History of Thomas, West Virginia

Thomas is located in the small four-by-seven mile area known as the Fairfax district of Tucker County. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway arrived here in 1884 and, 36 years later, the Fairfax District was the most densely populated area the county has ever known, at that time there were196 persons per square mile. The populations of the six towns in the District (Thomas, Pierce, Benbush, Douglas, Coketon, and William) totaled 5,000. The one and one-half mile stretch between Thomas and Douglas, aglow with the fires of nearly a thousand coke ovens, contained nearly 3,000 people, three post offices (Thomas, Coketon, Albert), and three railway stations (Thomas, Coketon, Douglas). The magnet was King Coal.

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.

In 1901, in less than two hours, nearly half of Thomas (83 buildings) was destroyed by fire. The town was quickly rebuilt with fine hotels and a new opera house, which is currently undergoing restoration. The Cottrill Opera House had a saloon on the first floor which was by far the most elegant of the eight bars located on Front Street. In 1909, Front Street (also known as First Street, Main Street, and East Avenue) was laid with brick to become the first paved street in the county.

Thomas claimed the grandest railway station between Cumberland, Maryland, and Elkins, West Virginia. Built of brick in 1901, it was destroyed by a tornado in 1944. Considered the finest building in all the county was the Buxton and Landstreet Store in nearby Coketon. It had white tile bricks, ornamental ceilings, graceful columns, and many electric lights. It closed its doors in 1950.

In 1921, coke production ceased and mining operations have diminished. But, the spirit of Thomas not only lives on, but it has recently been revitalized with the formation of the New Historic Thomas Committee. Through the years, Thomas' tightly packed, layered buildings have retained their cosmopolitan charm and the town's residents share an old-fashioned closeness.