Esserville

By Gladys Stallard

From The Heritage of Wise County and The City of Norton - Volume I

 

            In the early days of Wise County, Esserville was a small, unnamed settlement, like so many others in our county, located between Gladeville (Wise) and Prince's Flats (Norton). The earliest settlers were the Wells Family; A. C. and J. B.; Hobe D. Bruce, Emerson Dotson, Jacob Hunsucker from North Carolina, David Bowman, J. T. Ballou, Nelson Hamilton and Jim Hunsucker.

            There were only log homes in this settlement before the coming of coal, but the community boasted three grist mills, one belonging to Nelson Hamilton built near the bridge, another belonging to David Bowman and the last to J. T. Ballou.

            The first store in the community was built by A. C. Wells and later operated by J. B. Wells. Jim Hunsucker also had a store across the river, opposite Hamilton's Mill.

            John A. Esser came to Southwest Virginia from Connellsville, Pennsylvania as superintendent of Virginia Coal and Coke Company. Esser proved to be an efficient pioneer in the production of coal and coke for the company.

            Esser left Virginia Coal and Iron and worked for a while with Colonial Coke and Coal Company with John L. Kemmerer, W. C. Kent and D. B. Wentz. Dissatisfied with working for a company when he could be working for himself, Esser left their employ and established the Esser Coke Company. The town was named by his employees in his honor, and so Esserville became a recognized community.

           

Early Esserville

 

            Early Esserville was a town with electric lights, board sidewalks and other conveniences unavailable in many parts of the county, where nightwatchmen patrolled the town.

            Ruth Kilgore Hamilton remembers Esserville had three stores: Elihu Maggard's store, A. A. Sergent's store and John Belcher's Grocery.  These were unlike today's specialty stores; here you could buy your groceries, household goods, clothing and hardware items. Everything you could possibly want in one location.

            The Commissary (company store) was located near the coke ovens and in the beginning served as a depot. The first railroad from Norton to Glamorgan, built about 1900, stopped at the commissary in Esserville, to unload passengers and freight and load coke into the cars.

            Across from the Old Hamilton grist mill where the Hunsucker store stood, was later occupied by a large Wholesale Company, operating in conjunction with the Esser Coal Company. Just outside the limits of Esserville was a rock building, called The Jamboree Hall, where Roy Sikes and Ralph and Carter Stanley entertained. The building was later an indoor skating rink.

 

Schools

 

            There were two log houses located where Sergent's Store stands. The houses were built together with a chimney in between. It was used as the first schoolhouse. Another school was held in Elihu Maggard's Store and another in Hobe D. Bruce's field. Finally in 1894 a 1 room log school was built on a lot and was later replaced by the red brick Esserville School.

 

Post Offices

 

            The first Post Office was located in the Commissary and the first Postmaster was John A. Esser. The second postmaster was Joe Gillenwater and the final Post Office was located near the Guest River Bridge.

 

Cemeteries

 

            Two old cemeteries are located at opposite ends of Esserville. One cemetery is located on the top of a small hill near Glenn Roberts Firestone, with at least sixty (60) graves, most unmarked. Some of the earliest settlers in Wise County are buried in this cemetery. Several of the graves in this cemetery were victims of a smallpox epidemic. Many of the early hamilton settlers in this community are buried in this cemetery.

            The other cemetery is the Old Wells Cemetery which contains more than 100 graves, many marked of early Hamiltons and Wells.