Station Map Glen Ferris, W. Va.

A ‘station map’ of Glen Ferris, West Virginia – a town with no railroad station!

This rare blueprint plan was originally created by the Engineering Department of the New York Central Railroad in 1934, though the image has been updated (by hand) to reflect revisions through the fall of 1960. Within the borders are most of the tiny railroad town of Glen Ferris, West Virginia – a few dozen residences (mostly all built by Union Carbide), a store, clubhouse, doctor’s office, a handful of industrial sites and labor camps, and railroad infrastructure. The historic Glen Ferris Inn, the town’s first permanent building, is labeled as the Recreation Hall and surrounded by a fence.

The map reflects Glen Ferris’ rising and falling fortunes as a railroad town along the Kanawha River. Its history is closely tied to industry and transportation, beginning as a stagecoach stop in the 19th century and later becoming a hub for power generation and manufacturing. As markets changed for the worse, so did the local economy (most workers leased their homes from the company, Union Carbide), though efforts are ongoing to restart power generation at the nearby hydroelectric plant (labeled Office Building on the left side of the page).

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