The town of Mucklow was named for Richard M. Mucklow, one of the early businessmen and coal operators on Paint Creek, who came to West Virginia from Scranton, Pennsylvania, with his four brothers in 1900 and helped organize the Paint Creek Colliery Co. Richard remained active in the coal business for many years and died in Charleston in 1938 at the age of 77. George Mucklow managed the Mucklow Supply Co., which had company stores in several locations on Paint Creek, and became the first postmaster when the post office was established there on June 25, 1904. On January 13, 1917, the town was officially renamed Gallagher. During the Mine War of 1912-1913, Mucklow was a center of activity, and in February 1913 striking miners attacked an encampment of Baldwin-Felts guards stationed there; the guards used lever action Winchesters and a Gatling gun, running the gun until it became hot and then resuming fire with Winchester rifles. Gallagher was also one of several Paint Creek towns with a theatre for local entertainment. Its first theatre was built and operated in 1916, closed in 1928 when only silent movies were being shown and talking movies had not yet been developed, reopened in 1940 after Brad Coleman purchased, modernized, and remodeled it, and remained open until about 1954.