Rivesville, West Virginia
Encyclopedia
Rivesville is a town in Marion County
, West Virginia
, United States
. The population was 913 as of the 2000 census.
coal field on the north-west bank of the Monongahela River
around its confluence with Paw Paw Creek
.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the town has a total area of 0.6 square miles (1.6 km²). 0.6 square miles (1.5 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (5.00%) is water.
of 2000, there were 913 people, 400 households, and 268 families residing in the town. The population density
was 1,602.5 inhabitants per square mile (618.4/km²). There were 450 housing units at an average density of 789.8 per square mile (304.8/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 98.80% White, 0.11% African American, 0.11% Native American, 0.33% Asian, and 0.66% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.55% of the population.
There were 400 households out of which 24.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.0% were married couples
living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.0% were non-families. 30.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 19.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.80.
In the town the population was spread out with 19.1% under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 25.0% from 25 to 44, 27.8% from 45 to 64, and 20.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females there were 87.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.8 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $25,700, and the median income for a family was $35,417. Males had a median income of $26,875 versus $19,063 for females. The per capita income
for the town was $14,085. About 16.4% of families and 19.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 32.9% of those under age 18 and 12.9% of those age 65 or over.
native, Pompey Leggett, who settled briefly in the area in 1694, but the first permanent settlements along the Monongahela
were not established until after the French and Indian War
in 1763. Frontier forts and frequent clashes between Europeans and native Americans
continued for several decades.
In 1900, it was a very small town, population 164, growing to 190 in 1910. This was immediately before the development of large-scale coal mining in the area and the subsequent population growth.
In the early 20th century, Rivesville was at the junction between the Pawpaw branch of the B&O Railroad and the Buckhannon & Northern Railroad, a branch of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie a predecessor that was incorporated into the Monongahela Railway
formed in 1915.
Rivesville was also served by the Fairmont-Clarksburg Division of the Monongahela-West Pen Railways, originally the Monongahela Power and Railway Company. This electric interurban
line ran from Fairmont
through Rivesville to the Rivesville Power Station, just north of town.
was built by Monongahela Power and Railway Company in 1919 and is currently operated by Allegheny Energy
. Unit 5, installed in 1944 has a power output of 48 megawatts; Unit 6, installed in 1951, is 94 megawatts. The plant uses open loop cooling, drawing up to 69.8 million gallons per day of cooling water from the Monongahela River
. The coal
stockpile at the plant has a capacity of 50,000 tons, and coal is delivered by barge
. Formerly, coal was delivered by rail
. The plant is connected to the grid
by 138Kv transmission lines. In the mid 1970's, this was the first commercial power plant to use fluidized bed combustion
to fire its boilers. As of 2007, this power plant employed 33 people.
around 100 feet below the level of the riverbed. This mine operated between 1922 and 1954, with a peak production of 670408 tons per year. The coal seam itself is 6 to 8 feet thick. The number 97 Hoist Shaft was directly west of the westernmost corner of the Power Plant, with the hoisting engines to the north across the tracks. Consol. Mine No. 24 was directly across the river, with its shaft in the company town of Montana Mines, and in 1943, plans were filed to connect these mines with an under-river crossing. In 1934, Consol. No. 97 employed 412 men, all of whom were UMWA
members. The daily wage ranged from $6.37 for loaders to $9.29 for cutters.
Other mines in the area exploited the shallower Sewickley Coal Seam, largely above the river level to the north and east. Between 1901 and 1913, for example, the Parker Run Coal and Coke Company operated a mine just east of Rivesville, shipping coal by rail and barge. In 1910, this mine employed 60 miners. In 1913, it employed 10 laborers and 25 miners to take 500 tons of coal a day. The coal in this seam was over 6 feet thick, but higher in sulfur than the Pittsburgh seam. Mines in the Sewickley seam were opened earlier and mined out earlier than the mines in the Pittsburgh Seam.
