McDowell County is a county in the State of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 19,111. Its county seat is Welch. McDowell County is the southernmost county in the state. It was created in 1858 by the Virginia General Assembly and named for Virginia Governor James McDowell. It became a part of West Virginia in 1863, when several Union-affiliated counties seceded from the state of Virginia during the American Civil War. McDowell County is located in the Cumberland Mountains, part of the Appalachia region.
Gary is a city located along the Tug Fork River in McDowell County, West Virginia, United States. According to the 2020 census, the city had a population of 762. It was named for Elbert Henry Gary, one of the founders of U.S. Steel. The former coal towns of Elbert, Filbert, Thorpe, and Wilcoe became part of Gary at the time of its incorporation in 1971.
Kimball is a town in McDowell County, West Virginia, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 145. Kimball was incorporated in 1911 and named for Frederick J. Kimball, a railroad official. Kimball is the site of the first war memorial building erected in memory of the African-American veterans of World War I. As of 2024, the town still has a municipal government, where the mayor also acts as the towns only police officer.
Welch is a city in and the county seat of McDowell County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 3,590 at the 2020 census. Welch was incorporated as a city in 1893.
The District of Columbia War Memorial commemorates the more than 26,000 "residents and citizens" of the District of Columbia who performed military service in World War I, including the 499 who gave their lives in that service. Located on the National Mall, it was constructed in 1931 as a domed, peristyle Doric temple designed to serve as a bandstand for public events. In a practice unusual for the time, the names are listed in alphabetical order, without regard to rank, gender, race, or national origin.
Caretta is an unincorporated community located in McDowell County, West Virginia, United States. Caretta was named for the transposed syllables in the name of Mrs. Etta Carter, the wife of George Lafayette Carter. It is the only place in the United States with this name.
The Battle of Blair Mountain was the largest labor uprising in United States history and is the largest armed uprising since the American Civil War. The conflict occurred in Logan County, West Virginia, as part of the Coal Wars, a series of early-20th-century labor disputes in Appalachia.
Jenkinjones is an unincorporated community and coal town in McDowell County, West Virginia, United States. It lies on the western flanks of Stone Ridge near the border with Tazewell County, Virginia.
Pocahontas Coalfield, which is also known as the Flat Top-Pocahontas Coalfield, is located in Mercer County/McDowell County, West Virginia and Tazewell County, Virginia. The earliest mining of coal in the coalfield was in Pocahontas, Virginia in 1883 at Pocahontas Mine No. 1, now on the National Register of Historic Places.
Frank Woodruff Buckles was a United States Army corporal and the last surviving American military veteran of World War I. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1917 aged 16 and served with a detachment from Fort Riley, driving ambulances and motorcycles near the front lines in Europe.
The McDowell County Courthouse is a historic courthouse in Welch, West Virginia. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 29, 1979.
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in McDowell County, West Virginia.
Pocahontas Fuel Company Store and Office Buildings are a historic company store and an office building located at Jenkinjones, McDowell County, West Virginia. Both buildings were designed by architect Alex B. Mahood and built in 1917. They were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
Pocahontas Fuel Company Store, also known as Norfolk Coal & Coke Company Store and Henderson Market, was a historic Pocahontas Fuel Company company store building located at Maybeury, McDowell County, West Virginia. It was built before 1903, and was a one- to two-story wood-frame building on a stone foundation. It featured a pyramidal roof in one corner.
U.S. Coal and Coke Company Store was a historic company store building located at Ream, McDowell County, West Virginia. It was built about 1910, and was two-story, square-plan brick building. It featured segmental arched windows and simple decoration.
The coal mining communities, or coal towns of McDowell County, West Virginia were situated to exploit the area's rich coal seams. Many of these towns were located in deep ravines that afforded direct access to the coal through the hillsides, allowing mined coal to be dropped or conveyed downhill to railway lines at the valley floor. Many of these encampments were set up as company towns, and when their mines closed, the towns vanished. McDowell County covers much of the Flat Top-Pocahontas Coalfield and a small portion of the Williamson Coalfield.
Hassel T. Hicks (1896–1952) was an American architect from Welch, West Virginia.
Teresa Jean Battlo was an American playwright from West Virginia. She is known for writing plays on Appalachian themes and history, which have been performed in several states.
Tyler Edward Hill, known as T. Edward Hill, was a leader in black politics in West Virginia during the early twentieth century coal boom that led many black Americans to migrate from the South to northern coalfields.
Pocahontas Fuel Company operated mines in the state of Virginia in Boissevain and Amonate, and in West Virginia at Jenkinjones, Bishop, and Itmann. Pocahontas Fuel Company founded the Pocahontas Consolidated Collieries Company in 1907. In 1956 Pocahontas was acquired by the Consolidation Coal Company. Consolidation Coal Company became Consol Energy in 1991. Consol Energy mines coal at Amonate. Pocahontas Fuel Company used the Norfolk & Western Railway bring the coal to ports for shipment.
