1960 Map of Businessburg

About this map

The Ohio River carves a deep valley through the borderlands of Belmont County and Marshall County, separating the industrial corridors of the river bottom from the ridgeland settlements above. This mid-century landscape is defined by the infrastructure of the Baltimore and Ohio and Pennsylvania railroads, which hug the shorelines near Shadyside and Glendale. Inland, the terrain rises sharply toward Hawthorn Ridge and Roberts Ridge, where small rural communities like Businessburg and Vallonia are situated among a network of cemeteries and local institutions. The presence of Strip Mines and a Gravel Pit indicates the active extraction industry of the era, while the Moundsville Golf Course and the Radio Tower (WMOD) reflect the mid-century development of the valley floor at McKeefrey and Dilles Bottom.