The Dun Glen Hotel was located in Fayette County on the New River across from the railroad town of Thurmond. Local landowner Thomas G. McKell built the hotel in the Southside community in 1901, three years prior to his death. Although Thurmond was a small town, it accounted, as a shipping and collecting point for coal and other freight, for almost 20 percent of all the revenue generated in the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway system in 1910.

The prosperity of the Dun Glen Hotel (sometimes reported as The Dunglen) mirrored that of Thurmond. The hotel was adjacent to the Dunloup Branch railroad, which ran to Glen Jean and the mines on the plateau. Opening night was a gala affair with an orchestra from Cincinnati providing the music. The well-patronized hotel was four and a half stories high and had 100 rooms. Alcohol was prohibited in Thurmond proper but flowed freely across the river at the Dun Glen Hotel. That increased business at the hotel and added to its lore and popularity. One story tells of a poker game at the Dun Glen that lasted 14 years. The famous landmark was burned by arsonists on July 22, 1930.