Bramwell, West Virginia, is a small town with an unusually large story, nestled in a bend of the Bluestone River. It was not until the Pocahontas coalfield in southwestern Virginia opened in the early 1880s that the area now known as Bramwell was developed. When the Norfolk and Western Railroad laid its rails to Pocahontas, mine operators, engineers, merchants, craftspeople, railroad workers, domestic workers, attorneys, teachers, and their families settled in the little hamlet that would be called Bramwell.
A Town Planned at the Gateway
Coal had been discovered in the area in the mid-1700s, but the rugged landscape prevented industry from developing. Most of the land was used for small farms. It was not until the War Between the States (the Civil War), when the area was surveyed, that its vast stands of virgin timber and large coal formations were recognized as potentially useful to the war effort. Following the war and during the Reconstruction period, two groups of industrialists from the Pennsylvania coalfields organized to explore the possibility of developing this little-known region of southern West Virginia and southwestern Virginia. The Southwest Virginia Improvement Corporation came into Virginia in the early 1880s and opened a coal-mining operation in Pocahontas, Virginia. The Flat Top Coal Land Association came to the West Virginia side and found a small tract of land along the Bluestone River that its members felt would serve their company. Major C. H. Duhring, local manager for Flat Top, established the company’s headquarters and designed a small community for the early engineers along the banks of the Bluestone River, calling it “Horseshoe Bend.”
In 1883, J. H. Bramwell, a civil engineer, applied for a post office for the area. It is said that he named the town “Bramwell” and served as its first postmaster until 1886. By 1884, the Mill Creek Coal and Coke Company gave life to the area with the opening of the first mine in the Flat Top field by John Cooper. Other coal operations soon followed. In that same year, there were Coopers and Simmons post offices, both within Bramwell’s town limits.
Although the Norfolk and Western Railroad snaked through the landscape from Pocahontas, Virginia, and through Bramwell, the town was known as a “spur” stop, with trains reportedly arriving and departing as many as fourteen times a day during the busy coal years. Bramwell was incorporated in 1888, and quickly became the headquarters for coal operations in the area. More than 4,000 people would settle in the community.
Coal and the Gilded Age
Between 1900 and 1915, the area experienced an explosion of successful coal operations and industrial wealth. The homes of the early pioneers were primitive in construction and stood in stark contrast to the structures that dot the hills around the community today. Most of the coal owners had immigrated to America from England and Wales, so when they wanted to embellish or reconstruct their family homes, they relied on what they remembered from their homelands. Queen Anne-style towers, Tudor Revival timbering, stained glass, hand-carved staircases, ornate plaster or painted ceilings, imported tiles and other materials, and local stonework were used to build grand homes for the families of the community. Some of those homes remain among the town’s best-known landmarks.
Bramwell is often called the “Home of the Millionaires,” and that is a twofold distinction. It is said that at least 14 millionaires lived in the town during its heyday and that the Bank of Bramwell, built in 1893, held more money on deposit than any other bank in the United States at that time. Second, the local high school sports teams were called the “Millionaires,” reflecting the town’s early history. The Bank of Bramwell was unique in another respect, as it was often the scene of a remarkable event. The janitor, Henry Wade, accompanied by bank officer J. B. Perry, was often seen pushing a wheelbarrow filled with sacks of money along Main Street on the way to the railway station. The money was placed in an armored railcar and delivered to the mines for payday as the train traveled through the coalfields. They were never robbed.
1910 ~ The Fire That Remade Main Street
By 1910, the town was booming. It boasted brick streets, paved sidewalks, a stormwater drainage system, electric lights, and telephones, transforming the town from a wilderness into a progressive community in only 25 years. But things changed on January 7, 1910, when a fire broke out in a poolroom on the south side of Main Street. The town was a tinderbox, and it was not long before the commercial center and the entire business block were destroyed. The fire was so hot that the streets and sidewalks buckled. Town leaders passed an ordinance requiring that all new construction be made of brick, stone, or another masonry material. Many businesses did not rebuild, but by the end of 1923, Main Street had developed largely as it stands today.
Prosperity Fades and Preservation Begins
The crash of 1929 and the Great Depression struck the coalfields hard. The Bank of Bramwell closed in the early 1930s when it transferred its assets to a bank in Bluefield, West Virginia. Many families lost their fortunes or sold their interests, and many moved away.
Buildings no longer in use, including the railroad station, were demolished. Since then, residents have protected and restored the surviving buildings. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, the community was recognized for its architectural and industrial history. Since that time, other areas of the community have been added to the Historic District.
A Different Kind of Richness
One might say that, with the closing of the Bank of Bramwell and the end of the town’s age of great coal fortunes, the golden years were gone. Today’s residents, however, would like visitors to remember that there is a different kind of richness in the community. Alongside the memories of millionaires and mansions is the closeness of small-town life, which continues today.
Bramwell, a teeny, tiny town in the southern tip of West Virginia, has a rich history rooted in the golden age of coal and currency. The buildings preserve a beautiful setting in a lush mountain valley, and stories of the golden era live on through residents as they preserve and share the ordinary pleasures and responsibilities of belonging to this unique community.
Elizabeth L. “Betty” Goins
Bramwell Town Historian