Bluefield, West Virginia | |
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City | |
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 Seal  Logo | |
| Nickname: Nature's Air Conditioned City | |
 Location of Bluefield in Mercer County, West Virginia | |
  Bluefield Location in West Virginia Show map of West Virginia Bluefield Location in the United States Show map of the United States | |
| Coordinates:37°15′44″N81°13′07″W / 37.26222°N 81.21861°W /37.26222; -81.21861 | |
| Country | United States |
| State | West Virginia |
| County | Mercer |
| Incorporated | 1889[1] |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Ronny Martin |
| Area | |
• City | 9.03 sq mi (23.39 km2) |
| • Land | 9.03 sq mi (23.39 km2) |
| • Water | 0 sq mi (0.00 km2) |
| Elevation | 2,631 ft (802 m) |
| Population (2020) | |
• City | 9,658 |
| • Density | 1,069/sq mi (412.9/km2) |
| • Metro | 106,363 |
| Time zone | UTC−5 (EST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−4 (EDT) |
| ZIP code | 24701 |
| Area codes | 304, 681 |
| FIPS code | 54-08524 |
| GNIS feature ID | 2390566[3] |
| Website | www |
Bluefield is a city inMercer County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 9,658 at the2020 census.[4] It is the principal city of theBluefield micropolitan area extending intoVirginia, which had a population of 106,363 in 2020. The city is home toBluefield State University, a public historically black university serving nearly 1,300 students.
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The history of Bluefield began in the 18th century, when the Davidson and Bailey families settled in a rugged and remote part of what is now southern West Virginia.[5] Others joined them, and they built a small village with a mill, a church, a one-room schoolhouse, and a fort for defending the settlement against invasions by theShawnee tribe, which had a village on the banks of theBluestone River.
In 1882, the descendants of the Davidson and Bailey families sold a portion of their land, when Captain John Fields of theNorfolk and Western Railway pioneered the area and began building a new railroad through the hills of Bluefield. The city is traditionally thought to be named after thechicory flowers in the area, which give the fields a purplish blue hue during the summer. Research has shown that this settlement, also known as Higginbotham's Summit in the 1880s, was probably named for the coal fields that were developed in the area of the Bluestone River.[citation needed]
Beneath the land of the Davidsons and Baileys lay the largest and richest deposit ofbituminous coal in the world. The first seam was discovered in nearbyPocahontas, Virginia in the backyard of Jordan Nelson. PresidentFrederick Kimball of theNorfolk and Western Railway described this as the "most spectacular find on the continent and indeed perhaps of the entire planet."[citation needed] The coal seam had been mentioned much earlier inThomas Jefferson'sNotes on the State of Virginia, but it was not mined until 1882.[6] Around that time, coal mines were developed in the area aroundHarman, Bluefield,War, andPocahontas, which together were known as the Pocahontas Coal Fields. They helped support theIndustrial Revolution in the United States. The development of the coal industry in this area created a boom in the local and national economy and attracted immigrant European workers and migrantAfrican Americans from theDeep South to the mountains in search of industrial work.
In the late 19th century, the Norfolk and Western Railway Company selected Bluefield as the site for a repair center and a major division point, which greatly stimulated the town's growth.[5] In the one-year period from 1887 to 1888, passenger travel along the railroad increased 317%. As with the extremely accelerated growth ofSan Francisco during thegold rush, Bluefield became a city that seemed to spring up "overnight." Growth far outpaced the existing infrastructure.Urban sprawl andblight were common complaints in the early days, as workers crowded into aging housing.
The growth and decay of the city depended almost entirely upon Norfolk and Western Railroad. A bustling metropolis, it had a nightlife and a personality that was "a little bit Chicago, a little bit New York, and a whole lot of Pittsburgh"[citation needed]—rugged and with steel and coal embedded in its soul.
The coal boom generated a flood of money in the area. NearbyBramwell, incorporated in 1888, boasted that it was the "Millionaires' Town" because more millionaires per capita lived there than anywhere in the nation. The city also had more automobiles per capita than any other city in the country. On November 20, 1889, the city of Bluefield was officially incorporated.[1]
Bluefield headquartered theBaldwin-Felts Detective Agency who initially worked train crimes but became famous strike breakers and were prominent figures in theCoal Wars, including theBattle of Matewan.
