Osage

(formally Osageville)
[1873]This “is a new town, laid off at Jacob Rice’s Mills, on the waters of Scotts Run, one mile from the river and four miles from Morgantown. Osageville and suburbs contain a population of perhaps 25 souls, but the prospects are the place will shortly be a thriving little village….We already have a good steam grist mill, a sawmill and a carding machine (for the weaving/processing of wool), and—some of the prettiest girls in the county.” (Morgantown Weekly Post, April 12, 1873).

[1925]In 1910, before mining activities began, Cass District, in which Scotts Run is located, had a population of 1,173 people, mostly living on farms. By 1920 the census showed 3,160 and by 1925 there were probably 5,000 people in the district, most of them in Scotts Run, nearly all of them newcomers to the country.

Osage was the principle business and social center. The narrow two-lane street was crowded with cars, trucks, buses. The railroad track went down the main street; hundreds of coal cars went by daily; often it was impossible, for long stretches, to cross the street.

At one end of town, on the right coming from Morgantown, was the Osage School. Then came John and Peter Karanfilian’s drugstore (later run by John Preston), followed by Nick Hrinsin’s grocery. Levinson’s department store came next. Levinson later sold out, to Max Levine, who built a large building across the street and ran Max’s department store there for many years. Restaurants were run by Egway Rossie, and others. Joseph and Sara Lee ran a highly-regarded butcher shop. Frank Amato was another grocer. Across the tracks was the Osage Coal Company store, run by John Angotti. And Across the bridge, towards Chaplin Hill, was Francis Laszlo’s grocery.

For entertainment there was the Osage theater, run by Dixie Downes. For a time there were two theaters, the other being the Liberty, in a building owned by Sidney Melnikoff. Besides, in the Moose Hall, run by Mike Shiel, vaudeville and medicine shows were presented (and Catholic religious services were held on Sundays.) There were also bowling alleys and “handouts,” where miners gathered to drink and play cards.
Various people operated barber shops and there were dentists’ offices and coal company doctors. Almost anything needed could be bought in Osage. For shoppers who wanted more browsing space, buses left for Morgantown every few minutes, from early in the morning until late at night.

Image	Subject	Size (KB)
	Train	172
	Railroad	176
	Company Store	224
	Store	220
	Store	224
	Downtown	216
	Downtown Homes	224

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