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History · Thurmond

Thurmond’s post office opened in 1888, and 60% of its homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 37 buildings. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1913 on, and the census since 1910.

1888first post office
1on the National Register
60%homes built before 1940
5old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Thurmond’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Thurmond began

When was Thurmond founded?

1888

The Thurmond post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 315 in 19102020 census: 5138 years
Founding year: the first Thurmond post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Thurmond’s past

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

A historic districtThe Thurmond Historic District takes in 37 historic buildings.Old housesHalf of Thurmond’s homes were built before 1938.Boom and bustPeaked at 462 in 1930; 5 people lived here in 2020.On the map since 19137 editions of the USGS map, 1913 to 1997. Watch Thurmond change.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

1 listing protects 37 historic buildings

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
37
each building in a district counts
first listed
1984
Thurmond Historic District
Thurmond Historic District
Districts
Thurmond Historic DistrictDistrict

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

The story

How Thurmond came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Thurmond.

Read it all →

Thurmond was incorporated in 1903 and was named for Captain W. D. Thurmond, who settled here in 1844. He received the 73-acre site in 1873 as payment for a surveying job. He served in the Confederate Army and died in 1910 at age 90. Thurmond post office was established in 1888 and discontinued in 1995. The community remained small until Thomas G McKell of Glen Jean negotiated with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway for a crossing at Dunloup Creek in 1892.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

People over time

Thurmond, census by census

0100200300400500192019401960198020002020Peak: 462

Peaked at 462 in 1930; 5 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

From the old history books

What they wrote about Thurmond in 1926

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

from Morris Harvey, Samuel Coit, John McCoy and others until he had rounded out a solid boundary of approximately 25,000 acres exhaustive surveys made and a preliminary railroad located from Thurmond to Macdonald. He then secured, by contract with the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad company, the const…
History of fayette county west virginia1926 · page 262Read the page →
Read the text

from Morris Harvey, Samuel Coit, John McCoy and others until he had rounded out a solid boundary of approximately 25,000 acres exhaustive surveys made and a preliminary railroad located from Thurmond to Macdonald. He then secured, by contract with the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad company, the construction of the Dun Loup creek branch for the purpose of developing the Loup ereek coal field. This branch railroad was completed in 1893, and the first car of coal was shipped from the mine of the Collins Col-

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Wirt IRS op, Se Thurmon, John, 735 Thurmond, C. H., 464 Thurmond, Thurmond, Thurmond, Thurmond, Thurmond,
History of fayette county west virginia1926 · page 65Read the page →
Read the text

Wirt IRS op, Se Thurmon, John, 735 Thurmond, C. H., 464 Thurmond, Thurmond, Thurmond, Thurmond, Thurmond,

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

Thurmond, 1888 to 1995

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1888Post officeThe Thurmond post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1900In the archiveNew River, west of Thurmond
  5. 1913On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1930CensusPopulation peaks at 462
  7. 1995Post officeThe Thurmond post office closes
By decade

Thurmond, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s1 item
New River, west of Thurmond1900New River, west of Thurmond
1910s–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
Date unknown4 to date
Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, Coaling Station, Astride tracks west end Thurmond YardsDate?Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, Coaling Station, Astride …Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, Engine House, Along south end Thurmond, west of New River BridgeDate?Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, Engine House, Along south…Chesapeake & Ohio RailroadDate?Chesapeake & Ohio RailroadChesapeake & Ohio RailroadDate?Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad
Today3 recent
A Chesapeake & Ohio Railway coal train approaches Thurmond, a mostly deserted old Appalachian coal town in West Virginia2015A Chesapeake & Ohio Railway coal train approaches Thu…A Chesapeake & Ohio Railway coal train approaches Thurmond, a mostly deserted old Appalachian coal town in West Virginia2015A Chesapeake & Ohio Railway coal train approaches Thu…Thurmond, a mostly deserted old Appalachian coal town in West Virginia2015Thurmond, a mostly deserted old Appalachian coal town…
On the map

Thurmond on the map, 1913 to 1997

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

Thurmond on the 1913 USGS mapThurmond on the 1929 USGS mapThurmond on the 1932 USGS mapThurmond on the 1969 USGS mapThurmond on the 1976 USGS mapThurmond on the 1988 USGS mapThurmond on the 1997 USGS map1913Beckley 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 Thurmond.

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.

New River, west of Thurmond
Retake this viewNew River, west of Thurmond, 1900

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

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Thurmond had its own post office from 1888 to 1995.

Thurmond
1888–1995
18801950today

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

Help out

Start Thurmond’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo4 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewNew River, west of Thurmond: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Thurmond’s history

What year was Thurmond founded?

The Thurmond post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Thurmond?

One place: the Thurmond Historic District (listed 1984).

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 the Library of Congress (8), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.