page_title: Richlands, Virginia
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Richlands, Virginia / History
caption_attribution_description: Original Caption: Miners Line Up to Go Into the Elevator Shaft at the Virginia-Pocahontas Coal Company Mine #4 near Richlands, Virginia the Man at the Right Wears a Red Hat Which Means He Is a New Miner and Has Worked Below Less Than a Month. His Belt Also Shows Less Wear Than the Others. The Miner at the Left Carries Red Man Chewing Tobacco, Used by Many of the Men Because They Cannot Smoke in the Mines. They Also Prefer to Carry Their Own Water Rather Than Use What the Company Provides 04/1974 U.S. National Archives’ Local Identifier: 412-DA-13886 Photographer: Corn, Jack, 1929- Subjects: Richlands (Tazewell county, Virginia, United States) inhabited place Environmental Protection Agency Project DOCUMERICA Persistent URL: https://arcweb.archives.gov/arc/action/ExternalIdSearch?id=556338 Repository: Still Picture Records Section, Special Media Archives Services Division (NWCS-S), National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD, 20740-6001. For information about ordering reproductions of photographs held by the Still Picture Unit, visit: www.archives.gov/research/order/still-pictures.html Reproductions may be ordered via an independent vendor. NARA maintains a list of vendors at www.archives.gov/research/order/vendors-photos-maps-dc.html Buy copies of selected National Archives photographs and documents at the National Archives Print Shop online: gallery.pictopia.com/natf/photo/ Access Restrictions: Unrestricted Use Restrictions: Unrestricted
context_page_description: Richlands is a town in Tazewell County, Virginia, United States. The population was 5,823 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Bluefield, WV-VA micropolitan area which has a population of 107,578.
context_section_description: Located along the banks of the Clinch River, Richlands began as a farming community and was named for its fertile "rich lands."
  The Clinch Valley Coal & Iron Company began to develop Richlands in 1890, and company officials hoped Richlands' readily available coal, iron, and timber might make it the "Pittsburgh of the South." The company abandoned its plans following the stock market crash of 1893.
  In February 1893, Richlands was the site of a mass lynching of five black railroad workers after it was alleged some of the men had robbed and beaten a white man.  Four of the railroad workers were arrested and held in the Richlands jail, but the jailor was overpowered by a mob of white townspeople, including James Hurt, a magistrate and member of Richlands' town council, and James Crabtree, a prominent businessman, who removed the four men and hanged them from the same tree.  A fifth black railroad worker was later found and lynched.
  The Richlands Historic District encompasses much of downtown Richlands, and the Tazewell Avenue Historic District, and Williams House, are both listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
caption: Miners at the Virginia-Pocahontas Coal Company Mine #4 near Richlands, 1974
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