In 1913, the Monongahela Valley Traction Company had a mine in the even shallower Waynesburg coal seam about a mile southwest of Rivesville near Dakota. This coal seam was about 5 feet thick, including an intermediate shale bed one foot thick. By 1921, Monongahela Traction had opened a second mine in the area near Baxter, about a mile up Paw Paw creek. As of 1921, other mines listed as being in Rivesville included the Rivesville Coal Company's Hood Mine, the Winfield Coal Company's River Side Mine, and the Virginia & Pittsburgh Coal & Coke Co.'s Morgan mine.
Marion County, West Virginia
| style="float:right;"|As of the census of 2000, there were 56,598 people, 23,652 households, and 15,515 families residing in the county. The population density was 183 people per square mile . There were 26,660 housing units at an average density of 86 per square mile...
, West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The population was 913 as of the 2000 census.
Geography
Rivesville is located at 39°31′49"N 80°7′9"W (39.530276, -80.119063) in the heart of the FairmontFairmont, West Virginia
Fairmont is a city in Marion County, West Virginia, United States. Nicknamed "The Friendly City". The population was 18,704 at the 2010 census...
coal field on the north-west bank of the Monongahela River
Monongahela River
The Monongahela River is a river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States...
around its confluence with Paw Paw Creek
Paw Paw Creek
Paw Paw Creek is a tributary of the Monongahela River in West Virginia in the United States. The headwaters of the creek begin in Monongalia County, north of Fairview, and empty into the river in Rivesville, coursing through the Marion County towns of Fairview, Grays Flat, Grant Town, Baxter, and...
.
According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the town has a total area of 0.6 square miles (1.6 km²). 0.6 square miles (1.5 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (5.00%) is water.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 913 people, 400 households, and 268 families residing in the town. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 1,602.5 inhabitants per square mile (618.4/km²). There were 450 housing units at an average density of 789.8 per square mile (304.8/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 98.80% White, 0.11% African American, 0.11% Native American, 0.33% Asian, and 0.66% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.55% of the population.
There were 400 households out of which 24.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.0% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.0% were non-families. 30.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 19.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.80.
In the town the population was spread out with 19.1% under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 25.0% from 25 to 44, 27.8% from 45 to 64, and 20.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females there were 87.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.8 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $25,700, and the median income for a family was $35,417. Males had a median income of $26,875 versus $19,063 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the town was $14,085. About 16.4% of families and 19.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 32.9% of those under age 18 and 12.9% of those age 65 or over.
History
The first stories of temporary European settlement in the Rivesville area involve a BostonBoston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
native, Pompey Leggett, who settled briefly in the area in 1694, but the first permanent settlements along the Monongahela
Monongahela River
The Monongahela River is a river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States...
were not established until after the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
in 1763. Frontier forts and frequent clashes between Europeans and native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
continued for several decades.
In 1900, it was a very small town, population 164, growing to 190 in 1910. This was immediately before the development of large-scale coal mining in the area and the subsequent population growth.
In the early 20th century, Rivesville was at the junction between the Pawpaw branch of the B&O Railroad and the Buckhannon & Northern Railroad, a branch of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie a predecessor that was incorporated into the Monongahela Railway
Monongahela Railway
The Monongahela Railway was a coal-hauling short line railroad in Pennsylvania and West Virginia in the United States. It was jointly controlled originally by the Pennsylvania Railroad, New York Central subsidiary Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, with NYC...
formed in 1915.
Rivesville was also served by the Fairmont-Clarksburg Division of the Monongahela-West Pen Railways, originally the Monongahela Power and Railway Company. This electric interurban
Interurban
An interurban, also called a radial railway in parts of Canada, is a type of electric passenger railroad; in short a hybrid between tram and train. Interurbans enjoyed widespread popularity in the first three decades of the twentieth century in North America. Until the early 1920s, most roads were...
line ran from Fairmont
Fairmont, West Virginia
Fairmont is a city in Marion County, West Virginia, United States. Nicknamed "The Friendly City". The population was 18,704 at the 2010 census...
through Rivesville to the Rivesville Power Station, just north of town.
