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The Fascinating History Of Welch, West Virginia and McDowell County
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ส.ค. 2022
- The Fascinating History Of Welch, West Virginia
Appalachia (/ˌæpəˈlætʃə, -leɪtʃə, -leɪʃə/) is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, to Cheaha Mountain in Alabama, Appalachia typically refers only to the cultural region of the central and southern portions of the range, from the Catskill Mountains of New York southwest to the Blue Ridge Mountains which run southwest from southern Pennsylvania to northern Georgia, and the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina.
The first workers strike, in West Virginia, was the Cabin Creek and Paint Creek strike of 1912-1913. With help from Mary "Mother Jones" Harris Jones, an important figure in unionizing the mine workers, the miners demanded better pay, better work conditions, the right to trade where they pleased (ending the practice of forcing miners to buy from company-owned stores), and recognition of the United Mine Workers (UMW).
The mining companies refused to meet the demands of the workers and instead hired Baldwin-Felts agents equipped with high-powered rifles to guard the mines and act as strikebreakers. After the Agents arrived, the miners either moved out or were evicted from the houses they had been renting from the coal companies, and moved into coal camps that were being supported by the Union. Approximately 35,000 people lived in these coal camps.
A month after the strike began, hostilities began with the arrival of the Baldwin-Felts Agents who provoked the miners. Socialist Party activists began supplying miners with weapons: 6 machine guns, 1,000 high-powered rifles, and 50,000 rounds of ammunition.
My daddy was from West Virginia. So beautiful and such a unique history. Thanks so much for this video. I'll be pulling for Appalachia!!! ❤
Very interesting history my grandfather worked in McDowell County as a miner immediately after he came over from Italy.
So much truth spoken in this little video. I grew up in Welch. Retired now and still live here. Billionaires were created here. And all of the money left leaving the community in ruins. My first memories are of the early sixties. And nobody has the imagination to see this place as I've seen it. Thriving. Bustling. You could quit a job today and start another tomorrow. A totally self sufficient community if you didn't want to go anywhere else. However, John Kennedy's handouts became a way of life here. One generation after another take advantage of the corrupt giveaway programs created by him. Not because they need or deserve them. Simply because they are lazier than hell and have more knowledge on how to play the system than most attorneys. I spend a great deal of my time in my own mind and in the past these days. Even when I'm busy with something. Thanks a lot for this. Don't know why I hadn't seen it sooner.
Ok !
Good luck with that !
It was handouts because the coal companies left and everyone was brainwashed thinking King Coal cared about them and would provide jobs forever
Graduated from Welch High School in 1953. Was a good place to live once upon a time.
I agree 👍
Love the authenticity of this 🤩 the coal trucks and all. To the bustling times to the times slowed now. Who would’ve thought. So interesting….
Thanks for watching Welch is a fascinating place with so much history!
i love seeing those coal trucks rumble through
I was born and raised in Bramwell wva just bought a piece of property in maybeaury wva for a cabin to get away from the world's crap and have a little piece and quiet. I'm going to love it back in wva after 38 years.
Good luck with that !
Since you made this video the local newspaper, the Welch News, closed in March 2023. It had been publishing for nearly a century but it had cut its operations from six days a week to five days a week to three days a week to one day a week to closing. As a former newspaper man I think the loss of any newspaper impacts the community.
All newspapers will be gone in another decade or less. That breaks my heart. Some of my most enjoyable, relaxing times even as a kid was reading the newspaper. I would walk or ride my bike the almost a mile six days a week in the summertime to get the mail and the Welch Daily News. And I would sit beneath a big beech tree near the mailboxes and read it before going home. The previous days circulation was always printed in a upper corner of the front page. I'm sure in earlier years it had been more. But in the late 60s-early 70s they were selling 12,000 papers give or take a day.
@@bradlane3662 the Internet is taking over
News online is taking the place of news on paper.
My daddy was born and raised in Welch. My grandaddy was a miner. Both have since passed. Thank you so much for this video as it brings me a little closer to their world.
There’s no place like West Virginia, great people and it’s beauty!
