East Steubenville is an unincorporated area that lies across the Ohio River from Steubenville, Ohio.  Long before the Market Street Bridge existed the area served as an important stop for transportation.  For decades the middle ferry, which was located near where the Market Street Bridge is today, carried farming goods across the river to Steubenville marketplaces.

The middle ferry was established by Richard “Gray Beard” Wells in 1799 to fright goods across to the Ohio shore. His relative Bazil Wells owned the land on the Ohio side. Bazil, in conjunction with James Ross, laid the plans for the town of Steubenville. “The rapid growth of Steubenville, with the large emigration to Ohio, made this ferry very profitable.”  The ferry remained in the Wells family. In 1836 Nathaniel Wells took charge of the ferry property and hotel.  He removed the old stone building, replacing it with a larger brick hotel and outbuildings. Wells continued managing the ferry and prospered in various other businesses including a lumber yard and steam saw mill. He operated various warehouses and farms raising sheep and other stock.

As early as 1878, East Steubenville also served as a stop for the railroad between Holiday Cove and south to Mahan station (Follansbee).  Travelers leaving the train used the ferry to Steubenville.   With the coming of the Market Street Bridge, a walkway was constructed from the tracks below to the bridge for foot traffic.   Later, the trolley line also stopped at the bridge to accommodate travelers. Even later, buses stopped for passengers to and from East Steubenville.

During the early 1900s the area also had a popular swimming beach along the river.   There was a small community of residential homes on the hillside along the riverbank.   By the 1960s, parts of this little community began to disappear following the creation of modern dams that raised water levels and widened the river.

• H. Newton, G. G. Nichols, & A.G. Sprankel, “History The Panhandle; Historical Collections..” (Wheeling, J.A. Caldwell, 1879), p. 350.

The bridge was originally constructed for streetcars and pedestrian traffic.  However, early automobiles also used the wooden deck. The first to cross was foot traffic for 2 cents toll.  Additional road work was necessary involving laying of streetcar tracks to Follansbee.  The old wagon road along the river bank frequently became impassable due to rock slides, rain and high water. Two weeks following the work to improve the road, the bridge opened to streetcars and other vehicles, mostly horses and wagons. Below the bridge, a Pennsylvania railroad stop existed for travelers who wanted to get off and walk over the bridge to Steubenville. Steps were available for walking from the railroad tracks below to the bridge. The Market Street Bridge replaced the middle ferry, located near the train stop. The ferry provided earlier transportation for travelers and horse drawn wagons across the river. The West Virginia side of the river became known as East Steubenville, an important demarcation point that also included a streetcar stop before crossing the river to Steubenville.   The road to Follansbee from the bridge was identified in early newspapers as Sinclair or Steubenville Boulevard.  (See 1904 East Steubenville on Timeline)

Market Street Bridge was owned by a private entity called the Steubenville Bridge Company until 1941 when it was bought by the state of West Virginia.  Streetcar tracks were removed in 1942 and the bridge was converted to full motor vehicle use.  Tolls were removed in 1953. The historic bridge represents an important evolution in transportation. It reduced the need for ferryboats while spanning the age of horse drawn wagons, streetcars, and today’s auto traffic.

Looking at Market Street Bridge from Steubenville. Courtesy of James Piccarillo.

Trolley on W.V. side of bridge 1910.  Courtesy W.V. Archives. 

• “Historic Bridges by County: Brooke County, WV” (On-line)  http://www.historicbridges.org/b_a_county.php?county=Brooke%20County,%20West%20Virgini
• For full history of this bridge go to: http://www.historicbridges.org/ohio/market/history.pdf

Booming employment opportunities in Follansbee presented major transportation issues. The narrow dirt wagon roads were both dangerous and often unusable.   Business leaders Fred Hall and Asa G. Neville, (Follansbee street is named after Neville), traveled to Pittsburgh to meet the Follansbee Brothers and discuss a special work train on the railroad between Follansbee and Wellsburg. Neville was the factory manager of the Eagle Company in Wellsburg.

