Craig Howell UNVEILING – Follansbee officials gathered Tuesday to unveil the community’s new West Virginia sign, provided through funds arranged for by state Sen. Laura Wakim Chapman. Pictured, from left, looking at the sign are City Manager Chris Manack-Stover, Councilmembers John Casinelli, Joe Kafton, John Schwertfeger, and Rudy Cipriani, Mayor Scott McMahon, and Chapman.

FOLLANSBEE – The list of Northern Panhandle communities showing off their state pride with steel continues to grow.

Follansbee officials were joined by state Sen. Laura Wakim Chapman, R-W.Va., Tuesday to unveil the latest West Virginia community sign, funded through a Local Economic Development Assistance grant.

“It’s the small things in life,” Chapman said, explaining the signs — shaped like the state of West Virginia and listing the name of each community and the year it was established — have brought civic pride and potential tourism opportunities to each town.

“It was important to me to have a little tourism project for the towns in the Northern Panhandle,” she said.

Weighing 350 pounds each, the steel for each sign was sourced from Warwood Tool, with the machining performed by employees of TK Innovations. Both businesses are located in the Wheeling area.

Follansbee’s sign is located in a greenspace along state Route 2, just before the entrance to Follansbee Municipal Park and the Blue Wave Center, and just below the Follansbee Softball Field. It features a star marking the city’s location and the community’s name with an establishment date of 1905.

The city was named for the Follansbee brothers, owners of a steel mill around which the community grew. The brothers came to the area in 1902, purchasing more than 100 acres of orchards and farmland from Thomas and Herman Mahan to establish their tin and sheet steel plant. Thomas Mahan later became the city’s first mayor.

Follansbee officials offered their thanks for being included in the sign project.

Mayor Scott McMahon noted Chapman’s support of Follansbee, adding her assistance has been vital for the current municipal administration, some of whose members have been in office less than a year.

“Sen. Chapman has been a good friend to the city,” McMahon said. “It feels like we’ve been working together for years.”

McMahon said there are plans for additional landscaping around the sign, including the possible addition of lights to make it visible at night.

Locally, other communities to have signs dedicated include New Cumberland, Beech Bottom and Weirton. Chapman said there still are plans for a sign in Chester.