Bluefield, Virginia
town in Tazwell County, Virginia, United States
Bluefield is a town in Tazewell County, Virginia, United States, located along the Bluestone River. The population was 5,096 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Bluefield WV-VA micropolitan area which has a population of 106,363 in 2020.
History
Bluefield has not always borne the name Bluefield. The town developed around a small post office named "Pin Hook" in the 1860s, named for a small creek that ran through the community. For a brief time it was known as the community of Harman, named after a Civil War hero from the area who had been shot during the Battle of Cloyd's Mountain in Pulaski County, Virginia.
Later, after coal was discovered and a company was formed to build a railroad to the Pocahontas Coalfields, the community's name was changed again to "Graham" to honor Col. Thomas Graham, a Philadelphia capitalist. The town was first chartered by the Commonwealth of Virginia as the town of Graham in 1884. The Norfolk and Western railroad chose Bluefield, West Virginia over Graham as the place to build its regional headquarters and main docking yards for the Pocahontas region.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Bluefield, Virginia” is town in Tazwell County, Virginia, United States. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Bluefield, Virginia and town, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “town in Tazwell County, Virginia, United States” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1376715. VIAF identifies the subject as 150132790. The Library of Congress control number is n83052376. Authority coordinates are 37.253, -81.271. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020 and 1884.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Bluefield, Virginia”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Bluefield, Virginia primary sources, Bluefield, Virginia archive and Bluefield research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Bluefield, Virginia”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Bluefield, Virginia” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.