In January 1905, The Wellsburg Daily Herald reported that contractor N.C. Hunter had 50 men working on construction to improve the dirt road between Follansbee and Wellsburg

An early Route 2 streetcar crossing Cross Creek bridge. Notice the dangerous left sharp curve for highway traffic though the hillside. The road was not only dangerous here, but throughout the entire route, crossing over Gilchrest Hill before arriving in Wellsburg. Also notice the railroad tracks on the right. Transportation issues also were a problem between Follansbee and Holliday Cove (later the city of Weirton). See photo of the road to Weirton below.

Road to Weirton circa 1910. Before brick pavement, the conditions of road were very poor. Photo courtesy of Brook Country Genealogy Society.

Road to Weirton circa 1910. Photo courtesy of Brook Country Genealogy Society

• Wellsburg Daily Herald, “The Year 1904,” January 5, 1905, p. 1.
• Photos from . Richard A. Boyd Collection 1905-1910

For bridge enthusiasts, what is impressive about the bridge is its decorative finials on top of the towers.  The bridge is located on Route 2 between Follansbee and Cross Creek. The Wabash Bridge was also a popular route for foot traffic from Cross Creek, Wellsburg, and Follansbee to Mingo Junction on the other side of the river. There was a streetcar stop near the bridge on the West Virginia side for passengers who wanted to get off and walk to Louise and Cross Creek or over the bridge. There were steps from Route 2 up to the bridge tracks for walkers.

Bottom far right see old Cox and later Boyd Farm house. Bottom bridge on left, See “The Rock” popular swimming hole 1930-40s.

Andy Banfi and Frank S. Chorba (1936) and hundreds of others walked over the Wabash Bridge to the popular clubs in Mingo.  They also walked through the tunnel and along the tracks to Louise and other mining areas along Cross Creek where dancing and bars existed.  

• http://www.historicbridges.org/wvirginia/mingojunction/

The mill began operations on September 9, 1904. Construction began in 1902. Six tin plate and two sheet mills were operating by 1904 with 600 employees. The overall operations were housed in three buildings composing about two acres of ground. Two additional sheet mills were added in 1911 and a fourth one in 1918. By 1920 the Follansbee Brothers employed 1,500 employees.

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

See Mahan’s home lacated on the Mill map at the bottom left side.

 Workers holding tools at old Follansbee Mill heaters, P.J. Morgan third from left. Photo: Mavis Roush, WV ARCHIVES
 

Both above drawings of the Mill show a strip of land just offshore that later submerged as dams raised the river levels and dredging operations occurred.  

The remainder of the Follansbee brother’s land not used for the Tin Mill was conveyed to a corporation called the Brooke County Improvement Company that surveyed and laid out a grid of town lots. William Banfield, who was the able manager of Follansbee Brothers Tin Mill, was also the President of the Brooke County Improvement Company.

As the Improvement Company laid out the town lots, some major obstacles were destroyed, including two Indian mounds located near what is now Main Street.  The larger of the mounds was thirty feet in diameter and twelve feet high.  When the mounds were removed, a number of arrowheads, tomahawks, scalping knives and other relics were found.  Also, a number of creeks had to be bridged and a sizable hill descending to the intersection of Main and Alleghany streets was leveled.

The Pan Handle Abstract Company was contracted to sell the lots for the Improvement Company. Advertisements appeared in the local papers for the lots, which totaled 931 by June 1, 1904.  In a short time, streets were graded, boardwalks made, and the construction of homes began.

Wellsburg Printing Co. published brochure of the advantages of living in Follansbee.

One of the city streets is named after William Banfield who was born in England in 1854.  After coming to America, he worked in the first tin mill ever operated in the United States, that being at Leechburg, Pa. By 1885 he was at Irondale in Jefferson County, Ohio. He and others purchased the Pioneer Iron Works plant and established the Irondale Rolling Mill Company. Banfield then went to Chester, WV, and built the sheet mills there.  Following other successes, he joined the Follansbee Brothers Company and played a significant role in the thriving town of Follansbee. The building now occupied by the James Funeral home located on upper Main Street in Follansbee was originally the residence of William Banfield.  Banfield’s home was constructed by the Follansbee Brothers Company.

• The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 255-256
• http://www.wileygenealogy.com/~usbios/bios/wv/hancock/williambanfield.txt

William Banfield, first manager of Follansbee Brothers Tin Mill.

