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Due to Sistersville's location along the Ohio River, halfway between Wheeling and Parkersburg, the town became a hub of industrialization. The discovery of oil in the area further cemented Sistersville as an industrial powerhouse in the region. As a result, John H. McCoy established a newspaper, the West Virginia Oil Review. It was his first foray into the news industry, and it would prove to be extremely successful.

The West Virginia Oil Review began as a four-page paper with five columns to a page. In just a few years, with increasing revenues, McCoy was able to upgrade to eight pages with six columns per page. This expansion allowed McCoy to develop a newspaper industry, which employed twenty-five men and women, all because the West Virginia Oil Review quickly became the most patronized newspaper in the state.

McCoy would start publishing both the West Virginia Oil Review, a daily paper, and also the Tyler Democrat, a weekly paper. The West Virginia Oil Review would be known by many names. Under the ownership of McCoy, it would also be known as the Sistersville Daily Oil Review. Under his ownership this paper published not only local news, but also detailed information about the operations of the oil industries in the region. The paper published daily lists of completed wells, wells underway, and the prices of oil by county and state. Any news about the oil industry, at the local, state or national level was, of course, included in the paper.

The paper would change hands a few times, leading to more name changes. In 1905 the paper was handed over to John P. Glass, who named it the Sistersville Daily Review, however, the lack of an oil focus under Glass's ownership did not seem to play well, and the paper changed hands. In 1907 the name changed to the Daily Oil Review and Harry W. Smith became the editor. Once again, this paper prominently featured oil news and the prices of oil throughout West Virginia.

Despite being so closely related with the Tyler Democrat, the Sistersville Daily Oil Review maintained a fairly bipartisan stance on political topics. When elections were upcoming, the paper would publish both the democratic and republican tickets for its patrons to consider. The Oil Review truly considered its job to report on topics related to the oil industry, so it left its stance on politics ambiguous.

The last change of ownership came when the paper was purchasedby C. O. Finharty in 1912, who changed the name of the paper back to the Sistersville Daily Review. Under Finharty's ownership, the paper once again became less oil focused, and as a result, less patronized. It is clear that the people of Sistersville, at that time, cared immensely about the oil industry in their region, and much preferred a niche, industry focused paper, than a run of the mill newspaper. Due to this change, The Sistersville Daily Review ceased publication in 1937 after a 43-year run.

Provided by: West Virginia University