PHILIPPI — In the heart of the Tygart River Valley lies Philippi, a once-bustling college town that was home to Alderson Broaddus University. When it shuttered last year, jobs and a strong sense of community vanished overnight.
Now, Barbour County residents say they need more economic investment to bounce back from the university’s closure, along with more housing for residents moving into the area and ways to keep more young people there.
After spending 40 years teaching at the university including time as the provost, Kenneth Yount now spends his time with his grandchildren on the outskirts of Philippi.
“The college was a cultural resource,” Yount said while sitting in a conference room at his family’s law firm. “There was this rich intermix of cultures and peoples, but now there’s been a significant cultural loss.”
One study by the university for the county Chamber of Commerce found that the economic impact of Alderson Broaddus was in the tens of millions of dollars.
The university brought millions of dollars of economic investment into the city and the county in grants and tuition fees. As money poured into the school, it was circulated in businesses like restaurants, motels and gas stations, Yount said.
When the university closed, hundreds of students and faculty were left scrambling to find new schools and new jobs. Philippi saw an immediate loss of 150 jobs and about 500 students, leaving an economic hole at the center of the county.
“The best economic development is to keep the big businesses that you have,” Yount said. “It’s so much harder to find somebody else who will bring millions in. If we could have kept the college, development would have been 100 times easier.”
Sold for $5 million, and now under the new name Battlers Knob LLC, the campus is owned by entrepreneur Craig Phillips and he’s trying to find businesses to utilize the expansive space left behind.
In late September, West Virginia Wesleyan University, located just a 30-minute drive south, announced plans to offer classes in health-related fields and other areas at the former campus.
More residents, less available housing and declining tourism
Hunter Mullens has lived in Barbour County for over 20 years after completing law school and starting his law firm, Mullens & Mullens, with his wife in Philippi.
Besides practicing law, he’s served in various leadership positions in the county and is the immediate past president of the Barbour County Chamber of Commerce.
While sitting in his office with cases and client paperwork across his desk, he said he’s seen a growing demand for housing in the area as new residents continue to move in. Barbour County isn’t alone, as counties across the state are facing housing shortages.
“The existing land and housing are fairly affordable but there’s limited supply,” he said. “Past professors are selling their houses and finding jobs elsewhere, but it isn’t taking long for their houses to be purchased. Their houses are under contract within 30 to 45 days.”
Across the state, there is a shortage of more than 30,000 affordable housing units for low-income renters. In 2020, Barbour County had about 900 vacancies and 6,000 occupied units.
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Erin Gibson is the housing project coordinator for the North Central West Virginia Community Action Association in Barbour County. One of the things the organization does is build and manage housing units for people with low incomes.
Gibson said a lot of tenants are senior citizens or single parents.
She said she hasn’t had an available unit open in two years because there aren’t a lot of jobs that offer a livable wage in the county, and the funds to build more units are limited and have a large pool of non-profit applicants.
“People below the state poverty level really struggle to find space and affordable housing,” she said.
Gibson said she would ask candidates for election in her county if there would be more funding to build affordable housing.
Inflation and food prices
Surrounded by various mystery novels, short stories and murder mysteries, Marija Ilic sat in the sunlight at the Philippi Public Library. She said she’s noticed the influx of new residents.
“Real estate is selling super fast here. It’s like a double-edged sword,” she said. “People are moving back home from places like Florida, where the cost of living has skyrocketed.”
Ilic has lived in Barbour County for nearly 25 years and is a manager at the Medallion Restaurant on Main Street.
After the pandemic, attitudes changed and fewer customers like locals and tourists trickled into the restaurant and to community events, she said. Philippi boasts a thriving live music scene, a heritage museum and festivals like Lurch Fest (named for the Adams Family character played by Philippi native Ted Cassidy) to attract visitors.
New county residents provide some revenue but business hasn’t fully rebounded. Rising prices have also impacted the county, and food costs for local businesses have increased.
“Everything is so doggone expensive now,” Ilic said. “We used to be known for very reasonably priced stuff, and we attracted people from the neighboring counties who drove down here to have a meal. Now, we can’t offer those prices anymore.”
The price of food is a big concern for Tracie Thompson, the executive director of the Heart and Hand House, a non-profit mission project, which has a food pantry in Philippi.
The pantry hands out boxes of groceries worth between $50 and $80 to families in the community. In August, Thompson said the pantry assisted 141 families with more than $11,000 worth of food.
Once a month, the Mountaineer Food Bank truck delivers food for the pantry ordered with donations of money from the community. On the last Friday in September, the food truck delivered the month’s food and by Wednesday of the next week, Thompson said the food was almost gone.
She said the organization has seen a large increase in the need for food. “I’m having, as the director, to find more and more ways to fund the food pantry,” she said.
Thompson would like to ask candidates who want to represent Barbour County what their ideas are for combating the problem.
“What are some solutions you have for food insecurity and funding, and what are you going to do about food inflation?” she asked.
Younger people are leaving
With the loss of the university, and having only one high school in the county, younger people have left for more opportunities.
“We’ve seen a lot of brain drain. It probably won’t show up until 10 years from now because there are people already invested in the community that stayed,” Mullens said. “But, we’re not going to have that new blood coming in.”
Hunter’s son, Jacob, recently graduated from West Virginia University with a degree in graphic design but decided to move back home where he now resides in his wooded cabin near Tygart Lake.
Jacob said there are few jobs available for him in Barbour County in his field.
“With the college gone, people aren’t falling in love with the county and staying here,” he said.