The Town of Ansted

The Town of Ansted. . , First mentioned by Captain Thomas Battes as he and others surveyed the area in 1671, the first settlers in what is now Ansted can be traced to 1790 when the families of James Lykens, James Taylor, Bailey Wood, and William Parrish arrived. The area began to see travelers as the new nation began westward expansion with the completion of the Kanawha Turnpike (Old State Road) in 1800, with the James River and Kanawha Turnpike opening in 1825. , In 1830, the town of New Haven was incorporated by the General Assembly becoming the first county seat when Fayette County was formed the following year. With the coming of the railroad in 1873, the name of the town was changed to Ansted in honor of Dr. David T. Ansted, an English geologist who made note of several seams of coal as well as the abundance of timber in the area. With that in mind, Dr. Ansted purchased large tracts of land, and later helped organize the Gauley-Kanawha Coal Company. A narrow gauge railroad was constructed to cover the four miles between the mine at Ansted and the C&O Railroad at Hawks Nest. The company was reorganized as the Hawks Nest Coal Company in 1875, and in 1878, William Nelson Page was named manager. For the next six years the mine was in operation continuously, earning more than $300,000 in profits. , The C&O soon built a standard gauge railroad to Hawks Nest and Ansted grew into a thriving town and center of commerce for residents across the area. Between 1917 and 1999 passenger trains offered four round trips a day between Ansted and Hawks Nest. A large lumber and was also built, with lumber harvested throughout the region being brought in to be distributed across the nation.