Political History

In 1881 the town was large enough to assume corporate status, and on October 4, 1881, the Town of Alderson was incorporated by Monroe County Court. (Common Order Book 4, Page 69, Certificate of Incorporation of Town of Alderson.) The Certificate reads: "A certificate under oath of William Kunkle(?) , W. Y. Irons and Charles Tincher, that a majority of the voters residing in the following boundary, to wit": (There follow the metes and bounds of the town all south of the river) " -—- have been given in due form of law in favor of the incorporation of the Town of Alderson, in the County of Monroe bounded as herein set forth. And it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that all of the provisions of Chapter 47 of the Code of West Virginia have been complied with, the applicants of said incorporation, the said Town of Alderson is duly authorized within the corporate limits aforesaid to exercise all of the corporate powers conferred by said Chapter 47 of the Code of West Virginia from and after date of this certificate."

The first mayor was Abraham E. T. Scruggs, and the first Recorder was George Alderson. Councilmen were William Boa, W. L. Barksdale, J. L. Fainer, J. G. Lobban, and C. W. Vandergriff. In 1883, Mayor S. R. Hill was elected and the Recorder was A. J. Jones. (The first minute book of the Town Council has been lost.)

Alderson began with the Mayor-Council form of Municipal government and it has not changed to the present.

The first politician of importance elected from Alderson’s Ferry was Joseph Alderson, son of Elder John, and a man of varied abilities, who served in the General Assembly of Virginia from November 29, 1184, to February 23, 1830, except for one year. He was one of two Greenbrier delegates.  In 1832, Greenbrier representation was reduced to one, and Joseph Alderson served from December 2, 1832, to March 9, 1833. John G. Lobban of Alderson represented the District in the sixteenth and seventeenth legislatures of West Virginia in Wheeling, as State Senator, in 1883 and 1885. Alex McVeigh Miller of Alderson was a state senator of the twenty-fifth, twenty-sixth, twenty-seventh, twenty-eighth, and twenty-ninth legislatures, 1901-1909.

George Alderson of Alderson was a delegate to the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh legislatures in 1903 and 1905. During the thirty- first session C. P. Nash was a member of the Legislature representing Monroe in 1913. J. S. Thurmond was a member of the House of Delegates, 1915-1919, attending the thirty-second, thirty-third, and thirty-fourth legislatures. Will W. Stevens represented Greenbrier in the House of Delegates from 1923-1927. Rodgers McVey represented Greenbrier in the West Virginia House of Delegates, 1945-1948.

Joseph Newman Alderson served as Administrator of the Works Progress Administration for West Virginia, an appointive position, from 1937 to 1941. He had been District Director from 1935 until 1937. Two women from Alderson have served as Wardens of the West Virginia State Prison for Women at Pence Springs. They are Mabel T. Simms, and Evelyn Smithson. Mrs. Simms was Warden from 1949- 1957, and Mrs. Smithson from 1957-1961.

No person from Alderson presently occupies an elective political office. The only person from Alderson holding an appointive office is Greenbrier County Deputy Sheriff Curtis Shawver.

Over the past century Alderson has, with few deviations, followed the politics of the Democratic party.

The Town government is not elected along Democratic or Republican party lines but offers a slate of candidates under the names of the Citizens’ or People’s ticket, or some other name, representing factions more than party.

Frequently, over the eighty-three year history, the Town Council has acted in a most progressive manner and recognized the civic need for street, police, water, sewerage, parking, sanitation, health, social and economic improvements. Over the years, it seems the cost of town government has not increased in proportion to other costs. For ex-ample the estimate of town expenses in 1911 was $6,347.00. The estimate for the 1964-65 fiscal year is $34,200.00. Considering the increase in size of the town, additional expenses never dreamed of in 1911, and the tremendous increase in cost of everything, the Town’s expenses are conservative. At present, the Town has no bonded indebtedness.

The present Town officers are: Tracy Leach, Mayor, H. Rodgers McVey, Recorder, and G. R. Altare, K. F. Ballard, N. O. Burdette, F. L. Dameron, and C. M. Lobban, Councilmen. Richard Ford is Chief of the Volunteer Fire Department and has held that office since 1935. Richard Weikel became Police Chief in 1963.

During the early days of the Town Council, a lot of consideration was given to protection of the town's morals and numerous ordinances were enacted against sin. The Town for a long period would not allow a pool room or bowling alley in town. Finally, in 1909 such a business opened. 

The Town has never allowed the sale of liquor. For a long period, the Town Council had a feud with a drug store which persisted in , selling liquor by prescription in accordance with State law. A drug store manager in 1906 was arrested, tried, and released after trial in Greenbrier County Court. Finally, the Town Council was compelled to grant an unrestricted drug store license.