With a strongBlack community, Bluefield was the site of the 1895 founding of the Bluefield Colored Institute, anhistorically black college.[7] It developed as today'sBluefield State University. Demographics began to shift with the hiring of its first white President, Dr. Hardway, and his closing of dormitories after the 1968 bombing.[8] It is known as "The Whitest Historically Black College in America".[9]
During the 1920s, the twelve-story West Virginian Hotel was built. It has been adapted and in the 21st century is operated as the West Virginia Manor and Retirement Home. In 1924, nearby Graham, Virginia decided to rename itself asBluefield to try to unite the two towns, which had been feuding since the civil war. Nobel Prize-winning economist and mathematicianJohn Forbes Nash was born in Bluefield in 1928. George Marshall Palmer, the well-renowned Purdue University professor of aeronautics and director of the AerospaceSciences Laboratory at Purdue, lead of the invention of the Boeing wind tunnel and a pioneer in the aerodynamic and structural testing of skyscrapers[10] was born in Bluefield in 1921.
TheGreat Depression was particularly damaging to Bluefield. With the government nearly bankrupt, after a series of devastating structural fires swept through the downtown area, the city was nearly destroyed. It was not until the outbreak of World War II that coal production revived. The strategic importance of the city was so great thatAdolf Hitler put Bluefield on his reputed list of German air raid targets in the United States. Air raid practice drills were common in the city during this time.
In 1964 Helen Compton opened the now-demolished Shamrock Bar, the oldest gay bar in WV.[11]
TheInterstate Highway System was constructed throughEast River Mountain on December 20, 1974; for the first time automobile traffic could reach the city without crossing the top of the mountain. The dependence on the railroads waned and restructuring changed the industry. Bluefield lost jobs and population as a result. ItsAmtrak station closed in the 1980s.Mercer Mall, the area's major shopping mall, opened in 1980.
Bluefield is located in theAppalachian Mountains ofWest Virginia across the state border fromBluefield, Virginia.
According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 8.86 square miles (22.95 km2), all land.[12]
Bluefield is a mountain city with awarm-summer humid continental climate (Dfb) bordering onsubtropical highland climate ortemperate oceanic climate (Cfb), due to its elevation. It is characterized by moderately cold, snowy winters and pleasantly warm to hot summers. The normal monthly mean daily temperature ranges from 31.9 °F (−0.1 °C) in January to 70.3 °F (21.3 °C) in July;[13] on average, there are only 2.5 days with a maximum of at least 90 °F (32 °C) or greater maxima, 1.3 days of minima at or below 0 °F (−18 °C), and 23 days where the maximum does not rise above freezing.[13] The hottest temperature ever recorded in the city was 99 °F (37 °C), set on July 28, 1952, and August 9, 1957, with the coldest temperature at −25 °F (−32 °C), set on December 30, 1917.[13]
| Climate data for Bluefield, West Virginia (Mercer County Airport), 1991–2020 normals,[a] extremes 1909–present | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 75 (24) | 75 (24) | 87 (31) | 90 (32) | 92 (33) | 97 (36) | 99 (37) | 99 (37) | 96 (36) | 88 (31) | 83 (28) | 78 (26) | 99 (37) |
| Mean maximum °F (°C) | 63 (17) | 65 (18) | 73 (23) | 81 (27) | 84 (29) | 86 (30) | 88 (31) | 87 (31) | 85 (29) | 79 (26) | 72 (22) | 65 (18) | 89 (32) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 39.9 (4.4) | 43.4 (6.3) | 51.4 (10.8) | 62.7 (17.1) | 69.7 (20.9) | 76.0 (24.4) | 78.9 (26.1) | 77.9 (25.5) | 72.5 (22.5) | 62.8 (17.1) | 52.2 (11.2) | 43.2 (6.2) | 60.9 (16.1) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 31.9 (−0.1) | 34.9 (1.6) | 42.2 (5.7) | 52.7 (11.5) | 60.3 (15.7) | 67.1 (19.5) | 70.3 (21.3) | 69.3 (20.7) | 63.5 (17.5) | 53.7 (12.1) | 43.5 (6.4) | 35.5 (1.9) | 52.1 (11.2) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 23.8 (−4.6) | 26.5 (−3.1) | 33.0 (0.6) | 42.6 (5.9) | 50.9 (10.5) | 58.3 (14.6) | 61.8 (16.6) | 60.7 (15.9) | 54.5 (12.5) | 44.6 (7.0) | 34.7 (1.5) | 27.9 (−2.3) | 43.3 (6.3) |
