Classroom

Whitesville is located 40 miles from Charleston, West Virginia.
It was established in 1935 and named for B.W. White, an early settler in the
area. Whitesville was a rural mining community. During the construction of the
school building, there were 14 major coal companies operating in the area.
Whitesville School was originally built to replace a school that was burned by
a fire. The school was insured but did not have enough insurance to cover the
cost of building a new school. To finance the new school building, the Sherman
District Board of Education helped give the school a special bond. 

The school was built in the Art Deco style of architecture,
which was popular in the 1920s-30s. The architectural firm for the new school
was Wysong and Bengston from Charleston, WV. The building contractors were the
Hill Brothers from Fayette County, WV. Construction began in September 1930.
There was enough land for a two-story building and an athletic field,
playground, and parking for buses. While the school was under construction
students used churches and other buildings in the community to attend class.
Construction was complete in April 1931, in time for the 1931-1932 school year.

In 1931, the number of enrolled students was 517, with grade
levels ranging from elementary to ninth grade.&nbsp;When the school first
opened it was called the Sherman District Junior High School. This
school&nbsp;helped relieve overcrowding in the Sherman District
High&nbsp;School in&nbsp;Seth, WV.&nbsp;The school&nbsp;included students who
were immigrants, owing to the nearby mining communities. The school served
kindergarten to ninth grade until 1993, when grades seven through nine moved to
a new junior high school in Seth, WV. The school now has pre-kindergarten
through sixth grade. The building has been used for events and performances for
the community, and was formerly used as a bomb shelter.1

Website

Other

Whitesville Elementary School was constructed in 1931, and is located in the coal mining town of Whitesville, West Virginia. The school is still used today. 

Whitesville Elementary School 

As of 2020, Boone County, WV has four listings on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The National Register of Historic Places is the “United States federate government’s official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance.” Administered by the National Park Service, the NRHP contains more than one million properties.  

The Boone County Courthouse is located in a small town in
rural West Virginia named Madison. The county seat was incorporated in 1906 and
named for William Madison Peyton, who was a leader in movement for the
formation of Boone County in 1847. Peyton was a pioneer in the development of
the Coal River in the 1840s and made it possible for steamboats to transport
coal from area to markets. Peyton helped the Coal Valley become one of the
great industrial regions in the state. 1

The Boone County Courthouse was designed by the architect
H.Russ Warne. &nbsp;Warne was a pioneer leader
and organizer with the early West Virginia professionals in the field of architecture.
Warne produced plans for many prominent buildings in West Virginia during the
time of his career. His works are found throughout the state but not in the
northern or eastern panhandles of the state. Warne was a leader in the
organization of a state board of architecture and of the West Virginia chapter
of the A.I.A. Several of his partnerships employed future architect
professionals in the future. He was a student of the Beaux Arts in Paris and
was even in Rome at one point. Warne always remembered the Boone County courthouse
because it was mentioned in his obituary. The courthouse is a Neo-Classical
Revival style building. 1

It opened in the year of 1921 and replaced the first brick
courthouse. The features are the Indiana limestone. It is a three-story
building and the Beaux-Arts Classicism is noticeable. It is a prime example of
the early 20th century classicism in southern West Virginia. The
elevator put inside the building is the most notable change in the interior of
the building. In 1977, a renovation plan had the exterior stone surfaces be
cleaned (sandblasted). The renovation plan was 195,000 dollars. Limestone is
one of the features that is presented, others are the Beaux-Arts Classicism in
the small open-domed belvedere, tetra-style- two-story porticos with Corinthian
columnns and Roman keystone arched windows. The records dated back to 1847 to
the formation of Boone County. The courthouse was listed on the National
Register of Historic places in 1981. 1

The cramped brick building that the original courthouse
resided in was no longer suitable for the requirements of the County Court by
1913. In 1917 the plans for a new spacious building were submitted by a West
Virginia architect, H. Russ Warne of Charleston, and were approved. There were construction
problems because the Indiana limestone edifice was not ready to use until 1921.
The delays, dissension, financial problems, etc. affected the project.
Relations between several contracting agencies and the county court caused some
trouble for the architect. The architect complained to the court in March 1919
because the contractor was not furnishing the materials needed, and wasn’t providing
sufficient skilled workmanship to the building. With the mess at hand, the
project was placed into the county court’s hands, which successfully ended with
the completion of the building. The Boone County Courthouse provided the
community with a public building that instilled pride for living in West
Virginia. 1

The Boone County Courthouse was opened in 1921 in a small town named Madison. 

