A Preston County community
Hopemont’s existing timeline centers on the state tuberculosis sanitarium authorized in 1911, its first three patient cottages in 1913, and the institution’s 1965 transition to Hopemont State Hospital. The postal papers add a separate record of the community’s changing postal location and connections; research into the broader settlement continues.
This overview draws on the connected timeline entries and the checked National Archives postal index. Follow the links below for sources and research qualifications.Community timeline
February 11, 1911
The West Virginia Legislature passed an act authorizing a state tuberculosis sanitarium on February 11; the governor approved it on February 18. The authorization followed years of campaigning by the Anti-Tuberculosis League…
Open event and sources1913
Three cottages were constructed at the State Tuberculosis Sanitarium near Terra Alta in 1913, providing space for 60 patients. The construction developed the institution authorized in 1911; it did not mark the sanitarium’s…
Open event and sources1965
The West Virginia Legislature passed House Bill 994 on March 10, 1965, discontinuing Hopemont’s exclusively tuberculosis-focused sanitarium and establishing Hopemont State Hospital for chronically ill, aged, and infirm…
Open event and sourcesSix indexed records from 1920–1921 and 1942 include an establishment application, maps, a continuation page, and a location questionnaire. They document the office in relation to Terra Alta, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and nearby roads and waterways, while preserving the original documents’ descriptions rather than treating them as a complete institutional history.
Explore all 6 postal recordsRecord dates are not necessarily office opening or closing dates. Applications and proposed moves retain their original qualifications.
National Archives · M1126, roll 651 · NARA pages 508, 509, 510, 511, 512, 513. View the original collection.