HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 87

(By Delegate Sponaugle)

Requesting the Division of Highways to name the bridge on Route 259 (Corridor H) crossing Sauer Kraut Road at Dutch Hollow in Hardy County, the "John and Wilbur Hahn Dutch Hollow Pioneers Bridge".

            Whereas, John and Wilbur Hahn, the youngest sons of Lorenza and Amanda Rebecca Michael Hahn, family of five girls and three boys, went to school at Maple Grove, where they only had school for about four months. The Hahns trace their ancestry back to the Rhine Valley of Germany and immigrants from there who arrived in the United States sometime in the mid-to late 1800's. The Hahns came over on a boat with members of the Michael family, and branches of both families settled in Dutch Hollow. They farmed and, when the demand arose, cut timber in the woods around their homesteads. John is deceased and Wilbur,(age eighty-nine has recently had a leg amputated), carried on that pioneering tradition of farming and pulpwood sawmill from 1939. They owned and operated a small gasoline-powered sawmill on their farm, with some help from John’s son Mickey in Dutch Hollow, Hardy County, despite the changes brought to the industry by modern technology. The brothers have remained part of a close-knit family, still enjoying Sunday dinners with relatives at the Hahn farmhouse, located near the site of the sawmill; and

            Whereas, Naming that bridge on Route 259 (Corridor H) crossing Sauer Kraut Road at Dutch Hollow in Hardy County, the "John and Wilbur Hahn Dutch Hollow Pioneers Bridge" is an appropriate recognition of their family's pioneering contributions to their state, community and Hardy County; therefore, be it

            Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:

            That the Division of Highways is hereby requested to name the bridge on Route 259 (Corridor H) crossing Sauer Kraut Road at Dutch Hollow in Hardy County, the "John and Wilbur Hahn Dutch Hollow Pioneers Bridge"; and, be it

            Further Resolved, That the Division of Highways is requested to have made and be placed signs identifying the bridge as the "John and Wilbur Hahn Dutch Hollow Pioneers Bridge"; and, be it

            Further Resolved, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates forward a certified copy of this resolution to the Secretary of the Department of Transportation and Wilbur Hahn and his family and the families of John Hahn.