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History · Bartley

Bartley’s post office opened in 1912, and 20% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1912 on.

1912first post office
0on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Bartley began

When was Bartley founded?

1912

The Bartley post office opened in 1912, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Peeryville (1858), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 146114 years
Founding year: the first Bartley post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Bartley’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Bartley are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19125 editions of the USGS map, 1912 to 2001. Watch Bartley change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bartley’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bartley’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Bartley on the map, 1912 to 2001

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bartley. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Bartley on the 1912 USGS mapBartley on the 1924 USGS mapBartley on the 1967 USGS mapBartley on the 1977 USGS mapBartley on the 2001 USGS map1912Welch sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Bartley.

The story

How Bartley came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Bartley.

Read it all →

The community derives its name from Bartley Ross, an original owner of the town site.

Bartley was the site of one of the deadliest mine disasters in American history when the Pond Creek #1 mine, owned by the Pocahontas Coal Corporation, exploded on January 10, 1940, at 2:30 PM. Ninety-one miners lost their lives. The west side of the mine was not affected; 37 men escaped injury. Another 10 men at the bottom of the shaft, used to lower the men into the mine, were also unaffected. A rescue effort was mounted; seven hours after the first explosion, while men were working to save their fellow miners, a second explosion occurred, ending the rescue effort for the 91 lost men.

ChaptersMining disaster

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Bartley, 1858 to 1912

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1858Post officeThe Peeryville post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1908Post officeThe Peeryville post office closes
  5. 1912Post officeThe Bartley post office opens
  6. 1912On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Bartley, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Bartley WV Miners Memorial2014Bartley WV Miners Memorial
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Bartley’s post office has been open since 1912. Another post office, Peeryville, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Peeryville
1858–1908
Bartley
1912–today
18501940today
Gone or out of use
Bartley Elementary Schoolschool

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Bartley’s history

What year was Bartley founded?

The Bartley post office opened in 1912, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.