History - Wayne County News

Wayne
County
History
A Special Supplement to
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Page 2, The Wayne County News, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2013
A Short History of Wayne
County, West Virginia
By Robert M. Thompson
The first people to call Wayne
County home were the paleoIndians who migrated into the
area thousands of years ago.
They left behind tools; primarily
spear points, which identify their
presence in the county. Over the
generations, they developed into
the Mound Builders who definitely made their homes along the
streams of Wayne County.
When the first settlers arrived,
mounds dotted the banks along
the Big Sandy and Ohio Rivers
and Twelve Pole Creek. Farmers,
needing to cultivate their land,
tore down most of the mounds,
and construction of the towns of
Ceredo and Kenova resulted in
the destruction of the rest in that
area.
The most noted mound still in
existence in Wayne County stands
in Camden Park. After many centuries, the Mound Builders developed into Indian nations like the
Shawnee, who were later forced to
move to Ohio from Wayne County
and all of West Virginia by the
Iroquois and diseases brought by
Europeans.
The first known Europeans to
set foot in Wayne County were
Mary Draper Ingles and the socalled Dutch Woman who escaped
from the Shawnee in the 1750s
and made their way home through
Wayne County. In the following
decades, they were followed by
hunters, surveyors and explorers
headed west.
The frontier period was very
active in Wayne County, thanks
to major Indian trails that ran
alongside the Big Sandy and Ohio
rivers. All of this made the county
far too dangerous to settle in, and
it was not until General Anthony
Wayne defeated the Indians at
the Battle of Fallen Timbers in
Ohio in 1794 that the first settlers
could finally make their homes in
Wayne County.
Samuel Short’s family is usually credited with being the first
settlers in Wayne County, coming
in about 1797. Like most early
settlers, the Shorts traveled down
the Big Sandy River and its tributaries. The most populated part of
the county in the early 1800s was
the Big Sandy and Tug Valley.
The territory now called Wayne
County was part of Kanawha
County starting in 1788 and
Cabell County after 1809. Finally
in 1842, the people of western
Cabell County decided to form a
new county and name it in honor
of Anthony Wayne. The county
seat was built at Trout’s Hill, now
called the town of Wayne.
Some of the early important
settlements in the county were
located at the Forks of Big Sandy,
the Forks of Twelve Pole Creek,
the mouth of Buffalo Creek, and
the mouth of Lost Creek on the
Tug River. Cassville (now Fort
Gay) became the first incorporated town in Wayne County when
it was established on December
24, 1852.
In the 1850s, several coal mining and railroad companies were
formed to begin developing Wayne
County’s natural resources. The
town of Morganza was founded on
Virginia Point where Kenova now
stands in 1855. Unfortunately, the
coming Civil War put an end to
all the development that occurred
in the 1850s.
The Town of Ceredo was established by abolitionists in 1857 to
bring an end to slavery; however,
it drew few true abolitionists. Its
main effect served to divide sentiment within the county, and by
the time the Civil War started,
half of the county supported the
North and half supported the
South. Ironically, several Wayne
County slave owners supported
the North.
During the four years of war,
Wayne County was ravaged by
Yankee and Rebel armies alike.
Two significant skirmishes, the
Battle of Wayne Courthouse and
the Battle of Murder Hollow
occurred during the war. The town
of Ceredo was nearly wiped from
the map by both armies who occupied it at different points of the
war.
By the time the war ended in
1865, more than one hundred men
from Wayne County had died.
The rest returned home to rebuild
their lives.
In the 1870s, the timber industry began to develop, and the massive Millender Mills were built
in Ceredo. The Chesapeake and
Ohio Railway was built through
northern Wayne County in the
1880s, and it was followed by the
Norfolk & Western in 1890. The
N&W cut through the Twelve Pole
Valley and opened the coal industry for the first time. It also led to
the formation of new towns like
Kenova, Lavalette, and Dunlow.
In the early 1900s, the N&W
built a second line up the Big
Sandy River through Fort Gay.
The coal industry in Wayne
County boomed during the early
1900s, especially around the town
of East Lynn. At one point, eleven
coal companies were in operation
in East Lynn at the same time.
The Great Depression hit
Wayne County hard, leading to
the temporary demise of the coal
industry. The WPA helped build
roads throughout the county, and
the CCC established Cabwaylingo
State Forest during that time period.
When World War II began,
Wayne County men did their part.
Many went off to battle and too
many did not come home. More
than a hundred men from Wayne
County died during the war. The
people of Wayne County have
always done their part to protect
their country and continued to
do so in Korea, Vietnam, Desert
Storm, Afghanistan and Iraq.
The last fifty years have seen
a changing economy in Wayne
County. The coal industry declined
from the 1960s to the 1980s; however, it was revitalized during
the 1990s. Today, mining faces
an uncertain future, and many
small businesses have gone under,
but projects such as the Prichard
Intermodal Facility provide hope
for a prosperous future.
Wayne County, West Virginia can trace its modern
history to Simon Kenton the frontiersman, who once
camped in the cane fields at the mouth of the Big Sandy
River and to the young surveyor, George Washington,
sent to Fincastle County, Virginia, to map 28,627
acres to be allotted to 61 men as pay for serving in the
French and Indian Wars.
From Washington’s survey in 1770, to Samuel Short’s
cabin at Cassville in 1796 to Stephen Kelley’s cabin at
Virginia Point in 1798 to the county seat at Trout’s Hill
in 1828, to the present day construction of Heartland
Intermodal Facility at Prichard, Wayne County has seen
its share of ups and downs.
Cassville and Trout’s Hill have survived, albeit with
different names, and along with Morganza, are facing a
difficult future.
It’s been more than 200 years of change and the rugged, tough Wayne County character has prevailed.
The following sections are but a sample of where this
county has been and just a whisper of where it’s going.
Where will Wayne County be in another 200 years?
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The Wayne County News, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2013, Page 3
From Trout’s Hill to the Wayne Courthouse
Wayne still remains center of county government
The story of the town of Wayne
began in the early 1800s as the
first settlers began to cut and
carve their way into the untouched
Twelve Pole Valley. The two
families credited with being the
first to settle in the area were the
Samuel Ferguson family and Jesse
Spurlock family.
Early on, much of the land was
owned by absentee land speculators who did not realize that
people were settling on their land.
Lawsuits were later filed, and
families who had lived on their
land for years were forced to purchase it from the speculators who
actually owned it.
In 1828, a very important development occurred when Abraham
Trout, a farmer from the Mud
River area, purchased a large farm
from Martha Sanders at a natural
waterfall on Twelve Pole Creek
just below the forks of the creek.
There Trout built a gristmill that
would operate for the next 100
years.
By the 1830s, the population in western Cabell County,
where Trout’s farm was located,
was becoming heavily populated. Beginning in 1841, petitions were sent out to form a new
county, and on January 18, 1842,
Wayne County was established
and named after General Anthony
Wayne who had forced the Indians
out of southern Ohio and made the
area safe for settlement fifty years
earlier.
