Monongah, West Virginia

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Monongah is a town in Marion County, West Virginia along the West Fork River. The population was 939 at the 2000 census. Monongah was incorporated in 1891 by Circuit Court. Its name is abbreviated from Monongahela, the river formed by the confluence of the West Fork and Tygart Valley Rivers a few miles north of the town.

Miami Dolphins head coach Nick Saban is a graduate of Monongah High School.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Demographics
4 External links

[edit] History

During the operation of the original Consolidated Coal Company mine, some of the town's amenities consisted of a hotel and a cable car which ran thru several towns.

The town suffered the Monongah Mining Disaster on December 6, 1907, described as "the worst mining disaster in American History".

There are several publications documenting the disaster including one in Italian called "MONONGAH, la Marcinelle americana".

Prior to being incorporated and named "Monongah", the town was called "Briartown".

For a very small, lightly populated, former coal mining town; it consists of several "villages" and/or named neighborhoods: East Monongah, Brookdale, Traction Park, Thoburn, Tower Hill and West Monongah to name a few.

The local AM radio station, WMMN, once had their transmission towers (thre at three hundred feet tall each) located high atop Tower Hill in Monongah.

Not only does the West Fork (of the Tygart RIver) run through the middle of Monongah but Boothe's Creek (Named for Civil War Captain) joins the West Fork on the East side of Monongah. Once a very poluted waterway due to raw sewage, the towns local cement block factory and mine run-off, it has become quite a bit cleaner since the 1970's.

Most houses in Monongah are small and perhaps average approximately 1200 to 1400 square feet and sit on lots of less than one quarter of an acre. A search of Realtor.Com will reval that of all the communities in the Greater Fairmont (WV) area, Monongah is perhaps the least expensive to live in.

Municiple service are extremely limited and a great deal of government operations, social service support, and infrastructure maintenance is performed by the county (Marion) and the state (WV) agencies.

There are also no substantial, formal parks or recreation ares in Monongah with exception to the "Rails to Trails" hiking/biking trail that follows the now abandoned, coal railway from Fairmont to Shinnston. Although much of this trail is secluded within the woods, there are section that pass behind trailer (mobile home) parks and ease of access is extremely limited.

There are no grocery stores, retail outlets or hardware stores within town. Much of the retail dependence for this community is addressed through the various shopping centers within Fairmont and Clarksburg.

The old, "tun or the century" down town area (the heart of the coal mining camp itself), has all since but been abandoned. Several small, private businesses have been attempted in this blighted area yet none succeed. At one time, there were restaurants, saloons, small grocery outlets, a "Company Store" (where all of the miners pay - in company "script" - was received in exchange for outrageously priced commodities; thus actually decreasing the overall buying power (in return verall wages) of the miners themselves).

Monongah High School was consolidated into what is now North Marion High School in 1980.

Both Monongah High School and North Marion High School have a rich history of championship football teams.

[edit] Geography

Monongah is located at 39°27′34″N, 80°12′57″W (39.459531, -80.215787)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.3 km² (0.5 mi²). 1.2 km² (0.5 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.04 mi²) of it (7.84%) is water.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 939 people, 406 households, and 263 families residing in the town. The population density was 771.4/km² (1,977.0/mi²). There were 443 housing units at an average density of 363.9/km² (932.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 91.91% White, 5.64% African American, 0.11% Asian, and 2.34% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.32% of the population.

There were 406 households out of which 24.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.5% were married couples living together, 10.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.0% were non-families. 32.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 17.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.92.

In the town the population was spread out with 21.0% under the age of 18, 8.8% from 18 to 24, 26.9% from 25 to 44, 25.1% from 45 to 64, and 18.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 96.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.7 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $25,750, and the median income for a family was $33,000. Males had a median income of $25,417 versus $19,722 for females. The per capita income for the town was $14,079. About 12.2% of families and 15.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.9% of those under age 18 and 17.0% of those age 65 or over.