Thurmond is a town in Fayette County, West Virginia, United States, on the New River. The population was recorded as 5 in the 2020 census. During the heyday of coal mining in the New River Gorge, Thurmond was a prosperous town with a number of businesses and facilities for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. Most of Thurmond is owned by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

for the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve. The C&O passenger railway depot in town was renovated in 1995 and now functions as a Park Service visitor center. The entire town is a designated historic district 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 ...

. Thurmond is the least-populous municipality in West Virginia. During the city elections on June 14, 2005, six of the city's seven residents sought elected office.

History

Thurmond was incorporated in 1900 and was named for Captain W. D. Thurmond, who settled here in 1844. He received the 73-acre site in 1873 as payment for a surveying job. He served in the

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fi ...

and died in 1910 at age 90. Thurmond

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

was established in 1888 and discontinued in 1995. The community remained small until Thomas G McKell of Glen Jean negotiated with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway for a crossing at Dunloup Creek in 1892. W. D. Thurmond banned alcohol from his lands, which comprised the originally incorporated portion of the town. The Dun Glen Hotel was just outside the incorporated portion. A district called "Ballyhack" or "Balahack" on the south side near the Dun Glen became notorious as Thurmond's red light district. Two hotels were in the town; one was called the Lafayette (known locally as the "Lay-flat"), which was close to the railroad, and the 100-room Dun Glen, which opened in 1901, became a nationally known resort. It burned down in 1930. The Thurmond National Bank (owned by Thurmond) closed in 1931, and the New River Bank (owned by the McKells) moved to Oak Hill in 1935. The decline continued into the 1950s when locomotives changed from steam to diesel, which could travel much longer distances and did not need to stop for coal and water refilling at Thurmond. The second decline to hit Thurmond was in the late 1980s, when the National Park Service began purchasing homes and properties, voluntarily, with the promise of turning the Town into a living history museum.

Historic district

The Thurmond Historic District comprises the entire town and a small portion of the opposite riverbank. Thurmond was accessible solely by rail until 1921. The town occupies a narrow stretch of flat land along the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway track, with no road between the tracks and the town. Instead, a single-lane road crosses the New River on a single-track railroad bridge, crosses the main line, and climbs the hill behind the town so that it parallels the town 150 feet higher on the hill before dropping down next to the tracks. Due to its strategic position on the rail line, the commercial center thrived despite the absence of a road. In the residential portion of the town, housing types are standardized, with three or four basic types corresponding to different positions in the railroad hierarchy. The commercial district, while lacking a street for much of its history, boasted two hotels, two banks, and a number of other commercial buildings. The railroad station was built in 1888, while a railyard and shops served the extensive branch line network which carried coal out of the hills. The town once had a population of several hundred, which has dwindled to fewer than a dozen. The railroad depot is now a visitor center for New River Gorge National Park and Preserve.

Geography

Thurmond's level land is almost entirely consumed by CSX (formerly the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway) operations. Apart from a strip of commercial buildings that front directly onto the train tracks with no intervening street, the remainder of the town climbs the hill behind the bottomland. Thurmond was an important switching center for the C&O, a place where short trains from mines in the area were assembled into longer trains for shipment to markets on the main line.

Demographics

2000 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 2000, seven people, five households, and one family were 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 70.5 inhabitants/sq mi (27.0/km²). The seven housing units averaged 70.5/sq mi (27.0/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 100.00%

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 ...

. Of the five households, none had children under 18 living with them, one was a married couple living together, and four were not families. Three households were made up of individuals, and two had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 1.40, and the average family size was 2.00. In the town, the age distribution was one from 18 to 24, one from 25 to 44, three from 45 to 64, and two who were 65 or older. The median age was 56 years. There were five females and two males. The median income for a household in the town was $23,750, and for a family was $0. 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 $10,782. No families were living 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 ...

2010 census

As of the

of 2010, there were five people, four households, and zero families residing in the town. The

was . The 12 housing units averaged . The racial makeup of the town was 100% White. None of the four households were families. Three households were made up of individuals, and two had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 1.25, and the average family size was 0.00. The median age in the town was 57.5 years. None of residents were under the age of 24; 40% (two people) were from 25 to 44; 20% (one person) were from 45 to 64; and 40% (two people) were 65 or older. The gender makeup of the town was 20.0% (one) male and 80.0% (four people) female.

Rail transportation

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

, the national passenger rail service, provides service to Thurmond on the ''Cardinal'' route. It is one of the least used stations on the Amtrak network. In 2022, the Amtrak station in Thurmond, WV saw 399 passengers served, compared to 285 in 2018. In 2023, 466 passengers were served. As of 2024, due to the low annual ridership in Thurmond, the station is unstaffed, there is no waiting room, and no in-person ticket booth or kiosk.

In popular culture

The town was the filming location for John Sayles' 1987 movie '' Matewan'' since it still possesses many of the characteristics of a 1920s

Appalachia Appalachia ( ) is a geographic region located in the Appalachian Mountains#Regions, central and southern sections of the Appalachian Mountains in the east of North America. In the north, its boundaries stretch from the western Catskill Mountai ...

n coal town. The events took place in Matewan, West Virginia, which borders the Kentucky state line about 100 miles away. W. D. Thurmond banned alcohol from his lands, which comprised the originally incorporated portion of the town. The McKell family, though, had no such scruples, and their Dun Glen Hotel on McKell land just to the east of the Thurmond land became notorious for hosting a 14-year-long card party claimed by ''Ripley's Believe It or Not'' to be the world's longest-lasting poker game.

References

External links

Thurmond, West Virginia
at Abandoned

at Coal Camp USA

at New River Gorge National Park and Preserve * * * * {{authority control National Register of Historic Places in Fayette County, West Virginia Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia Towns in Fayette County, West Virginia Towns in West Virginia Ghost towns in West Virginia Historic districts in Fayette County, West Virginia Tourist attractions in Fayette County, West Virginia National Register of Historic Places in New River Gorge National Park and Preserve National Coal Heritage Area New River Coalfield Historic American Engineering Record in West Virginia Coal towns in West Virginia Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia Populated places on the National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia Articles containing video clips West Virginia populated places on the New River