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Newspaper Sistersville Oil Review (Sistersville, W. Va.) 1896-1901 Sistersville weekly oil review

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About Sistersville Oil Review (Sistersville, W. Va.) 1896-1901

In 1888, Sistersville was a small West Virginia community nestled along the Ohio River in Tyler County. Yet within a decade, the discovery of oil in the region transformed Sistersville from a town of six hundred into a bustling, industrial boomtown of nearly seven thousand. As the population swelled, local newspapers likewise scrambled to accommodate the shifting demographics of their local patrons.

Prior to the oil boom, the major paper in the region was the Tyler Democrat, founded by brothers John and George McCoy. As the editors themselves noted in 1902 Daily Oil Review supplement entitled Sistersville, West Virginia, they possessed “no experience in the business, no money and but little patronage” at the onset. Through sheer determination, the brothers “hung on like grim death” and kept their humble paper afloat. The sudden arrival of the oil industry and a growing local population, however, boded well for the brothers, and in 1895 they launched a new daily newspaper, the West Virginia Daily Oil Review. John McCoy oversaw the paper and its various iterations over the next decade, capitalizing on the oil industry to sustain and grow his printing enterprise.

As its name suggests, the West Virginia Daily Oil Review catered especially to patrons within the oil industry. The rise and fall of oil prices, the oil well and drilling news, prospects for new fields, and more kept readers abreast of the latest industry news. The paper also offered the usual slate of local and national news, international affairs (including coverage of the Spanish-American War), community gossip, and a bevy of advertisements from local merchants. Corresponding to Sistersville’s growing population, the newspaper likewise developed in size, expanding from four to eight pages and employing two dozen men and women in its Sistersville offices. The Review also boasted a state of the art printing press, which they proudly declared “the fastest press in the world.” Multiple iterations of the paper soon appeared, including concurrent weekly versions labeled the Sistersville Oil Review and Weekly Oil Review. In 1902, the West Virginia Oil Review was renamed the Sistersville Daily Oil Review.

Although the Review‘s expansion, multiple iterations, and busy offices suggested a good measure of success, the paper’s fate was indelibly linked to the Sistersville oil industry, and the oil boom receded nearly as quickly as it began. By the mid-1900s and 1910s, the oil industry subsided, Sistersville’s population shrank, and the various iterations of the paper ceased publication; the last holdout apparently being the Weekly Oil Review, which closed in 1911. Like the West Virginia Walking Beam and the Vocano Lubricator of Wood County just to the north, the West Virginia Daily Oil Review and its many variants shed light on western West Virginia’s once-prosperous oil history.

Provided By: West Virginia University

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Sistersville Oil Review (Sistersville, W. Va.) 1896-1901

Other Title

  • Sistersville weekly oil review

Dates of Publication

  • 1896-1901

Created / Published

  • Sistersville, W. Va. : J.H. McCoy

Headings

  • -  Sistersville (W. Va.)--Newspapers
  • -  West Virginia--Sistersville
  • -  United States--West Virginia--Tyler--Sistersville

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began in 1896?
  • -  Ceased in 1901? Cf. W. Va. State Gazetteer.
  • -  "Formerly Tyler Democrat."
  • -  Continues the numbering of: Tyler democrat.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Issued also in a daily edition entitled: West Virginia daily oil review.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 14, no. 2 (Jan. 12, 1898).
  • -  Weekly oil review (DLC)sn 86092352 (OCoLC)13291242

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn86092351

OCLC Number

  • 13291230

ISSN Number

  • 2640-3773

Preceding Titles

Succeeding Titles

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Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Sistersville Oil Review Sistersville, W. Va. -1901. (Sistersville, WV), Jan. 1 1896. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn86092351/.

APA citation style:

(1896, January 1) Sistersville Oil Review Sistersville, W. Va. -1901. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn86092351/.

MLA citation style:

Sistersville Oil Review Sistersville, W. Va. -1901. (Sistersville, WV) 1 Jan. 1896. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn86092351/.