Mcdowell County, West Virginia, 1950--2000

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports 2008 Deindustrialization and the decline of community in the coalfields: McDowell County, West Virginia, 1950--2000 Mark S. Myers West Virginia University Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd Recommended Citation Myers, Mark S., "Deindustrialization and the decline of community in the coalfields: McDowell County, West Virginia, 1950--2000" (2008). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 2741. https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/2741 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by the The Research Repository @ WVU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you must obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in WVU Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports collection by an authorized administrator of The Research Repository @ WVU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Deindustrialization and the Decline of Community in the Coalfields: McDowell County, West Virginia, 1950-2000 Mark S. Myers Dissertation submitted to the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Ronald L. Lewis, Ph.D., Chair Elizabeth Fones-Wolf, Ph.D. Ken Fones-Wolf, Ph.D. Joe Super, Ph.D. Marie Tedesco, Ph.D. Department of History Morgantown, West Virginia 2008 Keywords: coal, deindustrialization, community, McDowell, West Virginia, migration, poverty, economy, New Deal, United Mine Workers Copyright© 2008 Mark S. Myers Abstract Deindustrialization and the Decline of Community in the Coalfields: McDowell County, West Virginia, 1950-2000 Mark S. Myers During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the coal industry entered McDowell County, a predominantly rural county in southern West Virginia. Because of common experiences working and living in the coalfields, workers of significantly different backgrounds created a unique, working-class community in McDowell County. Although the coal industry experienced numerous downturns during the first half of the twentieth century, there was a long-term rise in the number of workers employed by the industry. By 1950, McDowell County had a population of almost 100,000, most of which was impacted by the coal industry. After World War II, however, the industry began to change. Competition from alternative fuels, such as oil, natural gas, and nuclear power, forced coal companies to cut costs in order to survive in a tight market. Companies first tried mechanization to cut labor costs, a phenomenon that had roots well before the post-war period. For those companies that could not, or would not, implement machinery, the only true alternative was to close the mines. I argue that deindustrialization, the combination of mechanization and disinvestment in McDowell County, contributed to the loss of the unique coalfield community that flourished in the county during much of the twentieth century. This occurred in two ways. First, many former miners left the county in an attempt to find work; most migrated either to the Midwest or to Maryland. Second, those who remained found a county much different than before. The lack of diversification in the county’s economy limited the employment prospects of the people remaining, leading to a significant increase in poverty. The decline in coal employment and the increase in poverty created a society of contrasts, where some residents succeeded, while many more struggled to survive. For Heather. iii Acknowledgements A project such as this is never a purely individual endeavor. I would like to thank Dr. Ron Lewis for his guidance throughout this process. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Elizabeth Fones-Wolf, Dr. Ken Fones-Wolf, Dr. Joe Super, and Dr. Marie Tedesco, for their assistance and encouragement. The staffs at the Eastern Regional Coal Archives in Bluefield, West Virginia and the West Virginia Regional History Collection at West Virginia University provided invaluable services to me over the years. Finally, my wife Heather supported me throughout the writing and revising of the manuscript. She helped in the editing process and encouraged me to push ahead. Without her, this would not have been possible. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………………… iv Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………………….v List of Tables …………………………………………………………………………………….vi Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..1 Chapter 1. The Birth of King Coal: The Development of a Coalfield Community…………….31 Chapter 2. Depression, Recovery, Instability: The New Deal and McDowell Coal…………...57 Chapter 3. Deindustrialization and the Economics of Coal……………………………………..82 Chapter 4. “American Standards?” The Union and Deindustrialization……………………...121 Chapter 5. You Can’t Go Home Again: Out-migration from McDowell County……………161 Chapter 6. A World of Contrasts: McDowell After Deindustrialization……………………...195 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………...221 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………223 v List of Tables 1. Production and Machinery in Selected McDowell County Coal Mines, 1940………...101 2. Production and Machinery in Selected McDowell County Coal Mines, 1945…………104 3. Employment in Selected McDowell County Coal Mines, 1940 and 1945…………….107 4. Production and Machinery in Selected McDowell County Coal Mines, 1950………...108 5. Employment in Selected McDowell County Coal Mines, 1950……………………….110 6. West Virginia Coal Production and Employment, by Method of Mining, 1951-1955...112 7. Production and Employment at Selected McDowell County Coal Mines, 1955 and 1960……………………………………………………………………………………..114 vi Introduction For many years, Central Appalachia has been synonymous with extreme poverty and want. From the 1960s television special, Christmas in Appalachia, to popular works by numerous authors, the American perception of the Appalachian region is primarily one of a poor, backward region that is behind the times. The story of Central Appalachia is so much more than what is commonly perceived. The story of the region is similar to that of many other areas in the country, one of success turned to despair. The region enjoyed some economic success with the entrance of the bituminous coal industry during the latter decades of the nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth century. Because of the nature of industrialization in the coalfields, the people who worked in the mines developed a unique sense of community centered around common experiences in the mines and coal towns of the region. The coal industry, however, was—and is—a very unstable one, characterized by boom-and- bust cycles. Although there were periods of great prosperity throughout the region, there were also years of want and strife. By the middle of the twentieth century, the coal industry had begun a process of reorganization through mechanization and consolidation. As a result, many miners found themselves out of work, as companies either implemented the new, more productive, machines or simply closed the mines. Poverty, which had been a problem in Appalachia due to the dependence on the unstable coal industry, exploded as a result of the reorganization of the mines. Because of the economic problems of the region, people lost the sense of community that characterized the coalfields for so many years. 1 McDowell County, West Virginia, lies in the heart of Central Appalachia. The southernmost county in the state, McDowell was built by the people working in the coal industry. McDowell holds an important place in the history of coal because, for many years, the county was the leading coal producer in the country. Thousands mined the coal and lived in the county; by 1950 McDowell’s population reached nearly 100,000. How, then, did the population decline by more than 70,000 in fifty years? Why did many of the people who remained in the county suffer from a low standard of living? What has been the effect of the socioeconomic changes on the people of the county and their community? By examining these questions, one can not only gain an understanding of the history of one locale, but also the socioeconomic history of an entire region. The experience of McDowell County, and the coal industry as a whole, was not a purely regional phenomenon. Starting in the 1970s, the American economy underwent a profound and important transformation. Throughout the Midwest, for example, industrial plants and mills closed one after another through a process known as deindustrialization. The costs of deindustrialization were widespread. Not only were whole communities destroyed, the economy was largely unable to provide workers with a standard of living comparable to that enjoyed in the 1950s and 1960s. To understand fully this process, and the similarities and differences between deindustrialization in the nation and that of the Appalachian coalfields, several questions must be considered.1 What was the general process and national trend of 1 Although it seems that what occurred in Central Appalachia is more of a case of industrial restructuring, I argue that deindustrialization

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