Itmann Company Store and Office, Itmann, WV
**Itmann Company Store and Office** - National Register of Historic Places Ref # 90001775, date listed 11/28/1990
WV 10/16
Itmann, WV (Wyoming County)
The Itmann Company Store and Office is a rough-faced native sandstone building constructed between 1923 and 1925. Situated on approximately 1.75 acres of land, this detached, commercial building reflects elements of the Classical Revival style.
West Virginia, in particular its southernmost part, contains vast quantities of high quality coal whose attraction to entrepreneurs profoundly changed the history of the state after serious exploitation of the mineral began in the late nineteenth century. At that time, a few small towns dotted the landscape, but most of the sparse popxalation lived an agricultural and relatively isolated existence in the steep hills and narrow hollows characteristic of West Virginia. As a result, the creation of towns was necessary to support the mining families. Houses, schools, churches, and other buildings were erected by the coal companies who had acquired title or lease to the land in and around the new towns. At the center was the company store, which housed many of the important functions of the town and represented the omnipresence of the company in the mining town.
Itmann developed somewhat later than many company towns, but repeated this pattern. Although located only a few miles from Mullens and the Wyoming county seat at Pineville, the Itmann area was, until 1916, wilderness and vacant farmland, penetrated only by a narrow, rough, dirt road. That year, the Pocahontas Fuel Company acquired a lease to over 1,000 acres of land along the Guyandotte River, and the mining town of Itmann, named in honor of the company's president I. T. Mann, was built. Pre-cut frame houses were quickly erected. Soon, there were other frame buildings: two company stores, a theater, and two schools, one for whites and one for blacks. In the early 1920s, a brick school replaced the white school, and in 1925, the nominated property replaced the original stores. (1)
References (1) NRHP Nomination Form s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg...
Itmann Company Store and Office, Itmann, WV
**Itmann Company Store and Office** - National Register of Historic Places Ref # 90001775, date listed 11/28/1990
WV 10/16
Itmann, WV (Wyoming County)
The Itmann Company Store and Office is a rough-faced native sandstone building constructed between 1923 and 1925. Situated on approximately 1.75 acres of land, this detached, commercial building reflects elements of the Classical Revival style.
West Virginia, in particular its southernmost part, contains vast quantities of high quality coal whose attraction to entrepreneurs profoundly changed the history of the state after serious exploitation of the mineral began in the late nineteenth century. At that time, a few small towns dotted the landscape, but most of the sparse popxalation lived an agricultural and relatively isolated existence in the steep hills and narrow hollows characteristic of West Virginia. As a result, the creation of towns was necessary to support the mining families. Houses, schools, churches, and other buildings were erected by the coal companies who had acquired title or lease to the land in and around the new towns. At the center was the company store, which housed many of the important functions of the town and represented the omnipresence of the company in the mining town.
Itmann developed somewhat later than many company towns, but repeated this pattern. Although located only a few miles from Mullens and the Wyoming county seat at Pineville, the Itmann area was, until 1916, wilderness and vacant farmland, penetrated only by a narrow, rough, dirt road. That year, the Pocahontas Fuel Company acquired a lease to over 1,000 acres of land along the Guyandotte River, and the mining town of Itmann, named in honor of the company's president I. T. Mann, was built. Pre-cut frame houses were quickly erected. Soon, there were other frame buildings: two company stores, a theater, and two schools, one for whites and one for blacks. In the early 1920s, a brick school replaced the white school, and in 1925, the nominated property replaced the original stores. (1)
References (1) NRHP Nomination Form s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg...