Shinnston, WV

Shinnston is a Harrison County city along the West Fork River, with the 2020 census counting 2,332 residents. Levi Shinn built his log home here in 1778, and the house still stands along Route 19 as the oldest standing structure in north-central West Virginia. In 1815, the town was laid out with three streets parallel to the river and four crossing streets, giving the old center a grid that still makes sense when you look at the map. Coal, oil, and gas later joined the river and farm roads as the city's economic base, but Shinnston has kept the older layers in view.

The Shinnston Historic District, the Bice-Ferguson Memorial Museum, Lowe Public Library, Ferguson Park, and the Clay District Veterans Memorial all sit inside the civic story. A 1944 tornado also remains part of local memory, as does the city's long relationship with nearby industrial towns. Shinnston's local scoop is a West Virginia city where a 1778 log house, a river-parallel street plan, and a former coal economy still line up along Route 19.