There are currently four legal live West Virginia poker rooms. But what may not be known about West Virginia is it reportedly was home to the world’s longest-running game of poker .
According to “Ripley’s Believe It or Not,” the game took place at the Dunglen Hotel in Thurmond during the early 1900s and lasted for an astonishing 14 years . Dunglen Hotel the perfect hub for West Virginia poker
Thurmond, where the game took place, was once known as the Dodge City of the East. And it was once one of the busiest towns in the US. It thrived thanks to the region’s booming coal industry and the rail lines that brought wealthy businessmen to the area.
The railroads led from Thurmond straight to the mines in New River Gorge . Workers would live in houses near the mines; there also was a company store.
Since the miners were paid in scrip, they could only spend the money at company stores. Getting merchandise into these stores was a major draw for traveling salesmen.
The town of Thurmond had a population of 200 to over 400 people in its heyday. The town’s founder, Captain W.D. Thurmond, was a strict man who wanted to run the town the way he saw fit. He disliked the morals of the new arrivals in the growing town.
Captain Thurmond banned alcohol on the land he controlled within the town, but that still left a large section where it was legal. The McKells, the next most powerful family in town, had no problem with alcohol and other vices.
The bars on the McKell side of town in Thurmond never closed, making it a popular destination for gamblers . And the McKells controlled the Dunglen Hotel and the area around it.
This is what made the hotel the perfect hub for gambling, drinking, and other illicit activities. Details of the 14-year poker game are lost to time Built in 1901, the Dunglen Hotel was located across the New River from Thurmond, in the Southside district outside the town limits.The three-story, 100-room hotel featured a wraparound deck and massive ballroom where parties were […]
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