One of the year’s biggest real estate deals in Follansbee took place on Wednesday, January 27, 1915 when George. E. Wood bought the Eagle Hall property on Penn Street at the corner of Virginia.  For years, the Eagle Hall was the main gathering place for social functions.  With the change in ownership, the building was renamed, Penn Street Hall.  The Penn Street Hall building continued to function as the city’s chief gathering place for dancing, club meetings, ceremonies, lectures, dinners, and receptions among many other activities.   In January 1916, the Follansbee Review reported the following clubs meeting at Penn Street Hall.

• Follansbee Review, “Buys Eagle Hall,” January 29, 1915, front page.
• Follansbee Review, January 28, 1916.
• Follansbee Review, February 4, 1918.

Even today, the rivalry between Follansbee and Wellsburg brings emotions to those who experienced the heated games and fans.  Some sources claim the series began in 1915, others 1917.   The brawl to settle the championship of Brooke County continued annually (except during World War I) until 1968.  In 1951, the two teams agreed to award a “Silver Saw” to the victor who kept it until the following year when it was up for grabs again.   The contest usually occurred in the final game of the season.   As the game ended fans rushed on the field and knocked the goalposts down. Team records meant nothing when it came to the rivalry. In 1959, two games were scheduled between the Blue Wave and the Orange Crushers, each team winning a contest.

There was always plenty of mischief and pre-game rallies involving  “snake dances” which were long lines of students holding hands and dancing their way through town escorted by others with drums and horns.  Fans would dance their way on the streets and even through movie theaters. There were also large bonfires and parades.

A 1922 newspaper headline said, “Wellsburg Coming to Beat Follansbee.”A week later another headline appeared, “Pep Meeting.”   Follansbee students showed up at the high school steps.  The football team rode a bus while students marched behind as town people joined singing and cheering.   “At the head of the procession two boys carried a large banner “Beat Follansbee” which was taken from Wellsburg last year.” The march proceeded down Main Street and various side streets including Allegheny Street.

• Brooke Scene, “A bitter football rivalry,” May 24, 1997, p. 3.
• Follansbee Review, “Wellsburg Coming …,” October 13, 1922.
• Follansbee Review, “Pep Meeting,” October 20, 1922.

The earliest dairy service to Follansbee was provided by farmers who brought raw milk in dairy cans. Customers would come out to the milk wagon and collect their milk from the cans into their own containers. Farmers delivered milk, cream, buttermilk, butter and fresh eggs to residences.  John Magee was listed as a dairyman in a 1908 city directory.   D. H. Jacobs was a well known dairyman from Follansbee Heights mentioned in the Follansbee Review in 1915.

The Cross Creek Valley Dairy, owned by Maderia and Schwertfeger, had one of the oldest routes in Follansbee.  In November 1915, the Wellsburg Dairy Products Company was in the process of taking over the Valley customers and promised to introduce pasteurized milk to the city.

In 1919, the West Virginia Dairy advertised in the city paper that beginning in May, “milk is 13 cents a quart and 7 cents a pint.” In October, The Lantz Brothers were also advertising the sale of “pure milk & cream – butter – buttermilk.”  Their address was Banfield Avenue. Lantz Dairy became the town’s most familiar supplier of milk, serving the city for generations.In 1931, the proprietors of Lantz Brothers were still Emmett and Fred Lantz.  However their address had changed to Penn Street & Virginia Avenue.  They served the legal notice that the trade-mark of their business as a “Bottler” would be Follansbee Dairy, Lantz Brothers.

Joe Prest (at 100 years old) recalled delivering milk for Lantz Dairy with a horse drawn wagon.   He said the horse knew where to go.   On one occasion, the horse became disagreeable and bit Joe’s hand causing a large scar.  People paid their bill by putting money in the empty bottles returned to the dairyman when the next delivery occurred.

A collection of Lantz Diary bottles can be seen on the following website.

• Lance Dairy ad, Follansbee Review, December 1936
• Follansbee Review, “Dairy Company Secures New Milk Rout,” November 26, 1915, front page.
• Follansbee Review, “Review of the Week,” (D.H.Jacobs), October 8, 1915, p. 5.
• Follansbee Review, “West Virginia Dairy (Ad),” May 2, 1919, p. 9.
• Follansbee Review, “Emmett Lantz Bros. Fred (Ad),” October 7, 1919.
• Follansbee Review, “Notice of Registration of Trade Mark..,” October 22, 1931, p. 4.

Horse-drawn wagon for West Virginia Dairy circa 1918.   Photo courtesy of W.Va. State Archives.

The public schools of Follansbee published the names of students with the best attendance records each month. Enrollment in high school and grade schools was 486.   216 students were neither absent nor tardy.  The December average attendance was 95.2.

• Mill Towns Review, “Children Neither Absent nor Tardy..,” December 26, 1913, p. 5.

One of the most successful city soccer football teams gained regional attention in 1914. During their first season in 1913, the Rangers were winless.  However, the 1914 team was undefeated except for a loss against the East Liverpool Grand Independents, the undisputed champions of eastern Ohio.   The Follansbee Rangers confronted the claim of the Moundsville soccer team for the championship of the Upper Ohio valley.  Manager William R. Reese was one of the first soccer stars to come out of Follansbee.   He later coached the Moose Lodge soccer team in 1921. The Rangers played against Moundsville (WV) on Christmas afternoon. No score was reported by the Mill Towns Review.   Earlier in the year, the Follansbee Rangers tied Steubenville 3-3 at Ferguson field on muddy ground.    The schedule included an early game against the Follansbee Star Team, a pick-up-team of former soccer players.

