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History · Gauley Bridge

Gauley Bridge’s post office opened in 1825, and 35% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Gauley Bridge Railroad Station. Below: 18 old photos and papers, maps from 1910 on, and the census since 1980.

1825first post office
1on the National Register
35%homes built before 1940
18old photos & papers
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Gauley Bridge’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Gauley Bridge began

When was Gauley Bridge founded?

1825

The Gauley Bridge post office opened in 1825, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 1,177 in 19802020 census: 553201 years
Founding year: the first Gauley Bridge post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Gauley Bridge’s past

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

A town in old photos18 old photos, postcards and papers, 1900–1938.On the map since 19105 editions of the USGS map, 1910 to 1976. Watch Gauley Bridge change.Old housesHalf of Gauley Bridge’s homes were built before 1952.Deep rootsA post office since 1825: 201 years of Gauley Bridge.
★ What stands out · By decade

Gauley Bridge, decade by decade

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

1900s–1930s18 items
GauleyBridgeFayetteville1900GauleyBridgeFayettevilleShacks inhabited by Negroes along highway between Charleston1938Shacks inhabited by Negroes along highway between Cha…Along main road between Charleston and Gauley Bridge, West Virginia1938Along main road between Charleston and Gauley Bridge,…At leLance to tunnel near Gauley Bridge, West Virginia. Famous for "silicosis" scandal1938At leLance to tunnel near Gauley Bridge, West Virgini…Shacks being inhabited by Negroes along highway between Charleston and Gauley Bridge, West Virginia1938Shacks being inhabited by Negroes along highway betwe…Playing checkers with bottle caps along highway between Charleston and Gauley Bridge, West Virginia1938Playing checkers with bottle caps along highway betwe…Shacks inhabited by Negroes, along river on highway between Charleston and Gauley Bridge, West Virginia1938Shacks inhabited by Negroes, along river on highway b…Shacks inhabited by Negroes, along river on highway between Charleston and Gauley Bridge, West Virginia1938Shacks inhabited by Negroes, along river on highway b…Shacks inhabited by Negroes along river on highway between Charleston and Gauley Bridge, West Virginia1938Shacks inhabited by Negroes along river on highway be…Old boxcars often converted into homes along highway between Charleston and Gauley Bridge, West Virginia1938Old boxcars often converted into homes along highway …Negro woman washing clothes outside of shacks along the river. On highway between Charleston and Gauley Bridge, West Vi…1938Negro woman washing clothes outside of shacks along t…Negro woman washing clothes outside of shacks along the river, on highway between Charleston and Gauley Bridge, West Vi…1938Negro woman washing clothes outside of shacks along t…Untitled photo, possibly related to: At leLance to tunnel near Gauley Bridge, West Virginia. Famous for "silicosis" sca…1938Untitled photo, possibly related to: At leLance to tu…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Playing checkers with bottle caps along highway between Charleston and Gauley Brid…1938Untitled photo, possibly related to: Playing checkers…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Playing checkers with bottle caps along highway between Charleston and Gauley Brid…1938Untitled photo, possibly related to: Playing checkers…Untitled photo, possibly related to: At leLance to tunnel near Gauley Bridge, West Virginia. Famous for "silicosis" sca…1938Untitled photo, possibly related to: At leLance to tu…Negro woman washing clothes outside of shacks along the river, on the highway between Charleston and Gauley Bridge, Wes…1938Negro woman washing clothes outside of shacks along t…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Old boxcars often converted into homes along highway between Charleston and Gauley…1938Untitled photo, possibly related to: Old boxcars ofte…
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
On the map

Gauley Bridge on the map, 1910 to 1976

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

Gauley Bridge on the 1910 USGS mapGauley Bridge on the 1928 USGS mapGauley Bridge on the 1931 USGS mapGauley Bridge on the 1969 USGS mapGauley Bridge on the 1976 USGS map1910Fayetteville 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 Gauley Bridge.

