History
Wednesday, November 2, 1977
Orlando:
Cinderella City
Wasn't Always a Pumpkin
by Mary Mazza
the Coal and Coke from Elkins,
their Charleston train,
and the B & O from Richwood.
They�re pulling into two depots,
the Coal and Coke near Clover Fork and the Oil Creek waters
and the B & O depot in the center of town.
The stop is Orlando, West Virginia
and the year is 1906.
The trains gave Orlando is first taste of prosperity and changed the little hamlet into a bustling metropolis, even changing its name.
The Coal and Coke Railways company, established by Senator Davis, built their link to Charleston by completing the run from Elkins to Gassaway. Davis bought the Charleston to Gassaway line, and the trip to the capitol became a one-day excursion.
Their noontime stop was at Confluence, outside Weston. Literacy was a problem at the turn of the century, and the people on the train had trouble reading the posted sign which identified the town. Coal and Coke easily rectified that situation- Confluence assumed the name �Orlando.� Senator Davis not only had the convenience of the travelers in mind. He knew the untapped coal, oil and gas resources within those hills. His company now owned selected coal lands and rights along the rout of the rail in four counties drained by the Monongahela, stated J.M. Callihan in his book, History of West Virginia. He continued, �The Pittsburgh vein in this region is regarded as better coal- being harder and yielding a greater percentage of large blocks.� Collins Settlement District felt the stimulation of this period when the railroad was being constructed, Callihan said. �Immediately upon the beginning of construction work in 1903, it had a market for dairy products, poultry and truck in the camps along the route. .. Orlando woke to new life . . . continued to grow.
�Delbert �Dick� Skinner had the Wagon restaurant where people ate,� relates Mrs. Macel Parmer Bennett, who was a little girl when Orlando was booming. �Dick�s mother, Patience, worked behind the counter for him and his brother �Pappy� Earl Skinner helped. Lee Morrison had a restaurant on the other side of the bridge, and he packed and pedaled lunches to the passengers.� Martin Sweeny also remembered the busy Orlando. �At one time there were six general stores in Orlando- Pete Kennedy�s, the Rush store, the Dolan store, the Mike Moran store, Adblake�s, and Bill Foster�s which was later bought by Bill Conrad.� The trains later in the day set passengers up for an overnight stay, and the town had two hotels to accommodate the tourists. �Oil Creek divided the town into two sections, and separated Lewis from Braxton County. The Dolan hotel was in the Braxton County side, and the Rush hotel was in Lewis,� Sweeney said. It cost about one dollar per night, and the temporary residents could get an evening meal with two meats, vegetables, bread and beverage for 25 cents.
Edith Blake, who was raised in Orlando, recalled the �Hole in the Hill� saloon where bootleg was sold. When asked what children did for amusement she said, �work. At our house we had to get up early to churn butter. That was a big seller with the passengers along with the eggs and milk. We had about 50 chestnut trees on our property and we picked and sold the chestnuts.�
The children also had two schools in Orlando, a three-room building on t6he Braxton county side and a one-room school on the Lewis county side.
�Braxton and Lewis didn�t get along too well at that time,� Mrs. Blake said. I had to go a mile and a half to the Riffle school because we weren�t allowed to go into Braxton County, even though it was closer. Later the school was torn down and the one was built in Walkersville.
For the womenfolk there were churches- the Methodist church built by Alexander Skinner, Mrs. Blake�s great-great grandfather and the first settler of Orlando, the United Brethern church built in 1917, and the Catholic church.�
�The Catholics and Protestants went to church and around town like brothers and sisters,� Mrs. Blake stated, �Even before the Catholic Church was built there they went over to Goosepen on horses to get to church.� Later, she explained, the Catholic church burned down. �It was on July 15, 1915, when lightening was said to have struck the bell tower.�
About 500 people lived in Orlando, and it almost became incorporated, Mrs. Blake reported. �Immigrants were brought in to build the railroads, and some of them stayed.� After they built the roads and gas wells, they left to find better jobs. And the population went under 500. You had to have that many to become a corporation.�
Along with the gristmills, sawmills, undertaker Mike Moran and Cecily Tulley Brice�s millinery shop, Orlando also had a wholesale house.
Mrs. Blake continued: �The wholesale house went broke after some man didn�t manage it right. Mike Moran bought it and put a skating rink in there. It had three stories, but the water kept getting into the bottom floor, and it became rotten. They removed the first section and then it was two stories.�
For the sick, Orlando had several doctors, Mrs. Blake pointed out. �Dr. Charles Rusjysel and Dr. Peck who moved to Burnsville, Dr. Standton Trimble and Dr. Barker. Dr. Whelan from Roanoke had a pharmacy service for us.
�We had no hospital, the closest was in Weston. Dr. White was the veterinarian for Orlando because of all the horses there in 1905.�
Sweeney also remembered the horses through Orlando. �The drillers were there and 75 to 100 horse teams pulled out in the morning when they were developing the oil and gas wells in Lewis, Braxton and Gilmer. They got eight dollars a day for their work.�
Consequently two feed stores sprung up, one owned by Mike Moran and Bill Foster�s, and two blacksmith shops, owned by Nathan Parmer, Mrs. Bennett�s father, and Jake Queen.
The animals were also necessary for the mail delivery in which Sweeney was involved. �Frank Blake was the postmaster for years, and his brother Charles carried the mail on route two. Bill Sandy carried the mail on route one and I succeeded him.� Earl Bond followed me and Alvie Barnett succeed Bond. I got $91.66 per month and had two horses.�
�There were rarely any accidents on the railroad,� Mrs. Blake stated. They took care of the tracks, and hardly any of the trains jumped the tracks.�
Then, Almost as suddenly as Orlando became a railroad center, it became a small hamlet again. In 1917, the Baltimore and Ohio bought the controlling interest in Coal and Coke and routed ------ ?------- Richwood to Orlando to Sago,� noted Callahan in his �History.�
He observed: �Empty cars were sent to Grafton via Clarksburg and Weston, thus giving what is in effect a double track from Grafton to Orlando. The condition of the old roadbed along Oil Creek led to a proposal to abandon it and to construct a short stretch of railroad from Arnold to connect with the Charleston division near Jacksonville.
�The purchase of the Coal and Coke increased the importance of Weston as a railroad center. In late 1919, some of the principal offices of the Charleston division were moved from Gassaway to Weston.�
Mrs. Blake said the passenger trains stopped in about 1930, and there was no work for the Orlando laborers. �Before 1930, everything was closed up, and those rich people who had gas wells moved to Weston.�
Weston took on Orlando�s prosperity, and the only thing now rich about the little unincorporated town is its history.
