First settled 1766-70 by Elias Barker whose grant of 1,400 acres, in 1781, comprises the present city area. The community was known for many years as Barker’s Settlement. Present town received its name from a Jewish merchant, John Bealin, who established a store near the present eastern city limits, on the Beverly-Fairmont road, about 1855, giving that section of the present town the name Bealin’s. With industrial development in the late 1880s, the town was named Belington. Land on the east side of Tygart’s Valley River was incorporated as Belington, August 22, 1894. Land on west side of the river was incorporated Alston, in 1897, and the two corporations, joined in 1906, to form the present town.
Population, 1,788; elevation, 1,698 feet; volunteer fire department; election held every two years on the first Tuesday in March; officials take office April first.