Shinnston was first incorporated in 1852. In preparation for its centennial celebration of 1952, a committee was formed to organize a large three-day celebration for the event. Several sub-committees were also formed to cover a parade, a dance, finances, prizes, publicity, town decorations, conducted tours, booths, and the town’s history.
It’s hard to imagine hundreds of people moving throughout downtown Shinnston, but that’s exactly the scene that was displayed during this three day event.
The theme for the Centennial was “100 Years of Progress” and the celebration occurred Wednesday through Friday, October 29 th -31st. The first day’s events opened at 10am with parking lot exhibits by the Consolidation Coal Company, which included displays of joy loaders, cutting machines, and first aid teams. Many miscellaneous booths lined Pike
Street throughout each day to showcase items for sale, such as food, novelties, souvenirs, pottery, cookbooks, and handiworks. Antiques were on display at the First Methodist Church building, and there was a ‘Hall of Memories’ inside the IOOF building on the corner of Walnut and Pike Streets. An afternoon children’s parade was held and 1930s and 1940s home movies were shown inside Riley Funeral Home at the corner of Pike and Rebecca Streets. Buggy rides,
twirling contests, and a fly bait, spinning and surf casting contest were also held in the afternoon.
The evening consisted of all churches holding a united prayer service. Local resident Robert Moran showcased his telescope inside Fred Bice‘s Filling Station (west side of Pike St. between Rebecca St. and Robinson Ct.). The festivities continued well into the night with the Shinnston High School band performing a concert at George Hall’s Shinnston Motor Company (Rebecca Street corner where the Harrison County EMS is located today) followed by a community sing at Rice’s Theatre (once located where the green space is near Casey’s today). An old-fashioned square dance, sponsored by the Fire Department Auxiliary, was held from 9p until midnight at Hall’s Motor Company, which concluded the ‘hump day’ celebration.
Exhibits continued for the second day, which also started with a singing assembly at the First Methodist Church, followed by a discussion of the town’s history. Interested persons left there and traveled on tours to different spots of interest throughout the city, which included the oldest homes, the cemetery, coal mines, and the location of the former Big Elm Tree. These tours were sponsored by the volunteer fire department. Home movies were again shown at Riley Funeral Home in the afternoon and a harmonica band held a concert at the Rice Theater. Mr. Moran again showed his telescope in the early evening followed by nighttime activities consisting of an old-fashioned barbershop quartet and a girl’s glee club, both presented at Rice’s Theatre. A Round Dance, which was sponsored by the Shinnston Junior Woman’s Club, was held at the skating rink at the corner of Walnut Street and Davis Court with music by the Centennial
Orchestra led by “Buck” Shaffer.
The third and final day of the celebratory event was on Halloween and began with another singing assembly at the First Methodist Church. Again, exhibits and booths were setup throughout town. A “Grand Parade” started at noon, with most participants dressed in old-fashioned clothes and true-to-form centennial celebration parade floats, including the
horse and buggy mode of transportation. A week-long voting contest had been going on to elect a ‘Miss Centennial’ with the young lady contestants participating in the parade. After the parade, the ladies, were driven to the football field where Miss Elaine Rector (later Heal) was awarded her crown. Shinnston High’s football team played Grafton at 2:30pm. Note: Daytime football games were commonly played up until the mid-1950’s when the football field had lights installed to begin ‘Friday Night Lights’. Celebratory exhibits continued throughout town with a large Halloween Celebration, sponsored by the Business and Professional Men’s Club, occurring on lower Bridge Street at 6:30pm. The festivities concluded with prizes being awarded at 8:30 that evening.
The centennial event was so popular throughout the local area that it sparked interest in holding a similar event annually. The idea was to create an atmosphere of old-time ways of farming and country life with contests for food canning, garment making, produce growing, and many other methods of living off the “frontier”. The late Matthew Kidd, who was Shinnston’s mayor at the time, is largely credited with being the originator of this annual event, known as Frontier Days. Through the years, Frontier Days, which is actually an incorporated organization, was scheduled as a weekend celebration, often in the fall. It is now no longer held on an annual basis. However, for most of my life, it has been more of a small carnival for Clay District that I feel should have long ago been renamed ‘Clay District Fair’; there is no longer anything “frontier” about Frontier Days. And that is this month’s ‘story behind the photo’.