The Hancock County, W.Va., town later named Pughtown was first settled in the Revolutionary War period. A Presbyterian church was founded there in 1794. In 1810 David Pugh platted the town in 113 lots and named it New Manchester after the Manchester, England, origin of some settlers. When a post office was established in 1818 or 1820, it was given the name Fairview for its hilltop location.

Pugh had the town incorporated but residents objected to the taxation required for a municipal government and it was rescinded.

In 1912 the postmaster, whose mails sometimes went astray to another town named Fairview, requested a name change to Pughtown to honor its founder. Area resident Shields “Skip” Mayhew said the story about the name change he heard from an oldtimer, likely a joke, was that a meeting was held and “more Pughs than Mayhews attended.” In 1967 a petition of residents pushed by the town’s Ruritan Club caused the post office, and therefore the town, be renamed New Manchester.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries Pughtown had a number of dry goods and grocery stores, blacksmiths, saddle and harness shops, two churches, a cobbler, an inn, a tavern, pharmacies, a literary society, several fraternal organizations, a Grange, and a newspaper. There were elementary schools and a high school called the Gravel Hill Academy, a baseball team and a football team.

When the county of Hancock was created out of Brooke County in 1848, an election was held to locate the county seat. Pughtown won by one vote over New Cumberland. A county courthouse with a jail was built; the judge and several attorneys resided in the town. In 1881 the county seat moved to New Cumberland. The old county courthouse, now demolished, was used later as a feed store.