Glen Ferris, West Virginia

Glen Ferris is an unincorporated census-designated place on the western bank of the Kanawha River in Fayette County, West Virginia. It is situated approximately one mile south of the town of Gauley Bridge. The sole highway linking Glen Ferris to the area is U.S. Route 60, known also as the Midland Trail. As of the 2010 census, its population was 203; the community had 104 housing units, 87 of which were occupied.^[2] The village is roughly a mile and a half in length. Glen Ferris is home to two churches, one Apostolic and one Methodist. A railway owned by Norfolk Southern runs parallel to US Route 60 through the village.

The first permanent building to be constructed in Glen Ferris was the Glen Ferris Inn (originally a private residence) which was built in 1810. It served as a private home from 1810 until 1839 when it began operation as a hotel [1]. After falling into disrepair, it was renovated and an addition was built in the 1960s (date uncertain). A further addition of a dining hall was completed in the 1980s (date uncertain). In 1996, the Inn was purchased from Elkem Metals by a local family. The new proprietors added a glass walled Dining Room that overlooks the Kanawha Falls. It continues to operate as a hotel. The Glen Ferris Inn overlooks the Kanawha Falls. On the east bank of the river, across from the inn, lay the remnants of Camp Reynolds, a Union Army camp and gun embankment used in the Civil War.

After the Civil War, the area began to grow as coal production escalated in the state of West Virginia and abundant water made the generation of power inexpensive. In 1917, Union Carbide purchased a small ferro-alloys plant in Glen Ferris, the brick remains of which can still be seen on the edge of the Kanawha River. While continuing to operate this small plant, in 1929-30, Carbide built a much larger one at Alloy, a few miles downriver from Glen Ferris, which was the world's largest ferro-alloys plant, employing some 2800 people, during its heyday from the time of its construction through the early 1960s. In order to generate power for the larger plant by diverting water from the New River, the company had a 3-mile long tunnel built through the mountain at Hawks Nest. The rock through which it was built was the cause of acute silica poisoning in hundreds of unprotected workers, many of whom died within a few years. The disaster was the focus of Congressional hearings in Washington in the mid-thirties, and acute silicosis was identified as an occupational illness for the first time. A majority of the homes in Glen Ferris, as well as in other towns in the Upper Kanawha Valley, were built by Union Carbide and leased to workers and their families. After the 1950s, as plant production declined, Union Carbide began to sell the houses to their occupants. In the 1970s, several homes were constructed on the mountainside above Glen Ferris, these would be Glen Ferris' largest homes and lead to its continued development as a place people choose to live, in contrast to much of the surrounding towns and areas. In recent years, more larger homes have been built on the northern edge of Glen Ferris.

On the southern edge of Glen Ferris lies the Kanawha Falls public access fishing area that provides the best ground-level view of the Kanawha Falls on the west side of the river. Immediately to the north of the fishing area is the Glen Ferris Hydroelectric station, which formerly produced the electricity to power the village and the coal mine. It will start producing electricity again sometime in the near future.

References

• Midland Trail Scenic Highway Association Glen Ferris, Kanawha Falls. Accessed October 11, 2007