1733-1807), born in Maryland, obtained a title to 400 acres of land (“by virtue of a settlement”) in the future Elkins area before 1778.

[8] Before its major development, the area that would become Elkins was known as Leadsville, and was the site of a few scattered homesteads – a place where the local farmers' corn crop was loaded onto boats and floated down the Tygart Valley River.

Together, they built the West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway into Elkins in 1889, opening a vast territory to industrial development by the late 1890s.

This was resolved, however, only after multiple referendums, court judgments, and the mobilization of armed bands in both towns.

In 1904 the new Randolph County Courthouse – designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style – was completed in Elkins.

As the railroad (merged into the Western Maryland Railway in 1905) expanded, Elkins experienced the luxury of passenger train service.

Where the view of the new town was most delightful and picturesque, Davis and Elkins each built permanent places of residence, known as Graceland (1893) and Halliehurst (1890), respectively.

[citation needed] Today, Elkins has an active economic development authority, chamber of commerce, downtown business organization and numerous social, fraternal and service organizations that sponsor annual events like the Mountain State Forest Festival, which brings thousands of people into the city every year.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.43 square miles (8.88 km2), all land.

[10] Elkins is headquarters for the Monongahela National Forest, a 910,155-acre (368,327 ha) federal reserve encompassing the "High Alleghenies" area to the east of the city.

In 1995, a second edition of The 100 Best Small Towns in America, written by Norman Crampton, featured Elkins among the special places in the United States.

Crampton quoted then Editor Emerita of The Inter-Mountain, Eldora Marie Bolyard Nuzum, "You can stand on any street in Elkins and turn in all directions and see forest covered mountains rimming the city.

Heading west of the city, US 33 is Corridor H, a major four-lane highway connecting to Buckhannon and Interstate 79 at Weston.

Long-term plans call for Corridor H to be extended further past its current ending at Kerens eventually to Interstate 81 at Strasburg, Virginia.