Located slightly north of Shinnston, between Big Elm and Enterprise, lies the small community of Viropa. To my knowledge, Viropa has the unique distinction of being one of only two towns in West Virginia (Kenova being the second) to be named for three states, Virginia (Vir), Ohio (O), and Pennsylvania (Pa). Viropa is largely regarded as a former mining camp, but it is actual a community as well.
During the very late 1800’s when the railroad had come through the West Fork Valley, coal mines began being opened up along its route. Viropa had at least three different coal mines, one company-owned and at least two independently operated. The Watson brothers, of Fairmont, purchased the Viropa company mine in October 1900 and that mine became part of the Fairmont Coal Company, operated by the brothers. About ten years later, the FCC was consolidated with several other smaller coal companies to form the Consolidation Coal Company. At that time, the mine at Viropa became known as the Consolidation Coal Company’s Viropa Mine No. 40.
A swinging pedestrian bridge (shown in the accompanying photo) crossed the West Fork River and connected the east and west sides of the coal mining camp. The mine, tipple, company store, railroad, and miner’s homes were located on the east side; the west side contained the streetcar stop, a school house, some barracks housing, and a grove of trees where a community park was also established. Much of the area mentioned on the west side is now part of the Neer Family property in “Viropa turn”. On a personal note, my great grandfather was the company store manager at Viropa for about thirteen years, retiring in 1928 to devote full time to his greenhouses. The company store also had a post office inside of it and the company store manager was postmaster as well.
Most mining communities had fire bells that someone would ring to alert everyone that there was a fire so all who were able to help could join a volunteer bucket brigade from the nearby river. Viropa’s fire bell was located near the company store. The mine’s coal tipple was completely destroyed by fire in the early hours of Thursday, December 16, 1915. Origin of the fire was unknown. A temporary tipple was built the same week until a more permanent one was
constructed in 1917. There were several other fires over the years that completely destroyed several miner’s houses.
When there would be a drought and the river would go very low, the boilers at the Viropa mine were not able to use the water so they weren’t able to provide power and the miners would be without work for a short while. In contrast, heavy rains caused the river to rise and would often carry the current from a live wire on the telephone lines, which burned several phones out in the handful of homes that had them.
For the first 40 years of the twentieth century, the community park at Viropa Grove was home to dozens of family reunions and religious camp meetings. If it rained, the camp meetings were held in the school house. The original Viropa School building was a one-room structure and was quick to outgrow its capacity for the children in the growing mining community. It was sold at public auction on Saturday, June 21, 1913 by the Clay District Board of Education to E.J. Sturm for $26.50. After its’ sale, it was replaced by a two room structure. I found a newspaper article from the sale, which stated that the Viropa school building was the first one built in Clay District, but I cannot confirm the validity of that statement from that article.
As I stated in last month’s article on Riverdale, the Viropa and Riverdale mining camps each had their own Woman’s Club, as well as baseball team. The coal company encouraged miners and their wives to be part of approved societal groups. Baseball games were played on Sunday afternoons. The Viropa Woman’s Club often held various contests with the Riverdale Woman’s Club; the two clubs also held an annual joint club picnic at Viropa Park. Their picnics usually
consisted of holding outdoor contests and races in addition to a dinner program. In last month’s article, I made reference to the Woman’s Club at Shinnston not being formed until 1929, but that was incorrect. The Shinnston Woman’s Club was formed in 1922. (The Shinnston Garden Club holds the title to a 1929 formation.)
Much more could easily be written on Viropa, but longer articles get smaller readers. Or do they? For now, that is this month’s story behind the photo!
