Thurmond, West Virginia’s once-thriving ghost town, is deep in the mountains. Technology advancements and the Great Depression were just two of the elements that contributed to its quick downfall. Today, the town has five people and a train station that is only served by Amtrak three times each week.
A coal miner’s dream town comes into existence
Captain W.D. Thurmond, a Confederate Army veteran, was granted 73 acres along the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway mainline in 1873. The opening of a post office in 1888 allowed for the formation of a small hamlet, and with the building of a crossing over Dunlop Creek in 1892 and the addition of a train station, the population slowly developed.
Thurmond was founded in 1900 and immediately became the core of the New River Gorge, because to its railway, which allowed for the efficient transportation of coal. This, together with the local timber industry, enabled the town to expand further.
A thriving boomtown
Thurmond was a boomtown in the first two decades of the twentieth century. By 1910, it had become the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway’s hub, generating $4.8 million in freight earnings. This enormous sum meant that the town’s banks were among the wealthiest in West Virginia.
Until 1921, the only way to get to Thurmond was by train. As a result, fifteen passenger trains passed through on a daily basis, and the depot served 95,000 people each year. Every day, coal rolled out, delivering the power of New River Smokeless Coal from the West Virginian mountains to other locations.
It had a passenger terminal, a turntable, an engine house, coal and sand towers, and a water tank in its rail yard. Its residential structures were standardized, with three or four styles matching to various levels in the railroad system.
Thurmond formerly had 500 residents and numerous small enterprises. There were two hotels, two restaurants, two banks, clothes stores, a jewelry store, many dry-goods stores, business offices, a meat-packing company, and a movie theater.
Thurmond prohibited alcohol usage, in keeping with the prohibitionist beliefs of the time. The Dun Glen, one of its hotels, was located just outside the town boundaries and swiftly became the town’s red-light district. It was also the venue of the longest poker game in history, which lasted 14 years.
The Great Depression and Thurmond’s quick decline
Thurmond’s fall might be attributed to a variety of factors. It was sparked by the Great Depression, which culminated in the closure of the Thurmond National Bank in 1931. This was followed in 1935 by the relocation of the New River Bank to Oak Hill. In 1932 and 1938, the meat-packing facility and telephone district office were both closed.
The Dun Glen burnt down about a year before the National Bank closed, the first of two big fires that devastated the town. The meat-packing facility burned down in 1963.
Thurmond, like its faltering economy, was victimized by the introduction of the diesel locomotive and the growing popularity of vehicles. The public began traveling more by vehicle in the mid-1930s, owing partly to the building of improved highways, while the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway transitioned to diesel locomotives in the 1940s. Thurmond’s structures and occupations became outmoded as the town and its train infrastructure were geared for steam engines.
The town’s businesses closed, and its population relocated to other areas.
A designated historic district
Despite the fact that Thurmond had become a complete ghost town by the 1950s, attempts have been made to attract tourists to the region. Wildwater Unlimited, a commercial rafting firm operating along the New River, relocated to town in the 1960s. The construction of the New River Gorge bridge in 1977 significantly improved access to the once-isolated hamlet.
Since then, the town has been taken over by the National Park Service, which has classified it as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. It rebuilt the train station and transformed it into a visitor’s center in 1995. Over 20 structures still stand today, including the National Bank, the Lafayette Hotel, and other commercial buildings.
The agency started a stabilization initiative in 2003 to restore and maintain the existing structures. This work involves improving drainage around the buildings, removing overgrown vegetation, installing metal panel roofs and gutters, exterior repair, removing dangerous porches and expansions, and installing window louvers to enable more suitable internal ventilation.
The Boy Scouts of America have rebuilt Thurmond’s walkway. Its members installed memorial bricks depicting the town’s rise and collapse. The last brick bears a “thank you” to the group for their efforts.