Itmann is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), 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 count ...

(CDP) and former mining town located in Wyoming 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 B ...

, United States, between Pineville and Mullens off

West Virginia Route 16 West Virginia Route 16 (WV 16) is a north–south route located in the U.S. State of West Virginia. The southern terminus of the route is at the Virginia state line in Bishop, McDowell County, where the route continues south as Virginia St ...

. As of the 2010 census, its population was 293; it had 138 homes, 119 of which were occupied.

History

In 1916, the

Pocahontas Fuel Company Pocahontas Fuel Company operated mines in the state of Virginia in Boissevain and Amonate, and in West Virginia at Jenkinjones, Bishop, and Itmann. Pocahontas Fuel Company founded the Pocahontas Consolidated Collieries Company in 1907. In 195 ...

constructed 120 dwellings near the mouth of Barkers Creek. The Itmann

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

was opened in 1918 by the Pocahontas Fuel Co. (now CONSOL) It was named after the president of the company, Isaac T. Mann, or I. T. Mann which was eventually shortened down to Itmann. A single room school house was built in addition to the massive stone company store. During the 1950s and 1960s it was the most productive mine in West Virginia. The coal seam Pocahontas No. 3 was one of the best to be found in the world, and the coal is rated at 15,000 Btu/lb (35 MJ/kg). By the 1980s, Island Creek Coal Co. was mining in Pocahontas No. 3 at Itmann, employing around 500 miners. A larger school was built shortly after and the single room school house was converted into the

UMWA The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the Unite ...

hall. During his campaign,

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

entered one of the three Itmann mines while visiting then-booming neighboring city, Mullens.

Explosion

There was a large methane explosion on December 16, 1972 in the Itmann Mine #3. The explosion killed five miners and left three others injured. The mines at Itmann have been recorded to have produced 26,065,526 tons of coal.

Current

Itmann has a post office,USPS Postmaster Finder
usps.com. Accessed October 26, 2022. a church, the Council on Aging, and a welding shop. The former school is home to the offices of the Council on Aging. The single room school that was converted into the UMWA hall is currently unused. The

Itmann Company Store and Office Itmann Company Store and Office is a historic commercial building located at Itmann, Wyoming County, West Virginia. It was designed by architect Alex B. Mahood and built in 1923–1925. It is a Classical Revival style complex built of native san ...

is still standing and is a registered historical landmark in West Virginia and was 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 ...

in 1990. Half of the company store was used as a homeless shelter while the other half was unused. Now it is empty. The welding shop is still operational and fabricates escalators for local mines.

External links

Coal Camp USA

References

{{Authority control Census-designated places in West Virginia Census-designated places in Wyoming County, West Virginia Coal towns in West Virginia Populated places on the Guyandotte River