WHIPPLE, WV (LOOTPRESS) – The Whipple Company Store located in Whipple just outside Oak Hill, stands as a testament to the region’s coal mining heritage.
Built in the early 20th century by coal operator Justus Collins, the store was the commercial and social hub for the mining town of Whipple and surrounding communities.
The building is one of the last wooden company stores still standing today.
It housed the offices of the Whipple Colliery Company, a post office, and a doctor’s office, providing essential services to local miners and their families.
The store offered everything a household might need, from food to furniture. In 1906, after Collins sold the Whipple Colliery Company to the New River Company, the store was renamed New River Company Store No. 4.
Architecturally unique, the two-story wooden building sits on a sandstone foundation. Its six-sided first floor is topped by an octagonal second floor, with a grand arch framing the entrance.
Inside, a central circular space connects to smaller rooms, creating a distinctive layout that makes the store an iconic landmark in Whipple.
The Whipple Company Store is one of four identical stores built in the New River area in the early 1900s. The first was constructed in Glen Jean in 1893 for the Collins Colliery Company, but it was rebuilt in 1900 after a fire.
Additional stores were built in Prudence and Whipple, with the Whipple store being the last and the only one still standing.
The store closed in 1957 following the shutdown of the Whipple mine. It later operated as a trading post until the late 1980s and then served as a private residence.
In 1991, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Despite its historical significance, the Whipple Company Store faced challenges in preserving its legacy. It was listed as an Endangered Property by the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia in 2011.
Though it operated as a museum for several years, the store is now closed, leaving its future uncertain.
