Along the Kanawha River

The Kanawha River is a prominent natural feature running through West Virginia’s Putnam County. Beginning in the 19th century, small, permanent towns began to appear along the river’s banks. The waterway served as a vital mode of transportation for these burgeoning communities. Buffalo has a rich agricultural history and a historic town center with several buildings in the National Register of Historic Places. Eleanor was one of three New Deal settlements established by Eleanor Roosevelt. Winfield, the county seat, was named after Gen. Winfield Scott. Nitro was seemingly built overnight as a US ammunition facility during World War I. While each town has its own identity, it shares a common link–the Kanawha River. Along the Kanawha River chronicles Civil War-era residents, floods in the early 1900s, and economic hard times in the 1930s. This pictorial history captures the diversity of these communities and the ways in which they flourished along the Kanawha River.