Clendeninas we know it now, it is a fascinating place to live. However, I am sure there are a lot ofinteresting facts that many of us did not know . For example, the earliest settlers came tothis area back in 1795. The town seatwas created in 1877 by William Chilton, who named the county after himself atthat time. The town was later namedClendenin after George Clendenin’s father, who had died several years beforethe town was even established. FallingRock was discovered back in 1846, and was one of the primary coal veins of thisarea. This coal was called “candle coal”because when it was burned, it had an extremely bright flame. I also discovered there was an abundantamount of artificial gas in this area, as well. In 1890, the Coal and Coke railroad wasbuilt along the Elk River. At this time, they built what was called atram-road. This was a small railroad fortram cars that carried loads of coal from Clendenin through Cobb’s Bottom andall the way to Left Hand. They used adevice called a “dinkey” which was a small locomotive, to hall logs toClendenin on the tram-road as well.
Clendenindid not become unincorporated until May 20, 1904. They did not even have a water works systemin place until 1910. This water system brought about the development of thefirst schools in the area in 1911. As iscommonly known, Clendenin is separated only by a bridge. The old bridge thatconnected the two parts of town was built in 1923, only to be torn down manyyears later. The South Penn Oil Company bought a land lease from M.A. Cobb in1901. This was purchased to run gas lines through Mr. Cobb’s land. A few years later, Cobb sold two more landleases to Virginia Gas and Oil Company. Also, back in 1917, the houses for the Cobb Compressor Station plantwere started and finished in 1920. Thiscompressor station was labeled the largest compressor station in the world atthat time.
Anotherinteresting fact is that Union Carbide’s first production of synthetic organicchemicals from gas were initially produced from the plant that was built inClendenin in 1920. Although chemicalproduction was not new to the United States, an industry based onpetrochemicals was a whole new ball game. Sadly, Union Carbide moved to South Charleston in 1925.
TheElk River Refining Company was another large industry for Clendenin that wasintroduced in 1915. This was a plantthat not only produced gas, but many other products such as lubricating oil,pressure grease, Naphtha, Benzene, fuel oil and floor oil and wax.
Asyou can see Clendenin truly has a fascinating history. If you would like tolearn more about Clendenin and other cities visit www.wvencyclopedia.orgor www.livingspace.com to read more.
By:Carrie Nicholas
