Chap 3 Socio-Eco
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City Profile Chapter 3 Socioeconomic enacted legislation forming Raleigh Conditions County from Fayette County and, thus, County government was organized. The An overview and statistical analysis of County was named for Sir Walter Raleigh population and socioeconomic characteris- at the suggestion of General Beckley, and tics of the City of Beckley has been devel- Beckley became the County Seat. As a oped as part of the basis for the Compre- Virginia County, Raleigh County tended hensive Planning process. to politically vote Republican. During the Virginia Secession Convention, at the Historic Roots of outset of the Civil War, Raleigh County was included in the new State of West Beckley Virginia. As the only instance in West The earliest recorded European exploration Virginia history for the territory of a of what is now West Virginia was in 1742 County to be enlarged after its forma- by John Peter Salley. The first explorations tion, the West Virginia Legislature of Raleigh County occurred in 1750 by Dr. approved a political deal to annex the Thomas Walker, and in 1751 by Christo- 168-square mile Slab Fork District and pher Gist of the Ohio Company (a land the rich coal fields of Winding Gulf from investment company). The first known Wyoming County into southwest Raleigh map of the Raleigh County area was County. At the time, this provided a published in London in 1755 based on Democrat majority in Raleigh County these explorations. Two years later, John and a Republican majority in Wyoming James Beckley was born in England, who County. would, in 1795, obtain a grant of 170,038 acres of land in the Raleigh County area, After the construction of the County and, in 1802, be appointed the first Clerk Court House in 1852, some records, of the U.S. House of Representatives by including the Census Bureau, began to President Thomas Jefferson. In 1836, his refer to the town as Raleigh Court House. son, General Alfred Beckley, a West Point It is interesting to note that in 1875, the graduate, moved to the area to develop the land book refers to the town as land left to him by his father. In 1838, the Beckleyville, but the first issue of the Virginia General Assembly officially Raleigh County Index in 1880, which later established the settlement of Beckley, became the Raleigh Register, refers to the named in honor of the General’s father, as town as Raleigh Court House. By 1897, the first settlement in the portion of Fayette the name of the town reverted to Beckley County, Virginia, which is now Raleigh in all records. County, West Virginia. In 1872, an act of the West Virginia Legislature incorporated As the nation pushed west in the 1800s, the Town of Beckley, and John Beckley, the Beckley became a noted stop, but grandson of the town’s namesake, was without industry, it remained a farm elected as its first Mayor. In 1908, the community. The population of Beckley Legislature passed a new charter for in 1860 was 160, and the town’s fifteen Beckley, changing it from a town to a city. buildings were clustered around the courthouse square on what is now Main General Beckley drafted a resolution in Street and North and South Kanawha 1850, and the General Assembly of Virginia Streets. Shops, stables, taverns, and City of Beckley Comprehensive Plan Page 13 Poggemeyer Design Group Chapter 3 City Profile churches were intermixed with private ity. As the mechanization of coal mining dwellings along these two roads. The displaced thousands of workers in the population swelled to close to 50 1980s, many migrated from outlying towns families and a population of more than to Beckley, making it the largest of the four 300. During the Civil War, the City was surrounding county seats and a central occupied by both Union and Confeder- location for many private, public, and ate troops (Rutherford B. Hayes and government activities. In 1962, the Beckley William McKinley were both stationed Exhibition Coal Mine, owned by the City in the town). By the 1890 Census, the and operated by the City’s Parks and population had dropped to 158, but the Recreation Department, officially opened town now had two stores, a 13-room to visitors and continues to provide a hotel, and 16 houses. By the turn of the historical and entertaining ride through an century, the corners of Heber, Neville, actual coal mine. and Main Streets became the core of the During much of the 20th In 1841, the second building built in commercial district. century, the coal industry Beckley was a small log school house. In supplied the City’s economic th 1869, the State Legislature incorporated the During much of the 20 century, the stability and growth. coal industry supplied the City’s eco- Raleigh High School. In 1900, the Beckley nomic stability and growth. After the Seminary (later