Glen Jean is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, suc ...

(CDP) in Fayette County,

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

, United States, near Oak Hill. As of the 2010 census, its population is 210. The area had been known as White Oaks, but when the town was founded in the early 1870s the community was named for

Jean McKell Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Je ...

, the wife of landowner Thomas G. McKell. The town was a center for the

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

industry and a railroad junction, formerly boasting an opera house, hotels and a company store. Much of the town has disappeared since the end of the coal boom. The chief remaining structure is the

Bank of Glen Jean The Bank of Glen Jean is located in the unincorporated community of Glen Jean, West Virginia. The bank was the financial center of a railroading, mining and financial conglomerate belonging to William McKell, son of Thomas G. and Jean McKell, the ...

, listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. Glen Jean is the headquarters of New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, located across the street from the bank building, which now functions as a visitor contact center. Glen Jean is also home to the

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded in ...

's national high adventure base, The

Summit Bechtel Reserve The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve, often shortened as Summit Bechtel Reserve (SBR), located in Fayette and Raleigh counties, near Beckley, West Virginia, is one of four facilities managed by the National Council of the Boy Scou ...

. The latitude of Glen Jean is 37.926 N. The longitude is 81.15 W. It is in the

Eastern Time Zone The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a smal ...

. The elevation is 1,627 feet. Nearby parks and recreation sites include the Bluestone National Scenic River, the

Gauley River National Recreation Area The Gauley River National Recreation Area, located near Summersville, West Virginia, protects a portion of the Gauley River and a segment of the Meadow River in southern West Virginia. Little of the national recreation area is accessible via ...

, and the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve.

References

Census-designated places in Fayette County, West Virginia Census-designated places in West Virginia Coal towns in West Virginia {{FayetteCountyWV-geo-stub