Monongah, West Virginia
Location of Monongah, West Virginia
Coordinates: 39°27′34″N 80°12′57″W / 39.45944, -80.21583
Country	United States
State	West Virginia
County	Marion
Area
- Total	0.5 sq mi (1.3 km²)
- Land	0.5 sq mi (1.2 km²)
- Water	0.0 sq mi (0.1 km²)
Elevation	961 ft (293 m)
Population (2000)
- Total	939
- Density	1,977.0/sq mi (763.3/km²)
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
- Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP codes	26554-26555
Area code(s)	304
FIPS code	54-55276[1]
GNIS feature ID	1555149[2]

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.

University of Alabama football head coach Nick Saban is a graduate of Monongah High School.

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". Recently, a memorial has been built in the center of the town for the miners. It consists of a statue of mother holding a baby as well as as small courtyard with dedications. Its opening was accompanied by visits from Joe Manchin III and some of the miners' distant relatives from Italy. Father Everett Francis Briggs completely oversaw this project and died a few short days after all his plans had been made.

On February 21, 2002 the Legislature of West Virginia (House Concurrent Resolution no. 40) resolved to "to name the bridge which traverses the West Fork River in Marion County, located .12 miles west of county route 27/2, the Father Everett Francis Briggs Bridge", who dedicated whole his life to the forgotten victims of 1907 tragedy and to their widows.

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.

Fairmont, WV AM radio station, WMMN, has their tower which was built in the middle 1930s 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 polluted waterway due to raw sewage, the towns local cement block factory (which went out of business in 1999 and was torn down in 2000) and mine run-off, it has become quite a bit cleaner since the 1970's.

The average house size is 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.

Municipal 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.

The 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 "scrip" - 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 (the building which is now Monongah Middle 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.

Geography

Monongah is located at 39°27′34″N, 80°12′57″W (39.459531, -80.215787)^[3].

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.

Demographics

As of the census^[1] 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.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} American FactFinder. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
2. ^ US Board on Geographic Names. United States Geological Survey (2007-10-25). Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
3. ^ US Gazetteer files: 2000 and 1990. United States Census Bureau (2005-05-03). Retrieved on 2008-01-31.

External links

• Monongah Middle School

• Monongah, West Virginia is at coordinates 39°27′34″N 80°12′57″W / 39.459531, -80.215787 (Monongah, West Virginia)Coordinates: 39°27′34″N 80°12′57″W / 39.459531, -80.215787 (Monongah, West Virginia)

v â€¢ d â€¢ e Municipalities and communities of Marion County, West Virginia County seat: Fairmont Cities Fairmont | Mannington | Pleasant Valley Towns Barrackville | Fairview | Farmington | Grant Town | Monongah | Rivesville | Whitehall | Worthington Unincorporated communities Baxter | Beverly Hills | Big Run | Grays Flat | Hebron | Pine Grove | Stringtown