Craig Howell NEW SIGN – Beech Bottom Mayor Becky Uhlly, center, stands with Del. Jimmy Willis, R-Brooke, and state Sen. Laura Wakim Chapman, R-Ohio, following the unveiling of a new West Virginia sign installed in front of the village’s offices. The sign was made possible through funding secured by Chapman.

BEECH BOTTOM – Depictions of the Mountain State are beginning to pop up all over the Northern Panhandle.

As part of a brief ceremony Saturday, Beech Bottom became the latest area community to unveil a sign depicting the image of West Virginia, noting the village’s name and the year it was established, along with a star to show its location in the state.

It was made possible through Local Economic Development Assistance funds secured by state Sen. Laura Wakim Chapman, R-Ohio, with the Beech Bottom sign the first to be installed in Brooke County.

“Laura is great. She has done wonders for us,” Beech Bottom Mayor Becky Uhlly said.

The sign – which Chapman noted weighs 350 pounds – is fabricated from steel provided by Warwood Tool, located in Wheeling, with the machining performed by TK Innovations, also in Wheeling.

“It’s nice to use local, Northern Panhandle businesses for this project,” Chapman said.

The sign notes Beech Bottom’s incorporation date of 1953, although Uhlly said there are some who would argue it should be earlier, pointing to the establishment of homes for the employees of the steel mill and other nearby industries which once was the focal point of the village.

“It’s kind of a gray area,” she said.

Much of the construction of the housing can be traced to 1917, according to the village’s website, when the steel company, later to become part of Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel, purchased 300 acres of the farm of Robert Miller, building the houses, churches, post office and general store which would become Beech Bottom.

The steel company would sell all of the houses in 1952, with the community electing its first mayor and the village officially being established the next year.

Similar signs already have been unveiled in Cameron in Marshall County, and New Cumberland in Hancock County, with officials noting plans for more in the area in the coming weeks.

Uhlly also took a moment to offer thanks to the late U.S. Rep. David B. McKinley, who died April 17, saying he often visited Beech Bottom and found ways to support various projects in the community.

“He was a great asset to the Village of Beech Bottom,” she said. “He will be greatly missed.”

(Howell can be contacted at chowell@weirtondailytimes.com)