Elkins Coal & Coke Shop

2011 West Virginia Endangered Property, Masontown WV

The 1907 Elkins Coal and Coke Building in Masontown, WV has been recognized as one of eight properties on the 2011 West Virginia Endangered Properties List having historic significance to the state. MRTC is working with Preservation Alliance of West Virginia and Masontown Town Council to repurpose the building and preserve its historical characteristics.

The vision for this 1907 building is that it will be renovated as bathroom facilities and information center for the Deckers Creek Rail-Trail and Old Route 7 By-way. On Friday, February 18, volunteers from the community and West Virginia University cleaned out the trash and debris and boarded up the windows and doors to help protect the building from the weather and vandalism.

Please let us know if you would like to help work on this project. Needs include historical photographs, funding, equipment and building materials, and volunteer time. Donations can be made with checks to MRTC with a note for Masontown Trailhead project.

A Remnant from the Heyday of Coal & Coke and Railroads The Elkins Coal & Coke shop building at Masontown was once part of the railroad and coal empire put together by Stephen B. Elkins, U.S. Senator from West Virginia and one of the state’s leading “captains of industry.” In 1904, Elkins and partners acquired the Morgantown & Kingwood Railroad, which was building a standard gauge line from Rowlesburg, along the B&O Main Stem, to Morgantown, where it would link to the B&Os Fairmont, Morgantown & Pittsburgh branch. At the same time, Elkins also purchased thousands of acres of coal lands adjoining the route of the railroad in Preston and Monongalia counties. These lands were known to contain some of the best showings of the Upper Freeport coal seam, which was widely known as one of the best coking coals.

By 1907 the M&K was completed, and many of the coal operations were underway. Elkins situated large mines and coke ovens at Bretz and Masontown in Preston County, as well as in Dellslow and Richard in Monongalia County. By 1910, the company was one of the largest coal and coke producers in the northern part of the state. The finished product, coke, was shipped east to steel mills at Sparrows Point, Maryland and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where it was used to reduce iron in blast furnaces.

Elkins Coal & Coke Company built its surface facilities to the highest standards, using cut stone in many of its coke ovens, as well as the Masontown shop building. According to local sources, both the Masontown and Bretz facilities were constructed by Italian masons imported by the company.

Stephen B. Elkins and his partners found themselves overextended after the World War I boom, so they were forced to sell the M&K to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and their mining operations to Bethlehem Steel, the company’s major customer. Bethlehem made few, if any changes, in the facilities through the 1920s and 1930s as it continued to mine coal and make coke for shipment to its eastern steel mills. The Masontown operation changed hands several times in subsequent years and was shut down in the late-1950s.

The Masontown shop, the only structure remaining from the Masontown operation, is potentially eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.