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Gassaway
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Dundon
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Ansted
Gauley Bridge
Glen Jean
Mt. Hope
Thurmond |
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Alum Creek
Branchland
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Logan
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Davy
Iaeger
Kimball
Roderick
Twin Branch
War
Welch
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Historic Matewan
Williamson
Dingess
Red Jacket
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Itmann
Mullens
Oceana
Sabine
Wyco
Wyoming
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HISTORY
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MOUNT HOPE - New River and New River Smokeless Coal Companies
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Mount Hope’s coal industry boomed, when in 1894, the completion of the Chesapeake & Ohio’s Loup Creek Branch provided a way for the region’s coal to be transported nationwide. Within a few short years Mount Hope and its neighboring towns were home to four mining operations employing over four-hundred men. Mt Hope became the headquarters for the new River Coal Field in the early 1900’s and the New River Smokeless Coal Company.
With the addition of the extension of the Kanawha Glen Jean & Eastern (KGJ & E) Railway between Mount Hope and Pax in 1910, the traveling public could now with main lines of the C&O Railway at Thurmond or the Virginian Railway at Pax. With business booming, a new, more modern station was constructed in 1927 to serve the region’s growing communities. The original Mount Hope Depot was located at the present-day intersection of Main Street and Stadium Drive.
The Depot was later abandoned and was reported to have been torn down sometime during World War II. The local coal mining industry in Mount Hope ended in the 1950’s,
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| There is no formal interpretation of the rail/coal resources in Mount Hope. |
Memorial
The town's downtown section remains virtually the same as it did during the 1920s, the decade when the town was one of the most important communities in the vast coal fields of the region. The offices of the region's largest coal company, the New River Company, still exists as well as the company's repair shops and foundry building. Just outside of town in Kilsyth, two large smokestacks loom over the former repair shop used by the McKell Coal & Coke Company, also used by the company's railroad, the Kanawha, Glen Jean and Eastern Railway. There are just a few of the historic sites located near or in the town. |
| Railroad tracks that once went through the center of the City of Mount Hope are still evident in front of the stadium. |
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Unique architecture of Mt. Hope Stadium. |
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New River Company Store (now a church). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the New River Company General Office Building #04000357 located at 411 Main Street was the company store for the New River Mining Company who had its headquarters in Mt. Hope. |
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Coal Camp Houses converted and used as private homes nearby. |
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Site of future coal museum. |
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New Company Smokeless Coal. |
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