A history of Alderson,
then and now
Postcards, papers and photographs of Alderson from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Alderson is a community located along the Greenbrier River in Greenbrier County and Monroe County, incorporated in 1881.
In 1763, the nearby Muddy Creek settlements were destroyed by Shawnee Indians under Chief Cornstalk.
Alderson was originally settled in 1777 by "Elder" John Alderson, a frontier missionary for whom the town is named, who organized the first Baptist church in the Greenbrier Valley.
Alderson became an important livestock shipping point on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway.
Alderson is the location of the Federal Reformatory for Women, which opened in 1927 as the first federal prison for women.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Alderson’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewEpiscopal Church of the Messiah, …, 1902: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Alderson
See all 3 →
Alderson, decade by decade
1990s
5 historic places in Alderson
Alderson has 5 listings on the National Register, and they protect 202 historic buildings, because Alderson Historic District alone counts 196.
Where they are
Architectural styles
When they were listed
Listed 1978Alexander McVeight Miller House
Listed 1991Alderson Bridge
Listed 1993Alderson Historic District
Listed 2000Sunset Hill
Listed 2009Argabrite HouseThen & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Episcopal Church of the Messiah, Alderson, W.V (1902) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (4), the Library of Congress (1) and the National Register (1). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.