county, is located in Ridgeway township on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. 16 miles north of Lyndon, the county seat. It has churches, public schools, banking facilities, and all the main lines of mercantile activity. A good quality of coal is mined in the vicinity. The town is supplied with express and telegraph offices and a money order postoffice with four rural routes. The population in 1910 was 461.

The town was founded in 1869 by a company composed of T. J. Peter, J. F. Dodds, C. P. Dodds and L. R. Adams. The first buildings were erected by the Carbon Coal company and consisted of houses for the miners and a store for provisions. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. had reached this point before the town was started, and mining was begun at once on the Dodds farm half a mile from the railroad. A postoffice was established and C. P. Dodds, the railroad agent, was made postmaster. He opened a store the next year and did a flourishing business. The growth of the town was very rapid for a time, several mines being in operation. In 1881 a tragedy occurred in connection with the burning of the shaft in W. L. Green's mine in which nine men lost their lives from suffocation and fire damp. Three of those who were killed belonged to the rescue party.

Carbondale was incorporated as a city of the third class on Oct. 15, 1872. The first mayor was C. C. Moore; clerk, A. V. Sparhawk; treasurer, J. R. Cowen; police judge, J. S. Conwell; marshall, E. Platt; councilmen, M. T. Perrine, E. W. Teft, George Mullan, S. S. Stackhouse and G. W. Luman.