Derby Historic District

Derby is a former coal company town strung along Preacher Creek in Wise County, Virginia, about four miles north of Appalachia and Big Stone Gap. Planned in 1922 and built in 1923 by the Stonega Coke and Coal Company, it incorporates the upper end of the earlier camp of Arno, where a row of frame houses dates from about 1908 or 1909. Most Derby buildings are made of hollow ceramic tile, with brick used for the major public buildings. Two-story double houses, each with four rooms per side, dominate the town, and larger five-room versions housed favored employees. Craftsman-style details include exposed rafter ends and square porch posts on tile railings. A superintendent's house, doctor's house, hose house, Gothic Revival Methodist church and a section once reserved for Black workers show how the company organized the community. The district is listed for its architecture and its role in the coal industry, with a period of significance from 1922 to 1952.