Bluefield, West Virginia
Encyclopedia
Bluefield is a city in Mercer County
, West Virginia
, United States
. The population was 10,447 at the 2010 census. It is also the core city of the Bluefield WV-VA
micropolitan area
which has a population of 107,342.
of West Virginia
near Bluefield, Virginia
.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the city has a total area of 8.7 square miles (22.6 km²), all of it land.
Bluefield is a mountain city with a Humid continental climate
, characterized by cold, snowy winters and warm, pleasant summers. The hottest temperature ever recorded in the city was 96°F with the coldest temperature at −21°F. On average, summers reach the low 80's and winter nights dip into the mid 20's.
of 2000, there were 11,451 people, 5,038 households, and 3,078 families residing in the city. The population density
was 1,311.3 people per square mile (506.4/km²). There were 5,966 housing units at an average density of 683.2 per square mile (263.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 75.84% White
, 22.14% African American
, 0.12% Native American
, 0.56% Asian
, 0.01% Pacific Islander
, 0.21% from other races
, and 1.13% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos
of any race were 0.52% of the population.
There were 5,038 households out of which 24.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.5% were married couples
living together, 13.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.9% were non-families. 34.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 17.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.23 and the average family size was 2.87.
The age distribution was 21.5% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 23.5% from 25 to 44, 24.5% from 45 to 64, and 21.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 84.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 79.5 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $27,672, and the median income for a family was $36,508. Males had a median income of $31,396 versus $21,051 for females. The per capita income
for the city was $17,751. About 13.0% of families and 19.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 28.2% of those under age 18 and 10.9% of those age 65 or over.
Indian tribe on the banks of the Bluestone River
. The Davidson and Bailey family had to sell a portion of their land when in 1882, Captain John Fields, of the Norfolk and Western Railway
pioneered the area and began building a new railroad through the hills of Bluefield. The city is traditionally thought to be named after the chicory
flowers in the area that colored the landscape a purplish blue hue during the summer. However, research has indicated that this settlement which was also known as Higginbotham's Summit in the 1880s was probably named for the coal fields of the Bluestone River.
in the world - the soft burning coal which was ripe for fueling the industrial machines of the developing world. The first seam was discovered in nearby Pocahontas, Virginia
in the backyard of Jordan Nelson which was, in the words of President Frederick Kimball
of the Norfolk and Western Company, the "most spectacular find on the continent and indeed perhaps of the entire planet." The seam is also mentioned in Thomas Jefferson
's "Notes on the State of Virginia
", but it was not mined until 1890.
Around that time, the coal mines
that soon opened up in the area—around Harman, Bluefield, War, and Pocahontas—were known as the Pocahontas Coal Fields; they helped drive the Industrial Revolution
in the United States and fuel the US and British Navies during both World Wars. The herculean effort to extract the coal from the mountains created a vast boom in the local and national economy
, bringing emigrant European workers to the mountains in search of work. Almost overnight, a metropolis was born.
The city's growth was phenomenal. In the one-year period from 1887 to 1888, passenger travel along the railroad increased 317%. Like the extremely accelerated growth San Francisco experienced during the gold rush
period in California, Bluefield became a city that sprung up "overnight," and it far outpaced the infrastructure available to it at the time. Urban sprawl
and blight
were common complaints in the early days.
Bluefield was not a city that controlled its own destiny. Indeed, the growth and decay of the city depended almost entirely upon Norfolk and Western Railroad—which in turn regarded the whims of the international market as a higher priority than the longevity and prosperity of Bluefield. When coal tonnage was good and the market for coal was booming, Bluefield was essentially a "Little New York," as it was called in the day. A bustling metropolis, it had a nightlife and a personality that was "a little bit Chicago, a little bit New York, and a whole lot of Pittsburgh" -- rugged and with steel and coal embedded in its soul.
The coal boom fueled a flood of money into the area, and nearby Bramwell
, incorporated in 1888, boasted itself as the "Millionaires' Town" because more millionaires per capita lived there than anywhere else in the nation. The city also had more automobiles per capita than any other city in the country at the time which meant that, in the early days, Bluefield experienced the "five o'clock traffic jam/gridlock" long before the majority of the rest of the nation—even before New York City
.
Also called "Summit City" because of its high elevation and its naturally sloping divides in the coal yards, Bluefield became one of the first cities in the world to have a noticeable skyline - with highrises that were comparable to New York and Chicago in their day. Today, although many of those highrises remain, they are no longer similar to the many famous skylines in many modern American cities.
