Arthurdale was the first New Deal homestead project established under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Subsistence Homesteads Division. Created as part of the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933, this division aimed to improve the living conditions of people from overcrowded urban areas and afford them the opportunity to experience small-scale farming and homeownership. Eleanor Roosevelt became interested in the work being done and she, along with Clarence Pickett, Chief of the Stranded Mining and Industrial Populations Section of the Department of the Interior, became involved with the project.

In August 1933, Mrs. Rooselvelt visited the impoverished coal camps of Scotts Run–a mining town just outside of Morgantown, West Virginia–and was deeply moved by the families and their stories of hardship. Bringing these stories of Scotts Run back with her, the U.S. government purchased farmland in nearby Preston County from Richard Arthur and began constructing the first experimental community. The Subsistence Homesteads Division received more than 1,000 applications from families in north central West Virginia (many from Scotts Run) to be the first Arthurdale homesteaders.

Prospective homesteaders had to have a good character, take a test of agricultural and other knowledge, and be married with children. Approximately 1,000 individuals called Arthurdale home in the 1930s. Unfortunately, the federal government at the time preferred that applicants were white, native-born, Christian, and a standard nuclear family, which meant that many applicants of color and other nationalities were not selected to come to Arthurdale. 

Between 1933 and 1937, 165 houses and numerous community structures were erected on approximately 1,200 acres. The community boasted a school, a blacksmith’s forge, a gas station, cooperative store, craft shop, barbershop, and a doctor’s clinic in addition to manufacturing and agricultural structures.