Pathways used by Native Americans, particularly the Shawnee and other indigenous groups, crossed through here. In 1790, newly chosen President George Washington ordered the clearing of the east-to-west trails, known among other names as the Midland Trail, which became a major westward route for stagecoaches, hunters, and traders. Rough-hewn houseboats carried colonial settles from below Kanawha Falls 10 miles upriver down the Kanawha to the Ohio River and further west. Figuring in the Civil War, the route became part of the state highway system in the early 20 th Century. Smithers was incorporated along that Rt. 60 in 1938, combining six ethnically diverse coal camps known primarily for Italian-American immigrants. During the heyday of local mining, the Kanawha was filled with coal barges. Transport trains still cross through the town. An Amtrack stop is found just across the river in neighboring Montgomery. Yeager Airport is 29 miles away in Charleston. Located on the federally designated Midland Trail National Scenic Byway (Rt. 60) and halfway between the State Capitol of Charleston, about a 30-minute drive northwest, and the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, about a 30-minute drive southeast, Smithers today stands as the Gateway to multiple southern West Virginia historical and scenic sites.
Population: 751 (2020 U.S. Census), Average Altitude: 633 feet, located almost entirely in Fayette County, with a small portion of undeveloped green land in Kanawha County, part of the state’s U.S. Congressional District 1, city elections held every four years on the second Tuesday in June, officials take office July first.