Enterprise Album

This week’s photo is actually a video of a 1958 film taken in Barnesville during the town’s official Sesqui-centennial Celebration. The video was recently posted on the Belmont County History Detectives Facebook Page. The video of slightly more than one hour, was posted online two years ago. It has been viewed more than 6,900 times!

The story of how the film survived is interesting. Once completed, the film was shown first at the State Theater followed by Leatherwood Drive In in the fall of 1958.  

After the drive in closed in 1988, owner Rolland Hall handed off possession of the large film cannisters to local historian and genealogist Jean Davies of the Barnesville Enterprise.

Davies, in turn, handed the film over to Bruce Yarnall, Victorian Village project coordinator, when she retired a few years later.

Yarnall reached out to Bellaire native and Toledo accountant Paul E. Rieger. Rieger, a collector of Ohio Valley historical books, papers, photos and other memorabilia.

Rieger paid to have the film converted to VHS video. Copies of the video were sold by the Barnesville Depot Committee with proceeds going back to Rieger to cover costs. Once that goal was achieved, profits were used by the committee to pay for restoration of the depot.

Rieger, who died in 2012, established the Upper Ohio Valley Collection which is housed at the T.W. Phillips Memorial Library at Bethany College.  

Video Link.