Primarily due to the introduction and globalization of other fuel sources, today's Bluefield does not resemble the Bluefield of long past. Bluefield is now a much quieter town compared to the boom between 1890 and 1960 (the coal rush years). Many run down remnants of once-grand mansions and office buildings still remain in the north side of town near the railroad tracks.
In 1889, the city of Bluefield, West Virginia was officially incorporated. The city government was always known in those days as being corrupt, inefficient, and was quite a scandalous affair, with drunken brawls and fights breaking out on the floor of City Hall on an almost daily basis.
With a strong ethnic community, Bluefield was the site of the 1895 founding of the Bluefield Colored Institute, the nation's first college with primarily black students
. That college is today's Bluefield State College
, and the site of a November 21, 1968 terrorist bombing.
to try and unite the two towns, who had been feuding since the civil war. Nobel-prize-winning economist and mathematician John Forbes Nash
was born in Bluefield in 1928.
The Great Depression
however, broke the city's back. With the government nearly bankrupt, and series of devastating structural fires that swept through the downtown area and nearly took down every high rise the city had so feverishly built, the city was nearly destroyed. It was not until World War II came that the coal fires started burning again.
The importance of the city was so great that Adolf Hitler
even put Bluefield on his reputed list of German air raid targets in the United States. Air raid practice drills were common in the city during this time.
The Interstate Highway System
finally punched through East River Mountain
in the 1960s and for the first time automobile traffic could pass through the city without crossing the top of the mountain. The dependence on railroad traffic waned and the city began to shrink in population and eventually lost its Amtrak
station in the 1980s.
Thomas Edd Mayfield
, one of the Mayfield Brothers Bluegrass
musician
s of West Texas
, died of leukemia
in a Bluefield hospital
in 1958 at the age of thirty-two while he was on tour with Bill Monroe
and the Bluegrass Boys.
when the temperature has surpassed 90°F. The city's motto is "nature's air conditioned city, where the summer spends the winter."
Jazz musician Louis Jordan
's song "Salt Pork, W.Va." was inspired by his time in a Bluefield jail.
A controversy exists over whether or not Hank Williams was last seen alive in Bluefield on his way to a show in Ohio. He was discovered dead in Oak Hill, W.Va..
(rookie) Bluefield Orioles baseball team until 2010. The Orioles have had a team in Bluefield since 1958, which was the longest relationship between a parent club and a town in affiliated baseball. They played their home games at Bowen Field
, which is in the city's park but is actually located on the Virginia side of the border. The Toronto Blue Jays have replaced Baltimore and will field a team in Bluefield beginning in 2011.
Bluefield is largely a football town and the rivalry between the Bluefield Beavers and their sister city Bluefield, Virginia
's Graham G-Men always draws a large crowd at Mitchell Stadium
. 2005 saw the introduction of the Bluefield Barons, an Alliance Football League team.
Bluefield is also home to the East River Soccer Complex which has five fields and hosts local high school and college soccer
games.
Mercer County, West Virginia
-External links:* * * * * * *...
, West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The population was 10,447 at the 2010 census. It is also the core city of the Bluefield WV-VA
Bluefield, Virginia
Bluefield is a town in Tazewell County, Virginia, along the Bluestone River. The population was 5,078 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Bluefield WV-VA micropolitan area which has a population of 107,578...
micropolitan area
Bluefield micropolitan area
The Bluefield Micropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of two counties – one in West Virginia and one in Virginia – anchored by the city of Bluefield, West Virginia....
which has a population of 107,342.
Geography & Climate
Bluefield is located at 37°15′44"N 81°13′7"W (37.262219, -81.218674) in the Appalachian MountainsAppalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
of West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
near Bluefield, Virginia
Bluefield, Virginia
Bluefield is a town in Tazewell County, Virginia, along the Bluestone River. The population was 5,078 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Bluefield WV-VA micropolitan area which has a population of 107,578...
.
According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the city has a total area of 8.7 square miles (22.6 km²), all of it land.
Bluefield is a mountain city with a Humid continental climate
Humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot summers and cold winters....
, characterized by cold, snowy winters and warm, pleasant summers. The hottest temperature ever recorded in the city was 96°F with the coldest temperature at −21°F. On average, summers reach the low 80's and winter nights dip into the mid 20's.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 11,451 people, 5,038 households, and 3,078 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 1,311.3 people per square mile (506.4/km²). There were 5,966 housing units at an average density of 683.2 per square mile (263.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 75.84% White
White American
White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...
