Barbour County Cities, Towns and Settlements
Kasson

According to an account found in Barbour County West Virginiapublished by the Barbour County Historical Society in 1979 Kasson, in Cove District, was first named Danville after the first settler Dan Highly. The hill he lived on, overlooking Kasson is still known as Highly Hill. Mr. Highly raised mulberry trees to feed his silkworms and produced silk thread was put on spools and shipped to Baltimore.

Danville was given the name Kasson because there was another WV Post Office called Danville. The first letter was mailed to a man named Kasson. The first Post Office was establised in 1862. Carr Bishop was the first postmaster. After him, Marion Newman, 1884; Lewis Coffman, 1904; George Coffman served from 1908 till his death in 1930. Hattie Coffman, his wife and two sons, Hayse & George Sherwood took it over until 1937 when Rachel Wilson Ball served till her death.

In the early days of Kasson the community included:
Stores:
Jack Bishop in 1870, John and Ed Compton, 1875; Marion Newman, 1880; Daniel J. Nester, 1890 and Lewis Coffman.

Blacksmith Shops:
David Hovatter, 1860; Ben Ekis in 1864; Albert Loar in 1891; and Lewis Coffman who learned the trade from his uncles Mike and Lige Coffman who had shops in Valley Furnace, Belington and Elkins. His first shop was near West Point

Other:
Two shook shops where barrel staves were made.
Parkers woolen mill.
Henry Coffman's tannery, shoe and bootmaking shop established prior to the Civil War.

Schools:
The first school was close the Kasson United Methodist Church; later built where Fred Dumire now lives.
The Cove District High School was opened in 1923.
A.S. Hardin donated one acre or more of land for the school that now stands on Rt. 92. The school was built mostly by free labor with Pat Ryan as boss. First school was the year of 1925. In 1936 it became a senior high school and the name was changed to Kasson High School. After 1958 it became a grade school, and now has nearly 200 students.

Churches:
The Kasson United Methodist Church, built in 1898. Daniel Nestor and Daniel Lohr were overseers.
The Church of the Brethren, David Hovatter had the Communion and Love Feast in his house, this was the beginning of the Shiloh Church of the Brethren which was organized in 1845 about 1 ½ miles from Kasson.

Lodges organized in Danville:
Independent Order of Odd Fellows
Rebekahs
Woodmen of the World.

This has been abridged from the 1979 article written by "the Coffmans". If you have family from Kasson you will enjoy reading the entire article for more tidbits on the town and its citizens.

If you can add any information about the town of Kasson, please write to me. Margaret Lew

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