Historic Malden, West Virginia Tour

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During the first half of the nineteenth century, the town of Malden emerged at the center of the West Virginia salt industry. Originally referred to as Terra Salis and Kanawha Salines, underground brine deposits in the area began to be developed into a salt industry as early as 1810. By the 1850s, Malden had grown into a prosperous town with several businesses and churches along with many grand mansions built by the owners of the saltworks. Malden was also home to several influential Americans in its heyday, such as Booker T. Washington and the Ruffner family. The Malden Historic District, created in 1980, comprises almost the entire town, with 95 historic sites including churches and residential, commercial, and industrial buildings dating back as far as 1830. Notable sites include the African Zion Baptist Church, Kanawha Salines Presbyterian Church, and the Richard E. Putney House.

2. African Zion Baptist Church, Malden West Virginia

Located in Malden, West Virginia, African Zion Baptist Church is the oldest African American Baptist church in the state. Prior to the Civil War, thousands of slaves labored at the saltworks of the Kanawha Valley, many of whom remained in the area when the war ended. African Zion Baptist Church was organized by freedmen in 1852, and initially operated out of the home of its founder, Reverend Lewis Rice. In 1865, a temporary church building was built with the aid of General Lewis Ruffner, before the church relocated to its current location in 1872. The historic building is best known as the boyhood church of Booker T. Washington, one of the most influential African Americans of the twentieth century. The church is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and located next to a reconstruction of Washington's boyhood cabin.

3. Booker T. Washington Boyhood Cabin

This recreation of Booker T. Washington's boyhood cabin is located behind the African Zion Baptist Church in Malden, West Virginia. Born into slavery and illiteracy, Washington rose up to become a prominent educator and leader of Black Americans at the turn of the century. At the age of nine, Washington traveled with his family over two hundred miles from Franklin County, Virginia to Malden after the Civil War ended in 1865. There, Washington worked in a salt-packing facility before he was hired as a houseboy for the prominent Ruffner family. Washington also discovered his love of learning and began to pursue his education in Malden by attending the town’s Black school and being mentored by Viola Ruffner. At sixteen, Washington left Malden to attend the Hampton Institute in Virginia. In 1875, he briefly came back to Malden as a teacher and was married to his first wife at African Zion Baptist Church in 1881. That same year, he was chosen to direct the new normal school at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, where he remained until he passed away in 1915. The Tuskegee Institute’s success earned Washington national recognition, although some of his contemporaries viewed his approach to racial advancement as overly accommodating. Throughout his life, Washington maintained his ties to his boyhood home and frequently returned to Malden to visit friends and family. To preserve the history of Washington's early years in Malden, a replica of his boyhood cabin was constructed in 1998 based on photographs of the original building.

4. Malden Baptist Church

Located at 202 Wise Drive, Malden Baptist Church has served the community of Malden, West Virginia for over 140 years. The church was dedicated in 1876 following a revival that had taken place nearby and inspired its converts to establish their own Baptist congregation. A modest white structure, Malden Baptist Church’s appearance closely resembles that of the nearby African Zion Baptist Church, which was built four years earlier. At the time of Malden Baptist’s foundation, the town was at the center of the Kanawha Valley salt industry, although the salt business had been declining since the Civil War. While the local economy evolved and Malden became a primarily residential community, Malden Baptist Church remained open, with few changes to its appearance. In 1980, the church was included in the Malden Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, Malden Baptist Church is a member of the West Virginia Convention of Southern Baptists and the Pioneer Baptist Association, and is involved in missionary work.

5. Kanawha Valley Salt Industry

The chemical plants along the Kanawha River in Kanawha County, West Virginia stand as distant reminders of what was once the nation’s largest salt industry. When white settlers arrived in the area over the latter half of the eighteenth century, they soon began producing salt from the many salt springs along the river. Early salt makers were quick to make a profit, as salt was a rare commodity that needed to be imported into the United States. With innovations in salt well drilling and a standardized production process, the Kanawha Valley rapidly developed into a booming industrial center. By the 1840s, Kanawha Valley salt was known throughout the country, with dozens of salt furnaces producing millions of bushels of salt per year. Prior to the Civil War, the majority of laborers in the salt industry were slaves, many of whom were leased out temporarily from eastern Virginia. With the loss of this portion of the workforce after the war, combined with a devastating flood and the rise of competing salt industries elsewhere in the country, the Kanawha Valley economy swiftly declined until only one or two salt furnaces remained in operation. During the twentieth century, a chemical industry emerged in the valley, using the facilities and resources that were once harnessed by Kanawha County's early salt producers.

6. Lewis Ruffner Highway Historical Marker

Born into one of the most prominent families in western Virginia, Lewis Ruffner (1797-1883) was a wealthy salt manufacturer, magistrate, and member of the Virginia General Assembly. A slaveowner, but a staunch pro-Union man, he was a delegate to the Second Wheeling Convention and the first meeting of the state constitutional convention in 1861. From 1863 to 1864, Ruffner served as a representative in the West Virginia House of Delegates. Around the same time, he received a commission as a major general in the state militia. After the war, Ruffner and his wife encouraged African American education and stood up for Black workers. He died at his home in Malden in 1883.

