Historic building in Thomas placed on National Register
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THOMAS -- A historic building that served as a major general store for decades has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
A public reception celebrating the National Register listing of the Buxton & Landstreet Company Store will be held in the main floor gallery at 571 Douglas Road in Thomas on Dec. 3 at 1 p.m.
The original store was built in 1889 south of Thomas, at the east end of East Avenue in Coketon. The store property was later annexed into the town of Thomas. On Oct. 11, 1899, the original structure was destroyed by fire, with a night watchman, William Nicon, killed in the blaze, according to historian Joseph W. Dumire.
The current building, which sets on the site of the original structure, was built in 1900 and is a two-story structure above a basement, which originally housed a butcher shop.
"An immense arched doorway fills the front and opens onto a platform extending the full width of the building. It is lined with white tile brick and has ornamental sheet steel ceilings that are supported by lines of graceful metal columns," Dumire wrote.
The B & L sets directly across the street from the Davis Coal & Coke Administrative Office, which was also constructed in 1900 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.
The B & L sits on 1.64 acres and was sold to Vandalia Heritage Foundation on Nov. 4, 1999. The structure contains 9,837 square feet on each of the three floors, including the basement level, for a total of 29,511 square feet.
The general store sold everything to the miners of Davis Coal & Coke Co., including food, clothing and furniture, and even included a post office on the main floor.
"The Davis Coal & Coke Co., owner of the B & L, was one of the largest and best-known coal companies in the world," Dumire wrote. "It's central point, or hub, was at Thomas and consequently the town of Thomas became known far and wide.
"At the peak of operations, about 1910 or 1912, there were within a radius of one mile of the company's Thomas office -- located across the street from the B & L -- nine producing mines, supervised by nine mine superintendents, and nearly 1,000 coke ovens that stretched from Thomas, to Coketon and Douglas.
"The company had its own electric light and power pants, its own water system, and its own telephone system, with direct connections to the outside world through Cumberland, Maryland and Elkins," Dumire wrote. "During the golden age, the Davis Coal & Coke Co. employed nearly 1,600 workers in Tucker County with a payroll approximating $100,00 per month."
In August 1884, the West Virginia Central & Pittsburg Railway extended from Cumberland, Maryland to Thomas. The railway as well as the Davis Coal & Coke Company were owned by Sen. Henry Gassaway Davis.
"The railroad was built for the purpose of providing efficient transportation for the seams of coal and timber holdings of Senator Davis that lay in and around the town of Thomas, which was named after Hon. Thomas B. Davis, who was the brother of Henry Gassaway Davis," Dumire wrote.
"A coal mine had been opened in the winter of 1883-1884 and was ready to ship coal as soon as the railroad arrived. This venture led to the forming of the towns of Thomas and Davis," Dumire wrote. "Thomas was granted a charter in 1892 and was bonded in 1899 for the purpose of building a water system."