Bluefield

History

Bluefield has not always borne the name Bluefield. The town developed around a small post office named "Pin Hook" in the 1860s, named for a small creek that ran through the community. For a brief time it was known as the community of Harman, named after a Civil War hero from the area who had been shot during the Battle of Cloyd's Mountain in Pulaski County, Virginia. Later, after coal was discovered and a company was formed to build a railroad to the Pocahontas Coalfields, the community's name was changed again to "Graham" to honor Col. Thomas Graham, a Philadelphia capitalist. The town was first chartered by the Commonwealth of Virginia as the town of Graham in 1884. The Norfolk and Western railroad chose Bluefield, West Virginia over Graham as the place to build its regional headquarters and main docking yards for the Pocahontas region. As a result, Bluefield, West Virginia grew at a much faster rate than did Graham. Graham, Virginia operated under that name until a referendum on June 10, 1924. By a margin of 287 to 223, voters in Graham approved changing the name of the 5,000 member town to Bluefield, Virginia to match the larger (22,000) West Virginia city. The name change was celebrated in a mock marriage ceremony held in the city park between officials of Bluefield, Virginia, and Bluefield, West Virginia, to celebrate the renaming of Graham. Its community had borders then that are roughly the same as the downtown area alongside the railroad of today's Bluefield, Virginia. Graham continued to hope for development as a major city in the region; it tried to attract a steel refining industry alongside the railyards. The Great Depression of the 1930s caused development in the region to come to a halt. The current Bluefield did not start to expand beyond the…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 9.32 square miles (14.9991 km2), all land.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• GRAHAM HIGH
  High · Bluefield · 529 students · 13.2:1 ratio
• GRAHAM MIDDLE
  Middle · Bluefield · 372 students · 13.8:1 ratio
• DUDLEY PRIMARY
  Elementary · Bluefield · 357 students · 17:1 ratio
• GRAHAM INTERMEDIATE
  Elementary · Bluefield · 279 students · 18.6:1 ratio
• Abb's Valley-Boissevain Elementary
  Elementary · Bluefield · 139 students · 13.9:1 ratio