The story so far

Gauley Bridge, in brief

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

Gauley Bridge is a town in Fayette County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 553 at the 2020 census. The Kanawha River is formed at Gauley Bridge by the confluence of the New and Gauley Rivers. Two miles to the southwest of Gauley Bridge, in Glen Ferris, is Kanawha Falls, a popular stopping point on Midland Trail Scenic Highway. The community was named after a bridge over the Gauley River near the original town site. Gauley Bridge was close to the site of the Hawks Nest Tunnel disaster, in which hundreds of people died in the 1920s and 1930s.

Its first post office opened in 1825. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 614 to 553 (-10%).

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

From the old history books

What they wrote about Gauley Bridge in 1926

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

600 FayvreTTE County HISTORY Association in 1863 concerning the church at Gauley Bridge is as follows: ‘‘Gauley Bridge was the great depot of the enemy’s army stores, and has suffered equal to any other church, in privation and loss of property. Her house of worship was burned down and her meetings…
History of fayette county west virginia1926 · page 600Read the page →
Read the text

600 FayvreTTE County HISTORY Association in 1863 concerning the church at Gauley Bridge is as follows: ‘‘Gauley Bridge was the great depot of the enemy’s army stores, and has suffered equal to any other church, in privation and loss of property. Her house of worship was burned down and her meetings broken up.’’ In the ‘‘Report on State of Churches’’ at the session held in 1866 is found the following: ‘‘Gauley Bridge Baptist Church—Rev. Martin Bibb, pastor. Seven received by

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In an old Ansted newspaper, ‘‘The Ansted West Virginian,”’ issue of June 28, 1890, there is an article entitled ‘‘ Patrick Ross O’Hea’s Trip to Gauley Bridge, Business and Business Men of the Little City by the River.’’ From this article we quote the following: ‘‘When I stepped from the platform I …
History of fayette county west virginia1926 · page 603Read the page →
Read the text

In an old Ansted newspaper, ‘‘The Ansted West Virginian,”’ issue of June 28, 1890, there is an article entitled ‘‘ Patrick Ross O’Hea’s Trip to Gauley Bridge, Business and Business Men of the Little City by the River.’’ From this article we quote the following: ‘‘When I stepped from the platform I pulled off my hat meaning to bow to the whole train, but before I could bend my neck the whole thing was gone, so I had to content myself with shaking hands with a nigger boy on the depot platform. I got

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

Gauley Bridge, 1825 to 1956

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1825Post officeThe Gauley Bridge post office opens
  3. 1882Born hereMacGillivray Milne is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1900In the archiveGauleyBridgeFayetteville
  6. 1910On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1938In the archiveShacks inhabited by Negroes along highway between Charleston
  8. 1956Born hereTimothy Truman is born here
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.

GauleyBridgeFayetteville
Retake this viewGauleyBridgeFayetteville, 1900

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Gauley Bridge

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1980
Gauley Bridge Railroad Station
Gauley Bridge Railroad Station
Buildings
Gauley Bridge Railroad StationBuilding

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

People over time

Gauley Bridge, census by census

02004006008001,0001,200198020002020Peak: 1,177

Between 553 and 1,177 people in every census since 1980.

5 censuses, 1980–2020.

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

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Gauley Bridge

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

See all →
Timothy TrumanAmerican writer · b. 1956
MacGillivray MilneNaval officer and Governor of American Samoa · b. 1882
Places that used to be

Old corners and places now gone

Gauley Bridge’s post office has been open since 1825.

Hamlets and corners on the map
KM Junction
Gone or out of use
Gauley Bridge High SchoolschoolGauley Bridge Middle Schoolschool

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

Help out

Finish Gauley Bridge’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 viewGauleyBridgeFayetteville: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Glen Ferris1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Gauley Bridge’s history

What year was Gauley Bridge founded?

The Gauley Bridge post office opened in 1825, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Gauley Bridge?

One place: the Gauley Bridge Railroad Station (listed 1980).

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 (2), the Library of Congress (16), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.