TALCOTT W.Va. (Hinton News) – It is time for another edition of A Peek into Summers County’s Past. Each week, local history collector William Jones discusses pieces from his extensive collection. The various items bear a significance to local history. Jones has covered town names, businesses, events and other details. In this edition, Jones is talking about two structures that were in the Talcott area.
To begin the conversation, Jones said, “This week, I will be discussing two iconic structures that once stood in Talcott, and how these two seemingly unrelated parts of this town’s early structures had direct ties to each other, especially later during the 1990s. I will also delve into how the railroad and, more importantly, the Big Bend Tunnel where the battle between John Henry and the steam drill in 1870 led to these two things being constructed in Talcott which was named after Captain Talcott. He was a civil engineer in charge of the construction of the tunnel which led to the boom of population and businesses after its completion in the area.”
“First, I will address the original post office, the white and green trimmed building you see in the photo. It originally sat to the left of the old iron bridge going across the Greenbrier River, which you also can see in this article. This area is now where the boat launch is beside where the current bridge sits, but I will go back farther in time.”
Jones continued, “The first post office for this area was known as ‘Rollinsburg’ (there have been multiple listed spellings) It was named for Charles K. Rollyson, who was one of the earliest settlers of this region and left many descendants. One of these is my friend and editor for the Hinton Newspaper, Rebecca Stalnaker, who is directly related to Mr. Rollyson. The post office was first on the opposite side of the river from where it is today.”
“George W. Chattin was another early settler of this area, many of his descendants still reside in the Talcott area to this day. J. W. Jones and Brothers operated a store on the other side of the river as well,” Jones stated. “His firm moved across the river to the other side and there built a new store that sat in the lot to the right of Trinity Methodist Church. The post office soon relocated to the left of the bridge and the building you see in the photo was erected in the 1870s and given the name Talcott Post Office, just as the town was named in honor of Captain Talcott.”
“A seemingly unrelated fact to this piece but I will tell it since I had just mentioned J.W. Jones. A news article from July 15, 1875, from the Wheeling Register in Point Pleasant tells of an odd account involving Mr. Jones. The house of Mr. Jones, who sat beside his store, was struck by lightning. It passed down through the roof, making a large hole. Through a feather bed and eventually stopped its route in a porcelain bathtub that was filled with water. Shattering it into many pieces. Oddly nothing caught on fire and no one was harmed by this unusual account.”
“The Chesapeake and Ohio brought about a swift incline in businesses and people moving into the area in the 1870s. Businesses needed to be near the train depot to ship and unload their merchandise more easily. Which brought an influx of more residents in new towns like Talcott that centered around the railroad boom. This subsequently brought other businesses such as doctors, hotels, schools and the short-lived Talcott Bank and Gratuity Company that remained open for only one month in 1907.”
“The old original iron Talcott bridge you see here in the photo was erected in 1905. The Talcott Toll Bridge Company began taking applications on March 15, 1905 for a new 16ft toll bridge to be erected to span the Greenbrier River in Talcott. This new bridge would be installed at the same location that the Talcott ferry service had been in operation since the 1870s. Where you could pay a small fee to be shuttled to the other side of the river. This is why the green and white building you see here was conveniently located adjacent to the ferry and then the bridge once it was opened.”
Continuing, Jones noted, “The State Road Commission deemed the old iron bridge to be unsafe and in need of being replaced in 1994. A new post office had been established on the opposite side of the river to the left of the bridge to replace the wooden structure in the photo as it was getting in disrepair due to its age before the brick post office building was constructed, which is the one currently being used.”
“I haven’t been able to find much information about early postmasters in Talcott. But most everyone from this area either knew or had heard of Katherine Glass or ‘Chick’ as her friends called her. Chick Glass was the postmistress at this post office for years and years. She was good friends with my grandfather Bernard Thompson. The two of them and other local kids ran around a lot during their younger years in Talcott.”
“Granddad always told the story of when he, Chick, and two or three other kids in their early teens decided to steal a watermelon. They stopped off in an empty lot in Talcott to eat it. Then suddenly the northern lights appeared in the sky. This terrified them all, all they could think was the end of the world was occurring and here they had just stolen a watermelon. So they all hurried and returned it to the yard they had just taken it from. He would always be cracking up when he would get to the end of this tale.”
“I digress, thankfully Jimmy Costa, a Summers County historian saw the value of this early post office building and began the tedious process of tearing the building down piece by piece. He then reconstructed it beside his home on the other side of the river in Barger Springs. He did so because it would have been torn down to make for the additional room needed for the new bridge to be constructed.”
“Its construction was completed around 1995. I remember being in Mr. Tabor’s 3rd grade class at Talcott School. The entire school walked down the path on the hill in front of the school to go over to watch the new bridge ribbon-cutting ceremony. In writing this piece my friend Loyd Lowery told me that he remembered recording the ceremony on his parent’s VHS camcorder. Not many kids nowadays know what VHS is. Haha.”
“An interesting little fact about the Talcott Post Office is that a member of my Thompson family has had the same box at the post office for well over 120 years. First was my great-great-great-grandfather L.W. Thompson. He used it for his orchard near Talcott. I have mail of his from the 1940s and his address was simply ‘L.W. Thompson Fruit Grower [PO Box number] Talcott, W. Va.’ After he passed away in 1949 my great grandfather, O.D. Thompson, his son took it over for his business he had in Talcott, Thompsons Garage. After he died in 1972 my grandfather took it over and started using it for the various businesses he had. To this day a Thompson family member still has the same Post Office Box.”
This is the end of another edition of A Peek into Summers County’s Past. Did you know about these early structures in Talcott?
Anyone wishing to submit a story from the area’s history can email news@hintonnews.com.