Abraham Trout’s farm was
chosen as the site for the county
seat since it was located on high
ground and near the junction of
the East and West Forks of Twelve
Pole Creek. That location was
fairly easily accessible for people
who lived on either fork.
Trout immediately began dividing up his farm into lots around a
central courthouse square which is
still used for that purpose today.
The lots were sold to eager residents and businessmen who wanted to get in on the new town which
became known as Trout’s Hill.
Eventually Trout sold the remain-
der of his property and moved to
Indiana where he died.
By 1860, the town of Trout’s
Hill was home to about 100 people
including a doctor, lawyers, and
many stores. A new brick courthouse had recently been built to
replace the original log building,
and a Masonic Lodge had been
built as well.
In 1860, the people of the town
decided to give the town a new
name. Up until that time, it had
been known as Trout’s Hill and
also Wayne Courthouse. The name
Fairview was settled upon presumably because the town was
situated overlooking the valley
below. The new name remained
official until the 1900s but was
rarely used.
When Virginia seceded from
the Union in April of 1861, celebration erupted in Trout’s Hill.
A “secession flag” was raised but
was later removed under threat
of force from military forces in
Ceredo.
A Confederate military unit
called the Fairview Rifles were
formed in Trout’s Hill but soon
marched off to fight in the Kanawha
Valley. In August of 1861, the 5th
VA Infantry, a Union regiment
from Ceredo, invaded Trout’s Hill
to collect the county records and
return them to Ceredo.
Over the next few days, the
local men and boys mounted several attacks to try and take the
courthouse back from the Yankees
but to no avail. Eventually, the 5th
Virginia returned to Ceredo, but
Trout’s Hill was occupied several
more times during the war.
After the war, several attempts
at building a railroad through the
Twelve Pole Valley were made
but failed. Finally, the Norfolk &
Western came through in the early
1890s and opened the coal industry in southern Wayne County.
The railroad developed the large
bottomland on the southern part of
Trout’s Hill and built a station and
water tank for their engines.
The railroad also took the common name for the town, “Wayne
A BRIDGE BY ANY OTHER NAME – The Sansom Bridge as it looked in 1908 spanning Twelvepole
Creek at the foot of Trout’s Hill. It was later rebuilt following a nationally broadcast news show and
renamed the David Brinkley Bridge. Photo courtesy or Robert Thompson
Courthouse,” and shortened it to
“Wayne” to put it on the railroad schedule. The town has been
known simply as Wayne ever
since.
Over the next four decades,
Wayne was home to a broom factory, a glass company, and other businesses, but much of the time was
taken up by fighting with Ceredo,
Kenova, and Westmoreland over
the county seat.
As early as the 1870s, there
had been talk of moving the courthouse to Ceredo. When Kenova
was formed in the 1890s, people
suggested moving it to the new
town. Ceredo mounted another
attempt in 1905, and during the
ensuing battle, an arsonist set fire
to the Wayne County Bank, and
it soon spread through town wiping out ten or more buildings.
The residents of Wayne blamed
Ceredo for the fire.
In the 1920s, Kenova mounted
an attempt to get the courthouse,
and several elections were held for
Nona Marcum and Pauline Alvis at the old Ceredo Post Office during World War
II. Recruiting posters from the day can be seen in the windows. From the Kenova Historical
Commission Collection
Summary of Ceredo history
By JAY O’DELL
In the beginning, Ceredo
was a part of the Savage
Land Grant given to John
Savage, as payment for his
services in the French &
Indian Wars in about 1772.
It was not many years
before a road was built to
this area and families looking for a new home close
to the Ohio River began to
settle here and built homes
and churches.
The name Ceredo is
derived from Ceres, the
ancient Roman goddess of
abundant crop harvest, as
noted and founded in 1857
by Eli Thayer, a member
of the U.S. Congress from
Massachusetts.
Thayer became acquainted with Albert Jenkins who
represented the district in
the national congress and
visited him and the area in
1857, which was then part
of Virginia, a slave state.
Thayer, being from a northern state, had anti-slavery
views. He was one of many
northern abolitionists who
believed that slavery should
be abolished in the southern
states.
Thayer’s plan was to
establish an anti-slavery
town in Virginia as a demonstration project that economic and developmental
prosperity could be accomplished without slavery. His
goal was to build a manufacturing town on the banks
of the Ohio River where
economic success could be
accomplished without slave
labor, although another
Virginia location having
more Negro slaves would
have been desirable.
Thayer
accordingly
bought the plantation land
from Thomas Jordan, a
slaveholder, plus other
adjoining farms upon which
to start the town.
Some later land purchases were also made,
these various tracts’ being
the same area upon which
Ceredo is presently located.
These various land purchases were derived from the
earlier French and Indian
War land grants.
Thayer hired Sabine
Pond to layout the town
and construct streets. He
encouraged and promoted
manufacturers in northeastern U.S. cities to establish
their business within the
new town. He and Thomas
Jordan formed the Ceredo
Land Company for real
estate sales and transactions.
One of the early
Morganza (Kenova) settlers was James Poteet, who
moved to Ceredo in 1857
and opened a business,
thereby becoming the first
merchant in the new town.
In 1858, Elijah Griswold
from New York and A.F.
Morse from Rhode Island
established stores as merchants in Ceredo. In the
same year, W. B. Wilson
opened a drug store, also
Z. D. Ramsdell from Maine
and Ira Floyd from New
Hampshire began a manufacturing business for shoes
and boots. The Ramsdell
residence was built at the
time his business opened.
See CEREDO on 8A
the people to choose where they
wanted the county seat. Although
Kenova got more votes each time,
it did not get the necessary 3/5ths,
and the courthouse remained at
Wayne. During this fiasco, the
courthouse in Wayne was burned
by arsonists, and someone also
tried to burn the Osburn Hotel in
town. Not surprisingly, the people
of Wayne blamed Kenova, but
a new courthouse was built in
Wayne and still stands today.
During World War II, many
young men from Wayne fought
and died from battle wounds and
sickness. Numerous war bond
drives and scrap metal collections
were held in town to meet the
needs of the war.
In the 1940s and 50s, the town
of Wayne expanded drastically
when the Spunky Addition and
Newtown Additions were officially annexed by the town. Newtown
had been laid out in the 1920s
by Robert Scott Sansom but did
not become part of the town until
years later.
In 1960, Senator John F.
Kennedy gave a speech on the
courthouse steps while campaigning for president. Traveling with
Kennedy was news anchor David
Brinkley who reported that the
old Sansom Bridge in Newtown
was the nosiest in the country.
When the report aired on national
television, state officials were outraged, and repair work on the
old bridge began immediately. It
was renamed the David Brinkley
Bridge, but ten years later, the
bridge collapsed under the weight
of a truck, and a new bridge was
built.
