By William “Skip” Deegans
This circa 1920 photo shows a row of Rainelle’s Meadow River Lumber Company houses along U.S. Route 60. The houses were unusual by the standards of most company-owned houses found in mill towns and mining camps in West Virginia. Built in 1910-1911, the houses were well built, and most of them were two-storied. They had plaster walls, indoor plumbing and electricity, and the exterior clapboards were painted white – features found in few West Virginia company houses in the early 1900s. Each house had a front and rear yard with enough space for a garden and fruit trees. At the end of each lot was a shed to store coal and wood that was used to heat the houses. Behind each row of houses was an alley for deliveries.
Rainelle was a planned community. Following a visit in 1911 by the editor of The Greenbrier Independent, he wrote: “The bustle and activity at Rainelle are surprising, new houses going up with magical celerity, and engines drilling cars of freight, logs and lumber awake unaccustomed echoes in these mountains.”
Photo: Courtesy of Greenbrier Historical Society.
Sources: The Greenbrier Independent, The Raleigh Herald, Hinton Daily News.