ELEANOR, WV (WOWK) – The Town of Eleanor, West Virginia, is being recognized nationwide as a historic place.

According to Mayor Cam Clendenin, town officials first started this process in 2018 with a Historic Preservation Survey and Planning grant from the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture & History.  

With the help of Grant Writer Laura Cox, Hill Studios, GAI Consultants and the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture & History, they were able to complete an application and submitted it in April 2022. 

This was approved through the state office and the National Parks Service Thursday, adding their town to the National Register of Historic Places as the “Eleanor Historic District.”

The town is listed on the register with the other two new deal homestead communities in West Virginia, Arthurdale and Tygart Valley.

Mayor Clendenin says this “will make it easier for us to preserve and celebrate our history thanks to the amount of research and documentation that was put together during the application process. We hope this will also increase travel and tourism to Eleanor like it has done for other historic areas throughout our state.”

Clendenin goes on to say their main goal throughout this process is to honor the first 150 families who moved to Eleanor and make sure their legacy and memory won’t be forgotten.

“Now that we are officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places, we have accomplished that goal and look forward to telling Eleanor’s story to as many people as possible,” Clendenin says.