Coal town Omar lives on in FSA photos

by Emery Jeffreys The striking Great Depression-era photos of miners at Omar, West Virginia try to tell a simple story of daily life in the coal fields. The photos depict men who performed dangerous, back-breaking work to earn a poor man’s dollar, the long walk home, or a trip to a segregated movie theater. The […]

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Aracoma High School

The Aracoma High was a black high school from 1929 until 1962. The school was located at Coal Branch. More information will be added when ascertained and time permits. You may also enjoy these 1929 Logan Banner articles (courtesy of Brandon Ray Kirk) about the creation of Aracoma High School. You can help preserve a

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Dehue Company Store Closing

Clipping courtesy of Brandon Ray Kirk. Click on the image for a larger view. A transcription is below for easier reading. Logan Banner, June 30, 1980 By Dwight Williamson Time, inflation and increasing competition has brought the end to yet another of Logan County’s historic milestones – the company store. The Dehue company store, a

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Early 1900s Logan was crime infused with soap opera

By Dwight Williamson A short tour of Logan will reveal from its mostly brick structures that much of its glamourous but notorious past occurred from around 1908 through the 1940s, although events of interest certainly didn’t end following World War II. It’s just that the early decades of the 1900’s are more riveting in terms

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Every building in downtown Logan has a story

By Dwight Williamson There is not a single building in the town of Logan that is not historically connected to the annals of times past where the names of many civic, business, and political leaders strived and even thrived in what was an ever-growing city full of vigor and vision — most of which occurred

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Logan High School almost missed being on the island

By Dwight Williamson One doesn’t have to be in downtown Logan to understand that the past is something that should not only be understood, but also appreciated for what transpired decades ago that could have changed all of what we identify with today. Sound confusing? Allow me to simplify the statement in an example. What

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Early Logan County was a ‘mess’

By Dwight Williamson The July 23rd 1929 edition of The Logan Banner proclaimed that 10,000 or more people had attended the third annual reunion of the Devil Anse Hatfield clan near the old home place on upper Island Creek. The Banner reported that “Hatfield’s, their kinsmen, neighbors and friends” all gathered in a great celebration.

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Life was more free when tram roads crossed the mountains

By Dwight Williamson I was just a young kid who sometimes rode on a Trailways bus to town with my mother, but I can recall the lines of people waiting to get into movie theaters. And I remember vividly the fish tanks in the back of the “dime store,” as well as the humongous pair

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