SPECIAL RECOGNITION — Collective and individual honors were presented to Beech Bottom officials by the West Virginia Municipal League. The village’s leaders include, from left, front, Village Recorder Joyce Painter, Councilwoman Sharon Jordan and Mayor Becky Uhlly, who was presented the league’s Quiet Strength Award; and back, Councilmen Greg Sheperd, Don Hubbard and Bruce Hunter. John Niven, a member of the village’s water board and former councilman, was inducted into the league’s hall of fame for his more than 40 years of public service. -- Contributed

BEECH BOTTOM — Beech Bottom and its leaders have been honored by the West Virginia Municipal League for their efforts to preserve the village’s history and address a major drainage issue affecting local roads and properties for many years.

The community has been named a West Virginia All-Star Community by leaders of the league, who also presented honors to Mayor Becky Uhlly and John Niven, a longtime member of the village’s water board and council.

Municipal League officials cited the establishment by village officials and volunteers of roadside parks marking the former site of an airfield established to train pilots for World War I and a former community whose prosperity relied entirely on a major power plant.

Located west of state Route 2, near Beech Bottom’s north end, Lambert Park was named for Courtney Lambert, a pilot who died when his plane crashed during training at a privately funded airport at the site.

Lambert was among members of the West Virginia Flying Corps, a volunteer group formed to provide air support to American military forces fighting in World War I. The group failed to attain military status, leading its founder, Louis Bennett Jr., to join the war effort as a member of the British Royal Flying Corps.

The other roadside park marks the site of Power, a community of hundreds that sprung up in 1917 from a power plant that served more than 1 million customers.

Many of Power’s residents worked at the power plant, which for decades provided electricity for their homes, a general store, restaurant, post office, bowling alley and other buildings.

But when it was closed in 1973, the community’s many structures were razed and its citizens left for other jobs.

A group of former Power residents teamed with Beech Bottom officials to establish the park in cooperation with FirstEnergy, which owns the site, which is east of Route 2 near the village’s south end.

But the village’s largest project in recent years has been the $3.5 million extension of a stormwater line from atop 49 Hill Road and under Alley C and Route 2 to the Ohio River.

Designed by Thrasher Engineering, the project included the replacement of 100-year-old terra cotta pipe and installation of catch basins and small retaining walls, known as headwalls, along the line’s course.

Broken sections of the old line had resulted in sinkholes dating to at least 1987, and federal, state and local funds were expended multiple times for emergency repairs.

But Uhlly and others persisted in seeking federal and state aid with help from the Brooke-Hancock-Jefferson Metropolitan Planning Commission and others.

Finally, the Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded a grant for much of the project’s cost, with the West Virginia Job and Infrastructure Development Council providing about $170,000 for its local match.

While the village’s sinkhole problem was thought to be solved, crews were called in recently to replace another section of stormwater line along Route 2 between Third Street and Alley C.

Uhlly was presented the league’s Quiet Strength Award by its director, Susan Economou, who cited her years of distinguished service, wisdom and judgment.

The mayor said she was shocked to learn she had received the honor. But she admitted that when Economou was describing its recipient, before divulging her name, when she “heard her say the recipient takes pride in their community’s history and playgrounds, I thought that’s my kind of person.”

Uhlly said she also was glad to see Niven honored by the league, noting between council and the water board, he has served the village for 40 years.

“He has dedicated his whole life to this village and was such a vital part of everything we have done,” she said.

Niven, who recently stepped down from the water board, acknowledged he has served under five mayors and seen the village’s expansion north and south through annexation, a major waterline replacement project supported by federal funds and improvements to Beech Bottom’s two parks.

He also attended many meetings at which a new Ohio River bridge near the village and Wellsburg was proposed.

“I was really interested in seeing that built,” Niven said of the span completed last year.

He said while he’s looking forward to retirement from public service, he’s also happy to have served and has enjoyed living in Beech Bottom all of his life.

“It’s a very nice community,” said Niven.