Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Bluefield in the 1940s
    Bluefield in the 1940s
    Bluefield in the 1940s
    Ebook176 pages47 minutes

    Bluefield in the 1940s

    By William R. "Bill" Archer

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Almost every American city enjoys a magical time in history when all the tumblers of fate, luck, hard work, and good fortune seem to fall into place, and the city enjoys a golden era. The 1940s were just such a time in the city of Bluefield. At the dawn of the decade, the United States was on the verge of entering the greatest war the world has ever known, and the coal that flowed through Norfolk and Western Railway s Bluefield yard was destined to fuel an Allied victory. But there is so much more than war and coal at the heart of Bluefield s story. The 1940s were a time of inspiration for men like Nobel laureate John F. Nash Jr., a time of artistic discovery for men like Joseph Dodd of Bluefield State College, a time of valor and heroism for Congressional Medal of Honor recipient S.Sgt. Junior Spurrier, and a period of success in business, arts, and professional fields for hundreds of Bluefield s sons and daughters.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateFeb 9, 2009
    ISBN9781439622650
    Bluefield in the 1940s
    Author

    William R. "Bill" Archer

    Local newspaperman William R. �Bill� Archer, senior writer of the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, has authored three other Arcadia books, including pictorial histories of McDowell County, Mercer County, and Bluefield.

    Read more from William R. "Bill" Archer

    Related to Bluefield in the 1940s

    Related ebooks

    United States History For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Flight Of Red Bird

      Feb 28, 2023

      It would stand to reason, given the deep-rooted bias against her race and her sex, that a Sioux Indian girl born into late-Victorian, predominantly white America might have little to no chance for growth and fame. Nonetheless, against all odds, the w

      11 min read

    • Article

      Bob Dylan, Britain And The Making Of A Legend

      Apr 30, 2021

      THE HOUSE on Third Avenue, halfway up the steep hill out of Duluth, Minnesota, still looks much as it did on that spring day when Beatty and Abe Zimmerman came home from the city hospital, cradling their newborn son. Perhaps in the future there will

      9 min read

    • Article

      Tracing ‘The Most Buried Man In The World’: John Paul Jones, Scotland And The Us

      Oct 7, 2023

      ‘Do you know who he is?’ I asked the middle-aged man standing in front of the statue of John Paul Jones, one ofWashington DC’s many monuments and memorials built to convey American national self-confidence. Not far from us on the National Mall stood

      6 min read

    • Article

      The Tallahatchie Bridge

      Apr 17, 2020

      The Tallahatchie Bridge
      5 min read

    • Article

      Facelifted Bronco II

      Nov 1, 2021

      Facelifted Bronco II
      4 min read

    • Article

      Reviews

      Sep 9, 2021

      Reviews
      6 min read

    • Article

      Oldest Maya Temple

      Dec 3, 2020

      Oldest Maya Temple
      1 min read

    • Article

      Rare Lincoln Portrait Unveiled

      May 16, 2023

      Rare Lincoln Portrait Unveiled
      1 min read

    • Article

      Sweeping Sorrow

      Mar 29, 2022

      Sweeping Sorrow
      15 min read

    • Article

      Speak, Memories

      Jun 11, 2022

      Speak, Memories
      1 min read

    • Article

      Tangerine Dream: Force Majeure – The Autobiography

      Jun 12, 2020

      Froese’s extraordinary autobiography revisited. For over seven years before succumbing to a pulmonary embolism in January 2015, Tangerine Dream foundermainstay Edgar Froese spent days off between concerts and recording fashioning his diligently-maint

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Patriot

      Feb 11, 2020

      The Patriot
      3 min read

    • Article

      Songs Of America

      May 1, 2020

      Songs Of America
      4 min read

    • Article

      Color on Canvas

      May 16, 2023

      Color on Canvas
      9 min read

    • Article

      Leaving the Stage

      Feb 20, 2024

      Leaving the Stage
      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Bluefield in the 1940s

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Bluefield in the 1940s - William R. "Bill" Archer

      Bluefield.