| Mean minimum °F (°C) | 4 (−16) | 9 (−13) | 14 (−10) | 26 (−3) | 37 (3) | 48 (9) | 54 (12) | 54 (12) | 42 (6) | 30 (−1) | 19 (−7) | 11 (−12) | 1 (−17) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −21 (−29) | −9 (−23) | −2 (−19) | 11 (−12) | 24 (−4) | 31 (−1) | 38 (3) | 39 (4) | 29 (−2) | 13 (−11) | −5 (−21) | −25 (−32) | −25 (−32) |
| Averageprecipitation inches (mm) | 3.03 (77) | 2.90 (74) | 3.84 (98) | 3.64 (92) | 4.61 (117) | 4.14 (105) | 4.36 (111) | 3.14 (80) | 3.24 (82) | 2.78 (71) | 2.55 (65) | 3.01 (76) | 41.24 (1,047) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 9.9 (25) | 8.8 (22) | 6.5 (17) | 0.9 (2.3) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.5 (1.3) | 1.4 (3.6) | 6.6 (17) | 34.6 (88) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 0.01 in) | 13.5 | 13.5 | 15.3 | 13.7 | 15.4 | 13.7 | 13.6 | 11.4 | 10.0 | 10.2 | 10.5 | 13.4 | 154.2 |
| Average snowy days(≥ 0.1 in) | 6.6 | 6.3 | 4.1 | 1.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 5.2 | 25.2 |
| Source: NWS Blacksburg / NOAA[13][14] | |||||||||||||
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1890 | 1,775 | — | |
| 1900 | 4,644 | 161.6% | |
| 1910 | 11,188 | 140.9% | |
| 1920 | 15,282 | 36.6% | |
| 1930 | 19,339 | 26.5% | |
| 1940 | 20,641 | 6.7% | |
| 1950 | 21,506 | 4.2% | |
| 1960 | 19,256 | −10.5% | |
| 1970 | 15,921 | −17.3% | |
| 1980 | 16,060 | 0.9% | |
| 1990 | 12,756 | −20.6% | |
| 2000 | 11,451 | −10.2% | |
| 2010 | 10,447 | −8.8% | |
| 2020 | 9,658 | −7.6% | |
| 2024 (est.) | 9,157 | [15] | −5.2% |
| U.S. Decennial Census[16] | |||
As of thecensus[17] of 2010, there were 10,447 people, 4,643 households, and 2,772 families living in the town. Thepopulation density was 1,179.1 inhabitants per square mile (455.3/km2). There were 5,457 housing units at an average density of 615.9 per square mile (237.8/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 73.7%White, 23.0%African American, 0.3%Native American, 0.5%Asian, 0.2% from other races, and 2.3% from two or more races.Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.9% of the population.
There were 4,643 households, of which 26.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.6% weremarried couples living together, 16.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.6% had a male householder with no wife present, and 40.3% were non-families. 35.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.21 and the average family size was 2.83.
The median age in the city was 43.1 years. 20.8% of residents were under the age of 18; 9.2% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 22.2% were from 25 to 44; 28.6% were from 45 to 64; and 19.2% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 46.8% male and 53.2% female.
As of the census[18] of 2000, there were 11,451 people, 5,038 households, and 3,078 families living in the city. The population density was 1,311.3 people per square mile (506.4/km2). There were 5,966 housing units at an average density of 683.2 per square mile (263.9/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 75.84% White, 22.14% African American, 0.12% Native American, 0.56% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.21% from other races, and 1.13% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.52% of the population.
There were 5,038 households, out of which 24.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.5% were married couples living together, 13.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.9% were non-families. 34.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.5% had someone living alone who was 55 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.23 and the average family size was 2.87.
The age distribution was 21.9% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 23.5% from 25 to 44, 24.5% from 45 to 64, and 21.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 84.4 males.
