Hinton, West Virginia
Encyclopedia
Summers County, West Virginia
Summers County is a county located in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 13,927. Its county seat is Hinton. Summers County was created by an act of the West Virginia General Assembly on February 27, 1871 from parts of Fayette, Greenbrier, Mercer and Monroe...
, 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 2,880 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
of Summers County
Summers County, West Virginia
Summers County is a county located in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 13,927. Its county seat is Hinton. Summers County was created by an act of the West Virginia General Assembly on February 27, 1871 from parts of Fayette, Greenbrier, Mercer and Monroe...
. Hinton was established in 1873 and chartered in 1897. Hinton was named for John "Jack" Hinton, a prominent lawyer of Summers County and husband of Avis Gwinn Hinton, who owned the land upon which the city of Hinton is located. Hinton's complete downtown was placed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1984. There are several museums in Hinton, including the Veterans Memorial Museum, the Hinton Railroad Museum, and King's Civil War Museum. The City of Hinton is currently restoring the CSX passenger depot and the Freight Depot to be used as possible tourist draws in the future. City of Hinton Parks and recreation department is also constructing the first public swimming pool in town.
Part of Paramount
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
's 1994 film Lassie
Lassie (1994 film)
Lassie is a 1994 adventure family film directed by Daniel Petrie and featuring the fictional collie Lassie.-Plot:The Turner family moves from the big city to the rural countryside in Virginia, hoping to start a new life. The move creates problems for everyone, especially 13-year old Matt, who...
was shot in Hinton.
The city is also the seat of the nation's oldest recognized Wiccan religious group, the Church and School of Wicca
Church and School of Wicca
The Church and School of Wicca was founded by Gavin Frost and Yvonne Frost in 1968. It was the first federally recognized Church of the religion known as Wicca in the United States. It is well known for its correspondence courses on the Frosts' unique interpretation of Wicca...
, founded in 1968.
Geography
Hinton is located at 37°40′1"N 80°53′12"W (37.667011, -80.886759). It is situated along the New River just north of its confluenceConfluence (geography)
In geography, a confluence is the meeting of two or more bodies of water. It usually refers to the point where two streams flow together, merging into a single stream...
with the Greenbrier River
Greenbrier River
The Greenbrier River is a tributary of the New River, long, in southeastern West Virginia, USA. Via the New, Kanawha and Ohio Rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of...
. Lake Bluestone is located near Hinton.
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 3.0 square miles (7.9 km²), of which, 2.3 square miles (6.0 km²) of it is land and 0.7 square miles (1.9 km²) of it (24.26%) is water.
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 2,880 people, 1,357 households, and 755 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 1,244.5 people per square mile (481.4/km²). There were 1,595 housing units at an average density of 689.2 per square mile (266.6/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 92.43% White, 5.49% African American, 0.52% Native American, 0.21% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 0.07% 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 1.18% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.73% of the population.
There were 1,357 households out of which 19.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.1% 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, 12.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.3% were non-families. 41.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 22.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.10 and the average family size was 2.85.
In the city the population was spread out with 19.4% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 22.8% from 25 to 44, 24.3% from 45 to 64, and 26.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females there were 82.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 79.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $20,323, and the median income for a family was $25,769. Males had a median income of $23,654 versus $25,543 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 $13,909. About 22.6% of families and 27.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 35.1% of those under age 18 and 15.2% of those age 65 or over.
Rail Transportation
AmtrakAmtrak
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...
, the national passenger rail service, provides service to Hinton under the Cardinal route. CSX owns the rail line through Hinton, which is the mainline of the former Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P...
.