Adamston, West Virginia

Adamston, West Virginia is a former town in Harrison County, West Virginia, 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.[1] 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.[2]

In 1917, Adamston, along with Broad Oaks, North View (where Progressives had had success) and Stealer Heights, was annexed to Clarksburg.[3] 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
  1. 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.
  2. Fones-Wolf, Ken Glass towns: industry, labor and political economy in Appalachia, 1890-1930s Champaign-Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2007; pp. 113-145
  3. State and municipal compendium, Volume 4. William B. Dana Company, 1931; p. 185


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