Omg 98-2000 I thank God for giving me the chance to live here ,now I can show my kids what was !!!
Thanks for reminiscing
A piece of history for
McDowell Co. Never to
Be forgotten. It's where
My roots began. I can
Still hind me way home!
👍❣️👌
Bittersweet watching this. Thank you
Country Roads Take Me Home
Great video! Thanks for sharing this. I was born in Welch in 1949 during the boom years. I never lived there, however, as my father was in the Air Force, so we moved a lot. But we always returned at lease once a year (usually twice) to visit my mom's hometown and my grandparents. I have so many happy memories of my sister and me walking downtown to my grandfather's hardware store, getting a cherry smash at the Flat Iron Drug Store, checking out G. C. Murphy's, seeing a movie at the Pocahontas theater, and visiting our uncle who worked at Superior Office Supply. I haven't been back in probably 40 years and it saddens me that the city has suffered so harshly. Thanks again!
I worked at superior office supply. I started when I was 16 in 1952 I worked until 1954. I Remember trigg and Strother Tabor and upstairs was Sam money.
@@samuelreeves6594 Sam Money was my great-uncle on my Dad's side! Small world! My grandfather owned Howard's Hardware.
I love history & would love to hear more of it was like to grow up in Welch. It's very fascinating. I love this country & the history of old buildings, towns etc. Thank you for your comments on living there.
Thank you for posting this video! My grandfather, and dad were miners in Hemphill! My dad spoke of Welch often! After the Korean War he migrated to Michigan, and then Ohio for work in the auto industry! He passed just short of two years ago! It was so nice to look on the mountains he so fondly loved and spoke of!
I appreciate the research that went into making this video. Thanks.
Great video
I was born in Welch West Virginia in 1954 at grace hospital. My family we lived in Gary and Thorpe before moving out of state in 1962.
Fathers side of the family born and raised in Gary. Lived in Thorpe for a while. Dad taught and coached at Gary HS and lived in Welch when he got older plus taught at Mount View. Despite the poverty and everything else I absolutely love the area
@@mikehall2646 you been back lately ?
Haven't been back for quite a few years, Unfortunately it was usually because someone passed away :( And most of my family have passed away or moved away so I don't really have anybody left in Welch. But I would like to go back one more time before I get too old :)
@@jgray6392 I'm sorry
@@jgray6392 I understand.
My Uncle the late Robert Jones was a Painter around Welch, Hemphill and other surrounding areas.
Thank You for doing this. It is important.
Thank you for covering g Welch, WV. I remember as a child the city was so busy on Saturday it was hard to find a parking space. Good memories.
My mom was born in Iaeger, WVA. Drove my Uncle Joe's caddy to Welch for lunch. In 1970.
@@marknewton6984 have you been back to visit ?
Not recently. I've heard it barely exists.
@@marknewton6984 you got that right !
Very cool
I think it's sad.
The citizens think the county will make a comeback.
Good luck with that !
i used to live in welch,,sad place
I totally support the poor, but we cannot expect business to keep employees when their losing money. I know alot of people hate Wal-Mart & I'm not a big Wal-Mart fan either. I'm also against welfare. It has destroyed generations & no I'm not rich I only make 48,000 a year. I love this country so much (not at a fan of democrats either but, I'm a proud paitrotic former Marine. Thank you so much for making this video. I would love to visit McDowell County soon. All because of your video. Thank you & God bless.
hey, I'm a democrat and I think SSI is far too easy to abuse. I do think that there's a place for government in trying to help revitalize places like this. I wish for the John McCain days when we could reach across the aisle to try to help folks. Everything has become so black-and-white. If we're each out to win , we're going to lose. And thanks for your service.
It so sad, this little towni all but gone,I would drive from bluewill to Gary,and Welch, iwork in mine pocahontas, my friends Sonny and Johnny I meet at Concord Collage years ago.i join the Airforce 25 years24 years DOD. HILL Af base UT. I was raised down in country pass Athens, Island Creek,Chases hill Wv.
