Neffs is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

in northwestern Pultney Township,

Belmont County Belmont County is a county located in the eastern end of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 66,497. Its county seat is St. Clairsville, while its largest city is Martins Ferry. The county was crea ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, United States. The population was 878 at the 2020 census. It is part of the

Wheeling metropolitan area The Wheeling, WV–OH Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of two counties in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia and one in eastern Ohio, anchored by the city of Wheeling. As of ...

History

A post office called Neffs has been in operation since 1892. Besides the post office, Neffs had a sawmill and gristmill. The local Neffs (or Neife) family came to Belmont County from

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

via

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

and

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. On March 16, 1940, at approximately 11:00am EST, an explosion at Hanna Coal Company's No. 10 Mine at Willow Grove occurred, killing 72 men. Neffs was also the birthplace of model and actor Ken Clark.

Geography

Neffs is located in eastern Belmont County in the northwest part of Pultney Township. The center of the community lies in the valley of McMahon Creek, a tributary of the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

. Ohio State Route 149 passes through Neffs, leading east to Bellaire on the Ohio. Downtown

Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in Ohio County, West Virginia, Ohio and Marshall County, West Virginia, Marshall counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The county seat of Ohio County, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mo ...

, is an additional five miles to the north from Bellaire. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the Neffs CDP has a total area of , of which , or 0.93%, is water.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 1,138 people, 449 households, and 339 families residing in the CDP. The population density was . There were 483 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the community was 99.03%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.35%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, and 0.62% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 0.18% of the population. There were 449 households, out of which 29.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.1% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 10.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.3% were non-families. 21.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 2.93. In the CDP the population was spread out, with 21.8% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 28.3% from 25 to 44, 26.5% from 45 to 64, and 15.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 98.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.3 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $25,000, and the median income for a family was $36,875. Males had a median income of $31,875 versus $19,926 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the community was $13,557. About 7.7% of families and 13.8% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 22.6% of those under age 18 and 6.9% of those age 65 or over.

References

External links

List of casualties on March 16, 1940
{{Authority control Populated places established in 1797 Census-designated places in Belmont County, Ohio 1892 establishments in Ohio Populated places established in 1892