Kump Center to host Whetsell’s Elkins History Talk
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ELKINS - On Wednesday, the Kump Education Center will offer the second of its three Elkins History Talks this fall, this one focusing on a tragic Elkins event and its repercussions.
Robert "Rob" Whetsell will talk about "The Early History of Elkins" at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Kump Education Center, in the Optimum Learning Lab located near the garage door behind Kump House at 401 S. Randolph Avenue.
The focus of Whetsell’s talk will be the Elkins fire of 1897 and the ways it changed city ordinances for construction.
Whetsell's 1994 book, "Elkins, West Virginia: The Metropolis Revisited” (1994) includes photographs from the history of Elkins, and information from personal interviews with local residents.
In 2024, the Kump Education Center hosted Whetsell speaking for its second Woodlands Heritage Lecture, “Nature’s New Deal: The Monongahela National Forest and the New Deal."
Whetsell has been an active member of several history organizations, working as a volunteer on various preservation projects. He assisted with the Elkins Historical Landmarks’ effort to put Elkins on the Nation of Register of Historic Places.
Whetsell and Don Rice helped the Randolph County Historical Society to learn more about the Elkins '89ers, who organized to get Elkins incorporated as a city in West Virginia. Whetsell also worked with Citizens for Historic Opportunities in Preservation to save the Darden Mill and First Ward School building.
He has served on various interpretive committees for the Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area, and his work as a researcher and historian made him a valuable resource regarding the history of Elkins, logging, railroads, Civilian Conservation Corps, and WWII Maneuvers at Seneca Rocks.
Whetsell attended Randolph County Public Schools and graduated from Elkins High School. At Davis & Elkins College he majored in history and served as an archivist in the college library. He earned a master's degree in history from West Virginia University.
He previously worked in the Richmond Museum of Fine Arts, where he learned about the works of many great artists in the collection.
The Elkins History Talks are free and open to the public.
On Nov. 11, Dr. Heather Biola will be hosting the third and final history talk. She will be telling stories about former West Virginia Governor Herman Guy Kump's time as the mayor of Elkins, such as when the city got its, at the time, state-of-the-art water system in the 1920s, and when a fall drought nearly stopped the first-ever Forest Festival.
The Kump House is located at 401 Randolph Ave., Elkins (across from Kroger) with parking access in the rear accessible by Seneca Road.
To learn more or to contact the Kump Education Center, email kumpec@gmail.com or visit kumpeducationcenter.org.