The town of Thurmond West Virginia, located on the New River in Fayette County, was named for Captain William Dabney Thurmond, who owned the land the town was built on. Captain Thurmond realized with the growing coal industry there would be more families and large amounts of money coming into this southern area of West Virginia so he decided to build his own small community. The C&O Railroad was completed through the New River Gorge in 1873 and became the main street through Thurmond. Thurmond was also one of the two major shipping points for coal in the New River Gorge area. By the early 1900’s hundreds of coal cars passed through Thurmond daily. It is said in 1910 that 76, 541 passengers bordered the trains in Thurmond and 4,283,641 tons of freight were shipped, which was about one-fifth of the revenue for the entire C&O railroad that year. During the heyday of coal mining, Thurmond was a very prosperous and bustling town. There were two banks, two hotels, two dry goods stores, several groceries, drug store, doctor and dentist office plus numerous other thriving businesses. Thurmond is now owned by the National Parks Service for the New River Gorge National River and is listed on the National Register of Historical Places |