Only bits of information exist describing the living conditions while the Follansbee Brothers Tin Mill was being constructed.    One witness described this period as hard and terrifying in a raw new community. Only one man was available for citizens to turn to in times of sickness and distress, Doctor Lew Hutch.  His home and office stood on 837 Main next to where the VFW building is today.  Babies were born in houses half built.   Mill men came to Doctor Hutch’s office with knife marks on their faces and “under the shadow of avenging guns.”  No hospital facilities or ambulances existed in the mill town.   Patients were taken to the Gill hospital in Steubenville or other destinations by horse-drawn wagons or ferry.    Not until July 1906 did the city have its first full time   policeman when Jake N. Cain was elected. During a 1906 city council meeting, the town Marshall was called in and ordered to halt all the shootings that had been occurring.   Between 1902 and 1906 the town grew from a few hundred to nearly 2,000.  During the boom period, no utilities existed and lodging was limited.   Many workmen most certainly stayed in tents or shacks.  Garbage was dumped where convenient, especially on open lots and in the river.

Among the first laborers to build the Tin Mill were skilled Welsh tinsmiths from the Pittsburg area where the Follansbee Brothers already operated a Tin Mill.  Benjamin Gilbert Follansbee was able to expand the business due to the 1892 McKinley protective tariff placed on imported tin plate.

Prior to 1892, Wales was the world’s leading producer of tinplate, and the US was its primary customer.  Due to the McKinley tariff, the tinplate industry experienced a vigorous expansion in the US, but declined in Wales.  Unemployed Welsh tinsmiths migrated to the US, many finding jobs with the Follansbee Brothers in Pittsburgh, where their highly specialized skills were in demand.   In 1902, as the Follansbee Tin Mill was under construction, Welsh tinsmiths who had migrated to Pittsburgh were recruited and moved to the new boom town where guaranteed employment existed.   The Welsh song, “The Old Country Wales,” must have expressed their deep emotions:

A legacy of the Welsh tinsmiths who made their homes in Follansbee was the Welsh Lads Athletic club football and baseball teams that competed in the Follansbee City’s League between 1907 and 1917.  (See 1911 – Welsh Lads Baseball Team on Timeline)

• Follansbee Bros. Co., Pittsburgh Corporation, Leader in Its Field: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19280304&id=EPoaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=L0oEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5970,242029
• The Old Country Wales: http://www.dulahan.com/?page_id=648

Cyrus Ferguson was also an important booster for the new bridge and the Follansbee Brothers Tin Mill.  He owned extensive properties and oil reserves on the West Virginia side of the river. After the Market Street bridge was built, Ferguson sold a large track of orchard land to Ernest Weir for the construction of Weirton Steel in 1909.  Ferguson also played a large part in laying out the plan and lots for the city of Weirton, including the area of Holiday Cove.

He was a primary owner of the Follansbee Oil field that opened just north of town in 1907.  In 1916, he developed real estate in the north section of Follansbee called Ferguson’s Addition.  His Follansbee properties included one of his residences that stood where the Middle School Gym is located today.

Dohrman Sinclair and Cyrus Ferguson were instrumental in transforming the old farming economy of the area into a manufacturing one.  Among the developments was the Market Street bridge – the area’s first non-railroad bridge primarily built for a streetcar line leading to a booming economic triangle between Steubenville, Follansbee, and Weirton.

• Steubenville Herald Star, “Cyrus Ferguson Is Visitor …, “ Aug. 31, 1927, p. 7.

  D. J. Sinclair, a dominant figure in Steubenville’s history, played a visionary role in enticing the Follansbee brothers to bring their mill to the area.  Sinclair negotiated with the Follansbee brothers promising to push for a bridge if they would build a Tin Mill directly across the river from Steubenville.  Thus Steubenville’s Tri-State Traction Company streetcars would provide transportation for the mill workers in a mutually beneficial agreement.  As a result, the Market Street Bridge was built in 1904-1905. (See also 1904-05 – Market Street Bridge on timeline)

Dorhman Sinclair and extended family. Photo courtesy of Steubenville Herald Star.

Photo courtesy of Steubenville Herald Star.