Over the last few decades many
businesses have left the town of
Wayne, and with the introduction of Wal-Mart, even more have
gone.
Still, the people of Wayne are
proud of their town and continue
to do their best to make it a place
where people are happy to call
home.
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Page 4, The Wayne County News, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2013
Early history of Kenova, West Virginia
By STANLEY A. WOOD
Unofficial Kenova Historian
and Others
On
December
15,
1772, Virginia Governor
Dunmore, as agent for King
George III, granted 28,627
acres along the Ohio River
and the lower Guyandotte
and Big Sandy rivers to
John Savage and 59 others who had served under
George Washington at the
Battle of Great Meadows,
Pennsylvania, in the French
and Indian War.
One of the areas given to
John Savage in the Savage
Land Grant is the area where
Kenova now sits.
In 1775, a Mr. Morgan
bought the area that Kenova
now occupies from John
Savage. The Morgan family owned the property for
about 80 years before Simon
D. Morgan, one of the heirs
decided to build a town.
This town was to be
called “Morganza” in honor
of owners Jerry & Simon
Morgan. The proposed town
never materialized due to
mismanagement and other
unknown factors.
Then along came John
H. Dingee, a private banker, who helped finance the
construction of the Norfolk
and Western Railroad to the
Ohio River Valley. Dingee
wanted a place where
the Norfolk and Western
Railroad could build a railroad bridge across the Ohio
River. Dingee met L.T.
Peck, a young man with
a business education and a
land agent in Chicago for
the Louisville and Nashville
Railroad.
Dingee, being impressed
with Peck, offered him the
job of developing a site for
the new bridge and young
Peck decided to build a
whole new city.
Peck came to the area in
1899 and lived in Ceredo
for a few months. Peck
organized the Ceredo Land
Company, later changed to
the Kenova Association.
He purchased about 900
acres of land owned by the
Morgan family and started
building a city.
“KENOVA” was the
final name chosen. Other
suggestions were: “Kimbell’
in honor of the president
of the NW railroad, and
“Chatterawha” the Indian
name for Big Sandy. Of
course “KENOVA” came
from abbreviations of the
three states, Kentucky,
Ohio, & Virginia.
By, 1890 the Norfolk
and Western railroad had
extended its tracks from the
coalfields to the junction of
the Big Sandy and Ohio
Rivers. By this time, the
railroad company assured
Peck that they would also
build a large coal tipple to
transfer coal from railroad
cars to barges for shipment
on the Ohio River. Norfolk
and Western also decided
to build railroad shops in
Kenova.
In 1890, the Kenova
Association hired engineers
to lie out the city. During
excavation, engineers found
Indian bones and relics
showing that Indians once
occupied the area.
The town was covered
with much timber that had
to be cleared before laying
out the streets. The streets
of Kenova running east
and west were then named
for the different species of
trees. Starting nearest the
Ohio River, the streets are:
Beech, Walnut, Oak, Poplar,
Chestnut, Pine, Sycamore,
Spruce, Maple, and Cedar.
The streets going north and
south were numbered starting with Ceredo and ending
with the Big Sandy River.
Also in 1890, the Kenova
Association deeded 100
acres to the Norfolk and
Western Railroad for projects around the city. This
move not only benefited the
railroad but also the Kenova
Association by helping the
railroad develop the city.
The railroad bridge
across the Ohio River was
started in March 1890 and
completed in March of
1892. The bridge was single-track until later, about
1913, when it was changed
to a double-track bridge to
handle the increased train
traffic.
L.T. Peck’s brother
Frank, came to Kenova in
May of 1890. He started
working for the Kenova
Transportation Company
that transferred goods from
riverboats to the Norfolk
and Western belt line that
ran at the top of the riverbank.
He later became one of
Kenova’s outstanding businessmen.
The land association
decided to build a two-story
hotel at the southwest corner of 15th & Sycamore
Streets. A large two-story
general store building
was built on 13th Street
between Walnut and Beech.
This building, called the
“Peck Building” housed
the Kenova Mercantile
Company General Store,
the land company, the post
office, the bank and a lawyer’s office. The Peck family lived on the second floor.
Joseph S. Miller, former Commissioner of the
Internal Revenue managed
all the right of way matters
for the railroad. He lived
at 748 Beech St. Kenova
in a large Victorian house
now known as “the pumpkin house.” He worked
for the railroad between
his two terms in office as
Commissioner under Grover
Cleveland.
Still needing more hotel
rooms, L.T. Peck and Floyd
Hoard of Ceredo planned
the “Glenwood Inn.” This
building was to be a fivestory brick building with a
cost of about $100,000.
Part way through the
construction, the “panic of
1893” economic crunch hit
the country and the building
was put on hold. In 1902 the
original hotel on Sycamore
Street burned and triggered
construction to resume on
the “Glenwood.”
Although it was not built
to the original plans of Peck
and Stark it was completed
in the fall of 1902 as a twostory hotel. The new hotel
became the center of the
Tri-State area.
OLD N&W DEPOT – The old Norfolk and Western Depot is shown in this undated photo. The historic station
served as a stop for N&W trains, platform at left, and Chesapeake and Ohio rail lines are at rear of picture behind
depot. From the Kenova Historical Commission Collection
For several years, it was
a show place where many
prominent visitors stayed.
The R. Ney Williams Drug
Store operated there until
it moved to a new building
next to the Kenova Bank
Building on Chestnut St. in
1914. The hotel ceased to be
a hotel in 1917 as a result of
declining business.
In 1920, Doctor H.A.
Williams of Huntington
opened a sanitarium in the
old hotel building. This did
not prove to be a successful business venture and
the building closed again.
Demolition was started in
1929 but the south wing on
Pine Street was not razed.
In 1930 it was changed to
nice large apartments. Later,
its owners, Dale Craycraft
and his mother, Ethel, added
a brick addition to the east
end of the building. The
building is now being used
as a multi-unit apartment
building.
Other railway systems
came to Kenova throughout the years.
The B&O Railroad,
Chesapeake and Ohio,
Camden Interstate Electric
Railway (later changed to
the Ohio Valley Electric
Railway) were a few. The
railroad history of Kenova
is another story written by
many writers.
“The City of Kenova”
was incorporated in 1894.
Charles C. Coe served as
the city’s first mayor in
1894. This too, could be
a story in itself when one
thinks of all the Mayors,
Councilmen, City Clerks,
Policemen, Firemen, Water
Department employees, and
Sanitation employees.
