Paden City, WV

Paden City runs along the Ohio River in the narrow space between New Martinsville and Sistersville, split between Tyler and Wetzel counties. The place began as Paden Valley, named for landowner Obadiah Paden, and stayed mostly agricultural until industrial development arrived around the turn of the twentieth century. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and the river gave the town a way to move people and goods, while glass became the signature trade. Paul Wissmach Glass, the Duquesne Bottle Factory, and other plants made Paden City a manufacturing town before incorporation in 1916. The quick local read is river, rail, and glass: three forces that made this small West Virginia city a recognizable place on the Ohio.