About Gary Hollow and Gary HS
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Gary Hollow is located at the southern edge of McDowell County at the southern tip of West Virginia. It came into being around the coal industry that flourished there from the early 1900`s almost coming to an end in the 1980`s

In the early 1900`s the coal industry began to expand in McDowell County and Gary Hollow with the expansion of the railroad into the far reaches of the county and Gary Hollow .As a result the coal camps began to spring up around the mines. Many miners were needed to build the mines and bring the coal to the top, they came from far and wide . Many came from Countries all across Europe . Poland, Hungary, Spain and many others. These immigrants had nothing but a dream and hope of making it in a free land. They worked hard and built a home for their families. Thus our fore fathers built a grand place that was pure and simple. I cannot begin to name the many notable people of the early days that played a key role in the development of the area as there were many. My Dad`s Father John (Janos) Garay arrived from Hungary around 1910 . He came to Gary Hollow aboard a train late at night with the lights from the coke ovens glowing in the dark , he was very frightened. He eventually settled in Filbert and built a log cabin on # 9 mountain on land leased from the Company.   Like all the others he made his home there. My Mom`s father George Mercs, immigrated from Hungary in the early 1910`s and initially setteled in Dayton, Ohio. In the early 1920`s he moved his family to Elbert where he worked as a coal miner in the # 7 mine. In the early years they lived on what was referred to as the "Hike" a row of houses on the mountainside overlooking Elbert bottom. The legacy that these men and women left is all but forgotten. Its sad that most of todays generation have no clue of their heritage.

The Memory of Gary High School and area

This site is dedicated to the memory of Gary High School and those that passed through its doors . The School building still stands but is silent and empty as its doors are now closed forever. The memories and spirit lives on.    Roll out the Barrel.


With the influx of all the men coming to Gary Hollow to work the mines and their families with  them schools were needed. Thus Gary High School was born somewhere around 1913 and  served students grades 7 through 12. The outlying coal camps had their own elementary schools and some camps had their own middle schools . Today It is hard to immagine that coal camps like Elbert had its own Grade School that was usually full, now that this community barely exist . The students that attended GHS came from all over the U.S. and Europe, from many different backgrounds,ethnic groups and class levels.  Gary High School flourished with the demand for coal. During the forties and fifties the mines were running at full speed and life was good in the county , Gary High School was running strong . Then in 1959 the bottom fell out of the coal industry in the county. The U.S.S.C. mines shut down and there was a mass exodus of people from the county and Gary Hollow. The student population of GHS dropped almost overnight. When the coal industry fluctuated the student population decreased until eventually the school had to be closed with the graduating class of 1978  as did Welch HS , the two High Schools were combined into one new school Mount View HS near Welch . Today the majority of the people living in Gary Hollow are retired. Thus not very many children are visible. There are some of us that left the Hollow and still hang onto the memories and wish things could be the way they were. There are others that still live there and have all their lives and are very happy and are content to stay there. There were also others that left there and never looked back and never been heard from since. But whatever the case we all carry with us the legacy of our forefathers and the grit of West Virginia.


I am currently reading the new book by Alex P. Schust called Gary Hollow. I am impressed by the amount of information and facts contained in the book. When I looked at the facts and figures and population figures through out the years from 1900 to the present , the thought I had was a lot of people have lived in Gary Hollow through the years and now the population is a fraction of what it used to be.. When you read the book you realize that Gary Hollow was once a bustling grand place compared to what it is today, makes you wonder what happened to all those people and what does the future hold for Gary Hollow in the next ten to twenty years.