Elkins, West Virginia
| Elkins, West Virginia | |
|---|---|
| City | |
Davis Avenue in downtown Elkins in 2006
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 Location of Elkins, West Virginia |
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| Coordinates: 38°55′17″N 79°51′3″W / 38.92139°N 79.85083°WCoordinates: 38°55′17″N 79°51′3″W / 38.92139°N 79.85083°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | West Virginia |
| County | Randolph |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Van Broughton |
| Area | |
| • Total | 3.43 sq mi (8.88 km2) |
| • Land | 3.43 sq mi (8.88 km2) |
| • Water | 0 sq mi (0 km2) |
| Elevation | 1,926 ft (587 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 7,094 |
| • Estimate (2012) | 7,180 |
| • Density | 2,068.2/sq mi (798.5/km2) |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP code | 26241 |
| Area code(s) | Area codes 304 and 681 |
| FIPS code | 54-24580 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1551037 |
| Website | City Website |
Elkins is a city in Randolph County, West Virginia, USA. The community was incorporated in 1890 and named in honor of Stephen Benton Elkins (1841–1911), a U.S. Senator from West Virginia. The population was 7,094 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Randolph County. Elkins is home to Davis and Elkins College and to the Mountain State Forest Festival, held in early October every year.
Before its major development, the area that would become Elkins was known as Leadsville, and was the site of a few scattered homesteads – a place where the local farmers' corn crop was loaded onto boats and floated down the Tygart Valley River. The City of Elkins was developed by U.S. Senators Henry Gassaway Davis (1823–1916) and Stephen Benton Elkins (1841–1911) – and named for the latter – in 1890. (Elkins was Davis' son-in-law.) The two founders developed railroad lines, coal mines, and timbering businesses. Together, they built the West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway into Elkins in 1889, opening a vast territory to industrial development by the late 1890s. After an intense political "war" with nearby Beverly, where the new county courthouse building was burned down in 1897 under suspicious circumstances, Elkins became the county seat in 1899. This was resolved, however, only after multiple referenda, court judgments, and the mobilization of armed bands in both towns. In the end, bloodshed was averted.
In 1904 the new Randolph County Courthouse – designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style – was completed in Elkins. As the railroad (merged into the Western Maryland Railway in 1905) expanded, Elkins experienced the luxury of passenger train service. In 1930, 18 passenger trains were arriving and leaving Elkins daily. All passenger service was discontinued in 1958.
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