Boone County Courthouse 

The Madison National Bank Building was designed in the Beaux
Arts style and constructed in 1918 by the Huntington firm, J.J. West and Company.
In the twentieth century the railroad and coal fields were being opened and an
interest for a bank was expressed in the community. The Madison National Bank
was chartered as the first bank in Boone County on November 28, 1902. It was built to provide the needs for a bank in the community and the surrounding
areas. The founders of the bank were Julian Hill (President), F.C. Leftwich
(Vice President), Sid Croft (Cashier), Cecil Croft, J.M. Hopkins, Sam Bradley,
and Doutin Stillings.1

When the bank first started operation it was in a one-room
store in downtown Madison until 1906. It moved then into a two-story concrete
block-building. Then the bank moved into the building located at 157 Main
Street in 1918 after it was constructed. Also on May 31, 1929 the Boone County Bank merged with Madison
National Bank. Boone County Bank was chartered on
December 17, 1907 and became the Boone National Bank. The two bank's
consolidation added more stability to the banking of Boone County.1

Around this time, Boone National Bank rented out space in
the building. C&amp;P Telephone Company began operating switchboards on the third
floor. They vacated in 1966 with the new dialing system
started. Boone National Bank remained in the Madison National Bank Building
until September 1964. After the bank moved, the building remained empty for ten
years until it was donated to the State Library Commission for use as a public
library. Madison National bank is the oldest bank in Boone County, and has
served area residents for over 100 years. 1

Madison National Bank was constructed in 1918. The former bank is now used as the local community library. 

Madison National Bank

The Nellis Historic District began with the Nellis Coal Company starting operations in 1917 under T.E.B. Siler and Matthew Slush. The town was named after Frank Nellis, who is the editor of Mount Clemens Independent Newspaper. The company constructed a few buildings, and a branch of the C &amp; O Railroad was laid to Nellis to transport coal. On June 16, 1920 the land was purchased by the American Rolling Mills Company (ARMCO) from Siler and the Coal River Mining Company. ARMCO depleted their reserves in Ohio and Pennsylvania and needed a new source of coal. The company started operations on July 1, 1920 and the first shipment of coal left the Nellis mine on the last day of 1920.1 Minter Homes Corporation of Huntington was hired to construct many of the company homes and buildings. Nellis slowly became a model coal mine town. ARMCO brought miners into Nellis who had lost their jobs in other company-run operations that had been closed. In 1924, the company grew when a steel tipple was completed. Additional tracks were built for coal car sidings, new machines and equipment were purchased. The town began to grow and it was popular for how well the company treated its miners and families. The company fulfilled promises asked by the community. A social (club) building was built and a doctor and nurse was brought in to serve the community. Dr. Owen Poling was hired as the resident physician. 1 A company store was available to the residents, and shoppers could buy almost anything they wanted. Groceries, tires, clothing, hardware, and furniture was just a few of the things that were available in the store. Nellis needed a school for the students in the community. The school was built by the ARMCO coal company in the spring of 1924, and the building was donated to the Boone County Board of Education in 1955 after the coal company closed the mine. When the school began there were five teachers hired by the company. The original red brick school was built with five rooms and housed grades 1-8. R.W. Williams was one of the first principals at the school. 1 The Nellis Community Church was the sole place of worship for the residents. It was not typical of the type of architecture prevalent at the time it was constructed in 1926. It was the social center, house of worship, and held many funerals or weddings. It was a white stucco church and was also built by the ARMCO Association. The church was non-denominational, with the worship section of the church holding from 185-200 people. 1 Housing in Nellis was constructed at the time the mine was opened in 1920. There were 40 houses built in 1920 and the rest were built afterwards. After the mine closed the coal company sold their houses, buildings on Main Street, and the other major buildings to Bryon Corporation of Boston. The houses were spruced up, and the company began a campaign to sell the houses and buildings. The Bryson Company sold most of the houses and left. ARMCO purchased the stock of the Colcord Coal Company at Montcoal, in Raleigh County, on December 21, 1942 and moved there. 1

Nellis Historic District is a small historic coal mining community. The community was established in 1917 and the mine shut down in 1955. Nellis Coal company was opened by T.E.B. Siler and Matthew Slush, who named the town after Frank Nellis, editor of the Mount Clemens Independent newspaper. 

National Register of Historic Places, Boone County, WV

Whitesville Elementary School

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information