BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ — The Himler House in Beauty could become the nation’s only Hungarian national monument and create a unique tourism destination in Martin County, said Martin County Historical & Genealogy Society president Charlotte Anderson. During a Kiwanis Club luncheon in Inez, she described the long-running Himler House restoration as the Society’s largest and most ambitious project.
Anderson outlined decades of preservation efforts, saying the Historical Society’s mission is “to preserve, restore and report the history of Martin County.”
The Historical Society has been active since 1996.
“Now we have become firmly rooted in the community and we hope to serve it well,” said Anderson.
Among the Historical Society’s services, Anderson outlined preservation of some of Martin County’s earliest historical sites and figures.
She described Arminta Preston Ward as one of the earliest known figures connected to the land that later became Inez. Historical records identify Ward as the widow of Nathan Ward and as a member of the James Ward family that settled the area around 1810. Before the community was Eden and later Inez, it was Arminta Ward’s Bottom.
“She was one of our founding mothers,” Anderson said.
After locating Ward’s gravesite on the hill behind the senior citizens center, the Historical Society built concrete steps leading to the cemetery.
“I think there are 132 of them,” Anderson said. “So if you ever get adventurous and want to exercise a little bit, I recommend the 132 steps.”
The Society also stabilized the cemetery of Revolutionary War veteran Moses Stepp along Pigeon Roost Road in Laura after erosion threatened the site.
“We built a brick wall and steps going up to it so that it can be preserved,” Anderson said.
After acquiring property at 36 West Main Street in Inez, the Historical Society constructed its headquarters there.
“For some reason, we are not very visible,” Anderson said. “People will come in and say, ‘Oh, I didn’t know this was here.’”
A Kiwanis member jokingly suggested adding flashing lights for additional “bling.”
Anderson said the Society has published six books as fundraisers and relies on community support to sustain its work.
“We are continually having to do fundraisers to support what we are doing,” she said.
Financial limitations remain one of the organization’s largest challenges. Rental space in the 1936 Charles Cain building helps cover monthly expenses, while everything else comes from fundraisers.
“Money has always been a stumbling block for us,” Anderson said.
Fundraising efforts include food sales during Harvest Fest, LT Preece’s soup bean dinners, sweets auctions before Thanksgiving and a recent Tea Party that Anderson said she hopes becomes a regular activity.
The Historical Society’s largest and most ambitious undertaking remains the Martin Himler House project in Beauty, which it acquired in 2014 through a donation from the Berea-based nonprofit Mountain Missions Development Corporation. Structural deterioration forced the 1919 mansion to be dismantled in 2022, although materials were salvaged to support an estimated $1.7 million reconstruction effort.
“We’ve been working on it a long time,” Anderson said. “Our contractor told us not to think that we were going to buy it and then get the building redone in two or three years. He said 15 or more, probably … We’ve been doing fundraisers for that and looking for grants. We haven’t been too successful with those in the past, but we are still looking for them.”
The home belonged to Martin Himler, a Hungarian immigrant who founded the immigrant-run cooperative mining town of Himlerville in present-day Beauty in 1918. Hungarian families owned stock in the Himler Coal Company.
After leaving eastern Kentucky in 1928, Himler served as a decorated intelligence officer during World War II as a colonel in the Office of Strategic Services, the predecessor to the CIA. Anderson said he later helped interrogate more than 300 Nazi war criminals and played a role in determining who would face prosecution at the Nuremberg trials.
“He was a very interesting man,” Anderson said. “It amazed me that he could reinvent himself so many times.”
Following Himler’s death, a manuscript of his autobiography was passed down among family members before being donated to the Historical Society in 1997. In 2018, editor Cathy Corbin, scholar Doug Cantrell, and journalist Charles Fenyvesi collaborated on the publication of a book, “The Making of an American: The Autobiography of a Hungarian Immigrant, Appalachian Entrepreneur, and OSS Officer (Appalachian Echoes).”
In 2024, Anderson and others from the Historical Society hosted a book signing at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.
“Some of the descendants and two ladies who were goddaughters of Martin Himler were there. That was interesting,” Anderson said. “People came in and saw the books and many of them bought them.”
She mentioned a significant tourism opportunity for Martin County.
“We are part of the Holocaust Remembrance because of Martin Himler and his association as an OSS Colonel,” Anderson said. “He was instrumental in determining who would be put on trial at Nuremberg for war crimes.”
The Society hopes the rebuilt Himler House will eventually serve as an archival museum and national monument.
“If we do so, it will be the only Hungarian national monument in the United States,” Anderson said. “That itself will help tourism.”
The Himler House project continues gaining wider attention. KET featured the project while a recent Daily Yonder story broadened its reach.
International attention is also growing through a documentary project led by award-winning filmmaker and East Tennessee State University professor Stokes Piercy. Named a 2025-26 Fulbright Scholar by the Hungarian-American Fulbright Commission, Piercy traveled to Hungary in 2025 to research and produce the feature-length documentary “Himler: From Coal to Colonel.” The film examines Himler’s life and legacy.
Anderson said the plan was for the documentary to conclude in April but there was a delay after Piercy broke his leg.
Final filming will take place in Martin County.
Anderson said the University of Tennessee has provided significant support, supplying the project architect and helping with publication efforts.
“They did the book for us, published it, and have been helpful to us in many ways,” Anderson said. “They said they felt they were part of Appalachia and that this was part of Appalachia’s history. They wanted to help preserve it.”
She also cited support from Morehead State University and organizations in Hungary.
“Rob Sammons, who was a Martin County resident, is the archival president [at Morehead State], and works with us,” Anderson said.
The Historical Society has collected many copies of The Magyar Bányászlap (Hungarian Miners’ Journal), a newspaper that Himler published on Thursdays from 1913 to 1928 in New York City and in Martin County. Those copies are part Morehead State University’s digital archives.
Anderson said the Historical Society initially approached the University of Kentucky seeking help with the Himler House project.
“We were very disappointed; they wouldn’t even talk to us about it,” she said.
Other projects the Historical Society has completed include the induction of the two Inez High School State Champion basketball teams into the KHSAA Hall of Legends and the placement of the old Martin County Courthouse on the National Registry.
The Society has a collection of artifacts and memorabilia on the second floor of its headquarters.
“We have done a little bit for the community, and we hope to do a whole lot more,” Anderson said.
Its latest goal is to replace windows on the second floor of the 1936 Charles Cain building, with each window estimated to cost about $1,000 for materials and labor.
“It hasn’t been declared a historical building, but it is somewhat historical,” Anderson said. “So we want to maintain as much of its integrity as we can.”
The Historical Society continues to welcome new members. Annual dues are $25 and meetings are quarterly in March, June, September and December.