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History · Elkview

Elkview’s post office opened in 1909

Most of Elkview was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1973. Below: maps from 1907 on and the census since 1970.

1909first post office
0on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Elkview began

When was Elkview founded?

1909

The Elkview post office opened in 1909, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Jarretts Ford (1840), Jarrett (1882) and Stoffel (1910), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 1,486 in 19702020 census: 1,116117 years
Founding year: the first Elkview post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Elkview’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 Elkview are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Elkview, and 1 old place names are still on the map.On the map since 19073 editions of the USGS map, 1907 to 1971. Watch Elkview change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Elkview’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Elkview’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
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Elkview’s post office has been open since 1909. Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Jarretts Ford
1840–1877
Jarrett
1882–1909
Elkview
1909–today
Stoffel
1910–1938
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Jarretts Ford
1cemetery inside Elkview
Jarrett

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

On the map

Elkview on the map, 1907 to 1971

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

Elkview on the 1907 USGS mapElkview on the 1957 USGS mapElkview on the 1971 USGS map1907Clendenin 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 Elkview.

The story so far

Elkview, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Elkview yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Elkview is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kanawha County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 1,116 at the 2020 census. It is named after the Elk River, which flows into the Kanawha River. Interstate 79, the "Jennings Randolph Expressway", provides highway access to Elkview from exit 9. U.S. Route 119 also reaches Elkview. A shopping center was built off I-79, which includes a La Quinta Inns and Suites, Kroger, and several fast food restaurants. Hundreds of people were stranded at this shopping center during the 2016 West Virginia flood, as the bridge leading to it from the interstate was washed away. This small town is nestled between the larger town of Clendenin, and the.…

Its first post office opened in 1909. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,222 to 1,116 (-9%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Elkview, 1840 to 1909

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1840Post officeThe Jarretts Ford post office opens
  3. 1877Post officeThe Jarretts Ford post office closes
  4. 1882Post officeThe Jarrett post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1907On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1909Post officeThe Jarrett post office closes
  8. 1909Post officeThe Elkview post office opens
By decade

Elkview, decade by decade

Today3 recent
U.S. Army Capt. Kelvin Hart, a nuclear medicine science officer with the District of Columbia National Guard's 33rd Civ…2014U.S. Army Capt. Kelvin Hart, a nuclear medicine scien…From left, U.S. Army Maj. Drew Smith, the deputy commander of the District of Columbia National Guard's 33rd Civil Supp…2014From left, U.S. Army Maj. Drew Smith, the deputy comm…WVMap-doton-Elkview2004WVMap-doton-Elkview
People over time

Elkview, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001,600198020002020Peak: 1,486

Between 1,116 and 1,486 people in every census since 1970.

6 censuses, 1970–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Elkview’s Wikipedia page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

PinchIts storyD−

Questions about Elkview’s history

What year was Elkview founded?

The Elkview post office opened in 1909, 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 (3), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.