“The company town became emblematic of this new industrial order. Miners and other coal workers in West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, and southwestern Virginia – Appalachia’s historic coal fields – often lived in privately owned towns, which grew to outnumber independent and unincorporated communities.”

“The company town became emblematic of this new industrial order. Miners and other coal workers in West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, and southwestern Virginia – Appalachia’s historic coal fields – often lived in privately owned towns, which grew to outnumber independent and unincorporated communities.”

— Elizabeth Catte