Weirton

By Dennis R. Jones

Weirton was originally settled as the village of Holliday s Cove, a strategic fortification along the Ohio River in northwestern Virginia. In 1909, a tinplate mill was established in northern Holliday s Cove, and Weirton was born. Thousands of immigrants of many nationalities came here to work and live, while Ernest T. Weir created his life s dream of a fully integrated steel plant. Weirton became the Largest Unincorporated Town in the Country and remained unincorporated for 38 years. In 1947, Weirton combined with Holliday s Cove, Weirton Heights, and Marland Heights to become the official City of Weirton. Thomas E. Millsop, president of Weirton Steel Co., became the first mayor, and the mill became a major factor in the city s success. Many historic moments, including the record snowfall of Thanksgiving weekend 1950, were highlighted in the Weirton Steel Employees Bulletin. Weirton captures this event and tells the story of the New City, which thrived in the 1950s and 1960s.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Nov 17, 2014
• ISBN: 9781439648568

Dennis R. Jones

Born and raised in Weirton, Dennis R. Jones is a retired engineer and standards writer with American Electric Power. He dedicates his time to preserving local history with the Weirton Area Museum and Cultural Center and has composed several historical publications, including a video documentary about his hometown.

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School.

INTRODUCTION

The story of Weirton begins in the year 1909, when Ernest T. Weir, his brother David M. Weir, and John C. Williams came to the peaceful crescent-shaped valley of Holliday’s Cove to establish a steel mill. They came from Clarksburg, West Virginia, where they had recently overhauled a defunct tin plate mill and started a successful business named the Phillips Sheet & Tin Plate Company. Ernest T. Weir had a dream of creating a fully integrated steel plant, and it was decided that Holliday’s Cove was the best place to build it. Dohrman Sinclair, a banker at Steubenville, Ohio, and Cyrus Ferguson, an oil producer and landowner, played a big part in convincing Weir to come there. The new town was named Weirton in honor of Ernest T. Weir, president of the company. In 1918, the company was renamed Weirton Steel Company on Weir’s birthday. In 1929, Weirton Steel Company became a division of National Steel Corporation, which was formed by Weir. It was one of the very few to show a profit during the Depression. The mill town of Weirton remained unincorporated for 38 years and was dubbed the Largest Unincorporated Town in the Country, with the World’s Largest Tin Mill.

The surrounding residential areas had previously incorporated and formed city governments, but after World War II, they combined with the unincorporated town of Weirton. In 1947, the New City of Weirton was chartered, and Weirton Steel president Thomas E. Millsop was elected as the first mayor. Weirton prospered through the 1950s and 1960s along with the steel mill, but air pollution controls and foreign trade competition soon propelled a decline in the steel industry. In 1982, with Ernest T. Weir and Thomas E. Millsop long gone, the National Steel Corporation announced that Weirton Steel Company was for sale. The employees were on their own, as they took the bold step of purchasing the company and forming an employee stock ownership plan, or ESOP, the largest of its kind. The ESOP, named Weirton Steel Corporation, survived 20 years before filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy May 19, 2003.

The above photograph shows a view looking northward at Holliday’s Cove in the year 1905 before industrialization took a firm grip on the valley. The two-story frame Holliday’s Cove School, erected in 1903, is visible in the middle. To the left is the Cove Presbyterian Church, built in 1861. Harmon’s Creek is shown winding through the valley on its way to the Ohio River. (Courtesy Arthur Miser Jr.)

Above is a view looking northward at Weirton in 1974 after decades of industrial growth. Weirton Steel Company starts in the upper left and expands around the crescent-shaped valley to the south, ending at Cove School and Cove Athletic Field. Marland Heights is on the left and Weirton Heights is on the right. Weircrest and Weirton General Hospital are barely visible in the extreme upper left.

One

THE EARLY YEARS

From 1909 to 1947, the company town of Weirton was a theater of competition, progress, and patriotism. The people of Holliday’s Cove organized in 1912 to incorporate and set up boundaries, thus preserving the name of Holliday’s Cove from the encroaching steel town to its north. For the most part, the management of Weirton Steel kept employees satisfied and independent from outside organized labor. The Weirton Improvement Company was formed to operate the fire, police, water, and sewerage functions and contract new homes. The years when labor unrest caused work stoppage in Weirton were 1919 and 1933.

With the stock market crash of 1929, Ernest T. Weir formed and headed National Steel Corporation. David M. Weir had tragically died due to a sudden illness earlier that year, and John C. Williams was named the new president of Weirton Steel Company, a division of National Steel. Williams promoted athletics and interdepartmental sports, and after the 1933 strike, additional programs were initiated to improve relations among the employees. The Weirton Steel Employees Bulletin began publication, the Margaret Manson Weir Memorial Pool and Park opened, and the first Labor Day Pageant, named the Festival of Nations, was held. All these traditions began in 1934. The Williams Country Club golf course and the Lodge, which was used for company guests, were also established in the 1930s.

John C. Williams tragically passed away in 1936 and was succeeded by Thomas E. Millsop. Perhaps the proudest time in Weirton’s history was during World War II, when the War Department bestowed the Army-Navy E Award upon the employees of Weirton Steel Company, honoring them for excellence in production on the home front. In 1945, a movie titled Assignment Accomplished was produced showing the men and women of Weirton Steel Company making eight-inch Howitzer shells. The War Department, Pittsburgh Ordinance District, later published a book summarizing war production from the 176 plants receiving E Awards in the Pittsburgh area. In the book, there is a chapter titled There is Always a Best. Weirton Steel Company was the subject of that chapter.

The first railroad through Holliday’s Cove was built in 1854 by Jesse Edgington and Nathaniel Wells, stretching from the Ohio River eastward to the Pennsylvania state line. Despite objections by the Virginia government, the Holliday’s Cove Railroad Company was chartered to build a bridge across the river to the west. It was not completed until 1865 after the Civil War and new state of West Virginia was formed. (Courtesy Charles Cronin.)

In 1887, a railroad was constructed northward from Holliday’s Cove to New Cumberland to service the many brickyards in that vicinity. The New Cumberland Junction railroad station was established in Holliday’s Cove where the railroad branched to the north. The railroad followed and crossed the main wagon road at Mary Crawford’s property. That point was named Crawford’s Crossing. (Courtesy Arthur Miser Jr.)

The Steubenville and Pittsburgh Pike stretched from the Ohio River through Holliday’s Cove eastward to Pittsburgh,