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History · Mount Carbon

Mount Carbon’s post office opened in 1883

Most of Mount Carbon was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1988. Below: maps from 1910 on and old-book passages.

1883first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
1famous people
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Photo: Coal town guy · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Mount Carbon began

When was Mount Carbon founded?

1883

The Mount Carbon post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 341143 years
Founding year: the first Mount Carbon post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Mount Carbon’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 Mount Carbon are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19106 editions of the USGS map, 1910 to 1996. Watch Mount Carbon change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Mount Carbon’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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On the map

Mount Carbon on the map, 1910 to 1996

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

Mount Carbon on the 1910 USGS mapMount Carbon on the 1928 USGS mapMount Carbon on the 1931 USGS mapMount Carbon on the 1965 USGS mapMount Carbon on the 1976 USGS mapMount Carbon 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 Mount Carbon.

The story so far

Mount Carbon, in brief

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

Mount Carbon is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fayette County, West Virginia, United States. Mount Carbon is located along West Virginia Route 61, 3 miles (4.8 km) southeast of Montgomery, on the south bank of the Kanawha River at the mouth of Armstrong Creek. Mount Carbon has a post office with ZIP code 25139. As of the 2020 census, its population was 341 (down from 428 at the 2010 census).

Its first post office opened in 1883. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 428 to 341 (-20%).

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

From the old history books

What they wrote about Mount Carbon in 1926

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

At the town of Mount Carbon, four miles above Montgomery, a branch line of the C. & O. runs up Armstrong creek, forking some five or six miles up, the prong on the right running to Elkridge and the one on the left to Powellton, both coal mining towns.
History of fayette county west virginia1926 · page 333Read the page →
Read the text

At the town of Mount Carbon, four miles above Montgomery, a branch line of the C. & O. runs up Armstrong creek, forking some five or six miles up, the prong on the right running to Elkridge and the one on the left to Powellton, both coal mining towns.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
coal is now being taken out at Scarbro, and Wingrove mine was dismantled. The same action was taken at Carlisle which was consolidated with Oakwood and the Carlisle mine was abandoned. The Great Kanawha mine at Mount Carbon was dismantled and abandoned. The coke ovens at all three plants were close…
History of fayette county west virginia1926 · page 267Read the page →
Read the text

coal is now being taken out at Scarbro, and Wingrove mine was dismantled. The same action was taken at Carlisle which was consolidated with Oakwood and the Carlisle mine was abandoned. The Great Kanawha mine at Mount Carbon was dismantled and abandoned. The coke ovens at all three plants were closed down and abandoned. The retail yards were immediately disposed of, wherever located; the railroads, both White Oak railway, and Piney River and Paint Creek railway were leased, the latter being leased

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

Mount Carbon, 1883 to 1941

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1883Post officeThe Mount Carbon post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1910On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1941Born hereCalvin Hicks is born here
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

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Places that used to be

Places now gone

Mount Carbon’s post office has been open since 1883.

Gone or out of use
Kimberly Elementary Schoolschool

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

KimberlyIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBoomerIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Mount Carbon’s history

What year was Mount Carbon founded?

The Mount Carbon post office opened in 1883, 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 →
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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 Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.