Jimtown is an unincorporated community

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 on U.S. Highway 33 in Randolph County

Randolph County, West Virginia

As of the census of 2000, there were 28,262 people, 11,072 households, and 7,661 families residing in the county. The population density was 27 people per square mile . There were 13,478 housing units at an average density of 13 per square mile...

, 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...

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Geography

Jimtown is located in Roaring Creek District of Randolph County on present day County Route 151 (formerly U.S. Route 33

U.S. Route 33

U.S. Route 33 is a United States federal highway that runs northwest-southeast for 709 miles from northern Indiana to Richmond, Virginia, passing through Ohio and West Virginia en route. Although most odd-numbered U.S...

), about seven miles west of Elkins, West Virginia.

History

Jimtown was formerly known as Fair Hope for the one room school (late 1800s - c.1952) which was located at the present day intersection of Fair Hope, Findley, and Yeager roads. It was named for James Jefferson "Squire Jim" Phillips (1855-1937), a farmer who served as a Justice of the Peace for Roaring Creek District and whose family owned a majority of the land that now encompasses the community.

Community

Jimtown is served by the Norton-Harding-Jimtown Public Service District which provides water services to the area. Major roads include County Route 151, which bisects the community, and Jimtown Road, which connects Jimtown to nearby Coalton

Womelsdorf (Coalton), West Virginia

Womelsdorf is a town in Randolph County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 247 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Womelsdorf is located at ....

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Phillips Chapel Church

The Phillips Chapel United Methodist Church is the center of the community. The congregation was organized in the early 1940s by Rev. Meade Gutshall and local families. Services were held outdoors, weather permitting. A church was finally constructed in 1951 with the help of many residents of the community who pulled together the funds and their own labor to complete the building. The land on which the church stands was sold to the congregation by the Midland Corporation, aka the West Virginia Coal and Coke Company, for the sum of $1.00 in 1945. Many family reunions and civic groups utilize the church's adjacent park and pavilion.

Church Bell

On September 22, 2007, the school house bell from the old Norton Grade School in Norton,WV

Norton, West Virginia

Norton is an unincorporated community in Randolph County, West Virginia, United States. Norton is west of Elkins, at the junction of County Route 151 and Corridor H. Norton has a post office with ZIP code 26285. The town was built as a company town for a nearby coal mine operated by the West...

was placed in the steeple at Phillips Chapel. The number 28 C.S. Bell Company steel alloy bell, cast on July 8, 1921, was purchased for the school around 1929 by the West Virginia Coal and Coke Company, the same company which donated the land for the church.

Phillips Cemetery

The Phillips Cemetery was established by the Moses J. Phillips family around the 1870s as a burial ground for the poor and indigent. Civil War veteran, farmer, and coal miner Moses J. Phillips served as a county Overseer of the Poor from 1872 through 1877. The oldest known grave is that of War of 1812 veteran Dudley A. Gibson, which dates back to the year of 1873. Both Union and Confederate veterans of the Civil War are buried there. Many Phillips family descendants, as well as residents of Jimtown, are also resting there.

Residents

Many descendants of town's founders still reside in Jimtown or find themselves connected to the community through family ties, including members of the Broschart, Elmore, Harlan, Miller, and Phillips families, who either reside in Jimtown or participate in their yearly reunions at the Phillips Chapel park and pavilion.