Pre-Star City

Pre-Star City. ~19,000 B.C.E. - 1903 A.D.. , The First People , According to Native American oral tradition, Indigenous peoples have lived here since time immemorial. Archeological studies tell us one site in this region is ~19,000 years old. Early Native Americans interacted and traded with other peoples via the Monongahela River and other waterways. Evidence shows their trade routes extended from this region in all directions, including to the Gulf Coast, Great Lakes, and beyond the Rocky Mountains. Researchers refer to peoples who lived here around 500 - 1,000 years ago as the "Monongahela Culture.", A Day in the Life , Monongahelan villages typically had small, round dwellings organized in concentric circles around a plaza. Early peoples had a widely varied diet, including meats, vegetables, fruits, and nuts. Native Nations also had complex societies with governmental, medicinal, and spiritual practices as well as their own distinct languages, arts, and recreation. Many modern Native peoples still practice some of these traditions today., Planting the Seed , This area then became a farming community whose residents considered themselves to be members of Jimtown/Hamilton just across the river. The farming families included the Pickenpaughs, Yeagers, and Andersons, who collectively owned several hundred acres around present-day Star City. Jimtown was named after its founder, James Hamilton, who operated a ferry, a general store, and post office., A Town Emerges , In 1903, the Keystone Industrial Company purchased the 423-acres along the Mon River and what is now Collins Ferry Road from the Yeagers and Andersons. This land became home to the Randall Glass Company and its workers. This small town was known as Randall until the land was bought by Louis Kauffeld Sr. for the Star Glass Company. D.I.B. Anderson Farm, built during this time, is on the National Register of Historic Places., (Captions):, This Canoe, Which Dates Back to 1260 AD, Measures Nearly 17 Feet Long , Canoe and Caption Courtesy of The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, A Replica of a 1500s Eastern Woodland Wigwam That Was Likely Similar to Those Used by the Monongahela Culture , Courtesy of Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village, Anderson House, Star City, W. Va. (ca. 1900) , West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries , Source: Meredith E. Kiger - West Virginia History OnView, Anderson's Barn, Star City, W. Va. (ca. 1900) , West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries , Source: Meredith E. Kiger - West Virginia History OnView