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History · Clendenin

Clendenin’s post office opened in 1838, and 41% of its homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 37 buildings. Below: 6 old photos and papers from 1900 on and old-book passages.

1838first post office
1on the National Register
41%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Clendenin’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Clendenin began

When was Clendenin founded?

1838

The Clendenin post office opened in 1838, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 854188 years
Founding year: the first Clendenin post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Clendenin’s past

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

A historic districtThe Clendenin Historic District takes in 37 historic buildings.Old housesHalf of Clendenin’s homes were built before 1951.Deep rootsA post office since 1838: 188 years of Clendenin.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

1 listing protects 37 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
37
each building in a district counts
first listed
1996
Clendenin Historic District
Clendenin Historic District
Districts

Architectural styles listings

Classical Revival1
Colonial Revival1
Late Gothic Revival1
Commercial Style1
Art Deco1
Clendenin Historic DistrictClassical Revival

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

The story

How Clendenin came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Clendenin.

Read it all →

In the 1800s, Clendenin was a small settlement at the confluence of Big Sandy Creek and the Elk River that eventually became a small village named Chilton. At this time, timber and coal mining were the principal industries in the area. In 1846, one of the first cannel coal veins was discovered at Falling Rock (only a few miles from Chilton/Clendenin) and became a rich source for manufacturing artificial gas. Clendenin was platted in 1877.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Clendenin, 1838 to 1938

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1838Post officeThe Clendenin post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1900In the archiveFMIB 33140 Coffer-Dam at Dam No11
  5. 1925Born hereDave Stephenson is born here
  6. 1933In the archiveFirst floor, central room, north wall window - Kanawha River Lock and Dam No. 11, Equipme…
  7. 1938Born hereBob Simms is born here
From the old history books

What they wrote about Clendenin in 1911

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

CLENDENIN The town of Clendenin was incorporated May 20, 1904. This municipality is located on the east bank of Elk river in Big Sandy district of Kanawha county, at the mouth of Big Sandy river on the Coal & Coke Railroad, twenty miles from Charleston. There are by the census of 1910 a population …
History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia1911 · page 216Read the page →
Read the text

CLENDENIN The town of Clendenin was incorporated May 20, 1904. This municipality is located on the east bank of Elk river in Big Sandy district of Kanawha county, at the mouth of Big Sandy river on the Coal & Coke Railroad, twenty miles from Charleston. There are by the census of 1910 a population of 815 persons

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Clendenin was named for the first settler at the mouth of Elk, who was really the founder of Charleston in 1788.
History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia1911 · page 217Read the page →
Read the text

Clendenin was named for the first settler at the mouth of Elk, who was really the founder of Charleston in 1788.

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.

By decade

Clendenin, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s–1930s6 items
FMIB 33140 Coffer-Dam at Dam No111900FMIB 33140 Coffer-Dam at Dam No11Revision of American Paleozoic insects Page108 fig 701906Revision of American Paleozoic insects Page108 fig 70First floor, central room, north wall window - Kanawha River Lock and Dam No. 11, Equipment House, West side, U.S. Rout…1933First floor, central room, north wall window - Kanawh…First floor, east room, north and west walls, fireplace - Kanawha River Lock and Dam No. 11, Lockmaster's House, West s…1933First floor, east room, north and west walls, firepla…First floor, east room, west wall and stair - Kanawha River Lock and Dam No. 11, Equipment House, West side, U.S. Route…1933First floor, east room, west wall and stair - Kanawha…First floor, west room, west wall, door trim detail - Kanawha River Lock and Dam No. 11, Equipment House, West side, U.…1933First floor, west room, west wall, door trim detail -…
1940s–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
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.

FMIB 33140 Coffer-Dam at Dam No11
Retake this viewFMIB 33140 Coffer-Dam at Dam No11, 1900

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

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

2 famous people were born in Clendenin

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
B
Bob SimmsAmerican football player · b. 1938
D
Dave StephensonAmerican football player · b. 1925
Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Clendenin’s post office has been open since 1838.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Kelly Hill
Gone or out of use
Clendenin Middle Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Clendenin
Koontz

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

Help out

Finish Clendenin’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewFMIB 33140 Coffer-Dam at Dam No11: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Clendenin’s history

What year was Clendenin founded?

The Clendenin post office opened in 1838, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Clendenin?

One place: the Clendenin Historic District (listed 1996).

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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.