Thomas’ post office opened in 1884, and 45% of its homes were built before 1940
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 48 buildings. Below: 13 old photos and papers, maps from 1981 on, and the census since 1890.
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.
Thomas was platted in 1884. Thomas was named for Thomas Beall Davis (1828-1911), brother of Senator Henry Gassaway Davis. The Davis brothers, in 1883, opened a mine near Thomas and had coal ready to ship when their railway arrived a year later. By 1892, Davis Coal and Coke was among the largest and best known coal companies in the world and employed 1,600 people. At the peak of its operations in 1915, there were nine producing mines within a mile of the company's office in Thomas.
Immigrants flocked to the area as miners, railroad laborers, or merchants. The company employed a man named Wladyslaw Dackiewicz as an interpreter. He could speak, read, and write eight languages and his services were much in demand with the influx of immigrants.
The little mining town of Thomas continues to be practically the Hub of these operations. It has agencies for the sale of its product established in all the important cities of the continent, presided over by managers, many of whom were formerly located at Thomas, in the capacity of clerks, and in other positions. When these managers desire to show their clients the real size and importance of the Company they always bring them to Thomas. In this way the town has been advertised by the Davis Coal & Coke Co., from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
T3bomas "3Wle, 3to. 1013, Trattrnal Orbit of TEagUs Thomas Aerie No. 1013, Fraternal Order of Eagles, was instituted in the town of Thomas, March 15, 1905, by State Deputy McNabb of Wheeling. The order has enjoyed a period of continuous prosperity ever since its institution, and has a membership of which it feels justly proud. While the membership of the order is relatively large, (144), yet that care and discrimination has been exercised in the choosing of its members that has resulted in the securing of a body of thoroughly
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
Thomas, 1884 to 1981
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Thomas post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What is on the National Register in Thomas?
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Cottrill Opera House (listed 1979, the first), and 1 historic district, the Thomas Commercial Historic District, with 48 contributing buildings. 51 historic buildings in all.
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 (18), the Library of Congress (6), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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 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.
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