Adamston, West Virginia
Adamston, West Virginia is a former town in Harrison County, West Virginia,[1] incorporated in 1903. It was the former site of a Baltimore & Ohio Railroad depot and a post office. It is now a neighborhood of Clarksburg, West Virginia.
Adamston was named for Josias Adams, the original owner of the town site.[2] It attained some national attention in 1912 when it elected a Socialist mayor and city government, some of whom were re-elected in 1915. Among the contributing factors in the victory, according to later analysis, were the strong involvement of the window glass factory workers, and the commitment of a large portion of the Belgian-American population of the town.[3]
In 1917, Adamston, along with Broad Oaks, North View (where Progressives had had success) and Stealer Heights, was annexed to Clarksburg.[4] It was generally understood that part of the reason for annexation was to diminish the political power of glassworker enclaves in these small municipalities.
Sources
- McClennen, Molly Ann, and Stephen Edward Cresswell. Socialists in a Small Town: The Socialist Victory in Adamston, West Virginia. Buckhannon, West Virginia: Ralston, 1992.
References
- ^ "Adamston". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 2 September 2025.
- ^ Kenny, Hamill (1945). West Virginia Place Names: Their Origin and Meaning, Including the Nomenclature of the Streams and Mountains. Piedmont, WV: The Place Name Press. p. 73.
- ^ Fones-Wolf, Ken (2007). Glass Towns: Industry, Labor and Political Economy in Appalachia, 1890–1930s. Champaign-Urbana: University of Illinois Press. pp. 113–145.
- ^ State and Municipal Compendium, Vol. 4. New York: William B. Dana Company, 1931. p. 185.
39°17′26″N 80°21′28″W / 39.29056°N 80.35778°W