A history of Welch,
since 1893
Postcards, papers and photographs of Welch from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Welch was incorporated in 1894 and named after Isaiah A. Welch, a former captain in the Confederate States Army who came to the region as a surveyor, and helped establish the plan for the beginning of a new town at the confluence of Tug Fork and Elkhorn Creek.
Welch was made the county seat of McDowell County in an election by county citizens in 1892 even before Welch was incorporated as a city. The previous county seat was in Perryville (now English) on present day West Virginia Route 83 along the Dry Fork. Results of the election were contested, so to avoid violence county records were secretly moved from Perryville to Welch at night in two wagons by James F. Strother and Trigg Tabor.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Welch’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
4 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewSubject -Coal. -70 Welch Mining C…, 1908: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Welch
See all 16 →
Welch, decade by decade
1990s
2 historic places in Welch
Welch has 2 listings on the National Register, and they protect 9 historic buildings, because Welch Commercial Historic District (Boundary Increase) alone counts 8.
Where they are
When they were listed
Listed 1979McDowell County Courthouse
Listed 2018Welch Commercial Historic District (Boundary Increase)Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Subject -Coal. -70 Welch Mining Co., Welch W. Va. Boy running 'trip rope' at tipple. Overgrown, but looked 13 yrs. old.… (1908) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (5) and the National Register (1). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.