The King of England gave a Land Grant to the GWINN family that included the
Meadow Creek Valley in the State of West Virginia. This document is recorded
in the Monroe County (WV) Court House. Moses GWINN was the original owner and
later, William GWINN brought the Western half of the Meadow Creek Valley.
With the building of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad in 1875, the town of
Meadow Creek became a railroad Terminal. J.M. RAINES was responsible in
building the Sewell Valley Railroad to supply the largest hardwood lumber
mill. As the town grew, a general store was built and owned by J.E. and
William Abraham GWINN. Later, the passenger trains and local freight trains
made scheduled stops and the Sewell Valley passenger train also ahd a
regular, daily scheduled stop at Meadow Creek.
New businesses such as the Sewell Valley Bank, Withrow Furniture and Funeral
Parlor, Tom Mosley's Restaurant, and the United States Post Office served the
growing town of Meadow Creek.
On the South side of New River in Raleigh County, which was across the river
from Meadow Creek, small settlements that were named New Pear, and Abraham
sprang up. The sawmill and mining towns were located along the Sewell Valley
Railroad.
The town of Meadow Creek had it's own water and electric power system until
the present light system became the owners. The electric power was the result
of a dam built by J.E. GWINN across Meadow Creek. Mr. GWINN was at that time
the owner of the dam and water system.
The Baptist Church was built in Meadow Creek in 1908. In 1974, the New River
Company, which is a part of the Chessie System, built the present coal
cleaning plant that is located on the Moses GWINN property at Meadow Creek.
