Bluefield is a town in Tazewell County,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, United States, located along the

Bluestone River The Bluestone River is a tributary of the New River, 77 mi (124 km) long, in southwestern Virginia and southern West Virginia in the United States.2020 census. It is part of the Bluefield WV-VA micropolitan area which has a population of 106,363 in 2020.

History

Bluefield has not always borne the name Bluefield. The town developed around a small post office named "Pin Hook" in the 1860s, named for a small creek that ran through the community. For a brief time it was known as the community of Harman, named after a Civil War hero from the area who had been shot during the

Battle of Cloyd's Mountain The Battle of Cloyd's Mountain occurred in Pulaski County, Virginia, on May 9, 1864, during the American Civil War. The fight has also been called the Battle of Cloyd's Farm. A Union Army division led by Brigadier General George Crook defeate ...

Pulaski County, Virginia Pulaski County is a county located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,800. Its county seat is Pulaski. Pulaski County is part of the Blacksburg-Christiansburg metropolitan a ...

. Later, after

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

was discovered and a company was formed to build a railroad to the

Pocahontas Coalfield Pocahontas Coalfield, which is also known as the Flat Top-Pocahontas Coalfield, is located in Mercer County/ McDowell County, West Virginia and Tazewell County, Virginia. The earliest mining of coal in the coalfield was in Pocahontas, Virgini ...

s, the community's name was changed again to "Graham" to honor Col. Thomas Graham, a

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

capitalist. The town was first chartered by the Commonwealth of Virginia as the town of Graham in 1884. The

Norfolk and Western The Norfolk and Western Railway , commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precisio ...

railroad chose

Bluefield, West Virginia Bluefield is a city in Mercer County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 9,658 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Bluefield micropolitan area extending into Virginia, which had a populatio ...

over Graham as the place to build its regional headquarters and main docking yards for the Pocahontas region. As a result, Bluefield, West Virginia grew at a much faster rate than did Graham. Graham, Virginia operated under that name until a referendum on June 10, 1924. By a margin of 287 to 223, voters in Graham approved changing the name of the 5,000 member town to Bluefield, Virginia to match the larger (22,000) West Virginia city. The name change was celebrated in a mock marriage ceremony held in the city park between officials of Bluefield, Virginia, and Bluefield, West Virginia, to celebrate the renaming of Graham. Its community had borders then that are roughly the same as the downtown area alongside the railroad of today's Bluefield, Virginia. Graham continued to hope for development as a major city in the region; it tried to attract a

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

refining industry alongside the railyards. The

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

of the 1930s caused development in the region to come to a halt. The current Bluefield did not start to expand beyond the downtown area until the 1950s, when it annexed the small town of West Graham, Virginia to the west. It also began to develop land in the more open rural foothills to the south of the city. As the largest town in

Tazewell County, Virginia Tazewell County () is a county located in the southwestern portion of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,429. Its county seat is Tazewell. Tazewell County is part of the Bluefield, WV-VA Micropoli ...

, Bluefield has expanded since the 1990s and the first decade of the new millennium. After a series of devastating floods in the early 21st century, the town has relocated its town council chambers and police department from the

flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

-prone historic downtown area to the southernmost point in the city at the foot of East River Mountain. The area has been developed with a

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

, the headquarters of

First Community Bank Premier Bank, formally First Community Bank (FCB), is a Shari'ah compliant commercial bank in Kenya, the largest economy in the East African Community. The bank received a formal approval from the Central Bank of Kenya in 2007, the national banki ...

strip mall A strip mall, strip center, strip plaza or simply plaza is a type of shopping mall, shopping center common in North America and Australia where the stores are arranged in a row, with a footpath in front. Strip malls are typically developed as a ...

s, and a medical center operating along U.S. Route 460. Bluefield's most prominent residents are

Bill Dudley William McGarvey Dudley (December 24, 1921 – February 4, 2010), nicknamed "Bullet Bill", was an American professional football halfback, safety and return specialist who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Pittsburgh Steeler ...

, an NFL Hall of Famer; New York Giants RB

Ahmad Bradshaw Ahmad Bradshaw (born March 19, 1986) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Marshall Thundering Herd. Bradshaw was selected in the seven ...

