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Coal Towns/Imboden, Virginia
Named for Confederate General John D. Imboden, activity began in the vicinity of the future town in the late 1870s. At that time, Imboden, acting as an agent for Pennsylvania mining interests, surveyed the area and reported in a speech in Pittsburgh that the region held untold wealth in the form of iron and coal. Due to the difficult transportation however, the area that would become known as Imboden remain undisturbed by commercial interests.
In 1902, activity increased and by late the next year, a mine was opened and the colliery and town constructed. This flurry of work combined with the building of a two-mile long rail line that connected with the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in Appalachia . With two mines open and 325 coke ovens firing, production began in earnest in late 1903. Though the mineral rights and early operations were held by several companies, Imboden's productivity did not peak until the works were bought by Stonega Coke and Coal in 1910. From that point forward, Imboden's coal and coke operations performed well with one mine operating until 1921, another until 1953, and the coke ovens burning until 1914.
The Imboden operation enjoyed an uncommon stability in a notoriously unstable business. Throughout the 1920s, the mine employed an steady average of 300 workers, many of whom lived in the more than 150 houses in the settlement. Because Imboden had two distant mines for nearly twenty years, two different commissaries were necessary. When the number two mine closed in 1921, so did store number two.
The first thing to strike today's visitors to Imboden is the difference between Upper Imboden and Lower Imboden . Historically, the upper part of the town served mine number two and the coke ovens while the lower portion served the longer lasting mine number one. Apart from a scattering of houses, the church remains the focal point for the community.
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This page last updated: May 12, 2005
Maintained by: Dr. Brian D. McKnight