The Rangers lineup included the following: Addison & T. McQuillan (goalies), Sam Bamford (RF), Holland (LF), Jack Bufton (CH), Richards (LH), W. Jones (RH), J. Jones (IR), Gough (OR), Owen (C), Mullen (I.L) and Albert James (OL).   Other players mentioned in the papers were W. Lake, R. Goff, Gus Hickman, and Jim Stewart,

• Mill Towns Review, “Tie Soccer Game,” March 20, 1914, front page.

So serious was the epidemic of burglaries in the city that citizens took up arms against night prowlers to stop the many robberies that were occurring.   Groups of men were stationed with Chief Barnes all over the downtown section in order to discover the robbers.  In the Upper Orchard area, a specially appointed officer, Charles Russlee, was required to show up at different places at certain hours each night so that the people knew their homes were being protected.

• Mill Towns Review, “Citizens Police Town at Night,” December 11, 1914, front page.
• Mill Towns Review, “The Right Man,” November 13, 1914, front page.

The war on dogs was a city ritual for years. The city paper noted, “It would be a good idea to kill a hundred or so of the vast army of dogs which run about the streets all the time.”  Dogs were slaughtered yearly.  The city council directed Chief of Police Barnes and Sam Petch (or Patch, two spellings given) to kill stray dogs on the streets at a four-bit bounty per canine.   The paper reported, “We now know where the friendless dogs go to, but whence come they?” The main concern of dogs was rabies.  Rabid dogs running wild in the streets would bite other dogs creating a serious danger to the public.

A rash of black snakes were scaring folks during the summers of 1914-1915.   Mrs. Alexandra Craig killed a five foot black snake in her yard on North Main Street. It was the second such incident in a few days. A black snake measuring 6 feet 2 inches was killed by Kelly Varden as it was crawling into the office of the gasoline works.   During a storm early in August, a black snake said to measure seven feet was found on Main Street by Robert Reese.  “The reptile showed fight and would not be chased away so it was killed with a club.”

• Mill Towns Review, “War on Dogs,” December 4, 1914, front page.
• Mill Towns Review, “Slaughter Dogs,” December 11, 1914, p. 7.
• Follansbee Review, “Kills Black Snake,” June 25, 1915, front page.
• Follansbee Review, “Kills 6-ft. Snake,” July2, 1915, front page.
• Mill Towns Review, “Blacksnake Killed in Main Street,” August 14, 1914, front page.

“Hoopies” is a derogatory but usually good natured name given to rural West Virginians who come north to work. People from Follansbee often call folks from areas south of the next bridge crossing the Ohio River “Hoopies.” The term was especially used when referring to residents from Wellsburg, which was the football sports rival. According to the Dictionary of American Regional English, the term is in wide use in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia and upper Ohio Valley including Eastern Pennsylvania.

The origin of the word Hoopies is a mystery.  One notion is that the term comes from “barrel hoops.”  Hillbilly dwellers in West Virginia used to come down to the towns to work in factories that made the hoops that held barrels together.  Early cooper shops used split saplings to serve as the hoops holding the barrel and then weaving together the ends, or using small nails.   According to folks in East Liverpool, the term originates from back hills people coming to town carrying bundles of the saplings, which were sold to the cooper shops. They were called Hoopies or hoops.

The residences north of Allegany Street were predominantly of Welsh, English and Scotch-Irish descent. Many of their ancestors arrived in America prior to the building of the Follansbee Brothers Tin Mill. Their religious backgrounds were primarily protestant.  Many were influential families in early city politics, social life, banking, and the development of the factories.  Lower Enders referred to them as “Cake Eaters.”

Residents who lived in the Lower End were considered “foreigners.” Most of them had only recently arrived from Central and Southern Europe. The majority were Italians.  There were many other ethnic groups, especially from Austria-Hungary including Hungarians, Romanians, and Slovaks. They spoke very little English.    Newspapers, including the “Follansbee Review,” when reporting stories involving Lower Enders referred to them as foreigners or Italians rather then by their actual names.  Hundred-year-old Joe Prest recalled that walking through the Orchard was an uncomfortable experience. “People came out on their porch and shouted at you.  They called us Dagos and Polacks.”

A number of Social Lodges became symbols for the town’s divided population.  The Cedar Lodge, now located near the city fire department, was a symbol for the Orchard.   Its membership was closed to Lower Enders who were viewed as the working class.  The Sons of Italy (no longer operating), Garibaldi Lodge, and Theta Chi Alpha Fraternity represented the cultural tone of the Lower End. Until the late 1950s, more than 25 beer joints and Social Lodges existed in the city, most were in the Lower End.

• John Prest, Oral Interview, Follansbee, July 2009

The Bank of Follansbee began business with $25,000 capital stock on July 25, 1914.  It was located on the first floor of a building on the east side of Main Street, half way between Ohio and Pennsylvania streets.  Richard Humes was elected as the bank president.  Two other officers were vice president, M. S. Wilson, and cashier, F. D. Armstrong.  During the October meeting, the Bank officers set a goal to achieve $100,000 in deposits by November 1, 1915.  This amount was viewed as easy to attain since it was only one-twelfth the annual payroll of the town.   The city had 3,000 inhabitants with an aggregate $100,000 monthly payroll.  Only a small amount was being deposited or spent in Follansbee.  The meeting turned into sort of a town boosting campaign. “One speaker declared that Follansbee is good enough to live in… and is good enough to spend your money in.”

The Bank of Follansbee was originally located in the building that is now the city library, where the bank’s vault can still be seen.

• Mill Towns Review, “Bank of Follansbee Ready To Do Business,” July 24, 1914, front page.
• Mill Towns Review, “$100,000 Deposits by Next November…,” October 30, 1914, front page.