This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!
Fire Ignites City As Coal And Immigrant Labor Shape History
The narrative traces how fire powered civilization from wood and coal stoves to electricity, then surveys the central Appalachian coal fields and diverse immigrant workers including Hungarians, Italians, Germans and others who built America’s steel era. It recalls slavery, emancipation, and Virginia’s Civil War scars, ending with a claim that a mosaic of ethnic groups powered industrial progress.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Smiths
Jones
Drosicks
Hornicks
Pedigos
Theodorous
Frees
Henrys
Weinbergs
Romeos
America
Korossoy
Korossov
Appalachian
New World
Henry Bessemer
Bessemer
H.H. Eames
Vermilion Range
Minnesota
Mesabi Range
West Virginia
Virginia
Upper Midwest
Richmond
Henry Harman
Tazewell County
Leander Cecil Holley
Minnie C. Holley
Tazewell
Holley
Minnie Holley
Deaf and Blind
Institute
Romney
Helen Keller
Africa
Harman
Simon
Smith
Reese Smith
Tennessee
North American
Jamestown
Lisha Smith
North America
Leif Ericson
Greenland
Alleghenies
David E. Johnston
Middle New River
Johnston
Bluefield
Richard “Dick
Johnston Wood
Jed Hotchkiss
Bluefield Sanitarium
Bluefield Telephone Company
General Telephone Company
Mercer County
Congress
Portland
Ore
Fincastle
Lead Mines
Wythe County
Thomas Jefferson
Albemarle County
Philadelphia
Atlantic
U.S
Manassas
Chancellorsville
Spotsylvania
Cold Harbor
Saltville
New Market
Petersburg
Appomattox Court House
Giles County
7Th Virginia Infantry
Old Chimborazo Hospital
Danville
Hungary
Italy
France
Greece
Scotland
Germany
Poland
Early Smith
United Mine Workers of America
Netherland Plaza
Cincinnati