The purchase of Mahan’s Farm by the Follansbee brothers sets the stage and name for the modern day city of Follansbee. The Follansbee Brothers Company purchased 110 acres of orchards and farmland along the river from Thomas J. and Herman Mahan for construction of their Tin and Steel Sheet plant.   The Mahan farmland was and excellent location because it provided immediate access to the Ohio River for transporting raw materials.  Additionally, it was in close proximity to Pittsburgh’s labor market.

The officers of the Follansbee Brothers Company were Benjamin Gilbert Follansbee, president, William U. Follansbee, secretary and treasurer, William Banfield, mill general manager, Thomas H. Rogers, superintendent, and Charles A. Wilson, purchasing agent. The company set up their local office on the Mahan homestead very near where the Cox log cabin was build in 1772.

Follansbee Brothers, used Thomas Mahan’s home as their first office. Circa 1904.