Gassaway, West Virginia

Gassaway, West Virginia (WV), a community on the Elk River in Braxton County, was incorporated in 1905 and named for Henry Gassaway Davis, a pioneer industrialist and a U.S. Senator from West Virginia, 1871-1883.

Davis platted the town in 1904 as a station on the Coal & Coke Railway, a railroad he established that traveled from Elkins, West Virginia, to the Kanawha River at Charleston. The Gassaway Depot is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The town population in 2020 was 769, according to the U.S. Cencus.

History of Gassaway

The town was initially created at the ends of two Coal and Coke Railway divisions, one in Charleston, West Virginia, and the other in Elkins, West Virginia. Because of its central location, the area was an ideal place to build shops to facilitate the transition between the relatively flat Charleston division, which could operate with standard equipment, and the more hilly Elkins division of the Coal & Coke, which required heavier engines.

Gassaway was laid out in 1904, and over the next decade, businesses and infrastructure such as hotels, a bank, stores, schools, a hospital, office buildings, and churches appeared to serve the growing population. By 1915, the Coal & Coke Railway Co. had completed work on a depot to facilitate passenger service to the town. The Gassaway Depot remains today and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

Lodging near Gassaway, West Virginia

Gassaway (WV) Hotels

Parks & Public Recreation

Sutton Lake and the Elk River Wildlife Management Area are five miles east of Gassaway. The Elk River Trail is being extended from the Elk River Trail State Park through the town to Sutton, West Virginia, and Gilmer Station.

Location

Gassaway is located approximately four miles west of the I-79 expressway at Sutton, West Virginia, 60 miles east of Charleston, West Virginia, and 70 miles southwest of Elkins, West Virginia.