Thomas, recognized today as the gateway to the historical and recreational resources of the Blackwater River region, preserves the living history of West Virginia's coal-mining industry as contemporary businesses and cultural activities occupy attractive 19th century buildings along Front Street much as they did when the town was vibrant more than 100 years earlier. Nearby, the remains of the Coketon Industrial Complex recall the huge industrial operation run by the Davis Coal & Coke Company and its subsidiaries, one of the biggest mining and coal processing operations in the U.S. from 1900 to 1910. Although the company had more than 1,200 heavy beehive ovens producing tons of coke in 1912, steel mills soon began demanding higher-grade coke made by new methods that could not be introduced with the technology in place at Coketon. The local economy was deeply affected; by 1915, 900 of the area's 1,235 coke ovens were closed, mines were sealed, and the Davis Coal & Coke Company's fortunes were declining. Despite a brief upward swing during World War I, only 26 local ovens were still producing coke by 1923, and as hundreds of families left Thomas seeking work elsewhere, the area's population fell from 2,500 residents in 1910 to less than 500 today.