; and the widow of actor

Lorne Greene Lorne Hyman Greene (born Lyon Himan Green; February 12, 1915 – September 11, 1987) was a Canadian actor, singer, and radio personality. His notable television roles include Ben Cartwright on the Western ''Bonanza'' and Commander Adama in ...

, who previously lived in a mansion atop a hill overlooking the Sanders house. This is considered one of the most significant historic homes in the city. The

Walter McDonald Sanders House The Walter McDonald Sanders House is a historic house that forms the center of the Sanders House Center complex at Bluefield in Tazewell County, Virginia, United States. It was built between 1894 and 1896, and is a large two-story, three-bay, ...

and Alexander St. Clair House are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the town has a total area of 9.32 square miles (14.9991 km2), all land.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 5,078 people, 2,134 households, and 1,423 families residing in the town. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was 669.9 people per square mile (258.7/km²). There were 2,349 housing units at an average density of 309.9 per square mile (119.7/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 92.30%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 4.86%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.32% Native American, 1.42% Asian, 0.12% from other races, and 0.98% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 0.41% of the population. There were 2,134 households, out of which 21.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.3% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 8.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.3% were non-families. 30.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.23 and the average family size was 2.77. In the town, the population was spread out, with 18.0% under the age of 18, 10.2% from 18 to 24, 22.2% from 25 to 44, 27.3% from 45 to 64, and 22.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.5 males. The median income for a household in the town was $32,157, and the median income for a family was $44,000. Males had a median income of $34,167 versus $18,875 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $21,755. About 3.9% of families and 7.6% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 9.6% of those under age 18 and 8.8% of those age 65 or over.

Sports

The

Bluefield Blue Jays The Bluefield Blue Jays were a minor league baseball team of the Rookie Appalachian League representing the twin cities of Bluefield, West Virginia, and Bluefield, Virginia. The team played their home games at Bowen Field at Peters Park, a histori ...

, a

Minor League Baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

team, played their home games at Bowen Field, a stadium in the city park that serves both Bluefield and its neighbor of the same name in

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

. Although the park is operated by the West Virginia city, the stadium lies entirely within Virginia. In conjunction with a contraction of Minor League Baseball beginning with the 2021 season, the Appalachian League was reorganized as a collegiate summer baseball league, and the Blue Jays were replaced by a new franchise in the revamped league designed for rising college freshman and sophomores. Bluefield University hosts many sports programs, including basketball, soccer, baseball, and now football. Graham High School's football team won the Virginia High School League's Class 2 State Football Championship in 2024. The G-Men defeated Strasburg High School 31-8 on December, 14, 2024 at Salem City Stadium for the state crown. Previous state football titles were won in 1962, 1989, 1995, 2018, and 2022.

Government

Town Council

Mayor: Donnie Linkous Vice Mayor: Rick Holman Council Members: Billie Roberts, Cathy Payne, Anglis Trigg, Chad Lambert, Rick Holman, Lee Riffe

Education

Educational institutions include Graham High School,

Bluefield University Bluefield University is a private Baptist university in Bluefield, Virginia. It offers 22 majors and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The campus is about from the state line between Virginia and West Virgini ...

and Southwest Virginia Community College.

Notable people

, NFL Player *

, NFL Player , Pro-Football Hall of Fame inductee *

Marl Young Marl Young (January 29, 1917 – April 29 2009) was an American musician and arranger who helped with the merger of the all-black and all-white musicians unions in Los Angeles in the early 1950s. He later became the first black music director of a m ...

, Music Director for

Here's Lucy ''Here's Lucy'' is an American sitcom starring Lucille Ball. The series co-starred her long-time comedy partner Gale Gordon and her real-life children Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr. It was broadcast on CBS from 1968 to 1974. It was Ball's third ...

Representation in other media

*The town was chosen by Hollywood film producers as the site for the 1994 remake of the classic movie, ''Lassie''. *It has been mentioned by musicians in numerous songs, including Blessid Union of Souls' "Oh Virginia".

References

External links

* {{authority control Towns in Tazewell County, Virginia Twin cities Towns in Virginia Virginia populated places on the Bluestone River