, 22.14% African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
, 0.12% Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
, 0.56% Asian
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
, 0.01% Pacific Islander
Pacific Islander American
Pacific Islander Americans, also known as Oceanian Americans, are residents of the United States with original ancestry from Oceania. They represent the smallest racial group counted in the United States census of 2000. They numbered 874,000 people or 0.3 percent of the United States population...
, 0.21% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 1.13% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos
Hispanic and Latino Americans
Hispanic or Latino Americans are Americans with origins in the Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain, and in general all persons in the United States who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino.1990 Census of Population and Housing: A self-designated classification for people whose origins...
of any race were 0.52% of the population.
There were 5,038 households out of which 24.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.5% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 13.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.9% were non-families. 34.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 17.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.23 and the average family size was 2.87.
The age distribution was 21.5% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 23.5% from 25 to 44, 24.5% from 45 to 64, and 21.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 84.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 79.5 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $27,672, and the median income for a family was $36,508. Males had a median income of $31,396 versus $21,051 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the city was $17,751. About 13.0% of families and 19.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 28.2% of those under age 18 and 10.9% of those age 65 or over.
History
The history of Bluefield begins in the 18th century, when two families settled in a rugged and remote part of what is now southern West Virginia, and built a small village with a mill, a church, a one-room schoolhouse, and a fort for defending the small settlement against invasions by the much larger ShawneeShawnee
The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are an Algonquian-speaking people native to North America. Historically they inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania...
Indian tribe on the banks of the Bluestone River
Bluestone River
The Bluestone River is a tributary of the New River, 77 mi long, in southwestern Virginia and southern West Virginia in the United States. Via the New, Kanawha and Ohio Rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River...
. The Davidson and Bailey family had to sell a portion of their land when in 1882, Captain John Fields, of the Norfolk and Western Railway
Norfolk and Western Railway
The Norfolk and Western Railway , a US class I railroad, was formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It had headquarters in Roanoke, Virginia for most of its 150 year existence....
pioneered the area and began building a new railroad through the hills of Bluefield. The city is traditionally thought to be named after the chicory
Chicory
Common chicory, Cichorium intybus, is a somewhat woody, perennial herbaceous plant usually with bright blue flowers, rarely white or pink. Various varieties are cultivated for salad leaves, chicons , or for roots , which are baked, ground, and used as a coffee substitute and additive. It is also...
flowers in the area that colored the landscape a purplish blue hue during the summer. However, research has indicated that this settlement which was also known as Higginbotham's Summit in the 1880s was probably named for the coal fields of the Bluestone River.
Coal rush
Beneath the land of the Davidsons and Baileys lay the largest and richest deposit of bituminous coalBituminous coal
Bituminous coal or black coal is a relatively soft coal containing a tarlike substance called bitumen. It is of higher quality than lignite coal but of poorer quality than Anthracite...
in the world - the soft burning coal which was ripe for fueling the industrial machines of the developing world. The first seam was discovered in nearby Pocahontas, Virginia
Pocahontas, Virginia
Pocahontas is a town in Tazewell County, Virginia, named for the Algonquian Indian woman Pocahontas. The population was 441 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Bluefield, WV-VA micropolitan area which has a population of 107,578...
in the backyard of Jordan Nelson which was, in the words of President Frederick Kimball
Frederick J. Kimball
Frederick James Kimball was a civil engineer. He was an early president of the Norfolk and Western Railway and helped develop the Pocahontas coalfields in Virginia and West Virginia....
of the Norfolk and Western Company, the "most spectacular find on the continent and indeed perhaps of the entire planet." The seam is also mentioned in Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
's "Notes on the State of Virginia
Notes on the State of Virginia
Notes on the State of Virginia was a book written by Thomas Jefferson. He completed the first edition in 1781, and updated and enlarged the book in 1782 and 1783...
", but it was not mined until 1890.
Around that time, the coal mines
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
that soon opened up in the area—around Harman, Bluefield, War, and Pocahontas—were known as the Pocahontas Coal Fields; they helped drive the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
in the United States and fuel the US and British Navies during both World Wars. The herculean effort to extract the coal from the mountains created a vast boom in the local and national economy
Economy
An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...
, bringing emigrant European workers to the mountains in search of work. Almost overnight, a metropolis was born.
