How Derby Got
It's Name
By William S.
Webb
From The
Heritage of Wise County and The City of Norton - Volume I
Derby was born as a coal mining community in the
early 1920's. The offspring of The Stonega Coal and Coke Company was prospering
greatly in the absence of a union and many saw Derby as hearlding a boom era
for local coal. Their non-union status was being threatened, however, by the
specter of the UMWA.
In order to fully understand how the
name came about, it is probably best to go back a few years in the history of
relations between labor and management.
In 1913, at a Rockefeller mine in
Colorado, thirteen women and children died when a striker's tent caught on
fire. The embarrassing event prompted Rockefeller to seek better relations
between the company and labor. His solution became known as "Welfare
Capitalism." It called for a contract to handle worker's complaints,
guarantee a competitive wage, and, in general, keep him content. In return, the
miners had to agree not to join a union.
With coal companies on strike in the
North and to the West, Stonega realized that the basis for their prosperity was
shaky at best. Therefore they initiated their own form of "Welfare
Capitalism" at Derby.
Derby was to be a top of the line
community with large houses of brick and tile, running water, electricity, and
inside toilets. The community would have a store, church, school, a doctor, a
theatre, and the necessities that contributed to the advancement and
contentment of the workers. Time, however, was a critical factor in getting the
new community under construction. In the summer of 1922, the company's
directors interrupted an excursion to the Kentucky Derby in order to examine
and approve plans for Stonega's ninth mining complex and coaltown. Thus it became
known as "Derby".