James Allison Paterson: Architect, Engineer, & Entrepreneur of Gassaway

By Phillip Blake

James Paterson was a resident of Gassaway from 1904 to 1918. During that time he was responsible for laying out the town streets and lots, construction of the very first buildings in the town including the Bank of Gassaway,; Lee Building (owned by Arthur Lee who was the son-in-law of Henry Gassaway Davis); the Davis Grade School; and the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church.  He also built and owned the National Guard Armory Building, a machine shop called the Armory Garage, and the Paterson Place building on Elk Street. In 1905, he was responsible for the Incorporation of the Town of Gassaway.  He is considered one of the founding fathers of Gassaway.

James Allison Paterson was born August 17, 1851, in Haddington, East Lothian Scotland, the son of  Rev. John Paterson (1801-1879) and Jane Balfour Allison (1813-1889). According to a letter sent to the Braxton County Historical Society from Alex A. Hunt (grandson of James Paterson), the family emigrated to Canada in 1855.  James would have been four at this time. This letter says that the family lived 2 years in Toronto before moving to Dunsford, Ontario where their father, Rev. John Paterson, became the Presbyterian Minister.  James was educated at Upper Canada College in Toronto where he graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering. He was also a Dominion Land Surveyor. According to this same letter, he was a pioneer in railway construction for many years in Canada and the United States. On May 13, 1886, James married Fannie Harris (1862-1958) in Muskoka Falls, Ontario, Canada. 

During their marriage they had four daughters, the youngest of which was born in Harrisonburg, Virginia. 

In January 1901 he was offered a job as engineer to construct a railroad in Cuba. While waiting in New York for a steamship ride to Cuba he was warned by a friend that he should not go to Cuba due to a severe outbreak of Yellow Fever there.  This same friend then introduced him to a representative of a Virginia company that was commencing work on a new railway there. He was offered a job on this project and proceeded to Harrisonburg, Virginia to start work.  He worked there until sometime in 1903 when the Virginia project was shut down.

 After the shutdown of the Virginia project, James was contacted by a representative of Henry Gassaway Davis who was constructing the Coal & Coke Railway in central West Virginia.  He proceeded to Sutton where he met with the representative of Mr. Davis . The railroad at this time had been completed from Charleston to Gassaway where there was a large rail yard facility being constructed. At the meeting he was offered a job on construction of the railway from Gassaway to Elkins. He accepted the position and was given charge of 20 miles of construction starting at Gassaway which involved a bridge crossing of the Elk River and a 1300 ft tunnel about 12 miles up the Little Otter Valley. 

By early 1904 James’s work on the railroad had been completed. Believing his work in the area complete, James made plans to return to Canada.  While wai ting in Sutton for his departure, he was called to a meeting with Henry Davis and other railroad officials at a local hotel.  There he was told of Mr. Davis’s plan to establish a town at the location of the rail yard to be called Gassaway. James was offered the job of laying out the proposed town. After some discussion and enticements, he agreed to accept the position.

The town properties were all owned by the Gassaway Development Company which had been incorporated on August 25, 1903. In 1904 James began the layout of the town by constructing a detailed contour map of the area.  The company then sent an expert  town planner from Washington D.C. to assist with the platting of the town.  The town plat was filed with the county government in 1904.  James was put in charge of selling the lots in the new town. The first sale of town lots was held on October 19, 1904. Corner lots were $350 and interior lots were $175. Elk Street was the main street in Gassaway and lots there were bought up quickly for development of the business district. Between the first sale on October 19, 1904 and the end of that year James purchased 17 lots for his own purposes. 

He continued to purchase properties in Gassaway from the Company and individuals through July 1913 and would be involved in the purchase of 35 lots in all. In addition to selling the lots in the new town, James also oversaw the street grading, sidewalk installation, and construction of a water and sewer system.  In Braxton County Circuit Court Order Book No.3 it was noted during the December 5, 1904 meeting of the Court that on November 14, 1904 James A. Paterson had been appointed as a Notary Public for Braxton County by the governor of West Virginia. This appointment would have been beneficial in transacting lot sales in Gassaway.

In 1905 James constructed a large 2 story building on Lots 33 & 34; Block 4 on Elk Street that he named Paterson Place.  In his memoirs he stated  ‘I also built a two storey [sic] double brick house for myself called ‘Paterson Place’.  It is believed that the use of the word ‘house’ referred to a store house and not necessarily a place of residence. This building was most likely the location of his personal office. This building is still standing at the time of this writing and is identified as 608-610 Elk Street.  In July of that same year, James began the incorporation process for the new Town of Gassaway. A vote of the people living in the proposed boundary area for the Town of Gassaway was held on September 9, 1905. Sixty votes were cast with 59 for incorporation and one vote against incorporation. James Paterson notarized the election report results on that same date. The first town election was held on November 25, 1905.  The new town electors were sworn into office by James Paterson on November 28, 1905. The first town council meeting was held in the Paterson Building on that same date.

