Elkins, West Virginia
From West Virginia (WV) Cyclopedia
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County seat of Randolph County, Elkins, WV (map (http://www.wvamaps.com/index.php/?place=Elkins&state=wv&lat=38.9258&lon=-79.8469&elev=1930&pop=7032)) was incorporated in 1890. The town was named for Stephen B. Elkins, United States Senator from West Virginia, 1895-1911. Elkins is the location of Davis and Elkins College.
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Development of Elkins, WV
In 1881, by act of Legislature, the Potomac and Piedmont Coal and Railroad Company was reorganized as the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railroad Company (WVC&P), with Henry G. Davis as president and Davis' son-in-law, Stephen B. Elkins, as vice-president. The railroad's main line was completed to Elkins, WV, in 1889. By 1891, trains were running on a line to Beverly, and to Belington, where connection was made with the Tygart Valley branch of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (http://www.wvrailroads.net/index.php/Baltimore_%26_Ohio_Railroad) (B&O) from Grafton, WV. Davis formed another railroad, the Coal & Iron Railroad (C&I), in December 1899. In 1903 the C&I completed a rail line from Elkins connecting with the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway (C&O) at Durbin.
Davis' rail lines penetrated the vast Elkins Coal Field, facilitating the industrial development of the region, and fostering the creation of numerous coal mining operations, lumber mills and timber operations. Numerous new coal and logging boom towns were created and preexisting towns experienced rapid growth during the early-1900's,
Elkins received its first economic stimulus as the location of WVC&P's large locomotive and car shop complex, which in turn resulted in the construction of many new homes for railroad workers. The resulting activity attracted a good class of merchants who increasingly attracted trade from the surrounding country.
In May of 1892, Davis incorporated the Coal & Coke Railroad (C&C), and purchased the existing Charleston, Clendenin & Sutton Railroad (http://www.wvrailroads.net/index.php/Charleston%2C_Clendenin_%26_Sutton_Railroad) which had completed a rail line from Charleston to Flatwoods, WV. The WVC&P was sold in 1902, becoming part of the reorganized Western Maryland Railway (WM). That same year, H. G. Davis began construction of an extension to the C&C line to Elkins, to open up the undeveloped timber and coal regions of Upshur, Braxton and Clay counties. The C&C line connecting Elkins and Charleston was completed in January of 1906. The C&C provided a direct link between the state's northern and southern railroad lines, thus providing West Virginia's northern and southern coalfields with easier access to "western markets," e.g., the Great Lakes. In 1917 the C&C was taken over by the B&O.