In March 1911, the Council passed an ordinance against the sale of cigarettes or cigarette papers. This ordinance was repealed by Council in 1914, only after two attorneys consulted by Council opined that Council had no authority to enforce such an ordinance. Nevertheless, the W.C.T.U. and Alderson Baptist Academy bitterly opposed the repeal of the ordinance. The Academy had Attorney George Thompson defend the ordinance before Council.

The Council passed a curfew ordinance in 1909 forbidding anyone under sixteen years of age to be on the streets after nine p.m.

In 1911 a Blue Law ordinance was enacted which forbade sale of anything except drugs in a drug store on Sunday. Grocery and general merchandise stores were to close all day Sunday. Butcher shops could be open for one hour on Sunday morning. Barber shops were to close all day Sunday with their blinds left up. Ice could be sold from four a.m. to ten a.m. Sunday. Restaurants and hotels could stay open all day Sunday, and could sell tobacco and cigars, no cigarettes or cigarette papers. There were other ordinances against loitering, loafing on the streets, vagrancy, boisterous behavior, and so on. In all, these ordinances reflect the concern the Town held for a highly moral community.

Council Minutes show that Council concerned itself with many topics. An ordinance in 1910 specified in detail how a privy was to be constructed. Time after time, Council objected to the pollution of Greenbrier River by the tanneries at Marlinton and Durbin. Once in 1906 a committee from Alderson, Hinton, Ronceverte, and Lewisburg went to Marlinton by train to investigate the matter with the intention of complaining to the Governor. It was many years before this pollution was abated.

Once, Council gave a very prominent citizen one day to close down an odoriferous slaughterhouse which he and a partner operated in a colored neighborhood. Over a period of years barbed wire fencing in town was dangerous, and Council repeatedly forbade its use. Stepping stones at street crossings and construction of board sidewalks occupied the time of many a Council meeting, and cost the town substantial sums of money. In 1906 Council set forth for the first time specifications for concrete sidewalks.

For years the Council tried to keep out of the hitching lot business. It tried to make the town merchants provide hitching lots, for the horses, wagons, and buggies had to be parked some place. Finally, the town rented one lot.

In 1899 the Town employed James Ripley as lamplighter for $7.00 per month. Another time, a guard was employed for $1.50 per day to enforce a quarantine of a house in which family members evidently had smallpox.

Automobiles brought municipal problems. In May, 1911, Council passed a speed ordinance. No horse could be ridden faster than a trot. Automobiles and motorcycles could be operated no faster than 15 miles per hour. In 1913, automobiles were forbidden to travel faster than 10 miles per hour. It cannot be stated positively who owned the first horseless carriage in town but Otis Carter probably did. Dr. Walter Beard, one of the town’s most beloved characters, also had a very early automobile.

In November 1913, the first garage came to town. W. L. McCoy was granted permission to erect a garage in North Alderson to be known as Alderson Car Company. In 1914, Council granted license to rent automobiles for hire at the livery stable license fee of $10.00 per year, and W. L. McCoy got a taxi license for $10.00. With the advent of automobiles, the unpaved streets had to be improved, also.
Ret: Papers of Joseph Newman Alderson Public Records of Greenbrier and Monroe County Courts West Virginia Blue Books Alderson Town Council Minutes

The entire land area of the Alderson community on both sides of the river was at one time involved in a bitter law suit between Summers County against Monroe and Greenbrier Counties. The controversy started in 1894 when John E. Harvey, Summers County Surveyor, was directed by the Summers County Court to run the exact line established by the Act of the Legislature in 1871 between Summers and Greenbrier Counties. He found that all of Alderson and considerably more territory were in Summers County, with about 1700 population. Summers County took legal steps to have the area annexed to Summers. A great and bitter dispute began, and as Alderson was the object, the furor in Alderson was intense. On February 20, 1894, James H. Miller, Summers County Prosecuting Attorney, instituted proceedings in the Circuit Courts of Greenbrier and Monroe Counties. Circuit Judge A. N. Campbell declined to hear the case and Judge A. F. Guthrie was secured. The trial was in Lewisburg and the decision was in favor of Greenbrier and Monroe. The decision was appealed to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals which threw out the case. A. B. Fleming, an ex-Governor of the State, was agreed upon to act as umpire. He could not serve, so George E. Price, an excellent Charleston attorney, served. In April 1897, the trial was held in Alderson. The town was full of the Commissioners of three counties, at least six lawyers representing the counties, and numerous witnesses for each side. The hearing took several days. Umpire Price decided for Greenbrier County against Summers, and Greenbrier kept Alderson. The Monroe issue was abandoned by Summers and the decision ended it, as no appeal was taken.
Ref: History of Summers County, W. VA. Judge James H. Miller, 1908, pp. 66-70

Next: Annexation of North Alderson

The contents contained in this series is copyrighted and the sole property of The Greenbrier Historical Society - Lewisburg, WV
Used by permission - November 18, 2008