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History · Boomer

Boomer’s post office opened in 1899, and 33% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1910 on, and old-book passages.

1899first post office
0on the National Register
33%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Boomer’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Boomer began

When was Boomer founded?

1899

The Boomer post office opened in 1899, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 599127 years
Founding year: the first Boomer post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Boomer’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19106 editions of the USGS map, 1910 to 1996. Watch Boomer change.Old housesHalf of Boomer’s homes were built before 1948.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Boomer’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewMANY OF THESE HOMES IN BOOMER, ALONG RO…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Boomer on the map, 1910 to 1996

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

Boomer on the 1910 USGS mapBoomer on the 1928 USGS mapBoomer on the 1931 USGS mapBoomer on the 1965 USGS mapBoomer on the 1976 USGS mapBoomer on the 1996 USGS map1910Montgomery 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 Boomer.

The story

How Boomer came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Boomer.

Read it all →

The community takes its name from nearby Boomer Branch Creek.

The Boomer Coal and Coke Company operated four drift opening mines in Boomer Hollow during the early 1900s. The mine employed a large number of locals, to include many Italian immigrants who settled in the small town. On November 30, 1915, there was an explosion at the Number 2 Mine, which left 23 miners dead. 27 miners were rescued from the mine seven hours after the explosion, after they baracaded themselves into an area with fresh air.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Boomer in 1926

Passages that mention Boomer, cut from the printed page as they were published.

million feet of lumber stacked and ready for market. Fenton Morris had a grist mill and saw mill on the north bank of the Gauley river long before the Civil war. People brought their grain to this mill from places as far distant as Victor, Horseshoe, Boomer, Cannelton, Montgomery and Fayette statio…
History of fayette county west virginia1926 · page 611Read the page →
Read the text

million feet of lumber stacked and ready for market. Fenton Morris had a grist mill and saw mill on the north bank of the Gauley river long before the Civil war. People brought their grain to this mill from places as far distant as Victor, Horseshoe, Boomer, Cannelton, Montgomery and Fayette station. Philip MeCoy, John Taylor and Miletus Wood all did work on this old grist mill. Wash Sims, father of I. E. Simms, of Ansted, was the miller at this place for many years.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
There are no incorporated towns in the district, but scattered over the district are fourteen thriving communities at which post offices have been established, as follows: Gauley Bridge, Glen Ferris, Bonear, Boomer, Longacre, Smithers, Carbondale, Cannelton, Marting, Vanetta, Gamoca, Wyndal, Romont…
History of fayette county west virginia1926 · page 579Read the page →
Read the text

There are no incorporated towns in the district, but scattered over the district are fourteen thriving communities at which post offices have been established, as follows: Gauley Bridge, Glen Ferris, Bonear, Boomer, Longacre, Smithers, Carbondale, Cannelton, Marting, Vanetta, Gamoca, Wyndal, Romont, and Jodie. During the sixties, J. Gardiner Paxton, of Rockbridge county, Virginia, owner of large boundaries of coal lands in this district, opened the No. 2 gas coal near the present coal opening at Long-

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Boomer, 1899 to 1973

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1899Post officeThe Boomer post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1910On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1973In the archiveMANY OF THESE HOMES IN BOOMER, ALONG ROUTE 60, WERE ONCE OWNED BY UNION CARBIDE. THE HARE…
By decade

Boomer, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1970s2 items
MANY OF THESE HOMES IN BOOMER, ALONG ROUTE 60, WERE ONCE OWNED BY UNION CARBIDE. THE HAREWOOD MINE POLLUTES THE AIR IN …1973MANY OF THESE HOMES IN BOOMER, ALONG ROUTE 60, WERE O…HOUSE OF BOOMER SEEN FROM ACROSS KANAWHA RIVER. THEY ARE LOCATED NEAR THE UNION CARBIDE FERRO-ALLOY PLANT. TOTAL... - N…1975HOUSE OF BOOMER SEEN FROM ACROSS KANAWHA RIVER. THEY …
1980s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today2 recent
Saint Anthony Shrine Boomer WV 20212021Saint Anthony Shrine Boomer WV 2021U.S. Route 602016U.S. Route 60
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

MANY OF THESE HOMES IN BOOMER, ALONG ROUTE 60, WERE ONCE OWNED BY UNION CARBIDE. THE HAREWOOD MINE POLLUTES THE AIR IN …
Retake this viewMANY OF THESE HOMES IN BOOMER, ALONG ROUTE 60, WERE ONCE OWNED BY UNION CARBIDE. THE HAREWOOD MINE POLLUTES THE AIR IN …, 1973

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Boomer’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Mount CarbonIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSmithersIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Boomer’s history

What year was Boomer founded?

The Boomer post office opened in 1899, 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 (4), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.