the Beckley Institute) Chesapeake and Ohio Railway com- opened as a private school with classes for pleted its line from the Eastern seaboard both grade school and high school stu- to within eleven miles of Beckley in the dents. Beckley’s first black school opened late 1870s, forests were quickly timbered, in 1907, near the border of Beckley and the and coal mines began to open every- suburb of Mabscott. In 1912, Odd Elemen- where. In 1890, the Royal Coal and tary School was built, and as of 1980, was Coke Company opened a drift mine in the oldest school building still in use in Royal (a town on the New River, six Raleigh County. The Stratton School was miles northeast of Beckley), which was erected in 1913. Upon completion of the the first coal mine in Raleigh County. Virginian Railroad in 1909, Mark Twain spoke at the dedication ceremony from the The County boomed as workers moved As the mechanization of coal platform of a train carrying railroad into its wilderness. By 1900, the region’s mining displaced thousands officials. In honor of that event, the Mark coalfields were surpassing every other of workers in the 1980s, Twain High School opened in 1922 and state in coal production, with its highest many migrated from graduated classes until 1965. In 1933, production in 1924 when 17.5 million outlying towns to Beckley, Beckley College was established. In 1967, tons of coal were produced from Raleigh making it the largest of the Woodrow Wilson High School was built at County mines. In 1901, the C&O four surrounding county its location on Stanaford Road. The Railroad constructed a branch line along seats and a central location Beckley Junior High School moved to a the Piney River into Beckley, and the for many private, public, new site in 1998 at Gray Flats near down- Virginian Railroad completed construc- and government activities. tion of a railroad through Beckley to the town Beckley and was renamed Beckley- Winding Gulf Mine in 1908. Stratton Junior High School. Though few mines were located in the Campbell Hospital was opened in 1906 as rolling farmland near Beckley, the town the first hospital in Beckley, followed by the became an important transportation, opening of the Beckley Hospital in 1913. banking, and trade center for the County In 1922, King’s Daughter’s Hospital (later due to its central location and accessibil- the Raleigh General Hospital) opened. Page 14 City of Beckley Comprehensive Plan Poggemeyer Design Group P City Profile Chapter 3 Rutherford Sanitarium was formally 1910, and in 1916, Raleigh County held opened in 1930, but the legislature its first levy election for road construc- The central business changed its name to Pinecrest Sanitarium tion. The first traffic signals were area employs in 1934. Major construction was com- installed in Beckley in 1928. In 1949, approximately 1,600 pleted on the Veterans Hospital in 1950. In the construction of Valley Drive began people. 1956, Miners Memorial Hospital (later (later becoming WV 16 - Robert C. Byrd Beckley Appalachian Regional Hospital) Drive). In 1952, the Raleigh County opened. The Raleigh General Hospital Memorial Airport was dedicated replac- opened its new facility on Harper Road in ing the much smaller Beckley-Mt. Hope 1973. Airport, which was built in 1937. The West Virginia Turnpike (I-77) was officially opened in 1954. The construc- tion of I-64 began in 1974 with the final section being completed in West Virginia in 1988. A new medium security federal penitentiary, located on Airport Road adjacent to I-64, opened in 1993. Central Business District The central business district of Beckley, now known as Uptown Beckley, encom- passes an area from the Robert C. Byrd Drive to the east side of Kanawha Street, and from the main Post Office and Library at Croft Street to Second and Church Streets (see adjacent map). Uptown Beckley includes approximately 126 businesses: restaurants, art galleries, personal services, retail stores, offices, financial institutions, two colleges (College of West Virginia and Concord College), and the Beckley-Raleigh Central Business Distrct Beckley constructed a water works in 1907 County YMCA. The central business area which piped water to all parts of town. employs approximately 1,600 people. Upon completion of the water system in 1908, the Beckley City Council formed a Many fraternal, government, and public Volunteer Fire Department which, in 1916, buildings were built in the central became a City Fire Department. The business district during the 1930s and commercial center of Beckley burned to the 1940s along the back streets of McCreery, ground in 1912 with over thirty shops and Earwood, Woodlawn, and Howe Streets. residences destroyed. A fire again threat- The City determined in 1956 to develop ened to destroy the entire Downtown in the overgrown brush and swamp land 1919.