Bluefield prides itself on its hospitable climate. Since 1938, the Chamber of Commerce has given freelemonade when the temperature has surpassed 90 °F.[19] The city's motto is "nature's air conditioned city, where the summer spends the winter."
Jazz musicianLouis Jordan's song "Salt Pork, W.Va." was inspired by his time in a Bluefield jail. The song "Sweet Georgia Brown" was co-written byMaceo Pinkard, a native of Bluefield. Bluefield is mentioned inthe Stylistics' 1973 songRockin' Roll Baby as the birthplace of Little Joe.[20]Tyler Childers mentions Bluefield in the 2025 song "TomCat and a Dandy." A controversy exists over whether or notHank Williams was last seen alive in Bluefield on his way to a show in Ohio. He was discovered dead inOak Hill, West Virginia.
Lex Luger won the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship in Bluefield in a televised match on May 22, 1989, defeatingMichael Hayes.
Bluefield was the hometown of fictional characterRita Stapleton Bauer on the CBS soapGuiding Light.
Ron Shelton, director and screenwriter of the 1988 filmBull Durham, played for theBluefield Orioles in 1967.[21] Furthermore, Bluefield is mentioned in the film.
"Bluefield" is the title of a song byStonewall Jackson about the killing of the Sheriff of Bluefield.
Bluefield was the home of theAppalachian League (rookie)Bluefield Orioles baseball team until 2010. The Orioles have had a team in Bluefield since 1958, which was the longest relationship between a parent club and a town in affiliated baseball.[22][23] The Toronto Blue Jays replaced Baltimore for the 2011 season with theBluefield Blue Jays. The team played atBowen Field (former Orioles stadium) through 2020. In conjunction with a contraction of Minor League Baseball beginning with the 2021 season, the Appalachian League was reorganized as acollegiate summer baseball league, and the Blue Jays were replaced by theBluefield Ridge Runners, a new franchise in the revamped league designed for rising college freshman and sophomores.[24]
Bluefield High School has many state championships in all sports, more than any other AA school in the state. Bluefield ranks second (tied with now-closed Ceredo-Kenova) in total football state championships with 11, behind national powerhouseParkersburg High School (16). Bluefield won the High School State AAA Football Championship in 1959, 1962, 1965, 1967, 1975 and 1984. They won the West Virginia State AA football title in 1997, 2004, 2007, 2009 and 2017. Bluefield High School won the West Virginia AA State Championship in boys basketball in 1995, 1996, 2013 and 2014.
Bluefield is largely a football town and carries on a rivalry between the Bluefield Beavers and their sister cityBluefield, Virginia. The annual Beaver-Graham game is played atMitchell Stadium, the home field of both schools.
Bluefield is also home to the East River Soccer Complex which has five fields and hosts local high school andcollege soccer games. TheSouthern West Virginia King's Warriors of theUSL PDL began to play their home games at theEast River Soccer Complex in 2014 before dissolving in 2017.[25]
Bluefield is also the home of the Rough and Rowdy Brawl, an amateur boxing tournament owned byBarstool Sports and broadcast on pay per view via its website. The tournament features many local and non-local fighters who compete in 3 one minute rounds.
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U.S. routes 19,460,21 and52 run through the city.Interstate 77 is a short distance to the east. Proposed and under construction are interstates73 and74, labeled as King Coal Highway.
The last passenger train was theCatlettsburg, Kentucky to Washington and BostonHilltopper train ofAmtrak, which was terminated in sweeping cuts in 1979. Until 1977 Amtrak'sMountaineer operated from Chicago and Cincinnati, through Bluefield, and then through lower Virginia toNorfolk, Virginia. Into the 1960s theNorfolk and Western Railroad operated trains from the Mid-West to the metropolitan Norfolk-Newport News, Virginia area, and Bluefield City was a stop. The station was located at 715 Princeton Avenue.
General Aviation service is provided atMercer County Airport, located off State Highway 123 between Bluefield and Princeton. The last commercial service byColgan Air ended in 2007. This therefore makesRaleigh County Memorial Airport the nearest airport with commercial service.
Bluefield Area Transit provides bus routes throughoutMercer andMcDowell counties.[26]
Bluefield, West Virginia travel guide from WikivoyageMunicipalities and communities ofMercer County, West Virginia,United States | ||
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| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
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