Delbarton is a town in Mingo County,

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 ...

, United States. The population was 522 at the 2020 census.

History

Delbarton was incorporated September 6, 1946, by the Mingo County

Circuit Court Circuit courts are court systems in several common law jurisdictions. It may refer to: * Courts that literally sit 'on circuit', i.e., judges move around a region or country to different towns or cities where they will hear cases; * Courts that s ...

. The name Delbarton comes from the

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country estate of Luther Kountze, a

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financier and part owner of the United Thacker Land Company, a large coal mining company. Currently a

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high school with the same moniker, the Delbarton School, is located on this site. The estate and town and school all derive their name from a portmanteau of syllables in the names of Kountze's three children (DELancey, BARclay and LivingsTON). Prior to being incorporated as a town, Delbarton was a coal camp built and owned by the Thacker company. Thacker needed such camps; soon after, in 1909, acting for the company, Luther Kountze arranged the purchase of thousands of acres in the area from Jane Hatfield, a woman widowed in 1882 by the murder of her husband, Ellison Hatfield in the famed Hatfield-McCoy Feud. Jane required money for herself and her children and sold cheaply, unaware of the fantastic mineral wealth she was losing out on. After this acquisition of land, Delbarton was created for the needed miners who were recruited and brought in to work the soon to be opened coal mines. The town is located in the heart of the richest coal area of the state, the Williamson Coalfield. Poverty is endemic in the town of Delbarton, as it is in Mingo County where it is located.

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estimates as of 2018 put the residents living below the poverty line percentages at 36.5% for Delbarton and 28.7% for Mingo County. These rates compare to 17.8% for West Virginia and 15% for the USA overall. Economists attribute the most significant cause of this high level of poverty to the drastic decline in the number of jobs in the local coal mining industry. The loss of such employment which has been going on for several decades is blamed on two factors: the reduction in the amount of coal being extracted in the area and the ever increasing use of less labor intensive removal methods for what coal is still mined. Some commercial buildings in town, no longer needed for their original purposes of retail or mining administration, are now used to cater to the growing tourist industry.

Geography

According to the

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, the town has a total area of , all land.

Demographics

2010 census

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 2010, there were 579 people, 260 households, and 150 families living 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 . There were 326 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 96.4%

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 ...

, 0.7%

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, 0.2% Native American, 0.2% Asian, and 2.6% from two or more races. There were 260 households, of which 27.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.1% 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, 10.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.6% had a male householder with no wife present, and 42.3% were non-families. 39.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.6% 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 2.99. The median age in the town was 39.3 years. 22.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.2% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 29.1% were from 25 to 44; 29.8% were from 45 to 64; and 11.6% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 54.1% male and 45.9% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 474 people, 190 households, and 125 families living in the town. The

was 239.8 inhabitants per square mile (92.4/km²). There were 239 housing units at an average density of 120.9 per square mile (46.6/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 98.31%

, 0.21%

, 0.63% Native American, and 0.84% 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 0.21% of the population. There were 190 households, out of which 35.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.7% were

living together, 14.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.7% were non-families. 31.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.17. In the town, the population was spread out, with 26.2% under the age of 18, 11.6% from 18 to 24, 26.8% from 25 to 44, 21.5% from 45 to 64, and 13.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 100.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.4 males. The median income for a household in the town was $21,875, and the median income for a family was $26,625. Males had a median income of $28,750 versus $20,250 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 $11,237. Although Delbarton is located in the heart of the richest

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 ...

area of West Virginia, about 30.1% of families and 34.3% of the population live 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 48.8% of those under age 18 and 7.1% of those age 65 or over.

References

External links

Town website

A Drive Through Town
{{Authority control Towns in Mingo County, West Virginia Towns in West Virginia