My Hometown. It is so sad to see that Welch is no more than a quarter of what it was in 1967. I have so many great memories of living there and going to school there.
Have you been back lately ?
Do something on Powhatan, Northfork, and Keystone, all in McDowell.
So sad to know, hear and learn about my hometown, where I was born and raised. I'm saddened of how the miners lost jobs cuz of the industry now thriving and families relocating for a better life.
I'm from Glen Jean west Virginia, was very interested in your series on Welch, hope to see more
Yup lived in kimball close to Welch in the 1970s. Wasn’t a bad place then
I was born there in welch in 1962
What beautiful camera work
Thank you for the expose on Welch. My Grandparents lived and worked in the Mines. I look forward to your other videos....
Awesome thank you!!
Welch also had some very good High School football teams.
I attended Welch Dunbar from 1960-1964 3rd-6th grade.
Welch has a long way to go to ever find prosperity but man the people sure are great and so is this video. Thanks for the love.
I’ve lived in Welch my whole life. Great people and place to live.
I have too. And they ain't all great. But the majority are.
Are you kidding !?
@@davidjanson7982 no not kidding.
@@davidjanson7982 Nothing to do? Obviously.
@@bradlane3662 right !
It seemed like the Walmart was the only department store left in the town.
Wal-Mart was probably still making profits then. They bail when they lose to much profit margin before they actually have to because they really are losing money. In other words they were nit making enough money to care about it but could have let it stay to keep the people that worked their employed.
.my mother was born to Barney and Bessie Colvardin Welch
Those signs are surreal and ive never seen signs put up like that 😢
Mcdowell county is legendary because it went from 110,000 people to 17,000 people… and has poverty stats and only a 60-65 year life expectancy… the county barely has a grocery store, and used to be a thriving coal producing area
lol
I was born here in 1960
Oh my! I was born there.
Such a sad place now.
Shame on walmart
I was born there too in 63 left when I was a little kid
I am from Danville, Virginia and moved to Welch, Hemphill area with my Uncle from 8 years old until 11 years old then returned back to Danville the summer of 1964. I had great memories of Welch, West Virginia
WOW I
Walmart shut down due to frequent shoplifting so I don't blame them
Beautiful place
Have you been there before !?
You didn’t show Stevens Correctional.
Has it been long enough that as a nation we can admit that “Poverty” won?
Walmart closed because of shoplifting they had too much theif
I totally agree with you. Big business doesn't care about the people it caters to. Rape the land, screw the people, make all the money you can, and move on leaving the one's that made that money for you in the dust. Greed, greed, and more greed. You are right, this area is beautiful and it's just such a waste. They closed down the Walmart down the road because the shop lifting was so bad. Once again because of the drug use. I used to go to Jaeger West Virginia on mission trips, and it's the same there, people left in the lurch by big corporations, drug use, poverty, no jobs. The whole area is saturated with it.
Thank you Danny. My grandparents came to McDowell county to mine coal in 1902 from Reggio Calabria Italia. They raised 12 children and were very successful. My grandfather always said the worst thing brought into McDowell county was food stamps. Mcdowell county was called the most patriotic county in America. My dad’s brother was killed in WW2 after the death March of Battan. We supplied the coal that made steel to defeat Hitler and Tojo. What we got in return was blacklung or a loss of jobs when DC politicians decided to use the UMWA as a political tool and strike while my daddy was left trying to find a way to feed our family of 8. Then the big collapse came when the Democrats decided it was time to worry over a false narrative of climate change but dump 1000s of us into poverty and feed our children pills. Now the government wants to legalize drugs so they can become the drug dealers and rape us once again of our money. President Donald Trump saved our coal industry by keeping his promises to us. We have him about 96% of our votes. Bernie Sanders then showed up to bad mouth our president but was denied the use of our facilities and had to leave. Hope has returned to us in the form of jobs and not government assistance. Seems we’ve had all the “help” we can stand. Again, thank you Danny.
What a beautiful little town this seems to be. Once again the "drug-people" (the sellers, the pushers and the users) have totally destroyed what once was beautiful. Not just in America, but all over the world !