The city's growth was phenomenal. In the one-year period from 1887 to 1888, passenger travel along the railroad increased 317%. Like the extremely accelerated growth San Francisco experienced during the gold rush
Gold rush
A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...
period in California, Bluefield became a city that sprung up "overnight," and it far outpaced the infrastructure available to it at the time. Urban sprawl
Urban sprawl
Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a multifaceted concept, which includes the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs to its outskirts to low-density and auto-dependent development on rural land, high segregation of uses Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a...
and blight
Urban decay
Urban decay is the process whereby a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude...
were common complaints in the early days.
Bluefield was not a city that controlled its own destiny. Indeed, the growth and decay of the city depended almost entirely upon Norfolk and Western Railroad—which in turn regarded the whims of the international market as a higher priority than the longevity and prosperity of Bluefield. When coal tonnage was good and the market for coal was booming, Bluefield was essentially a "Little New York," as it was called in the day. A bustling metropolis, it had a nightlife and a personality that was "a little bit Chicago, a little bit New York, and a whole lot of Pittsburgh" -- rugged and with steel and coal embedded in its soul.
The coal boom fueled a flood of money into the area, and nearby Bramwell
Bramwell, West Virginia
Bramwell is a town in Mercer County, West Virginia, United States, along the Bluestone River. The population was 426 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Bluefield, WV-VA micropolitan area which has a population of 107,578.-Geography:...
, incorporated in 1888, boasted itself as the "Millionaires' Town" because more millionaires per capita lived there than anywhere else in the nation. The city also had more automobiles per capita than any other city in the country at the time which meant that, in the early days, Bluefield experienced the "five o'clock traffic jam/gridlock" long before the majority of the rest of the nation—even before New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Also called "Summit City" because of its high elevation and its naturally sloping divides in the coal yards, Bluefield became one of the first cities in the world to have a noticeable skyline - with highrises that were comparable to New York and Chicago in their day. Today, although many of those highrises remain, they are no longer similar to the many famous skylines in many modern American cities.
Primarily due to the introduction and globalization of other fuel sources, today's Bluefield does not resemble the Bluefield of long past. Bluefield is now a much quieter town compared to the boom between 1890 and 1960 (the coal rush years). Many run down remnants of once-grand mansions and office buildings still remain in the north side of town near the railroad tracks.
In 1889, the city of Bluefield, West Virginia was officially incorporated. The city government was always known in those days as being corrupt, inefficient, and was quite a scandalous affair, with drunken brawls and fights breaking out on the floor of City Hall on an almost daily basis.
With a strong ethnic community, Bluefield was the site of the 1895 founding of the Bluefield Colored Institute, the nation's first college with primarily black students
Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Historically black colleges and universities are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before 1964 with the intention of serving the black community....
. That college is today's Bluefield State College
Bluefield State College
Bluefield State College is a historically black college located in Bluefield, West Virginia, United States. It is a part of West Virginia's public education system and offers baccalaureate and associate degrees. The school is not connected in any way with Bluefield College in nearby Bluefield,...
, and the site of a November 21, 1968 terrorist bombing.
20th century
During the 1920s, the most impressive high rise in Bluefield history was built, the twelve story opulent West Virginian Hotel, now the West Virginia Manor and Retirement Home. In 1924, nearby Graham, Virginia decided to rename itself Bluefield, VirginiaBluefield, Virginia
Bluefield is a town in Tazewell County, Virginia, along the Bluestone River. The population was 5,078 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Bluefield WV-VA micropolitan area which has a population of 107,578...
to try and unite the two towns, who had been feuding since the civil war. Nobel-prize-winning economist and mathematician John Forbes Nash
John Forbes Nash
John Forbes Nash, Jr. is an American mathematician whose works in game theory, differential geometry, and partial differential equations have provided insight into the forces that govern chance and events inside complex systems in daily life...
was born in Bluefield in 1928.
The Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
however, broke the city's back. With the government nearly bankrupt, and series of devastating structural fires that swept through the downtown area and nearly took down every high rise the city had so feverishly built, the city was nearly destroyed. It was not until World War II came that the coal fires started burning again.
The importance of the city was so great that Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
even put Bluefield on his reputed list of German air raid targets in the United States. Air raid practice drills were common in the city during this time.
The Interstate Highway System
Interstate Highway System
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, , is a network of limited-access roads including freeways, highways, and expressways forming part of the National Highway System of the United States of America...
finally punched through East River Mountain
East River Mountain Tunnel
The East River Mountain Tunnel is a vehicular tunnel that carries Interstate 77 and U.S. Route 52 through East River Mountain between the communities of Bluefield, West Virginia, and Rocky Gap, Virginia.-History:...
in the 1960s and for the first time automobile traffic could pass through the city without crossing the top of the mountain. The dependence on railroad traffic waned and the city began to shrink in population and eventually lost its Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
station in the 1980s.