Business
Many businesses came
to Kenova in the last part of
the 1800’s and first half of
the 1900’s: J.S. Crossen Saw
Mill Co., a brick yard built
by Mr. Budd of Cincinnati,
First National Bank of
Kenova (1910) formerly
the Kenova Banking and
Savings Company (1909)
formerly the Kenova Loan
and Trust (1890), R. Ney
Williams Drug Store(1892),
(now Griffith and Feil),
Breece Veneer Co.(1902)
formerly Three State
Manufacturing Company,
Appalachian Electric Power
Co.(1902), Green Bag
Cement(1904) also know
as the Basic Product Co.,
Kenova Box Co.(1909), TriState Wholesale Grocery
(1909), Way Saw Mill
(1912), ), U.G Parsley
Saw Mill (1913), Lambert
Milling Company (1915),
Jeffery-Dewitt Insulator
Corporation(1917), John W.
McCallister Grocery (1920),
Rollins Funeral Home, formerly Kilgore and Collier
Funeral Home (1922), Rife
Ferguson Hospital (1924),
Bartram Brothers Store
(1925) which later became
Tradewell Grocery and now
Sav-A-Lot, Borden’s Ice
Cream Company (1926),
Dreamland Pool (1926),
Yates Drug Store (1935)
formerly Wade Miller Drug
Company (1927), Federal
Ice plant, Huntington
Hardwood Company (1929),
Wood-Mosaic(1933), Al. J.
Boehm Walnut Company
(1936), J.P. Hamer Co.,
Axe Handle Plant (1941),
the Independent Steel Co.
of American, Ashland Oil
Refinery, Kenova Theater
formerly the Strand Theater,
Sanitary Manufacturing
Plant and Duncan Hines
Sponge Plant.
When one thinks of
the neighborhood grocery
stores, gas stations, dime
stores, restaurants, etc., this
list is just a small part of
Kenova business history.
There were many more
businesses during this time
but the writer’s mind can’t
recollect any at this time.
Churches
The churches of Kenova
have been many. The Grace
Episcopal Church, organized in 1890 by L.T. Peck
and Charles C. Coe, was
located on the corner of
18th and Chestnut streets.
The original building was
floated down the Ohio River
from the town of Volcano,
W.Va. The Presbyterian
Church followed in 1892.
Later came the Northern
Methodist (1895) and the
Southern Methodist Church
(1922). These two congregations merged in 1940 and
is now the Kenova United
Methodist Church.
The First Baptist Church
was organized in 1897 and
purchased property for a
See KENOVA on 5A
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DOWNTOWN KENOVA – The corner of 14th (now U.S. 52) and Chestnut streets in
Kenova are shown in this old photograph taken from the site of the current U.S. Post
Office. At left is Griffith & Feil Drug (with awning), the former First National Bank
of Kenova and the Goff Building. From the Kenova Historical Commission Collection
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The Wayne County News, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2013, Page 5
DREAMLAND POOL – This photo shows Dreamland Pool in circa 1930, just as it was to enter its heyday. The facility hosted many of the most popular big bands later
including Tommy Dorsey and many others. At one time, it was one of, if not THE largest swimming pool in the country. The facility expanded and was a “hot spot” for years
until destroyed by an arsonist. From the Kenova Historical Commission Collection
kenova from Page 4
new church that was never completed. The First Baptist Sunday
school started in 1908 under
the leadership of Reverend E.T.
Billups. This new church met in
various buildings, including City
Hall, Lamberts Hall, and later
in the old Episcopal Church at
18th and Chestnut streets. In 1910
they bought land at 12th and
Poplar Streets from the KenovaHuntington Land Company and
built a new church building which
opened in July of 1914. Since
this time there have been many
churches built in Kenova. At one
time there were 29 total churches
in Ceredo and Kenova.
Schools
Historians tell us that the first
school was located about 1813
on Virginia Point near the house
of Stephen Kelley. There are no
written records of this school and
it only exists in oral stories passed
down over the years.
Kenova Grade School was the
first grade school and was built in
1890 on the north side of Poplar
Street, just west of 11th Street.
This two-story wood building
burned in 1906.
A new school was built on Street just west of 8th Street.
many civic organizations whose
the northwest corner of 14th and
This location was chosen main purpose was to promote kind
Poplar streets in 1907. An addi- because it was about halfway from feelings among the citizens and to
tional building was built next to it the farthest points of both Ceredo make the community a better place
on Poplar Street in 1926 because and Kenova. The first school year to live.” (Faye Jean Stewart).
of crowded conditions. In 1942 for Ceredo-Kenova High School Among them were; Kenova
the Poplar Street building burnt, was 1921. Ceredo-Kenova High Women’s Club (1908), Kenova
leaving only part of the walls. This School continued until 1998 when Chamber of Commerce (1921),
school building was rebuilt later.
it was consolidated with Vinson Ceredo-Kenova Rotary Club
Ferndale Grade School was and Buffalo high schools at the (1925), American Legion Post 93,
built in 1920 to protect the small new Spring Valley High School the Ceredo-Kenova Ministerial
children on the south side of the on Spring Valley Drive just south Association (1938), CeredoChesapeake and Ohio Railroad of the Veterans Hospital.
Kenova Lions Club (1942), and
from crossing the railroad tracks
other various organizations like
and to relieve the downtown
Civic Organizations
the Masonic Lodge, etc.
school of overcrowded condi“Over the years there have been
In summary, Kenova was a well
tions. A one-room
planned city. Most
school building was
of us do not know
built at 23rd Street
what the founder of
in 1926. This was
Kenova, L.T. Peck,
the Galloway Town
had in store for this
School and operated
small city.
until after the 1937
This is an ever
flood.
changing world, that
Ceredo
High
said, Kenova also
School was housed
is an ever changing
in the Ceredo Public
city.
school building on
Main Street in Ceredo
Information
in
starting in 1890. The
this article is from
first class graduated in
“Faye Jean Stewart’s
1894 with three gradHistory of Ceredo
uates. A new Ceredo- First Kenova Grade School located at 11th and Popular and Kenova” (1943),
Kenova High School Streets build 1890. The two-story wood building burned “Early History of
was built on Beech in 1906. From the Kenova Historical Commission Collection
Kenova, W.Va” by
Frank R. Peck and my knowledge
of the history of Kenova.
Stanley A. Wood, Kenova
Historical Commission
Present and Future Kenova
Summary
Gordon Jones, grant writer for
the City of Kenova says:
“Twenty-first century Kenova
is full of excitement and adventure. It is a city of small town
safety combined with unique
shopping, dining, and recreational
opportunities. While Kenova is
proud of it’s past, it is making big
plans for its future.
“Recently designated by the
State of West Virginia as an
On-Trac Main Street community,
work is proceeding on downtown streetscape improvements
and cultural and heritage activities that will be a sustaining economic benefit to the area. The
Ceredo-Kenova Area Business
Association, sponsoring organization of Kenova’s On-Trac
Main Street Program and the C-K
Autumn Festival, are making
plans for more activities in town
and at the Town Square.”
With this positive prospective,
I can’t wait to see what is to come
in Kenova.
