Warfield exhibit to tell story of cooperative coal company, railroad
BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
WARFIELD — A new exhibit beside Warfield’s historic railroad caboose will tell the story of Martin Himler, the miner-owned coal company he established and the rail line that connected the community to markets beyond the Tug Fork.
Martin County Judge/Executive Dr. Lon Lafferty and the Martin County Fiscal Court will hold a ribbon-cutting for the “Himler Heritage Exhibit: Tracks Through Time” at noon Wednesday, Aug. 5.
Located near the former Kermit-Warfield Railroad Bridge at the Warfield City Park, the exhibit includes a 1920s replica coal cart filled with coal, interpretive history panels and other enhancements intended to preserve and share the community’s coal mining and railroad history.
The Kentucky Heritage Council provided grant funding for the project. Representatives of the agency are expected to join local, city, county and state officials at the dedication.
“The Himler Heritage Exhibit is another investment in preserving Martin County’s history while creating a destination for residents and visitors alike,” Lafferty said. “We are proud to honor our history and industries that helped build our county and invite everyone to come celebrate this exciting addition to Warfield.”
Visitors will have an opportunity to tour the exhibit following the ceremony.
The red caboose beside the exhibit has been a Warfield landmark for decades.
Then-Warfield Mayor Ronald Workman wrote Norfolk Southern Corporation on Aug. 14, 1991, asking the company to donate a caboose to the city so it could be preserved as part of the region’s history.
Norfolk Southern Vice Chairman Joseph R. Neikirk let Workman know on Dec. 18, 1991, that the company’s contributions committee had approved the request. The railroad also agreed to provide Warfield with ties, rails and other track materials needed to display the caboose at no charge.
A donation order dated Jan. 13, 1992, identified the car as retired Southern Railway caboose SOU X357.
X357 was built in 1974 or 1975 by Gantt Manufacturing Company of Greenville, South Carolina. It was part of Southern Railway’s X355-X399 series of steel bay-window cabooses.
Classified as a road caboose, X357 was designed for long-haul freight service rather than local switching operations. It was equipped with an axle-driven, journal-mounted generator that supplied electricity for crew radios, marker lights and interior lighting.
The caboose originally carried Southern Railway’s bright-red paint scheme, corporate lettering and a solid-red bay window.
Later in 1992, Norfolk and Western Railway Company donated a 2.12-acre strip of its former Buck Creek Branch right-of-way to the City of Warfield. The Oct. 23 deed described property extending south from the Kentucky-West Virginia line along the former branch.
That railroad corridor was rooted in the vision of Martin Himler, a Hungarian immigrant born in 1888 who arrived in the United States with no money and eventually built businesses serving Hungarian coal miners.
Himler established the Himler Coal Company in 1918 as a miner-owned cooperative, developing a company town called Himlerville in what is now Beauty.
Hungarian immigrants mined the Warfield, or No. 2 Gas, coal seam. In addition to their regular wages, they could receive dividends based on the company’s performance.
Workers were paid in United States currency rather than company scrip.
Himlerville quickly developed with its own bank, powerhouse, bakery and ice cream parlor. Its bilingual school taught students in both English and Hungarian.
The coal company needed a reliable way to move its product to market.
In 1921, the Himler Coal Company and its subsidiary, the Kermit-Warfield Bridge Company, constructed a railroad connection from Himlerville to Kermit, West Virginia. The project included the railroad bridge across the Tug Fork.
The line connected the Martin County operation with the larger railroad network in West Virginia, opening a route for coal shipments beyond the isolated mining community.
The Kentucky section later became the Buck Creek Railroad. Norfolk and Western eventually acquired the line and operated it as the Buck Creek Branch.
The Himler Coal Company’s profits declined as the coal seam became less productive. A catastrophic flood in 1928 contributed to the company’s collapse. The operation ceased and the company later entered bankruptcy.
Himlerville was renamed Beauty in 1930.
In the post-Himler era, the railroad continued serving other coal companies, including Earlston Coal Company and Warfield Coal Company.
As of 1979, the Buck Creek Branch served various industries, including Rock Castle Sand Company, Kentucky Border Coal Company, Compton & Sons, and A. B. Blankenship. In 1991, Norfolk Southern Railway, the successor to the N&W, abandoned the Buck Creek Branch, including the Tug Fork bridge, because of inactivity on the line.
The Himler Heritage Exhibit: Tracks Through Time brings together the history of Martin Himler’s cooperative coal company, the town of Himlerville, the railroad that carried Himler’s coal, and the caboose Warfield is preserving.
The Aug. 5 dedication is open to the public.
Warfield City Park is across the road from City Hall at 211 Hode Road.
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