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What remains of Thurmond helps give us a sense of the spirit of this place during its heyday. Each building added to the rich fabric of this community. Take this tour and learn the story of Thurmond. The tour is also available on the NPS Mobile App.
This walking tour is 0.5 miles roundtrip and takes about 1 hour to complete. The walk through town is over flat, but uneven pavement, bricks, and gravel. Please use extra caution when crossing the road and railroad line in town. This track is still active CSX mainline. Many freight trains pass through Thurmond daily. Cross only at the designated railroad crossing and do not walk on the tracks.
Map of Thurmond Walking Tour
NPS
Stop 1 - Thurmond Depot. The historic Thurmond Depot is now a seasonal visitor center.
Gene Huddleston; C&O Historical Society
1. Thurmond Depot
The first passenger depot built in 1891 burned down in December 1892. Another version was built shortly after, which burned in 1903. The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway announced the new third depot would be one of the largest on the line, although this goal never became reality. The C&O planned to build a temporary depot and freight office that would be replaced with a large brick structure.The currenttwo-story Thurmond Depot opened in 1904. Construction did not start until the spring of 1904 and was completed the same year. Was this building the planned temporary structure that was never replaced? This building is only 15 feet wide instead of the usual 20 foot width. Customer complaints caused the C&O to add a 15 foot long extension to the east end of the building in 1915.
The first floor served travelers coming and going from Thurmond. The ticket agent’s office, baggage room, waiting rooms, and restrooms were at track level. Other services for passengers on the first floor included a lunch counter and news room.
The second floor housed the signal tower and telegraph office. It also had offices for the dispatcher, train master, and conductor. The decline in passenger trains in the 1960s caused the depot to undergo changes. The entire first floor joined the second floor as offices for the railroad. These offices operated until the mid-1980s when they finally closed.
A few years later, the National Park Service acquired the depot. The park service restored the building to its classic early 1900s look. The building opened for use as a visitor center in 1995. Today, this place gives us a glimpse of Thurmond’s lively days. Active preservation work continues to maintain its historical appearance. Thurmond remains a stop for Amtrak passenger trains. Amtrak added an accessibility platform in 2023.
Stop 2 - Commissary and Thurmond Post Office.
NPS
2. Commissary
In 1929, Fitzgerald & Company built a commissary on land leased from the C&O Railway. The commissary provided food and supplies to railroad workers in Thurmond. Part of workers’ paychecks could be set aside for food and supplies from the commissary.
The first post office in Thurmond opened in 1888. For years it operated out of the Thurmond Hotel. In 1963, after fire destroyed the hotel, the U.S. Post Office moved into the old commissary building. The post office served the town of Thurmond until 1995 when it finally closed its doors. In the late 1990s, the last business in Thurmond operated out of the old post office. Thurmond Supply rented bicycles and sold ice cream to visitors. It closed after only a few years. The building is currently privately owned.
Stop 3 - Water Tank Foundations. All that remains of the two large water tanks are their cement foundations.
NPS
3. Water Tank Foundations
Thurmond was more than a railroad town, it was a steam town. The steam locomotives of Thurmond constantly needed water. Four versions of the water towers existed, and the first one was built in 1989. That water tower stood about where the Commissary building is today. A larger water tower was built in 1905 to the left of the 1898 tower.
In 1914, the C&O Railway built an elevated steel tower water tank with a 100,000 gallon capacity. The 1898 tower was removed at this time. In 1927, they added a steel standpipe water tank that held 210,000 gallons of water. This tower was built on the foundations of the 1905 water tower. Water tanks served five water columns, pipes used to fill steam locomotives with water. The tanks also provided water to the engine house and the fire hose house.
Manyrailways began switching from steam locomotives to diesel locomotives in the 1940s. Diesel locomotives do not have the water requirements of their steam counterparts, although they do require a small amount of water. Water columns were no longer needed. CSX Transportation, modern-day C&O Railway, removed the tanks in 1998. All that remains of the water tanks are the cement foundations.
Stop 4 - Mankin-Cox Building.
NPS
4. Mankin-Cox Building
When you stand in front of this building you are inside of the historical Thurmond city limits for the first time.
In 1904, Dr. J. W. Mankin built the Mankin-Cox building. He ran his medical practice on the second floor on the right side of the building. Hiswife operated the Mankin Drug Company on the first floor. She obtainedher degree in pharmaceuticals and mixed medications for patients. The drug store also sold toiletries, magazines, and other sundries, or miscellaneous items.
It is currently unknown what business operated on the left side of the building until the New River Banking and Trust Company moved there in 1911.It was one of two banks that operated in Thurmond during the boom years. The bank moved to Oak Hill, West Virginia during the Great Despression in 1935. The Mankin-Cox building had many other businesses in it over the years. These included a dentist office, pizza parlor, and arts and crafts shop.
Stop 5 - The Goodman-Kincaid Building housed the Homestead Restaurant in the 1940s.