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7 am To 2 pm Sunday
Page 6, The Wayne County News, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2013
History of Wayne
County schools
EAST LYNN – The village that later became East Lynn had its beginnings a few years after the Civil War. Growth
was largely spurred by ex-Confederate soldiers setting up shop after returning from the war. Photo taken in East
Lynn around 1907.
A short history of East Lynn
By Robert M. Thompson
At the turn of the nineteenth century, as settlers began pouring into
the river valleys of Wayne County,
the Twelve Pole Valley, particularly
the southern reaches of the stream,
remained isolated.
It was not until about five years
after the first settlers arrived in what
is now Wayne County that the first
daring souls chose to call the East
Lynn area home. The first to do so
was said to be James Bias who settled
at the mouth of Lick Creek in 1802;
however, it would be decades before a
significant population existed.
By 1820, Sherrod Adkins had built
a grist mill at the mouth of Laurel
Creek, south of East Lynn, and this
would be the first major business in
the area.
For the next 20 years, there was
very little change as farms began to
grow around East Lynn, but in the
1840s, Milton Ferguson, a wealthy
businessman of Trout’s Hill, established a hotel on Camp Creek at a
natural mineral spring. The “Spring’s
Place” served local people with physical health problems.
By 1860, a church had been built
near the mouth of Little Lynn Creek,
making it the very first building actu-
ally located in what is today East Lynn.
At that time, the area was known as
“Twin Creek” because Little Lynn and
Camp Creek joined Twelve Pole so
closely together.
When the Civil War erupted, the
church did not last long and was
burned by one side or the other. By
the end of the war, it would have been
common to see military forces marching or riding through, and in February
of 1864, the largest battle fought in the
county occurred south of East Lynn
on the ridge between Lick and Laurel
Creeks.
In the Battle of Murder Hollow,
as it was known, Union troops from
Kentucky surprised Rebels led by
Colonel Milton Jameson Ferguson
and captured or killed nearly fifty of
them.
After the war, many men who had
fought began returning to the Twin
Creek area to develop farms and start
businesses.
In 1868, a post office was established in the Adkins’ mill south of
Twin Creek, and after a few years, the
post office was moved from the mill to
the center of Twin Creek. Although the
location changed, the name of the post
office remained the same, and it was
not long until the small developing
village came to be known as Adkins
Mills after the post office.
More businesses, mostly general
stores that catered to nearby farmers,
continued to open during the 1870s
and 80s; however, change was on the
horizon.
When the Norfolk & Western
Railway was built through the Twelve
Pole Valley and Dunlow in 1890, most
people assumed that it would eventually be extended to Adkins Mills as
well. Coal deposits were well known
in the area, and it seemed to be a reasonable expectation.
Early in 1891, the name of the
village was changed to East Lynn,
apparently because Little Lynn Creek
entered the village to the east. Soon
thereafter, the East Lynn Mining &
Manufacturing Company was established to begin developing the mineral
resources of the town. Unfortunately,
the railroad did not extend to East
Lynn, and the mining company seems
to have done very little business.
Nonetheless, the 1890s were
times of growth as new businesses
developed, including the East Lynn
Detective Agency which operated as a
town police force.
See EAST LYNN on 8A
Historical summary of Crum
By Jay O’Dell,
Crum is located within
Lincoln District of Wayne
County, West Virginia,
which was named for
Abraham Lincoln, elected
twice as U.S. President,
in1860 and 1864. He served
from 1861 to 1865, during
the entire American Civil
War period until his assassination.
The present settlement
of Crum is named for
Adam and William Crum
who settled there between
1799 and 1810, eight miles
upstream from the Falls of
Tug River. The Falls of Tug
River are located one-half
mile upstream from the
mouth of Lost Creek, in the
southern portion of present
Glenhayes. The Falls is an
area of fast-flowing water,
created by an abrupt drop in
elevation of the river bed.
The location of Crum is
18 miles southeast of Fort
Gay, along U.S. Route 52
(Tolsia Highway). Crum is
not an incorporated town;
instead it is a community
area with a scattering of a
few stores and approximately two to three dozen residential houses. It is strung
out between Tug Fork and
U.S. Route 52 from the general area of Bull Creek at
the northern base of Bull
Mountain, southward for a
distance of four miles to
Stonecoal Creek and the
settlement of Stonecoal.
Crum generally parallels
U. S. Route 52 on the east
and Tug Fork to the west.
The community is typically
less than one-fourth mile
wide in distance. Tug Fork
was influential in determining the early history of
Crum.
Crum has an elevation of 615 feet and is
located at the southern
base of Bull Mountain
which has an elevation
(altitude) of 800 feet. Lick
Creek, Silver Creek and
Jennie (Jenny’s) Creek
(named for Jenny Wiley)
are three major streams that
flow through Crum and
empty into the Tug Fork of
the Big Sandy River.
The area was covered
by a dense virgin (noncut) forest at the time of
the first white settlements.
The other main natural
resource is coal of high
quality, located throughout
the district. The presence
of forests, coal deposits and
numerous streams are the
environmental resources
that accounted for the early
population growth, economy and prosperity of Crum.
The presence of Tug Fork,
upper Twelvepole Creek
and many tributary streams
provided waterpower for
gristmills, saw mills and a
means of floating timber to
markets.
Early Settlers
The first settlement in
the Crum area was made
in 1799, by a man named
Nevens, the rest of the
name being uncertain. The
next year (1800) other settlers included Hezekiah
Wiley, Lazrus Damron, Job
Spence, Jacob Noe, Daniel
Cox, Henry Hampton, John
Jarrell, Richard Williamson,
John Prinston and John
Wilson.
Other settlers in present
Crum before 1810 included William Thompson,
William Bromley, James
Vinson, Thomas Copley,
William Ratcliffe, Leonard
Swearingen;
Jacob,
William, John, Josiah and
Moses Marcum, Adam and
William Crum, and James
Kirk. Others included John
and Clemens Spaulding,
Richard
Evans,
John
Cox, Samuel Damron,
David Garred, Alexander
Sutherland, James Fraley,
Elijah Donithan, Josiah
Robinson, Micajah Frasher
and Richard Williamson.
Before 1810, more than
two-dozen other families
settled in the district.
Hezekiah Wiley was also
one of the first settlers (in
1800) and a son of Jenny
Wiley who was captured
by the Cherokee Indians
in 1790 and later escaped.
Jenny’s (Jennie) Creek at
present Crum derives its
name from the location
where Cherokee Indians
killed Jenny Wiley’s infant
son during her captivity and
passage through the area
to eastern Kentucky, from
where she later escaped in
1791.
Hezekiah Wiley, her
son, was the first settler on
Twelvepole Creek, (originally called Twelve Pole
River), within the district.
He cleared several acres,
called Potato Bottom and
built a log cabin opposite
the mouth of Moses Fork,
near the mouth of Wileys
Branch. Wileys Branch,
a tributary to the West
(Right) Fork of Twelvepole
Creek, derives its present name from him. This
stream flows into Twelve
Pole Creek within present
Cabwaylingo State Forest.
