Company store built in 1900 will remain standing after sale

OAK HILL, W.Va. (AP) - The new owner of the Whipple Company Store in West Virginia plans to keep the historic mercantile standing.

Jarrod Hines of Entrusted Auctions told The Charleston Gazette-Mail that the buyer is a Pittsburgh company. Neither the name of the company nor the selling price was immediately disclosed.

Sellers Joy and Charles Lynn bought the building in 2006 and opened the Appalachian Heritage Educational Museum to the public.

Joy Lynn said she’s glad the top bidder won’t be tearing the 118-year-old building down. A second online auction will take place in coming weeks for the store’s contents, including antique home and store furnishings, mine implements and historic photos.

The store was among three octagonal wood buildings designed in the 1890s for new coal camps. The Whipple store was built in 1900 and is the only one of the three still standing.

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Information from: The Charleston Gazette-Mail, http://wvgazettemail.com.