Elementary/Middle School
The Rivesville Elementary/Middle school is administered by the Marion County Schools. It has 37 teachers and has been affiliated with the West Virginia University Benedum Collaborative as a Professional Development School since 1997. Based on 2007 test scores, the school ranked close to average for the state of West Virginia. In 2007, the school enrolled 338 students between pre-kindergarten and grade 8.Power Plant
The Rivesville Power PlantThermal power station
A thermal power station is a power plant in which the prime mover is steam driven. Water is heated, turns into steam and spins a steam turbine which drives an electrical generator. After it passes through the turbine, the steam is condensed in a condenser and recycled to where it was heated; this...
was built by Monongahela Power and Railway Company in 1919 and is currently operated by Allegheny Energy
Allegheny Energy
Allegheny Energy is an electric utility headquartered in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. It owns and operates electric generation facilities and delivers electric services to customers in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia...
. Unit 5, installed in 1944 has a power output of 48 megawatts; Unit 6, installed in 1951, is 94 megawatts. The plant uses open loop cooling, drawing up to 69.8 million gallons per day of cooling water from the Monongahela River
Monongahela River
The Monongahela River is a river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States...
. The coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
stockpile at the plant has a capacity of 50,000 tons, and coal is delivered by barge
Barge
A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...
. Formerly, coal was delivered by rail
Rail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...
. The plant is connected to the grid
Grid (electricity)
An electrical grid is a vast, interconnected network for delivering electricity from suppliers to consumers. It consists of three main components: 1) generating plants that produce electricity from combustible fuels or non-combustible fuels ; 2) transmission lines that carry electricity from power...
by 138Kv transmission lines. In the mid 1970's, this was the first commercial power plant to use fluidized bed combustion
Fluidized bed combustion
Fluidized bed combustion is a combustion technology used in power plants. Fluidized beds suspend solid fuels on upward-blowing jets of air during the combustion process. The result is a turbulent mixing of gas and solids. The tumbling action, much like a bubbling fluid, provides more effective...
to fire its boilers. As of 2007, this power plant employed 33 people.
Former Coal Mines
About the only area around Rivesville where the coal has not been mined out is directly under the older portion of the town and under the riverbed. Consolidation Coal Company Mine No. 97 was in the Pittsburgh coal seamPittsburgh coal seam
The Pittsburgh Coal Seam is the thickest and most extensive coal bed in the Appalachian Basin; hence, it is the most economically important coal beds in the eastern United States. The Upper Pennsylvanian Pittsburgh coal bed of the Monongahela Group is extensive and continuous, extending over...
around 100 feet below the level of the riverbed. This mine operated between 1922 and 1954, with a peak production of 670408 tons per year. The coal seam itself is 6 to 8 feet thick. The number 97 Hoist Shaft was directly west of the westernmost corner of the Power Plant, with the hoisting engines to the north across the tracks. Consol. Mine No. 24 was directly across the river, with its shaft in the company town of Montana Mines, and in 1943, plans were filed to connect these mines with an under-river crossing. In 1934, Consol. No. 97 employed 412 men, all of whom were UMWA
United Mine Workers
The United Mine Workers of America is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners and coal technicians. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the United States and Canada...
members. The daily wage ranged from $6.37 for loaders to $9.29 for cutters.
In 1913, the Monongahela Valley Traction Company had a mine in the even shallower Waynesburg coal seam about a mile southwest of Rivesville near Dakota. This coal seam was about 5 feet thick, including an intermediate shale bed one foot thick. By 1921, Monongahela Traction had opened a second mine in the area near Baxter, about a mile up Paw Paw creek. As of 1921, other mines listed as being in Rivesville included the Rivesville Coal Company's Hood Mine, the Winfield Coal Company's River Side Mine, and the Virginia & Pittsburgh Coal & Coke Co.'s Morgan mine.