Early settlers found the
name of Daniel Boone
carved into a large virgin beech near the mouth
of Billy’s Creek. Boone
explored present southern
West Virginia and eastern
Kentucky, then Virginia,
during the 1770’s.
Early Industries
The first blacksmith
shop was built by Josiah
Marcum in 1811, at the
base of Bull Mountain, near
William Crum’s residence
from whom Crum takes
its name. The first gristmill was built in 1808 by
Leonard Swearingen at the
mouth of Lost Creek, located a half-mile downstream
from the Falls of Tug River.
Presently, the location of the
mill would be in Glenhayes
area, approximately onefourth mile downstream
from present U.S. Route 52.
Denison’s Mill and Smith’s
Mill were either two other
gristmills or sawmills, both
See CRUM on 8A
BY MICHAEL HUPP
Staff Writer
WAYNE – Like many
school systems throughout
America, the Wayne County
School system had humble
beginnings.
From one-room schoolhouses to the 21-school,
nearly $19 million a year
budgeted institution it is
today – the school system
has grown throughout the
years.
Prior to 1862, there were
very few schools in the
county. The few schools the
county had were subscription schools that were hired
by wealthier families, but
in the spirit of community,
poorer students were often
allowed to attend.
Most of the schools were
one or two-room log structures, far from the multimillion dollar establishments constructed today. In
1862, the State of Virginia
provided the county with
small allowance for the
county school system.
At this time there were
five districts in the county, in each of which was
appointed a commissioner
of educational affairs, and
these five formed the board
of public school fund of
Wayne County.
S.P. Webb of Ceredo, was
appointed the first county
superintendent in 1868. In
1888, the first frame schoolhouse was built in the county.
After several years of
strewn-out log schoolhouses, several “modern” school
buildings were constructed
with the old Wayne high
School being the first. Later,
Kenova Elementary would
be constructed in 1918 and
Kellogg Elementary in
1921.
The now consolidated Ceredo-Kenova High
School along with Fort Gay
Elementary was constructed
in 1923. The now closed
Westmoreland
Middle
School opened in 1927.
Westmoreland Middle now
serves as the Westmoreland
Senior Center.
The
old
Wayne
Elementary School followed in 1928.
Consolidated Buffalo
High School was constructed in 1930 with Fort Gay
High School, which is currently serving as the middle
school, built the next year.
Lavalette Elementary
combined several of the
one-room schoolhouses
to open its doors in 1933.
Crum High School was
constructed in 1938.
Post World War II, East
Lynn Elementary and the
now closed East Lynn
Middle School were constructed in 1948. In 1952,
the now closed Beech
Fork Elementary opened,
along with the consolidated Vinson High School.
The former Vinson High
School building now serves
as Vinson Middle School.
Ceredo Elementary also
was constructed.
Dunlow
elementary
opened its doors in 1953. In
1956, the defunct Crockett
Elementary opened its doors
between Wayne and East
Lynn. Fort Gay Elementary
was improved as well in
1956.
Crum
Elementary
opened its doors in 1958
with Prichard Elementary
opening as well.
Buffalo
Elementary
opened in 1960 with Genoa
Elementary opening in 1963.
Thompson
Elementary
School opened on Mill
Creek in 1965. It served
as home to the HeadStart
program and currently
serves as the Mill Creek
Community Center. Also in
1965, an addition was built
to Kellogg Elementary.
In 1967, Wayne constructed a new high school
and is currently serving
as the high school today.
The current Lavalette
Elementary was constructed
in 1968.
In 1979 Cove Gap
Elementary School opened
near the Wayne-Lincoln
border, along with Wayne
Middle School. The “new”
Wayne Middle was constructed right beside the then
decade-old high school.
In 1980, Buffalo and
Ceredo-Kenova Middle
Schools were constructed.
The county broadened its
vocational teaching by opening the Northern Vocational
and Technical School on
Spring Valley Drive with
the Southern Vocational and
Technical School opening
in Glenhayes.
In 1988, Crum and Fort
Gay High Schools consolidated to form Tolsia High
School. The school was constructed beside the Southern
Vo-Tech building in Glen
Hayes. The former Crum
High building now serves
as the middle school. Fort
Gay’s building also serves
as a middle school.
Consolidation
again
reduced the number of high
schools in the county, with
Buffalo, Ceredo-Kenova and
Vinson High Schools closing to form Spring Valley
High School in 1998.
A new Wayne elementary school was constructed
in 2006 near the current
Wal-Mart property, closing the doors of the nearly
77-year old school.
Fort Gay Elementary
and Middle Schools will be
closing their doors for the
last time in 2013 as a new
multi-million dollar PreK-8
school is nearing completion.
Currently three of the
county’s schools are in jeopardy. Crum Elementary and
Middle Schools are currently in disrepair with issues
of flooding, structural deterioration, asbestos and mold
affecting the two buildings.
Kenova Elementary’s former location on Oak Street
See SCHOOLS on 8A
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Page 8, The Wayne County News, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2013
Early days of Fort Gay
The most famous land
grant in Wayne County
history is undoubtedly the
Savage Grant given to John
Savage and other former
soldiers from the French &
Indian War as a reward for
their service.
The Savage Grant
boundaries ended just short
of reaching the area now
encompassed by Fort Gay.
Another land grant
played an integral part in
the history of Fort Gay, and
in fact, Fort Gay can trace
its history back to the very
day the grant was issued.
December 15, 1772,
the same day the Savage
Grant was issued, this other
grant was given to John Fry
for his service in the war.
Fry received 2,084 acres
located at the Forks of the
Big Sandy River, and the
exact boundaries included
both the Kentucky and West
Virginia sides of the Big
Sandy River as well as the
Point section in between.
Fry’s land included the
present sites of both Louisa
and Fort Gay; however, it
is unlikely that he ever saw
the property.
When the grant was made,
settlement was impossible.
Significant Indian trails
followed the Big Sandy
River from southern Ohio
to southwestern Virginia,
and the constant threat from
Indians made any attempt
by Virginians to settle there
far too dangerous.
After several years, John
Fry passed away, and the
land at the Forks of Big
Sandy passed to his son,
Joshua Fry, who had married Peachy Walker, the
daughter of explorer Dr.
Thomas Walker.
The land sat idle until the
1780s when an interesting
man from England became
interested in the Kaintuck
territory.
Charles
Vancouver
had been born in Norfolk,
England in 1756 and
became fascinated with the
young United States and
George Washington in particular. Vancouver wrote a
book and dedicated it to
Washington and later wrote
letters to Washington, who
was not interested in corresponding with him.
By 1786, Vancouver was
planning to start a town
in Kentucky and originally intended to build it on
the Kentucky River. For
some reason, the plans fell
through, and Vancouver
moved to Lexington where
he began his next project.
