The Shack Neighborhood House
Encyclopedia
The Shack Neighborhood House serves the people of the once thriving Appalachian coal mining community of Scott's Run northwest of Morgantown
, West Virginia
. Founded by Mary E. Behner in the tradition of the settlement house movement
, "The Shack" continues to serve their social, educational, recreational, economic, and health needs.
the First Presbyterian Church in Morgantown and the church's National Board of Missions, "The Shack" sought to meet the spiritual as well as the social and physical needs of coal miners and their families. During the Great Depression
, Eleanor Roosevelt
visited "The Shack" and the especially hard hit Scotts Run area. Nearly two-thirds of the area's residents were suffering in terrible poverty. There were 10,000 people and 22 different nationalities clustered on hills and near polluted creeks along the nine miles of eight communities.
Mary Behner, a 1928 College of Wooster graduate, was first given an abandoned schoolhouse in Stumptown and started a Sunday School and recreation there in November 1928. But soon children were coming to her without food and clothes. She expanded into social service. Hundreds attended her programs. She brought nearby West Virginia University students to teach. She started a library, charm school, choruses, sewing club, and the first integrated nursery school. In 1932, she received from the coal company an abandoned company store which she named The Shack. The Quakers and other agencies handled relief programs from The Shack. She started the Uhyscool Club to encourage the first students to finish high school and college. The area was photographed by Lewis Hine
, Ben Shahn
and Walker Evans
. The Shack was written up in the Christian Science Monitor and other publications. Behner left in 1937 to be married. Her diaries and photos were donated to the West Virginia Division of Culture and History.
A new Shack building was finished in 1938 west of the original site and a third building down the same Route 7 which exists today. On May 6, 2008, an historical marker was placed near the original site, along a now widened Route 7 in Pursglove.http://olive.dominionpost.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=RFBvc3QvMjAwOC8wNi8xNSNBcjAwNzEx&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom Her daughter, Bettijane Christopher Burger, of Charleston, WV, petitioned the state for the marker. Most of the mines are closed and the hills returned to grassy slopes.
Even though the religious mission of "The Shack" ended when the church planted there by the Presbyterian Church (USA)
had closed, it continued to operate with support from the PC(USA), other denominations, the United Way, and generous donors. Their address is Box 600, Pursglove, WV 26546-0600.
Morgantown, West Virginia
Morgantown is a city in Monongalia County, West Virginia. It is the county seat of Monongalia County. Placed along the banks of the Monongahela River, Morgantown is the largest city in North-Central West Virginia, and the base of the Morgantown metropolitan area...
, 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...
. Founded by Mary E. Behner in the tradition of the settlement house movement
Settlement movement
The settlement movement was a reformist social movement, beginning in the 1880s and peaking around the 1920s in England and the US, with a goal of getting the rich and poor in society to live more closely together in an interdependent community...
, "The Shack" continues to serve their social, educational, recreational, economic, and health needs.
History
Sponsored by missionMission (Christian)
Christian missionary activities often involve sending individuals and groups , to foreign countries and to places in their own homeland. This has frequently involved not only evangelization , but also humanitarian work, especially among the poor and disadvantaged...
the First Presbyterian Church in Morgantown and the church's National Board of Missions, "The Shack" sought to meet the spiritual as well as the social and physical needs of coal miners and their families. During the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...
visited "The Shack" and the especially hard hit Scotts Run area. Nearly two-thirds of the area's residents were suffering in terrible poverty. There were 10,000 people and 22 different nationalities clustered on hills and near polluted creeks along the nine miles of eight communities.
Mary Behner, a 1928 College of Wooster graduate, was first given an abandoned schoolhouse in Stumptown and started a Sunday School and recreation there in November 1928. But soon children were coming to her without food and clothes. She expanded into social service. Hundreds attended her programs. She brought nearby West Virginia University students to teach. She started a library, charm school, choruses, sewing club, and the first integrated nursery school. In 1932, she received from the coal company an abandoned company store which she named The Shack. The Quakers and other agencies handled relief programs from The Shack. She started the Uhyscool Club to encourage the first students to finish high school and college. The area was photographed by Lewis Hine
Lewis Hine
Lewis Wickes Hine was an American sociologist and photographer. Hine used his camera as a tool for social reform. His photographs were instrumental in changing the child labor laws in the United States.-Early life:...
, Ben Shahn
Ben Shahn
Ben Shahn was a Lithuanian-born American artist. He is best known for his works of social realism, his left-wing political views, and his series of lectures published as The Shape of Content.-Biography:...
and Walker Evans
Walker Evans
Walker Evans was an American photographer best known for his work for the Farm Security Administration documenting the effects of the Great Depression. Much of Evans's work from the FSA period uses the large-format, 8x10-inch camera...
. The Shack was written up in the Christian Science Monitor and other publications. Behner left in 1937 to be married. Her diaries and photos were donated to the West Virginia Division of Culture and History.
A new Shack building was finished in 1938 west of the original site and a third building down the same Route 7 which exists today. On May 6, 2008, an historical marker was placed near the original site, along a now widened Route 7 in Pursglove.http://olive.dominionpost.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=RFBvc3QvMjAwOC8wNi8xNSNBcjAwNzEx&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom Her daughter, Bettijane Christopher Burger, of Charleston, WV, petitioned the state for the marker. Most of the mines are closed and the hills returned to grassy slopes.
Even though the religious mission of "The Shack" ended when the church planted there by the Presbyterian Church (USA)
Presbyterian Church (USA)
The Presbyterian Church , or PC, is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. Part of the Reformed tradition, it is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the U.S...
had closed, it continued to operate with support from the PC(USA), other denominations, the United Way, and generous donors. Their address is Box 600, Pursglove, WV 26546-0600.
Programs
- After school care and tutoring
- Teen Time
- Emergency supplies
- Rags to Rugs
- Home repair/work camp
- Family Fun Night
- Make a Difference Day
- Happy School
- Festival of Fun/Summer Nutrition
- Swimming lessons
- Junior Volunteer/Community Service