JANELLE PATTERSON The Marietta Times The Hi Carpenter Bridge stretches between St. Marys, W.Va., and Newport over the Ohio River Thursday.

Newport, founded in 1839, and St. Marys, W.Va., established in 1849, have developed alongside each other for more than 200 years–often trading laborers and commerce.

“My river is your river–what happens to the one will happen to the other as well,” reads a rolling tile mural, half-complete, along the side of a closed grocery in St. Marys, a sentiment which residents of both places take to heart.

“I work at the Methodist church in Newport and the Methodist church in St. Marys,” laughed Debbie Thomas, 67, of Newport. “Both churches are close-knit families, and the bridge links me to both.”

The Hi Carpenter Bridge, completed in 1977, is named after one pioneer who brought commerce to both towns despite his humble beginnings.

Photo courtesy of Marietta College Special Collections Businesses and homes in Newport closest to the riverbank were at least one floor underwater during the flood of 1901.

Hiram Carpenter, depending on who you talk with in St. Marys, was known for his potato farming, marketing of the two communities’ apples, supplying the gravel to pave Ohio 7, running the ferry between the two communities and then building the first toll bridge connecting Newport and St. Marys.

“His son Walter just died a couple years ago, but Walter was like the walking encyclopedia of Pleasants County history,” explained St. Marys Mayor Paul Ingram.

In Newport, historical tales stretch back to the Barker family house downstream of the Willow Island Lock and Dam, to the Greenes who were one of the first families to settle the area, and the old Newport High School.

“My husband was in one of the last classes to graduate from that high school before it was torn down, he still has a brick from that building,” said Thomas of the building constructed in 1917. “And I was in one of the first classes to come through Frontier.”

The Judge Joseph Barker Jr. House located on Ohio 7 was built nearly 200 years ago. Last year with the heading of the Washington County Historical Society and Jack Haessly of Haessly Hardwood Lumber, a movement to save the historic building has grown to include the backing of U.S. Sen. Rob Portman.

JANELLE PATTERSON The Marietta Times Above St. Marys Thursday, the skyline is outlined with the Hi Carpenter Bridge to Newport.

The Greenes and Danas share the credit in first permanently settling Newport in 1798, about 40 years before the community was officially platted.

Their names still are listed in the genealogical records and notes stored in the Marietta College Special Collections archives, alongside stories of flooding, fires, rebuilds and the development of both sides of the river with apple orchards.

“And everyone here is related in some way. As a kid I grew up on Greene Street,” said Thomas. “Then I walked across the Carpenter bridge to go to the pool in St. Marys in the summer.”

Crossing of the bridge by residents still occurs daily, according to Ingram.

“We’re the homes of hospitality,” said Ingram. “Sometimes referred to as a bedroom community, these towns are often where people come to sleep after working up and down the river at the factories.”

Photo courtesy of Marietta College Special Collections St. Marys has for more than 100 years welcomed the daily run of trains through the downtown along Second Street. To this day, Mayor Paul Ingram says four to six trains still pass through daily.

He said both fire and ambulance squads of the two towns have mutual aid agreements.

“If one of ours is on a call, and another 911 comes in, they come over to help,” he smiled.

“The river doesn’t really separate us,” added Thomas.

Those deep roots of history, industrial commerce, and laborer class are what not only kept Thomas in the area and brought Ingram back after working in a corporate environment for 20 years, its also what brought an entrepreneur to town.

“The history of the railroad running through St. Marys just really drew me,” said Kristian Lenard, 42, of St. Marys. “My kids are in Marietta, so of course I came around here to be close to them, but I settled up here because I loved the history of the small towns.”

Lenard grew up in a U.S. Navy family, moving every couple years between larger cities like Dallas and Washington D.C.

“So when I came here, and it just made sense, when you say eat local it’s more than just where you get your meat and veggies, it’s also the small locally-owned mom and pop restaurants and shops that keep these small communities together,” she said.

Lenard started the Boxcar three and a half years ago, right across Second Street from City Hall.

“It’s a staple now in our town,” said Ingram. “That’s where you go to have a meal, or down the road for pizza.”

And the restaurant even pulls its employees from both sides of the river.

“I have some from Newport and New Matamoras, a few from Marietta and some from St. Marys,” said Lenard, noting the bridge directly links his business to travelers of Ohio 7, and the West Virginia state routes.

About the Hi Carpenter Bridge:

• The current trussed bridge which connects Newport and St. Marys, W.Va., was completed in 1977 and is named after Hiram Carpenter, of St. Marys.

• The ferry between Newport and St. Marys stopped running at the time of the bridge’s completion, but for years prior ran in conjunction with the original toll bridge built by Carpenter.

• The original toll bridge built by Carpenter was called the Short Bridge and was marketed to travelers as the fastest route between the east coast and Cincinnati.

• Before the bridge was built, Carpenter fist worked in freighting, hauling apples up and down the Ohio River on the “Raven.”

• Then in May 1917, Carpenter purchased the St. Marys Ferry.

• After World War I, Hiram used his knowledge of the river and the islands along the center to invest in potato farming and was dubbed the “Potato King of West Virginia” in 1931.

• At that same time, he began selling gravel from the Ohio River surrounding his islands to the Ohio Department of Transportation for the paving of Ohio 7.

• By 1929 he had built the Short Bridge and was operating it independently of either state.

• In Dec. 1937, West Virginia bought the bridge and managed it until it was replaced with the Hi Carpenter Bridge.

Source: Marietta College Special Collections.

JANELLE PATTERSON The Marietta Times Kristian Lenard, center, takes an order with Michael Wilson, right, from Alex Smith, at The Boxcar restaurant in St. Marys Thursday.