THURMOND, W.Va. — An organization dedicated to historic preservation will sue the National Park Service and Department of the Interior to try and slow progress of plans to demolish a number of old structures in the historic town of Thurmond.
Deep in the heart of West Virginia’s New River Gorge, Thurmond was once one of the state’s most active towns. During the coal boom days in the early 1900’s Thurmond was bustling with coal money, jobs, and was the hub of culture and society for the region. However, the stigma didn’t last, eventually most of the town would fade away, but the buildings which once symbolized the prosperity of the place are still there today. But they are in decay and shoddy shape in many cases. The National Park Service has identified around 20 buildings which they believe should be brought down.
The organization called Preservation Thurmond disagreed.
“It actually stands as one off the remaining examples of a coal town in the nation,” said Holly Clark with the organization and one of those who is fighting against the Park Service’s demo plans.
“Commercial Row is that kind of prominent area of Thurmond where you can look and see the old bank where business deals were made. You can poke your head inside and visualize what it must have looked like,” she said.
But without investment in preservation by interested third parties, the salvation of the buildings will not happen. Clark is one of those who is crusading for the cause and speaks to people every day about making it happen.
“I’m speaking to people every day about what’s happening and the man on the street I talk to is just flabbergasted. They just want to know why? Why is the park service wanting to tear down these structures?” she said.
The Thurmond town council recently voted to move ahead with a lawsuit to slow the demolition. Clark said she isn’t sure it can be stopped, but they hope to buy more time to find potential investors who may be interested in restoration of the old buildings to keep the town’s integrity and business district intact.
She said the key factor in preservation is money and you really need to have plenty if you’re wanting to make a run at saving one of the historic structures in town.
“They have to be able to do the restorations to the guidelines that the Park Service states and those must be followed,” she said.
There are about 20 structures slated for demolition in the park according to Clark. A dozen of those buildings have already been released for demolition companies to look them over to make a bid on the demo job. According to Clark three more have been retained outright. Five are waiting to be put out for demo bid, but haven’t been yet. Clark says their goal is to find an investor and help to find a way to save all of the town’s buildings.