Frederick Kimball

Frederick Kimball. . , Frederick James Kimball (1844-1903) was responsible for the Norfolk and Western Railway being built through McDowell County. Kimball was born on March 6,1844, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He worked for railroad companies in Pennsylvania and England where he gained valuable experience in the industry. Returning to the United States, Kimball became an associate with the E.W. Clark Company, a private Philadelphia financial firm, and later served as president of the Norfolk and Western Railway (1883-1895 and 1902-1903). , In the early 1880s, Kimball realized the importance of coal and believed the railroad’s future was connected to coal. After visiting present-day Pocahontas, Virginia, where he inspected the 13-foot coal seam mentioned in Captain Isaiah Welch’s surveys, he convinced the Norfolk and Western Railway to build their mainline from Radford, Virginia to Pocahontas, Virginia. From Pocahontas, the rail line traveled into the rich coalfields in McDowell County. Kimball also formed the Flat Top Coal Land Association (Pocahontas Land Corporation) to oversee the purchase and development of coal lands. They acquired over 300,000 acres of land mostly in McDowell and Mercer counties. , The Town of Kimball was named in honor of Frederick Kimball.