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History · Marlinton

Marlinton’s post office opened in 1886, and 29% of its homes were built before 1940

6 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1912 on, and the census since 1890.

1886first post office
6on the National Register
29%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Marlinton’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Marlinton began

When was Marlinton founded?

1886

The Marlinton post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Marlin Bottom (1849) and Onoto (1900), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 5 in 18902020 census: 998140 years
Founding year: the first Marlinton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Marlinton’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 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Marlinton, and 3 old place names are still on the map.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,645 in 1950; 998 people lived here in 2020.Landmarks on the Register6 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Marlinton’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewCountry view near Marlinton, W. Va. LOC…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Marlinton’s post office has been open since 1886. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Marlin Bottom
1849–1886
Marlinton
1886–today
Onoto
1900–1934
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Beard HeightsCampbelltownOnoto
Gone or out of use
Fort Greenbriermilitary
1cemetery inside Marlinton
Mountain View

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

People over time

Marlinton, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001,6001,8001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,645

Peaked at 1,645 in 1950; 998 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

The story

How Marlinton came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Marlinton.

Read it all →

Marlinton is named for Jacob Marlin, who, along with Stephen Sewell, became the first non-native settlers west of the Allegheny Mountains, in the Greenbrier Valley in 1749. New Englanders Marlin and Sewell built a cabin in what would become Marlinton, but after various religious disputes, Sewell moved into a nearby hollowed-out sycamore tree. In 1751, surveyor John Lewis discovered the pair. Sewell eventually settled on the eastern side of Sewell Mountain, near present-day Rainelle.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Marlinton, 1849 to 1950

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1849Post officeThe Marlin Bottom post office opens
  3. 1886Post officeThe Marlin Bottom post office closes
  4. 1886Post officeThe Marlinton post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1900Post officeThe Onoto post office opens
  7. 1921In the archiveCountry view near Marlinton, W. Va. LOC nclc.04408
  8. 1923On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1933In the archiveVIEW NORTHWEST, SOUTH SIDE (REAR) AND WEST SIDE - McElwee Building, 208 Eighth Street (Ma…
  10. 1934Post officeThe Onoto post office closes
  11. 1950CensusPopulation peaks at 1,645
By decade

Marlinton, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1920s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1920s–1930s3 items
Country view near Marlinton, W. Va. LOC nclc.044081921Country view near Marlinton, W. Va. LOC nclc.04408VIEW NORTHWEST, SOUTH SIDE (REAR) AND WEST SIDE - McElwee Building, 208 Eighth Street (Main Street)1933VIEW NORTHWEST, SOUTH SIDE (REAR) AND WEST SIDE - McE…VIEW SOUTHWEST, NORTH FRONT AND EAST SIDE - McElwee Building, 208 Eighth Street (Main Street)1933VIEW SOUTHWEST, NORTH FRONT AND EAST SIDE - McElwee B…
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
Today9 recent
This is NOT an ice-cream cone with windows. Otherwise, we're not exactly sure what purpose this conical structure in Ma…2015This is NOT an ice-cream cone with windows. Otherwise…The visitor center in the 1901 Chesapeake & Ohio Railway depot, built from a standard C&O line model in Marlinton, West…2015The visitor center in the 1901 Chesapeake & Ohio Rail…The Opera House in2015The Opera House inThe C.J. Richardson Hardware Building in2015The C.J. Richardson Hardware Building inA log cabin moved to the grounds of the Pocahontas County Historical Museum in Marlinton, West Virginia, from its origi…2015A log cabin moved to the grounds of the Pocahontas Co…Pioneer Days Carnival 20112011Pioneer Days Carnival 2011Pocahontas Opera House2009Pocahontas Opera HouseG R T 2004 Marlinton Trailhead2006G R T 2004 Marlinton TrailheadWVMap-doton-Marlinton2004WVMap-doton-Marlinton
On the map

Marlinton on the map, 1923 to 1995

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

Marlinton on the 1923 USGS mapMarlinton on the 1977 USGS mapMarlinton on the 1995 USGS map1923Marlinton 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 Marlinton.

Every building

Marlinton, building by building, 1912

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.

Marlinton fire insurance map, 1912, sheet 11912Sheet 1 of 6
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

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.

Country view near Marlinton, W. Va. LOC nclc.04408
Retake this viewCountry view near Marlinton, W. Va. LOC nclc.04408, 1921

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

6 historic places in Marlinton

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

places listed
6
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
9
each building in a district counts
first listed
1976
Frank and Anna Hunter House
Frank and Anna Hunter HousePocahontas Times Print ShopMarlinton Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad StationPocahontas County Courthouse and JailIOOF Lodge BuildingMarlinton Opera House
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Late Victorian2
Victorian1
Romanesque1
Italianate1
Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals1
Vernacular Classical Revival1
Frank and Anna Hunter HouseBuilding
Pocahontas Times Print ShopBuilding
Marlinton Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad StationVictorian
Pocahontas County Courthouse and JailLate Victorian
IOOF Lodge BuildingLate Victorian
Marlinton Opera HouseLate 19th and 20th Century Revivals

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

Questions about Marlinton’s history

What year was Marlinton founded?

The Marlinton post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Marlinton?

6 listings: 6 buildings, among them the Frank and Anna Hunter House (listed 1976, the first). 9 historic buildings in all.

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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (6), Wikipedia, 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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.