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Elkins, West Virginia
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Elkins, West Virginia
Elkins is a city in Randolph County, West Virginia, United States, and its county seat. The population was 6,950 at the 2020 census. It lies along the Tygart Valley River and was incorporated in 1890, taking its name from Stephen B. Elkins, the city's co-founder and later U.S. Senator from West Virginia. Elkins is home to Davis and Elkins College and the Mountain State Forest Festival, held in early October every year.
Thomas Skidmore (ca. 1733-1807), born in Maryland, obtained a title to 400 acres of land (“by virtue of a settlement”) in the future Elkins area before 1778. This land, on the east side of the Tygart Valley River, was surveyed by John Poage in 1780 and included the land that is now most of downtown Elkins. Thus, Skidmore was probably the first white settler in what became Elkins.
Before its major development, the area that would become Elkins was known as Leadsville, and was the site of a few scattered homesteads – a place where the local farmers' corn crop was loaded onto boats and floated down the Tygart Valley River. The City of Elkins was developed by U.S. Senators Henry G. Davis (1823–1916) and Stephen B. Elkins (1841–1911) – and named for the latter – in 1890. (Elkins was Davis' son-in-law.) The two founders developed railroad lines, coal mines, and timbering businesses. Together, they built the West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway into Elkins in 1889, opening a vast territory to industrial development by the late 1890s. After an intense county seat war with nearby Beverly, where the new county courthouse building was burned down in 1897 under suspicious circumstances,[citation needed] Elkins became the county seat in 1899. This was resolved, however, only after multiple referendums, court judgments, and the mobilization of armed bands in both towns. In the end, bloodshed was averted.
In 1904 the new Randolph County Courthouse – designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style – was completed in Elkins. As the railroad (merged into the Western Maryland Railway in 1905) expanded, Elkins experienced the luxury of passenger train service. In 1930, 18 passenger trains were arriving and leaving Elkins daily. All passenger service was discontinued in 1958.
Where the view of the new town was most delightful and picturesque, Davis and Elkins each built permanent places of residence, known as Graceland (1893) and Halliehurst (1890), respectively.[citation needed]
Today, Elkins has an active economic development authority, chamber of commerce, downtown business organization and numerous social, fraternal and service organizations that sponsor annual events like the Mountain State Forest Festival, which brings thousands of people into the city every year.
Elkins is located at the confluence of the Tygart Valley River and Leading Creek. The average elevation is 2,000 feet (610 m) above sea level. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.43 square miles (8.88 km2), all land. Elkins is headquarters for the Monongahela National Forest, a 910,155-acre (368,327 ha) federal reserve encompassing the "High Alleghenies" area to the east of the city.
In 1995, a second edition of The 100 Best Small Towns in America, written by Norman Crampton, featured Elkins among the special places in the United States. Crampton quoted then Editor Emerita of The Inter-Mountain, Eldora Marie Bolyard Nuzum, "You can stand on any street in Elkins and turn in all directions and see forest covered mountains rimming the city. It is unbelievable."
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Elkins, West Virginia
Elkins is a city in Randolph County, West Virginia, United States, and its county seat. The population was 6,950 at the 2020 census. It lies along the Tygart Valley River and was incorporated in 1890, taking its name from Stephen B. Elkins, the city's co-founder and later U.S. Senator from West Virginia. Elkins is home to Davis and Elkins College and the Mountain State Forest Festival, held in early October every year.
Thomas Skidmore (ca. 1733-1807), born in Maryland, obtained a title to 400 acres of land (“by virtue of a settlement”) in the future Elkins area before 1778. This land, on the east side of the Tygart Valley River, was surveyed by John Poage in 1780 and included the land that is now most of downtown Elkins. Thus, Skidmore was probably the first white settler in what became Elkins.
Before its major development, the area that would become Elkins was known as Leadsville, and was the site of a few scattered homesteads – a place where the local farmers' corn crop was loaded onto boats and floated down the Tygart Valley River. The City of Elkins was developed by U.S. Senators Henry G. Davis (1823–1916) and Stephen B. Elkins (1841–1911) – and named for the latter – in 1890. (Elkins was Davis' son-in-law.) The two founders developed railroad lines, coal mines, and timbering businesses. Together, they built the West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway into Elkins in 1889, opening a vast territory to industrial development by the late 1890s. After an intense county seat war with nearby Beverly, where the new county courthouse building was burned down in 1897 under suspicious circumstances,[citation needed] Elkins became the county seat in 1899. This was resolved, however, only after multiple referendums, court judgments, and the mobilization of armed bands in both towns. In the end, bloodshed was averted.
In 1904 the new Randolph County Courthouse – designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style – was completed in Elkins. As the railroad (merged into the Western Maryland Railway in 1905) expanded, Elkins experienced the luxury of passenger train service. In 1930, 18 passenger trains were arriving and leaving Elkins daily. All passenger service was discontinued in 1958.
Where the view of the new town was most delightful and picturesque, Davis and Elkins each built permanent places of residence, known as Graceland (1893) and Halliehurst (1890), respectively.[citation needed]
Today, Elkins has an active economic development authority, chamber of commerce, downtown business organization and numerous social, fraternal and service organizations that sponsor annual events like the Mountain State Forest Festival, which brings thousands of people into the city every year.
Elkins is located at the confluence of the Tygart Valley River and Leading Creek. The average elevation is 2,000 feet (610 m) above sea level. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.43 square miles (8.88 km2), all land. Elkins is headquarters for the Monongahela National Forest, a 910,155-acre (368,327 ha) federal reserve encompassing the "High Alleghenies" area to the east of the city.
In 1995, a second edition of The 100 Best Small Towns in America, written by Norman Crampton, featured Elkins among the special places in the United States. Crampton quoted then Editor Emerita of The Inter-Mountain, Eldora Marie Bolyard Nuzum, "You can stand on any street in Elkins and turn in all directions and see forest covered mountains rimming the city. It is unbelievable."
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