Rosedale 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...

 in Braxton and Gilmer

Gilmer County, West Virginia

As of the census of 2000, there were 7,160 people, 2,768 households, and 1,862 families residing in the county. The population density was 21 people per square mile . There were 3,621 housing units at an average density of 11 per square mile...

 counties in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of 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...

. It lies along the Right Fork Steer Creek

Steer Creek (West Virginia)

Steer Creek is a tributary of the Little Kanawha River in central West Virginia in the United States. Via the Little Kanawha and Ohio rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of in a rural region on the unglaciated portion of the Allegheny Plateau...

, at an elevation of 778 feet (237 m). The town throughout the 1950s and 1960s was very large due to a boom in natural gas and was heavily populated. However, the boom ended around the 1970s and the town greatly diminished. The population dropped severely as well. Rosedale was also home to Rosedale Elementary School until it was removed due to population drop.