BRAMWELL, WV (LOOTPRESS) – Located within the hills of Mercer County lies the town once home to the most millionaires in the country.
Founded in the late 1800s, Bramwell sits eight miles north of Bluefield along U.S. Route 52.
Bramwell is encircled by the Bluestone River in a horseshoe bend fashion, earning its early moniker, Horse Shoe Bend, in the early 1800s.
The town draws its name from J.H. Bramwell, a New York civil engineer who served as its first postmaster and a local superintendent for the Flat Top Company.
Despite his eventual departure and passing in Switzerland during the 1890s, Bramwell thrived, obtaining incorporation in 1888 under a special charter from the Circuit Court of Mercer County, with John D. Hewitt, Senior, as its inaugural mayor.
The town’s prosperity burgeoned with the heyday of the West Virginia coal fields in 1873, stretching over forty miles. Fueled by the Pocahontas coalfields, which employed a staggering 100,000 miners, Bramwell flourished as a bustling hub.
At its peak, the Norfolk & Western Railroad boasted 14 daily trains stopping in Bramwell, while the Historic Bank of Bramwell reigned as the financial center of southern West Virginia in many aspects, renowned as the wealthiest bank per capita in the nation.
However, the onset of the Great Depression in 1929 precipitated the demise of the bank as it did many others in the United States.
By 1886, the establishment of the Pocahontas Coal Company further solidified Bramwell’s prominence, serving as the railroad’s marketing arm for the burgeoning coal industry.
With a population growing to 4,000 by 1896 and the completion of railway lines into McDowell County by 1897, mining activity increased rapidly, moving Bramwell into its role as the epicenter of commerce and finance for the Flat Top field.
The town’s influence was deepened with the Bank of Bramwell in 1889, under the stewardship of James Mann and his cousin, I.T. Mann, who oversaw the sale of vast lands to the N&W Railroad, which was one of the reasons the town was once the home of seventeen millionaires at its peak.
Known as the “Town of Millionaires,” Bramwell boasted the highest concentration of millionaires per capita in late 1800s America.
Today, the estates that dot Bramwell’s landscape serve as proof of its past of wealth and business.
The history of the town along with the railroad and coal industry can be experienced in person thanks to the Bramwell Depot.
The Heritage Park in Bramwell features the historic Bramwell Depot, also known as the Southern Interpretive Center of the Coal Heritage Trail.
Originally demolished in the 1950s, it was rebuilt with federal funding, with groundbreaking in 1996.
Now housing interpretive exhibits showcasing the region’s coal mining heritage, the depot serves as a welcome center for visitors to Bramwell.
It also serves as a gift shop with various books and memorabilia available for purchase. You can even get yourself an ice-cold drink there too!
Completed in 2003, the depot is open seven days a week.
The Federal Highway Administration designated State Route 16 from Beckley to Welch, and U.S. Route 52 from Welch to Bluefield, as the Coal Heritage Trail.