In 1906 James bought 2 vacant lots on Braxton Street. He purchased Lot 14; Block 21 from the Gassaway Development Company June 8, 1906 for $175 and Lot 15; Block 21 from L.B. Richey for $275. These lots were located between 6^th and 7^th Streets on Braxton Street. The 1907 Land Book showed a building present on these lots with a value of $2250. This would indicate a very substantial residence was built by James since many homes in Gassaway at this time had values of under $1000. 

On February 3, 1908 James Paterson filed a ‘Petition for Naturalization’ application with the U.S. Circuit Court in Charleston to become a citizen of the United States. This Petition was approved and James took his ‘Oath of Allegiance’ on June 5, 1908 in Charleston. It is unknown if he took this step with the intention of remaining in the United States on a permanent basis.    

In early 1908, a National Guard unit was formed at Gassaway. This unit was Company A 2^nd Infantry of the West Virginia National Guard. Seeing that the Guard unit needed a home, in 1908 James constructed a new building known as the Armory Building which was located on Lots 40 & 41; Block 2 on Elk Street in Gassaway.  Construction of the Armory began in May 1908. An item in the May 8, 1908 issue of the Gassaway Times stated ‘The lumber is on the ground and excavation is being made for the foundation of the new Armory’.  The Armory building was opened for business on September 24, 1908.  The State of West Virginia obtained a 3 year lease on the new Armory Building for use by the National Guard unit. In November 1909 the Guard unit failed to properly respond to an emergency situation and the unit was mustered out of service by West Virginia Governor Glasscock in December 1909. This ended a Guard presence at Gassaway until 1928 when a new unit was formed. While the National Guard was using part of the building, James was also operating a roller skating rink there.  It is unknown when the rink started operation but it was mentioned in the Minutes of the Town Council on December 5, 1908 so it was definitely in operation by then.

After the National Guard stopped using the Armory, the building was used primarily as an entertainment venue. The name Armory was retained even though it no longer served a military purpose. Over the years following the exit of the Guard, the Armory would be used for many different purposes. As well as the skating rink, the building would also be used as a movie theater; a site for dances; basketball games; parties; and as a polling place for local, state, and national elections. The movie theater was the first theater in Gassaway and was quite large, with a total capacity of 500-400 on the main floor and 100 in the balcony.

The original Armory burned to the ground in a fire on February 3, 1918. The site of the Armory remained vacant and was sold by James on May 27, 1920 to a group including J. B. Fisher, J.M. Blackwood, I.N. Kalbaugh and E.M. Lantz. This group built a new building on the Old Armory site which would become the Liberty Theater. To many people in Gassaway it was known as the New Armory. This new building is believed to have been completed in the first half of 1921. 

The Paterson family only appeared in one census while living in Gassaway. This was the 1910 Census for Otter District that included Gassaway. This census report shows James as age 58, his immigration year as 1900 and his occupation as ‘Civil Engineer’. His wife Fannie and their four daughters were also shown in the report. The report showed the family living on Braxton Street which would be in the home built by James in 1906/07.

Seeing the need for a bridge across the Elk River at the upper end of Gassaway, James appeared before the Town Council on February 3, 1910, to seek their assistance in building the bridge. On August 5, 1911 the voters of Gassaway approved a $15,000 bond issue for the construction of the bridge. On August 11, 1911, James Paterson was employed by the Town to make plans for the bridge and oversee the construction. Work on the bridge started in November 1911 and  was completed around June 1912.

 From his memoirs he is quoted as saying ‘Now my family desired to return to Toronto and so in 1917 we broke up our home, shipped the household furniture, and the family went on to Toronto while I stayed behind to close up my affairs and followed, arriving in Toronto 18 months afterwards.’ According to his memoirs, James Paterson left Gassaway on June 14, 1918 and returned to Toronto, Canada where he landed a position with the Canadian Northern Railway which two years later merged with the Grand Trunk Railway to become the Canadian National Railway. On December 7, 1933, James Paterson at the age of 82 was killed as a result of being struck by a car in Canada.

Henry Gassaway Davis built the Coal & Coke Railway and shops at Gassaway that led to the influx of people to work on the railroad and the people who would cater to those workers. Those people needed a government and an infrastructure which is where James Allison Paterson proved invaluable to the town. He was actively involved in the layout and platting of the town and the Incorporation of the town and its government. He oversaw the building of the Bank of Gassaway;  the Davis Memorial Church; numerous commercial buildings and utility services including water, sewer, and electricity; and construction of a bridge across Elk River. Many of the buildings for which he oversaw construction are still standing in Gassaway. He can without a doubt be considered one of the Founding Fathers of the Town of Gassaway.