By William “Skip” Deegans
Shown above is a photo of Rainelle’s first school building that was constructed by the Meadow River Lumber Company in 1913. This first school met for a six-month term in one room of one of the company’s boarding houses. As the number of students increased, a second room was added. When the frame school building was completed in 1913, it was steam-heated with eleven rooms plus a principal’s office. The Meadow River Lumber Company and parents paid the teachers’ salaries. Utilities were furnished by the company for a modest charge, but the parents paid for them. By 1916, the building accommodated the first high school students, and Miss Lilah Krieder became the first high school teacher. The community continued to maintain the school without county assistance.
A new brick elementary school building was completed in 1920. The Rainelle schools were accredited in 1922 and donated to the Greenbrier County Board of Education. Rainelle’s high school served a large area from Corliss to Nallen to Bingham to Quinwood to Clintonville to Dawson to Meadow Bridge. Corliss students had to walk two miles each morning to catch the Sewell Valley passenger train. Once the railroad was extended north to Quinwood, students commuted to school from the newly settled coal camps on a train. By 1925, the population of Rainelle had grown to 1,200, not counting East Rainelle that was commonly called “Slabtown.”
Photo: Courtesy Greenbrier Historical Society.
Sources: Beckley Post-Herald, The Greenbrier Independent, Hinton Daily News.