The Moonville Tunnel was built around 1857 by the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad. This area was considered the most lonesome and desolate 8 miles of track between Parkersburg and St. Louis. In 1887, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad bought out the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad and took over. The line switched ownership again in 1894 when the CSX Railroad purchased it. In 1903, part of the tunnel collapsed, leaving it impassable. The tunnel was repaired and lined with brick from 1903-1904. Trains stopped using the tracks in 1986, and they were removed 2 years later.

The small village of Moonville Station, a.k.a. Moonville, was located here. The village was born after an abundance of high quality coal was discovered in the area. It was thought to have been named after a man named Moon, who operated the general store. Lucias Coe owned 350 acres of land in this area, including much of Moonville. The Coe Family built and operated a sawmill along Raccoon Creek.

Moonville peaked in 1870 with a population of roughly 100 people. The village had a general store, saloon, sawmill, depot, cemetery, and many mines. Most of the residents mined coal, but some worked at the Hope Furnace. Inspectors rated the conditions in the Moonville Mines as some of the worst in the area. The coal mines were exhausted by the turn of the century.

Moonville's fate was sealed after the mines were exhausted and the Hope Furnace went out of blast. The isolated location, combined with the lack of jobs, led to a rapid decline in the population. The last family left the village in 1947, but the village was already abandoned by then. By the 1960's, everything was gone except the tunnel and cemetery.