Glen Wilton, Virginia

Geographical information

Glen Wilton lies between the George Washington National Forest and the James River, whose headwaters are about four miles northeast with the most narrow part being approximately a mile south, near the beginning of Wood's Island, CSX Railroad and James River Division, running parallel to the river.

Glen Wilton is the only community in Virginia in which there are no public roads passing through.

Mountain trails lead southwest to Roaring Run and north to Iron Gate. During the flood of 1985, the town of Glen Wilton was isolated for more than 24 hours, an emergency route was established through the mountain to the town of Iron Gate: however, with the heavy rains eventually even the emergency route became impassable.

History

Settlers arrived to the area in the 1700s as indicated by land transactions. There is evidence of Native Americans living in this area as well. A couple of Indian burial sites still exist today; Everett L.Tucker, Sr., now deceased, had a collection of Indian arrowheads, pieces of pottery, various tools and other Indian artifacts that he had found while walking to these sites (he never disturbed any of the graves during his walks).

Town name

Letters, often hand-delivered, were addressed as Upper James River or James River, Botetourt County. In 1837, letters sent through the mail were addressed as Clifton Forge, Botetourt County and/or Alleghany County. With the building of the Buchannan and Clifton Forge Railroad between November 16, 1876 and November 10, 1880 the train station was referenced as Wilton Depot, also for a short time during the 1880s the post office was called Carolina, named after the wife of D.S. Cook, the President of the Princess Furnace Company. By 1890 and as a result of the birth of the mining operation the area was then named Glen Wilton. Glen for the glen site it occupies and Wilton for Wilton Cook, son of D.S Cook.

Establishment

In 1834, Archelius Reynolds purchased a large tract of land from Charlotte Davidson Pitzer; widow of the late Captain John Pitzer, Jr. In 1841, John Lewis Circle, Sr. also purchased land from Mrs. Pitzer. As a result, the area within a mile north and south of what would eventually be named Glen Wilton was originally owned by three families: namely, Reynolds, Circle and Wood. Archelius Reynolds died in 1863 and John Lewis Circle, Sr. died in 1875.

Industrial history

An act approved by the General Assembly of Virginia, March 27, 1876, entitled Buchannan and Clifton Forge Railway Company to incorporate and enabled James River and Kanawha Canal Company to subscribe to the capital stock. It was proposed to construct a railway from the James River and Kanawha Canal at or near Buchannan to the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at or near Clifton Forge. By 1884,it had become the Alleghany and Richmond Railroad, and shortly afterward, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company, and is now known as CSX. In May 1932, telegraph service was discontinued. Service from the four passenger/mail trains, No. 9 and No. 10 which went to and from Richmond daily and No. 32 and No. 33 which went to and from Lynchburg daily, was discontinued October 1957. Subsequently, the Glen Wilton combination station was closed and removed October 1962.

The Princess Iron Company operated in Ashland, Boyd County, Kentucky and experienced many explosions during the period of its beginnings in 1876. Company houses were built to accommodate the increasing population. Iron ore mining was the chief industry until the furnace closed in 1923, having been forced out of business by the more economical Great Lakes iron ore operations. Ore was hauled from the mines to the furnace by rail.

Between Glen Wilton and Iron Gate is the Callie Furnace which was the very first furnace erected in Botetourt County after the Civil War. It was abandoned in the early 1880s. The Princess Furnace erected in 1884 and abandoned in the 1920s. It was the only modern blast furnace in Botetourt County. In 1974, the Callie Furnace was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Education

The town, at one time, was said to have had its own school system, as indicated in The Methodist Church Quarterly Conference Minutes, dated January 31, 1880, and mentions an afternoon school at Laurel Hill schoolhouse, which was about one mile from the parsonage. Arranged to meet the needs of individuals on this side of the river who could not attend classes at New Bethel, which was located on the other side David Wood was superintendent of Laurel Hill. In 1888, Joseph E, Circle sold land to Fincastle District School Board and was the site for the school attended by black students. In 1902, W.E. Circle, executor for the estate of John L. Circle, Jr.also sold land to the Fincastle District School Board, where a frame school building was erected and was attended by white students. This building was closed in 1919 and a brick school building was constructed for grades up to the tenth grade, however no school was held in the fall of 1919, due to the construction being not yet completed. The new school opened in January 1920. Anyone seeking to receive a diploma had to leave the area to do so. Public transportation was not provided until the 1930-31 school year for those going to Eagle Rock for their final year of high school. From March 1941 until September 1943 the Glen Wilton school was closed due to the School Board selling the property to Triton Chemical Company. After a legal battle, the school was then reopened in September 1943 for the first three grades and it remained open, for a short time, for the lower grades only, up to the fifth grade. In Spring of 1959, the Glen Wilton School was closed for good. By Fall of 1959, all elementary students were attending Eagle Rock Elementary and all high school students were then bused approximately 26 miles down Route 43 to James River High School, later an Intermediate Middle School was erected and those students attended Botetourt Intermediate School in Fincastle, today that school is known as William Clark Middle School.

