BY NORA RAY
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

WARFIELD — A new outdoor heritage exhibit at Warfield City Park is preserving the story of Martin County’s coal and railroad past.

County leaders, community partners and volunteers cut the ribbon Aug. 5 on the Himler Heritage Exhibit: Tracks Through Time, an attraction centered around the City of Warfield’s X357 caboose.

Historic photographs, artifacts and interpretive displays trace the story of Hungarian immigrant Martin Himler, who founded the miner-owned cooperative Himler Coal Co. and the town of Himlerville, present-day Beauty.

The railroad was central to Himler’s ambitious mining operation. In 1921, the Himler Coal Co. and its subsidiary, the Kermit-Warfield Bridge Co., constructed a 1.26-mile rail connection between Himlerville and the Norfolk & Western Railway at Kermit, West Virginia. The project included the Kermit-Warfield railroad bridge across the Tug Fork River, giving the mining community a direct connection to the larger rail network and coal markets beyond Martin County.

The exhibit features a replica Himler Coal Co. coal cart fabricated and welded by Martin County Road Department welder Blaine Stepp.

You Matter Appalachia interns, county road workers, local government officials and community partners collaborated on the project after Martin County received funding through the America250KY Grant Program.

Following the ceremony, Warfield Market and First State Bank provided attendees with a traditional coal miner bucket lunch.