Buchanan County, Virginia is one of the most remote, mountainous and rugged parts of the Old Dominion, but the coal from Buchanan County is among the best in the world. Although it’s deep underground, the world famous Pocahontas Three Seam underlies most of the county, but the mountain-building process that occurred millions of years ago, formed other low sulfur, metallurgical coals as well.

The commercial development of the southwestern Virginia southern and West Virginia dates to 1883 and the arrival of the Norfolk & Western railway in Pocahontas, Virginia, but the powerful N&W didn’t penetrate the Buchanan County coalfield until the construction of the first N&W Buchanan Branch in 1931. By 1935, the N&W had extended its operations along the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River to Garden Creek and Dismal Creek, but it would take nearly another decade for the railroad to provide coal haulage transportation into the eastern Kentucky coalfields centered near Pikeville, Kentucky by 1945.

Alex E. Booth Jr., was one of the coal industry developers who recognized the potential for the Buchanan County, Virginia and Pike County, Kentucky coalfields and became quite successful in the coal business. Booth is a well-known supporter of the arts, education and the financial community of Huntington, West Virginia, as well as in Pikeville, Kentucky, where he has spearheaded the development of higher education through his efforts with Pikeville College where he still serves on the Board of Trustees.Booth’s support for the arts in West Virginia has been equally impressive. The Booth Collection holds a prestigious position in the Huntington Art Museum, and includes perhaps the nation’s best collections of George Braque, John Singer Sargent, George Wesley Bellows and others and is considered to be one of the most significant collections of its kind in the nation by some individuals in the art world.

Booth has experienced great success in the coalfields, but when his coalfield colleagues Omer Bunn, Brenda and Jim Bunn put Booth in the loop with Dr. Charles R. King, the former president of Southwest Virginia Community College in Richlands, Virginia, who retired in 2007, and Dr. Lucius Ellsworth, founding dean of the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Virginia, who also retired in 2007, the three became a solid force for the creation of a higher education center where students can begin their post-secondary educational experience on the community college level and continue their education at the center through graduate school.

“I’m from West Virginia. I’m a Mountaineer,” Booth said with pride during a ceremony on January 13, 2008, prior to the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Booth Center on the ASL campus in Grundy. Booth personally contributed $3.5 million for the construction of the center to go along with an additional $1,278,431 from the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority to build the center. Two southwestern Virginia firms – Thompson and Litton and J.A. Street & Associates – did the architectural work and construction respectively.

“I feel pride that I was able to make money in Buchanan County when coal was booming, but I feel more pride about returning money back to the land from which it came,” Booth said at the ceremony.

Booth explained that he served on a committee at Pikeville College that was charged with the responsibility of finding out why students drop out of college before they finish. He said that a survey conducted on behalf of the trustees revealed that many students leave college because of conflicts that arise at home. He said that leaving home can be a major step for students – especially those from isolated rural communities.

He said that for many students, leaving home in order to attend college, “creates a fracture between his family, church and community. It affects all aspects of his life,” Booth said. He said that the “seamless education” component of the Booth Center attracted him to the involvement in the project.

Dr. Charles King recalled the humble meeting that led to the “vision” that would become the Booth Center. “We had this vision for the region,” King said. “Today is a day we celebrate.”

Dr. Mark Estepp, who was selected to follow King as president of SVCC said he and his wife, Trish, picked Booth and his wife, Kay Booth, up in Huntington and the two families got to know each other during the journey from Huntington to Grundy.

“We found them to be warm, loving and caring people,” Estepp said during the ceremony. “He hasn’t forgotten his roots. I grew up in Matewan, West Virginia,” Estepp said. “My mother still lives in the same coal camp house in Matewan that she raised me in.

“It takes more than vision (to create something like the Booth Center),” Estepp said. “It takes someone with a giving heart. There are a lot of people who have been blessed to make money, but there are fewer people who are willing to give some of it back. Alex Booth told me on the trip here to Grundy: ‘I made my money in Buchanan County. I want to put my money back into Buchanan County.”

Estepp pointed out that he learned that Booth believes strongly in the concept of seeing results for his efforts. “We will provide those results,” Estepp said.

Several others on the program expressed their appreciation to Booth for his gift. Mary Lawson, executive director of the SVCC Educational Board served as MC for the event. Others on the program included Wayne Bostic, chair of the SVCC local board, Roger Powers, mayor of Grundy and chair of the ASL board, Jay Rife of the Virginia CEDA, Virginia State Senator Phillip P. Puckett, D-Russell County and State Delegate Dan Bowling, D-Tazewell County, and Wes Shinn, dean of ASL.

The coal from Buchanan County, Virginia and Pike County, Kentucky continues to provide the steel to make the framework of modern life as well as the energy to fuel the future. Thanks to the vision and generosity of coal people like Alex Booth Jr., future generations of healthcare professionals, political, business and civic leaders as well as the coal miners of tomorrow and so many more will benefit from the fruits of coal.