In 1788, Vancouver
received a land grant at
the Forks of the Big Sandy
River, but unfortunately he
did not know that the Fry
Grant included the same
territory. Eventually, the
overlapping grants would
cause trouble, but for the
time being, Vancouver went
about building his town.
In the fall of 1788,
Vancouver and a team
of men set out east from
Lexington to cut a path to
the Point section on the Big
Sandy River. When they got
there, they cleared about
eighteen acres to use for
farming.
A fort was built on the
Point, and a town was
planned for the Kentucky
side. For over a year,
Vancouver’s small settlement struggled to survive.
Finally in 1790, Indians
burned the fort while
Vancouver was away buying supplies. He left the
fort behind and returned to
Lexington where he abandoned his dream of building
a town in Kentucky.
With no further need for
the land at the Forks of Big
Sandy, Vancouver decided
to sell it. The only problem
was that the Fry family had
an older claim to the property, and therefore, it officially
belonged to them. Although
Vancouver’s land extended out in the surrounding
area, the very center was
still owned by the Fry family. With no other option,
Vancouver purchased the
Fry family land and then
put it all up for sale.
In 1793, Vancouver sold
the land to John Fiott, a
merchant in London. For the
next twenty years, people
began settling on the land,
but they were unknowingly
squatting on John Fiott’s
land.
When the War of 1812
erupted, Cabell County,
which then included Wayne
County, confiscated Fiott’s
land at the Forks of Big
Sandy because he was a
British citizen. Apparently
the Fiott family took no
action until the 1830s. By
that time, John Fiott had
died, and his heirs decided
to look into their holdings
in the United States.
The Fiotts sued the state
of Virginia to reclaim their
land in Wayne County, but
Virginia claimed the War of
1812 gave the state the right
to take it.
In 1847, Virginia won
the lawsuit and turned
the land over to businessman Frederick Moore who
owned a store on the Wayne
County side of the Big
Sandy River and who had
also recently developed the
town of Louisa in Kentucky.
Moore, who was also a
member of the Virginia legislature, introduced a bill to
have the county seat moved
from Trout’s Hill (Wayne)
to the Forks of Big Sandy. If
the county seat was moved,
a new town would be created called Cassville.
An election was held,
but the people of Wayne
County chose to keep the
county seat at Trout’s Hill.
Nonetheless, Moore divided
his newly acquired land into
lots and streets named after
recent presidents.
A town was indeed
laid out and was named
Cassville. The likely origin
of the name was Senator
Lewis Cass who had been
the Democratic candidate for president in 1848.
Although Cass had lost
the election, he had carried Wayne County and
Virginia.
On December 24, 1852,
the town of Cassville was
incorporated by the Virginia
legislature, becoming the
first official town in Wayne
County. Trout’s Hill would
not be incorporated until
1860.
During that time, several businesses were started
up, including the Cassville
Mining and Manufacturing
Company and the Cassville
and Chapmanville Turnpike.
By the mid-1850s, the post
office in Cassville had been
named “Fort Gay.”
After the Civil War,
“Fort Gay” became more
and more popular until that
name was officially adopted
for the town.
the mouth of Lost Creek, a
half-mile below the Falls of
Tug Fork (River), near present Glenhayes. It included a
post office, Ratcliffe’s gristmill, Adkins general store,
a blacksmith shop and several houses. At the present
time, the former location
of Yorkville is the southern
portion of the Glenhayes
area along U.S. Route 52.
Early settlements also
included Vinson (likely
named for James Vinson,
an early settler), located
five miles south of Fort Gay
on present Vinson Creek.
Copleyville (in the present Webb area) was another early settlement, likely
named for Thomas Copley,
an early settler. Gilgal
was another small settlement on the Right Fork of
Twelvepole Creek, 14 miles
south of the present Town
of Wayne. It is likely the
Dunlow community today.
In the 1880’s it included
a post office, blacksmith
shop and less than a dozen
homes.
The settlement, culture
and history of Crum and also
Wayne County have been
influenced, determined and
shaped by environmental
factors such as geography,
minerals and other natural
resources. Water, forest and
coal resources were environmental factors that contributed to development of
early industries, population
growth and prosperity of
Crum. The elimination of
virgin forests and reduction
of coal reserves resulted in
major declines in the timber
and mining industries with
an associated decline in jobs
and human population.
Today, Crum has a popu-
lation of about 300 people
and lacks the growth, prosperity and prominence they
enjoyed in earlier times,
during the 1800’s and early
1900’s. As with some other
Tri-State Region communities, towns and cities; there
has been a historical decline
in the human population
of Crum due to lack of
employment opportunities
and by job opportunities
elsewhere.
During the 1990’s Crum
High School was eliminated and combined with Fort
Gay High School in Butler
District to form Tolsia
High School. The newer
high school is located on
U.S Route 52 between the
two former high schools in
Glenhayes community. The
consolidation of the two
schools was principally due
to declining student enrollment associated with the
general population decline.
Elimination of two older
high schools (Crum and
Fort Gay) and expanded
curriculum at one location
were also factors in school
consolidation.
This area was formerly
the region of greatest economic, political, business
and social activities in
Wayne County until around
1870 and to some extent
until the 1920’s. Declining
natural resources in the area
and development of highway and railroad transportation facilities in the Kenova
to Huntington area created
a shift in prominence of
activities/influences, business and population growth
from the Crum - Fort Gay Prichard region to the northern portion of the county,
along the Ohio River.
crum from Page 6
located on streams within
upper Twelvepole Creek
drainage.
The first water-powered
sawmill was constructed
in 1815 by David Garred
at the Falls of Tug River,
a half-mile upstream from
the first (1808) gristmill
mentioned above. The saw
blade operated by the older
method of vertical motion,
being propelled by water
and called a “sash saw.”
Later water-powered sawmills operated by horizontal
motion of the saw blade, the
force of water turning gears,
which also revolved the saw
blade.
With spring snow melt
and floods, logs could be
floated down Tug Fork
and then Big Sandy River
to its mouth located at
Catlettsburg and Kenova.
The marketable timber or
processed lumber could
also be floated or transported farther downriver
to Ironton, Cincinnati and
other Ohio River ports.
The virgin forests of the
region led to an early timber industry. Yellow (tulip)
poplar, maple, oak, walnut
and other hardwoods were
in great demand for the
Cincinnati market.
The early growth and
prosperity of Crum was
therefore primarily attributable to its location on Tug
Fork and the local availability of native virgin (noncut) forest and coal resources, which fostered mining
operations.
Other Early Settlements
Yorkville was the only
early village or town within
Lincoln District prior to
1880. It was the largest district settlement, located at
Wright Brothers Grocery was built with two stories in 1895, a third story was added
in 1896. Jess Wright stands in the door while second from left is Fred Hunter. The
store is now Lynn Dale apartments across B Street from Ceredo City Hall. Photo courtesy
of Ceredo Museum
ceredo from Page 3
The historic house is presently open in Ceredo for
public visitation and touring.