Thomas Edd Mayfield
Thomas Edd Mayfield
Thomas Edward "Edd" Mayfield was a Bluegrass singer and guitarist, mostly known for being a member of the Bill Monroe and Bluegrass Boys band during the 1950s. Edd Mayfield and two of his Texas brothers, Smokey Mayfield of Spearman and Herbert E...
, one of the Mayfield Brothers Bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
s of West Texas
West Texas
West Texas is a vernacular term applied to a region in the southwestern quadrant of the United States that primarily encompasses the arid and semi-arid lands in the western portion of the state of Texas....
, died of leukemia
Leukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
in a Bluefield hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
in 1958 at the age of thirty-two while he was on tour with Bill Monroe
Bill Monroe
William Smith Monroe was an American musician who created the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader...
and the Bluegrass Boys.
Educational institutions
- Bluefield High SchoolBluefield High SchoolBluefied High School is a public secondary school in Bluefield, West Virginia, United States. It is part of Mercer County Public Schools and is located on 535 West Cumberland Road...
- Bluefield State CollegeBluefield State CollegeBluefield State College is a historically black college located in Bluefield, West Virginia, United States. It is a part of West Virginia's public education system and offers baccalaureate and associate degrees. The school is not connected in any way with Bluefield College in nearby Bluefield,...
- Bluefield International AcademyBluefield International AcademyBluefield International Academy is a residential boarding school located in Bluefield, West Virginia. The school occupies an area of and provides education through the ancient Indian Gurukulam system. The idea for this system of education was inspired by vedic teachings, where students live with...
Culture
Bluefield prides itself on its hospitable climate. Since 1938 the Chamber of Commerce has given free lemonadeLemonade
Lemonade is a lemon-flavored drink, typically made from lemons, water and sugar.The term can refer to three different types of beverage:...
when the temperature has surpassed 90°F. The city's motto is "nature's air conditioned city, where the summer spends the winter."
Jazz musician Louis Jordan
Louis Jordan
Louis Thomas Jordan was a pioneering American jazz, blues and rhythm & blues musician, songwriter and bandleader who enjoyed his greatest popularity from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "The King of the Jukebox", Jordan was highly popular with both black and white audiences in the...
's song "Salt Pork, W.Va." was inspired by his time in a Bluefield jail.
A controversy exists over whether or not Hank Williams was last seen alive in Bluefield on his way to a show in Ohio. He was discovered dead in Oak Hill, W.Va..
Sports
Bluefield was the home of the Appalachian LeagueAppalachian League
The Appalachian League is a Rookie-class minor league that began play in 1937 with one year of inactivity in 1956. From 1937 to 1962, it was a Class D League. Teams are located in the Appalachian regions of Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia and Tennessee...
(rookie) Bluefield Orioles baseball team until 2010. The Orioles have had a team in Bluefield since 1958, which was the longest relationship between a parent club and a town in affiliated baseball. They played their home games at Bowen Field
Bowen Field
Bowen Field is a stadium in Bluefield, Virginia, United States. Primarily used for baseball, it is the home field of the Bluefield Blue Jays minor league baseball team, and of the Bluefield College baseball team...
, which is in the city's park but is actually located on the Virginia side of the border. The Toronto Blue Jays have replaced Baltimore and will field a team in Bluefield beginning in 2011.
Bluefield is largely a football town and the rivalry between the Bluefield Beavers and their sister city Bluefield, Virginia
Bluefield, Virginia
Bluefield is a town in Tazewell County, Virginia, along the Bluestone River. The population was 5,078 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Bluefield WV-VA micropolitan area which has a population of 107,578...
's Graham G-Men always draws a large crowd at Mitchell Stadium
Mitchell Stadium
Mitchell Stadium is a 10,000 seat stadium in Bluefield, West Virginia. It was built by the Works Progress Administration in 1935, and is located in Bluefield's city park that straddles the West Virginia–Virginia state line....
. 2005 saw the introduction of the Bluefield Barons, an Alliance Football League team.
Bluefield is also home to the East River Soccer Complex which has five fields and hosts local high school and college soccer
College soccer
College soccer is a term used to describe association football played by teams who are operated by colleges and universities as opposed to a professional league operated for exclusively financial purposes...
games.