7. Kanawha Salines Presbyterian Church

Located in Malden, West Virginia, Kanawha Salines Presbyterian Church is the oldest Presbyterian church in the Kanawha Valley. The congregation was established in March 1819 by Reverend Henry Ruffner. The Ruffner family arrived in the valley during the 1790s, and proved instrumental in the early development of the area’s salt industry. The congregation initially held services alternately in Malden and Charleston, until today’s Kanawha Salines Presbyterian Church was built and dedicated in 1840. The church has remained open ever since, through the peak of Malden’s commercial activity in the 1850s and the decline of the salt industry and migration of business to Charleston in the decades following the Civil War. The structure has largely retained its original appearance over the years, though a Sunday school wing was added and various renovations have been completed in order to preserve the building. The congregation celebrated its 200th anniversary in March 2019 and continues to maintain a strong presence in the community with Sunday services and other events.

8. Malden Methodist Episcopal Church

Malden Methodist Episcopal Church is one of the oldest churches in Malden, West Virginia. Originally built as early as 1840, the church served the area’s Methodists at a time when the Kanawha Valley was home to a prosperous salt industry. Methodism, which had come to western Virginia at the beginning of the nineteenth century, spread rapidly as itinerant preachers traveled between congregations across the sparsely-populated region and preached a message of salvation for all. Although Malden Methodist Episcopal Church was founded during Malden’s heyday, it soon witnessed the effects of the Civil War on the community, and may have been caught up in the struggle between the pro-Union Methodist Episcopal Church and the pro-Confederacy Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In 1911, the church building was extensively remodeled, although a number of original features were retained. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Malden Historic District in 1980, and remains in operation today.

9. Richard E. Putney House

The Richard E. Putney House is the oldest extant residence in Malden, West Virginia. The house was built in 1836 for Dr. Richard Ellis Putney, a physician who had established a medical practice in the area and married into the prominent Ruffner family. At the time of the house’s construction, Malden was the seat of a booming salt industry in the Kanawha Valley that produced millions of bushels of salt each year. Designed in the imposing Federal style, the Putney House was one of many fine mansions in Malden that conveyed the wealth and status of the local elite. After Putney passed away in 1862, the house remained in the family until 1868, when it was sold to the Kanawha Salines Presbyterian Church for use as a manse. In 1952, the church built a new manse and the Putney House was sold and used as a rental property until 1973. That year, it was purchased by lawyers James C. Jeter and James H. Coleman, who began the long process of restoring the historic home. In 1980, the Putney House was included in the Malden Historic District as one of three pivotal structures, reflecting its status as not only Malden’s oldest dwellings, but also one of its most imposing and least altered buildings.

10. J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works

Building on a seven-generation tradition and the region's history of salt production, J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works opened in 2013 and offers a variety of salts and related products in addition to interpretive tours and other food and heritage-themed events. Throughout most of the nineteenth century, this part of the Kanawha Valley was home to a booming salt industry. Dickinson & Shrewsbury was one of the valley’s most prominent salt manufacturers and based on a partnership formed between William Dickinson and Joel Shrewsbury in 1804. In 1813, the partners arrived in the Kanawha Valley to take advantage of the rapidly growing salt industry. After completing its first salt well in 1817, Dickinson & Shrewsbury went on to drill hundreds more and soon joined the ranks of the “Salt Kings of the Kanawha.” Like most other salt manufacturers along the Kanawha, Dickinson & Shrewsbury used slave labor in its saltworks and mines in the decades before the Civil War. Although the Dickinson & Shrewsbury partnership was dissolved in 1856, the Dickinson family remained in the salt business for decades to come, eventually becoming the only salt manufacturer in the area before it too closed in 1945. Nearly seventy years later, seventh-generation Dickinsons Nancy Bruns and Lewis Payne revived the family business to produce small-batch finishing salt and related products.

This Tour is a Walking Tour.

Historic Malden, West Virginia Tour

Created by Emma Satterfield on February 22nd 2020, 9:26:08 pm.

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During the first half of the nineteenth century, Malden, West Virginia was the seat of a booming salt industry in the Kanawha Valley. Originally known as the Kanawha Salines, underground brine deposits in Malden’s vicinity began to be developed into a commercial salt industry as early as 1808, which peaked during the 1850s. After the Civil War, the valley’s salt-works declined and gave way to today’s chemical industry, and Malden became a primarily residential community. This tour guides visitors to the historical sites in and around Malden, including two of the state’s oldest churches, Booker T. Washington’s boyhood home, and an artisanal salt-making business with historic roots.

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Historic Malden, West Virginia Tour

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