Eleanor, West Virginia: FDR’s New Deal Legacy

Eleanor, WV is a town steeped in history from its foundation as a WPA town as part of the New Deal. Signs of the Roosevelt administration remain as a testament. The town is named for first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The Main Street is Roosevelt Boulevard and runs through the heart of the town. WV Route 25 runs through to Charleston about 20 miles down the road. The town is also connected to Charleston via the Kanawha River which is navigable and provides access to the Ohio River in Point Pleasant to the west.

The homes are all of the same stock style and the town was set up with a park, school, general store, post office, and a church. Over the years the homes have grown and evolved as the valley and hills have changed around them. You can see the different additions to make each home unique. Inside the original homes featured plank and rod-iron doors that have lasted for nearly a century.

A home of roughly 4x the size of the others was built as a general store. Residents were happy to have access to a public general store. Some had been used to Company Stores that charged enormous markups and only accepted company script.

Several WPA (Works Progress Administration) towns were constructed as part of New Deal stimulus spending. This spending was seen as essential to ending the Great Depression. The pace stopped during WW2, but at the time the families of Appalachia were thrilled to be offered modern homes in the valley. Historically rural homesteaders in West Virginia have built on the hill tops and left the valley for farming. This did not jive with the use of automobiles, and made the roll out of modern amenities such as electric, phone, and water services much harder.

In a move that might seem foreign to today’s citizens the residents readily packed up and moved so that their children could have a better life. Modern schools, roads, and running water seemed like a dream come true. Many of the residents lived on Red House Hill, but some as far away as Buffalo were resettled. As New Deal funding wound down the town reverted to a normal municipal charter under West Virginia law in 1966.

The advent of the automobile and highway construction also lead a radical realignment of life in West Virginia. Traditionally families lived in hollers that were owned and subdivided among the families. Each family would build there own house and subdivide their land as subsequent generations lived on the land. These family plots were handed down with many being held in families since the days President Washington was selling his land in the area.

As time went on and the automobile took over from the train and steam boat the organization of these hollers was flipped. Where as it made sense to build your estate at the mountain top and farm the valley. Suddenly you had to be connected to the road. Mail order catalogs and the prospect of a car in every driveway had hearty mountaineers who had farmed the land for a century ready to leave it all. As you drive through the hills in winter look and see all of the abandoned houses. Usually only a fireplace or stairwell has withstood mother natures advances.

Time and time again in West Virginia this moment was used to trick land owners into signing away rights to these family plots of land. When they refused life was made unbearable and their land was polluted until they had no choice but to leave with no compensation. These people became renters. They no longer own their homes, and if they do a bank holds the mortgage.

Such is progress, I think of the phrase “The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.” So, on one hand, their kids did get a better education, but they moved away when they grew up. The population is aging. The land is beautiful, the people resilient, but the universe grows restless.

On a side note I spent years living in the town of Eleanor in the old general store, and always have fond memories of it. An interesting thing about living in Eleanor is you do not get door to door US Postal service delivery. Instead everyone is given a PO Box at the town post office. I noticed on this visit that a lot of people had numbers on their houses that did not before. I wonder if the advent of DoorDash and Amazon have meant the lowly building number has finally made it to Eleanor?

Thank you for riding with me!

Recorded: 2/20/2025

Visibility: Cloudy / Snow

Destinations in chronological order:

South Charleston, WV: B-30:57, 2:11:05-E

Thomas Hospital Rear Entrance, Kanawha Turnpike, WV601/Jefferson Road, US119/Corridor G, Southridge, South Hills/Little Creek, Rock Lake Drive, US60/MacCorkle Avenue, Dunbar Toll Bridge

Saint Albans, WV: 30:57-

US60/MacCorkle Avenue, WV817/Winfield Road

Winfield, WV: 48:57-57:41

WV817/Winfield Road, Winfield/Eleanor Bridge

Eleanor, WV: 57:41-1:39:30

Eleanor/Winfield Bridge, WV25/Roosevelt Boulevard/Charleston Road, Old General Store, Fir Street, Elanor Circle, Park Road, Old School House, Eleanor City Park, George Washington Middle School, Eleanor Plaza, Eleanor City Hall, Old Red House, Locks and Dam, Navy Reserve / Army Reserve Base Entrance, Joseph Crossing, North Woods Drive, Lukhart Ridge,

Hometown, WV: 1:39:30-1:42:27

WV25/Charleston Road

Bancroft, WV: 1:42:27-1:47:16

WV25/Charleston Road

Poca, WV: 1:47:16-1:52:13

WV25/Charleston Road/Main Street

Nitro, WV: 1:52:13-1:54:02

WV62/Cross Lanes Drive

Cross Lanes, WV: 1:54:02-2:06:20

WV62/Cross Lanes Drive/Washington Street West, WV622/Big Tyler Road

Dunbar, WV: 2:06:20-2:11:05

WV62/Washington Street West, WV25\25/Roxalana Drive/10th Street, WV25/10th Street, Dunbar Toll Bridge

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Source West Virginia Blue Book Vol 81 1999