March 30, 2009
CHARLESTON, WV - Blair Mountain in Logan County, West Virginia, was named
Monday to the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park
Service. The announcement comes after decades of campaigning by local
residents, historians and conservationists, as well as a legal challenge by
the Sierra Club.
"West Virginians share a rich and proud history," said Regina Hendrix, a Charleston resident and member of Friends of the Mountains. "We chose justice during the Civil War and claimed our independence of thought and action. Now thanks to five long years of effort by Friends of the Mountains and our many supporters and super volunteers, we can pause to commemorate our history and honor our heritage. The site of this battle is of national labor history significance, and we can all rejoice and applaud the National Park Service's decision to place this site on the National Register."
Blair Mountain is one of the most important labor historic sites in the nation. In 1921 on Blair Mountain, 10,000 people clashed as coal miners rose up against coal barons in defense of their right to unionize. The undeclared civil war that followed lasted ten days and became known as the Battle of Blair Mountain. This legendary event is now characterized as America's largest-ever labor struggle. The shooting war pitted union and anti-union forces against one another in the mountains of Logan, West Virginia, and culminated in the arrival of federal troops at the governor's request.
"National Register designation is a vitally important step in the preservation of Blair Mountain, a site we listed as one of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in 2006," said Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. "Nevertheless, the threat of coal mining activity at Blair Mountain remains present and we will continue to vigorously oppose mining efforts at the site."
Preservation Alliance of West Virginia Vice President Jeremy Morris said the National Register listing recognizes the site's cultural and historical significance. "Blair Mountain is a place of significant meaning to the American labor movement, and Preservation Alliance is proud to have helped nominate this endangered property to the National Register," he said. "This is a victory for West Virginia's heritage."
The Sierra Club has worked for years with local residents on a successful campaign aimed at convincing the state of West Virginia to nominate the Blair Mountain site for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. "This is a testament of what can happen when people from all over come together to protect the history that is in the hills of Appalachia," said Bill Price, Environmental Justice organizer for the Sierra Club in Charleston.
Local residents celebrated Monday's announcement of the listing. "I'm so happy to see the culture and history of Logan County being honored," said Kenny King, a Logan County resident and long-time proponent of the historic listing for Blair Mountain. "The next step is to get local officials to realize the value of putting a local tourism center on Blair Mountain."
Archaeologist Dr. Harvard Ayers and historian Dr. Barbara Rasmussen
collaborated on the most recent, successful nomination of Blair Mountain to
the National Register of Historic Places. "It was an honor and a pleasure to
lead the first professional research team to uncover some of the rich
archeological record of the Battle of Blair Mountain," said Dr. Ayers,
Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Appalachian State University in Boone,
North Carolina. "In our all too brief field investigations in the summer of
2006, we were only able to literally scratch the surface of this world-class
archeological and historic resource. The National Register listing of the
Blair Mountain Battlefield will hopefully give us the time and resources to
flesh out the full picture of this important historical event."
Dr. Rasmussen, who served as Preservation Alliance of West Virginia's chair
of the Blair Mountain Task Force, added, "I am very gratified to see that
after 25 years of concerted efforts, this important national landmark has
finally achieved the recognition it so deeply deserves. This battlefield
memorializes the beginning of a long struggle to bring the benefits of
unionization to America's working people. The miners' actions of 1921
constituted the largest civil uprising since the American Civil War, but it
focused national attention on the plight of coal miners and the egregious
excesses of the coal industry. While the battle itself was lost, the
successful push for better working conditions soon followed and by 1950,
working people were so politically and economically strong that no one could
be President of the United States without the blessings of organized labor.
The Battle of Blair Mountain began the drive for civil rights and social
justice for millions of working Americans."
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