Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-04-18
SISTERSvILLs,s PROSPERITY.
A Wonderful City That Has Grown
From a Struggling Village in Ten
Years-The Golden Grease Did 1t.

Probably no other town in West Vir-
ginia has experienced the rapid bust
ness development and growth that Sis
tersville has in the last ten years. In
1890 Sistersville was a struggling viii
lage built along the Ohio river with a
population of about 400 souls. To-day
1t is a city with a population of 10000
and with all the modern improve
ments. The land on which the town
now stands was originally owned by
Charles Wells, the first settler, and
after his death it became the property
of two sisters, Sarah and Delilah
Wells. The sisters had the ground
plotted in 1916, and the town was nam
ed Sistersville in their honor. Sisters
vile has paved streets water works, a
fine sewerage system, is lighted by
electricity and has one of the finest
high school buildings in the State,
which was built at a cost of $45, 900.
There are many fine buildings in the
town one Of which is deserving of spec
ial mention being the new Auditorium.
1t is a fine three-story brick and vas
built at a cost of $45, 900. 1t is elabor-
ately finished both on the inside and
out. Sistersville has six churches,
Presbyterian, E~piscopalian, Catholic,
Baptist, Methodist Episcopal and Afri-
can Methodist E~piscopalian. The Pres
byterian Church was built at a cost of
$500 and is a fine church. The Con-
gregationalists will build a fine church
this summer. A new city hall costing
$4,000, was built a short time ago on
a square originally intended for the
court house, but Middlebourne retain
ed the court house and will probably
remain the county seat. Many hand
some dwellings are going up at pres
ent, and a three-story brick, covering
one whole block, will be erected during
the summer; many other business
houses will also be erected in a short
time. Sistersville has a fire depart
ment consisting of three uniformed
companies, which is chiefly maintained
by public contributions. There are
eight hotels in the town, all of which
do a thriving business.
The West Virginia Tool Works,
Leidecker Tool Company, Chamberlain
& Ruott Tool Company, and the Sis
tersville Shirt Company are the prin-
cipal manufactures of the town, all of
which employees owe a hundred people.
An electric street railway company is
being Incorporated, which will take in
all the streets in the city, and will ex-
tend to Middlebourne and beyond.
Work will soon be commenced on the
lines contemplated and the projectors
hope to have the road in running or
der early in the fall.
Sastersville had NO banks seven years
ago, but now has three which do an
enormous business. The three COM
bined have a deposit of over 81, 900, 900
and are steadily increasing. Men who
were worth four or five thousand dol
lars a few years ago are now worth
over half a million, and it is said that
there has not been a legitimate bust
ness failure in the town in the past
ten years, which is considered an ex-
ceedingly good showing.
The Carter Oil Company, which is
the principal oil company in the Sis
t~ersville field, has a pay roll in Sis
tersville alone which amounts to $42,-
900 a month. The amount expended
by this company alone monthly furn-
ishes but a slight estimate OF the bus
mess daily done in Sistersville.
The Davis Oil Co. better known as
the Petticoat Oil Co., is composed of
thirty-two women, each owning a 32d
part, all of whom are single. They are
doing a thriving business, having sew
eral wells in operation. The Petticoat
Oil Company furnishes a fine opportu-
nifty for thirty-two single gentlemen of
a speculative turn.
The town voted $4,000 recently to
enlarge the water works system, the
present system having a pressure of
so pounds to the square inch. The
tanks will be removed to a higher hill,
which will give a pressure of $50 lbs.
to the square inch. The work will be
begun as soo as possible, if the neces-
sary number of laborers can be OBJ
tanned. Garry Owen, a suburb of Sis
t~ersville, which has a population of
$500, will be taken in as a part of the
city in the near future. The inhabi-
tants having been held off until the
present time by the opposition of the
Standard Oil Co. and the Regal Pipe
Line Co., both companies being located
In Garry Owen, and opposed to becom-
ing a part of Sistersville. What is
known as the Sistersyille oil field ex-
tends along the OHIO river ten miles,
which is considered the breadth of the
field. The fields extends into Ohio
fourteen miles and into West Virginia
eighteen miles, and is recognized as
the second largest oil field in the
world, Bradford, Pa, being the largest.
During the past ten years at least 5000
wells have been put down at a cost Of
at least $4,000 for each well, which
amounts to an expenditure of $32, 000,-
900 for drilling and rig building alone.
There are at present nearly 5000 pro-
ducing wells in the field, the prodnc-
ton amounting TO nearly 80, 900 barrels
daily. Oil in the Sistersville field is