NPS
5. Goodman-Kincaid Building
Standard Dry Goods Company built the Goodman-Kincaid building around 1906. This large structure is the largest building along Commercial Row. The second floor had several offices for businesses including a lawyer. Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Exchange Company had its office there as well.
In Thurmond, there wasn't much flat land at the bottom of the gorge. The railroad used most of this land for tracks, rail yards, and other infrastructure. Building houses on the side of the gorge was difficult. With a population of 300 to 500 people, most residents didn't live in houses. Instead, they lived in apartments over the businesses. Most of the upper floors of the Goodman-Kincaid building were apartments.
The Standard Dry Goods Company sold the northern half of the building to Gost Tsaimes and Milton Tassos in 1918. They operated a Greek restaurant for several years.
Snyder and Carter Company did big business in Thurmond from the year 1912 until 1922. They sold men’s and women’s clothing and would travel to cities such as New York, Boston, or Cincinnati to purchase inventory. They even employed a milliner to make women’s hats.
Anotherrestaurant was the Homestead. Mrs. Ida McClure owned the Homestead and cooked meals for railroad workers. During World War II, she did her part for the war effort by serving free meals to soldiers on troop trains. Her restaurant closed in 1945 at the end of the war.
Stop 6 - Bank Building.
NPS
6. National Bank of Thurmond
TheBullock Realty Company completed construction of the Bank Building in 1917. For the first 6 years, the Bank Building was home to a jewelry store and clothing store. The upper floors were offices and apartments for Thurmond residents. Western Union Telegraph Company had its office in the building for several years.
In 1923, as the name suggests, the Bank of Thurmond moved into the Bank Building. Thebank operated in the Hotel Thurmond from 1906until it moved into itsfinal location. Only a few years later, in 1931, the bank failed during the Great Depression. After the bank closed, a dry good store opened and operated for many years.
In the 1970s, Thurmond residents Erskine and Jacqueline Pugh bought the Bank Building. Together with the other buildings on Commercial Row, they created the Banker's Club. The Banker's Club was a hotel, restaurant, and club which served whitewater rafters. The Banker's Club closed in 1988.
Stop 7 - Hotel Thurmond and Lafayette Hotel. All that remains is a large grassy field and a brick wall.
C&O Historical Society
7. Lafayette Hotel
The first Hotel Thurmond, built in 1891,burned down but was quickly replaced by a new hotel in 1902. The new hotel, known as the Lafayette Hotel, had thirty-five rooms and seven bathrooms. The hotel also boasted steam heat and four hundred electric lights. The dining room could hold sixty people.
Besides serving as a hotel, the Lafayette Hotel also had several business and shops. A jewelry store and barber shop operatedon the first floor of the hotel. For many years, it was also home to the post office and Bank of Thurmond. A large staircase on the first floor led patrons to the hotel lobby on the second floor.Tragically, the hotel burned down in 1963. Only the back brick wall of the hotel remains.
Stop 8 - Coaling Tower. This structure is still privately owned by CSX.
C&O Historical Society
8. Coaling Tower
The C&O Railway built this large cement coaling tower in 1922. It held as much as five hundred tons of coal. A series of elevators lifted coal into the tower from a large pit underneath. Tracks on either side of the tower allowed locomotives to move close to the chutes. The coal fell down the chutes into the waiting tenders of the locomotives.
The cement building next to the coaling tower is the sanding house. Locomotives used sand to grip slippery rails. In the wet and sometimes steep New River Gorge, sand was useful to help locomotives up the grades. At the coaling tower, as locomotives filled up with coal, they also resupplied their sand.
After the switch to diesel electric locomotives, the coaling tower was not needed. The C&O Railway abandoned the coaling tower in 1960. It is still owned by modern day CSX Transportation.
This structure is dangerous and should be viewed at a distance.
Stop 9 - The Engine House. A grassy field on CSX property is all that remains.
NPS
9. Engine House
Throughout its history, many of Thurmond's residents worked for the C&O Railway. The Engine House was the heart of the railroad. Although rectangular in shape, it was often referred to as the roundhouse. It served as the repair shop for locomotives and railcars.
Built in 1905, the Thurmond Engine House was the workplace of 50 to 70 men. At its peak, 175 men worked round the clock in 3 shifts. Each shift lasted 8 hours. At peak operation, the Engine House serviced 60 to 100 railcars daily. Machinists, boilermakers, and steam fitters worked hard to maintain locomotives. At any given time, 2 to 3 locomotives were being serviced. The Engine House kept 2 to 3 more locomotives steamed up, ready to go at a moment's notice. A 100 foot expansion was added in the 1920s.
The switch to diesel electric locomotives made the Engine House obsolete. In 1963, the Engine House closed and an auto repair shop opened in its place until 1985. The abandoned Engine House burned in 1993.
The switch to diesel electric locomotives made the Engine House obsolete. In 1963, the Engine House closed and an auto repair shop opened in its place until 1985. The abandoned Engine House burned in 1993.