During 1857-58, the
Crescent Building was constructed by the Ceredo Land
Company for service as both
a town school and church.
The first house was built
in 1857 by H. W. Stewart
for George McCormack and
John Roberts. Several other
residential houses were constructed on town lots as they
were sold during the same
general time period.
Thomas Jordan’s plantation house was converted
into a boarding house to
accommodate 50 guests,
mechanics and builders
involved in construction of
the town buildings.
Early business and industry included a gristmill, salt
works, glass manufacturing
plant, blacksmith shop, carriage factory, timber milling
operation, match factory,
furniture production and
other business enterprises
that were established by
1858. During 1857-58, land
purchases and construction
of the town had essentially
been completed. The new
town therefore began to
prosper based upon monetary investments by primarily Thayer’s New England
acquaintances.
The Ramsdell family and
others were looking for a
new start in this beautiful
new, untouched land. As
there had been no road built
into this area at that time
they traveled by boat an
brought their families and
farm animals, determined to
build a new and better place
to live.
One of the most important things the settlers wanted was a school where their
children would be safe, educated, and build better lives
for themselves and the generations to come. But even
before the schools were built
the new settlers worshiped
weekly and started building
churches.
Ceredo has a large number of Churches for the size
of the Community.
During the Civil War
there was a Union Camp in
Ceredo, the 5th Regiment,
West Virginia Volunteer
Infantry Camp Pierpont.
The battle most folks
know about is the battle
in Guyandotte. Volunteers
from Ceredo and Guyandotte
commemorate this battle
every fall with a replay.
Ceredo was truly a “House
Divided” during the Civil
War.
The start of the Civil War
ended the Ceredo venture
and also Thayer’s association with the town.
Ceredo, Virginia became
a part of West Virginia during 1863 when the state was
founded in the midst of the
Civil War (1861-65). The
town of Ceredo was incorporated by an act of the state
legislature in 1866, with the
first Mayor being Richard
Brown.
In 1884, the town had
440 inhabitants, two general stores, five grocery
stores, two hotels, a boot
and shoe shop, two blacksmith shops, a barbershop,
two churches, one school, a
livery stable, Masonic hall,
post office, sawmill, C&O
railroad depot, stave (wood
strip) mill and the Ceredo
Enterprise printing office.
In 1865, at the war’s end,
about 100 of the approximately 500 original settlers
remained in town. In 1886,
Thayer’s mortgaged property in Ceredo was deeded
to Charles B. Hoard.
Thayer was a visionary
whose anti-slavery abolishment goals were associated
with a profitmaking venture. The Civil War instead,
by President Abraham
Lincoln’s Emancipation
Proclamation, resulted in the
absence of slavery instead
of Thayer’s Ceredo project.
After the Civil War, it
took time to recover from
the devastation left in its
wake but the people living in Ceredo still wanted
the best for their families
and built homes, a new
school, churches, and elect-
ed their leaders, Mayor and
Councilmen.
All
policemen
are
trained at the WV State
Police Academy now. Our
Volunteer Fire Department
is in one of the best in the
nation.
Every year there are several great events in the Paul
Billups Memorial Park. It
always starts with Memorial
Day and Veterans Memorial
in the Park, and live entertainment the third Sunday of
each month until November.
A Memorial Day Parade
also travels through Ceredo
and Kenova.
The Ceredo Museum has
a petroglyph, pulled out of
the water of the Ohio River,
straight out from Main
Street, more than a thousand pieces of hand blown
glass from factories near
and far, a miniature train
lay out, sports memorabilia
and many, many more collections.
The Town has built a
beautiful City Hall with a
large Council Chamber that
can be used for meetings,
or receptions. Private offices for the Mayor, a Water
Office, and even a space
for the Wayne County Clerk
several days a week are
included in the facility.
The Police Department is
in the Old City Hall.
And then there’s Mitch
Stadium – The Mitch.
Built in the 50s, the stadium was named for its
longtime caretaker Elmer
Mitchell, who looked after
the boys who played there
like they were his own.
Improvements at the stadium have led it to be compared favorably to the home
of the Little League World
Series in Williamsport, Pa.
The Mitch has been the
site of several heralded tournaments, not the least of
which is the Tournament
of State Champions which
features teams from across
the region from Georgia to
Virginia to our own state.
Tournament games from
The Mitch have been broadcast nationally on ESPN.
Katona Coal Company in
the early 1920s spurred economic growth the likes of
which had never been seen
before.
The company built a massive tipple on Fry Bottom
and a large wooden trestle
and tunnel to carry coal
across Twelve Pole Creek
and through the hillside.
For the next decade, Katona
employed hundreds of men
in East Lynn; however, the
Great Depression led to its
collapse.
After a few years, the
Fry family revitalized the
coal industry, albeit it on
the surrounding creeks.
The development of truck
mines continued to provide
jobs on Little Lynn, Camp
Creek, and Big Lynn Creek
until the 1950s and 60s.
In 1955, another disastrous fire tore through East
Lynn, and sadly, this one
coincided with the decline
of the coal industry. As a
result, East Lynn did not
rebuild like it had in 1919.
Over the following
years, the town continued to
decline as buildings burned
and businesses went under.
Despite a failed attempt
by Monterey Coal in the
late 1970s and early 1980s,
the coal industry did not
successfully return until
the 1990s with Rockspring
Development.
While
Rockspring continues to
ship massive amounts of
coal from East Lynn, the
town itself has not experienced a rebirth.
east lynn from Page 6
It was not until 1902
that the East Lynn Coal
Company and the Big
Sandy, East Lynn & Guyan
Railroad were formed to
officially open the East
Lynn coal industry. The
companies were interconnected and quickly brought
about a boom in the town.
In 1908, the N&W
Railway bought out the
East Lynn Railroad, and in
November of that year, East
Lynn was incorporated.
Over the next decade or so,
Dr. Oscar Hines and John
Ward Lloyd would serve as
mayors before the town’s
charter was abandoned for
some unknown reason.
In 1919, much of the
town burned to the ground,
but the formation of the
SCHOOLS from Page 6
was closed in 2011 by the State Board of
Education due to a sinkhole on the property
that threatened the safety of students.
In an unprecedented move, the state
helped the local school Board come up
with funds to provide a temporary portable
school on the football field of the former
C-K High School site in Kenova.
A bond vote for nearly $33.1 million
failed late last year that would have provided new school buildings for both Crum
and Kenova.
Currently the Wayne County BOE is
working with the School Building Authority
to come up with a plan to fund new constructions for the two communities.
The CounTy of Wayne
offiCe of The assessor
eric hodges
Assessor
Wayne County CourtHouse
Room 105 • Wayne, WV 25570
For AssistAnce, PleAse cAll
the Assessor’s oFFice
at 304-272-6352
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