In 1940, in an private effort to entice the Triton Chemical Company to build the TNT plant in Glen Wilton, the Botetourt County sold the Glen Wilton School property (assessed for $22,000) for $5.00 and agreed to close the school and the more than 70 students to Eagle Rock. Triton was to take possession of the school building and the 1.6 acres of property by April 1, 1941. However, when the community learned of this proposal, school patrons, parents and taxpayers protested. When students arrived at the school on Tuesday, March 18, 1941, they found the school closed and a bus waiting to transport them over the very dangerous Price's Bluff Road to the Eagle Rock School. Upon parents outrage and protest, not a single child climbed aboard the bus. On March 19, 1941, a delegation from Glen Wilton, along with their attorney, met with the board of supervisors in a session to further protest the proposed closing on April 1 of the Glen Wilton School and to request a resolution for proper school facilities to be provided by the time school opened in September. The board refused, leaving the delegation with the conclusion that the county was more interested in procuring industry and profit rather than the needs of the Glen Wilton school children and the community. In April 1941, school patrons and concerned taxpayers from Glen Wilton presented a petition to the county court claiming that the conveyance of the property by the school board was illegal. By September 1941 the school board and the board of supervisors could not agree on what action to take regarding a provision in the deed to Triton in which 400 men were to be employed by September 1, 1941. Stipulation in the deed provided the property be reconveyed to the county by December 1, 1941, if conditions were not met, and they had not been met. The school board passed a resolution and unanimously and agreed that no action was to be taken until December 1, unless the suit was settled before then. The board of supervisors passed a resolution they did not approve of the delayed action of the school board and went on record as supporting construction of the new school building at or near Glen Wilton. On September 27, 1941, Judge Earl L. Abbott of Botetourt County Circuit Court ruled that school boards in Virginia have no right to give away school property and ordered trial of the case. Triton Chemical Company admitted to the school board that they were unable to meet the conditions of the deed with respect to total employment by September 1 and expressed a willingness to convey the property back to the school board. Judge Abbott expressed concern over the restoration of the property and its proximity to the TNT plant. On November 5, 1941, after having two rejected proposals over the settling of the school controversy out of court, school patrons agreed to accept a proposal to build a school for Glen Wilton at a cost of $8,500 to replace the one that was deeded to Triton Chemical Company. The School Board would receive $6,000 from Triton Chemical Company for the property originally deeded to them for $5.00 and the Board of Supervisors would raise the additional $2,500.

Due to the devastating explosion at the nearby plant on July 20, 1942, the new school was never built. Eventually,the plant was closed. After much encouragement from the patrons, the school reopened in September 1943 with Ella Smith Peck as the teacher and only accommodated grades one through three for that year. The bus still transported the upper grades over Price's Bluff Road; the bus route was eventually changed in September 1947.

Glen Wilton Colored School

In 1888, Joseph E. Circle sold land to the Fincastle District School Board for an elementary school for black students, from the late 1890s until 1941. The only known name for the school was the Glen Wilton Colored Elementary School and was located behind the Mount Bethel Baptist Church. It was a one-room school with a pot-bellied stove, heated by coal. Only one teacher taught all grades which only went up to the seventh grade. This teacher would come in early to start the fire and have the room heated by the time that the children arrived. School started with prayer, a song and pledge of allegiance to the flag. The black students never had the privilege of sitting at a new desk or using chalk from a new box of chalk. Everything was second hand and used formerly by the students of the white schools. The desks had some of the former students' names carved in the wood. There was no clock so the teacher and students would listen for the bell from the white school to know when school was dismissed. At the end of the day, students helped the teacher with the cleaning of the building. From the early 1920s to 1936 students went only up to the seventh grade. Some would repeat the seventh grade, not for reasons of failing, but as to continue some form of education. From 1936 until academic year 1940–41, the school served only the first four grades while students in grades five through seven attended the Eagle Rock Colored Elementary School, and high school students grades eight through eleven attended the Botetourt County Colored High School located in Fincastle. The black students had to walk to the far end of the Glen Wilton bridge to catch the bus.