      INTRODUCTION

      Bluefield emerged as a city because of a fluke of nature; it was the high point for east-and-west traffic on the Norfolk and Western (N&W) Railway from the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Ohio River to the west. The hump, as it was called, enabled trainmen to assemble eastbound trains of loaded coal cars by applying and releasing brakes and not requiring locomotive power. But the city eventually discovered its place in the world as a result of the efforts of enterprising people who called Bluefield home. The city grew from what was literally a cow pasture in 1882 into a city of 5,000 people when it was incorporated in 1889. But Bluefield didn’t reach its full potential until the 1940s.

      The great jazz pianist Teddy Weatherford, who grew up in Bluefield, gained international fame as a stride pianist in the 1940s, just as the city he called home during his formative years hit its stride during those years as well. Bluefield was a hub of regional activity that saw its birth in the post–New Deal industrialism ushered in by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and was propelled into the global spotlight as a result of World War II.

      Bluefield residents became world citizens as a result of the war, cheering on Academy Award-winning actress Greer Garson, star of Mrs. Minniver, when she appeared in Bluefield to boost war bond sales on September 4, 1942. The patriotic nationalism that emerged during the war years appeared to explode on July 4, 1945, when a crowd of 25,000 to 30,000 people observed the Heroes’ Day Parade in the city. That spirit of patriotic euphoria continued through the decade, as a (then) record one-day crowd of 13,363 people came to Bluefield on September 28, 1948, to see the touring railroad show of original documents including the Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, and other historical artifacts associated with the democratic experience that traveled aboard the Freedom Train.

      The U.S. Census Bureau indicates that Bluefield reached its peak population of 21,332 in 1950, and although the city was West Virginia’s most racially diverse city, it was a divided city throughout the 1940s. Jim Crow segregation prevented much interaction between black and white Bluefielders, but that didn’t stop progress in the city’s African American community. Bluefield State College celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1945 with a faculty that included inspiring professors representing the nation’s top universities. The city’s black-owned business and professional community flourished, but equal access to all public services would have to wait for another decade.

      The city played an important role in World War II through supplying many of her brave sons and daughters to fight in the war and by keeping the trains running through Bluefield to fuel the nation’s incredible war machine. Less well known is the fact that National Electric Coil received the government contract to supply electric motors for the navy’s PT boat program. Also, an enterprising lumberman, J. B. Belcher, found a way to cash in on the thousands of empty N&W Railway coal cars returning from the East Coast by asking the railroaders to haul back the fine teak wood and mahogany timber merchant sailors filled their supply ships with as ballast to replace the cargo they delivered to troops fighting in the Pacific theater of the war.

      Despite all of the major developments taking shape in the 1940s, this is a story about people like postman Elijah Meadows, who knew everything about everything and delivered the mail twice a day when postage was 2¢; Ens. Ulvert Fuzzy Moore, who gave his life at the Battle of Midway in Torpedo Squadron 8’s Light Brigade–style attack that turned the tide of the war in the Pacific; Dr. William A. Brown, who operated St. Mary’s Hospital in Bluefield to serve the city’s African American community; Eulalia Feet Magann, who served as a WAVE during World War II and came back home to teach hundreds of Bluefield youngsters how to swim; and Dr. John Forbes Nash Jr., who dreamed of becoming a great mathematician and eventually received the Nobel Prize in Economics for his labors.

      Thus Bluefield’s story in the 1940s is a story of how people dreamed great dreams and accomplished great things. It’s not a perfect story, but it is a story filled with fascinating details at every turn in the path.

      One

      THE CROSSROADS OF ENERGY AND POWER

      TAPE MEASURE. Bluefield fire chief Ernest L. McClure is shown reading the punch tape fromthe city’s pull box station system, a system the department acquired from the city of Cincinnati,Ohio, when that city outgrew it. The system featured several pull box stations strategically placedthroughout the city and linked by electrical wires. Each station sent a unique electrical

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1