The History of School Transportation in Mercer County, WV

An early school bus is clearly visible at the curb in this detail of a widely-circulated 1930s postcard of Mercer School in Princeton, West Virginia. Quite likely, this is a representation of one of Mercer County's inaugural buses from 1936.

Two of Mercer County's original 1936 Wayne/GMC school buses, seen on their eve of retirement in 1955 after 19 years of heavy use. The fleet numbers #52 and #55 are barely visible on the entrance doors.

It's striking how so many of the characteristics of the template of modern school buses are already in place: Chrome yellow paint, a group of three identification markers (not required by federal dictate until 1968), and a "SCHOOL BUS" sign flanked by flashing lights. Given the early period of manufacture for the buses, it's possible that some of these features were added to them after the fact. Contrasting black fenders were a stylistic indulgence that would persist on West Virginia school bus livery until the 1970s. [Bluefield Daily Telegraph, 1955-09-04]

An early Mercer County school bus of unknown year and fleet number (though possibly one of the board's inaugural 1936 Wayne/GMCs), photographed in Princeton in 1948. Small, low-capacity school buses such as these were retained in the fleet for many years out of necessity because they were more nimble than larger buses on treacherous, winding mountain roads. [Daily Telegraph, 1948-02-26]

The inherent safety of Mercer County's school bus fleet was proven in 1945, when an automobile travelling on Route 52 near Bramwell collided head-on with a bus and sent it careening down a 60-foot embankment. The bus's all-steel body retained its integrity, and every student on the bus escaped injury apart from minor cuts and bruises. The model appears to have been yet another 1936 Wayne/GMC. [Daily Telegraph, 1945-10-02]

#75, a 42-passenger 1937 Wayne/GMC model bearing a Wayne body identical to that of the county's inaugural 1936 buses. This bus featured prominently in these promotional stills from Life's Too Short!, a single-reel road safety film produced by students of Oakvale High School in conjunction with the Ohio State University in 1940. This film has likely been lost, as there are no references to its existence in any known post-1940s publication. [Daily Telegraph, 1940-05-26]

A 1940 model Mercer County school bus with a "streamlined" second-generation Wayne body and GMC chassis. The fleet number has been obscured, but the last digit is "7"...implying that this was either #87 or #97 in the fleet. Note that this bus has sashless windows that drop down directly into the body, similar to the windows on a passenger car. The flashing lights also have an incongruous "tacked-on" appearance, and it's possible that the rear flashers were retrofitted to the body between 1949 and 1953. [Matoaka High School yearbook, 1953]

#95, a Wayne bus of unknown manufacture year with an appearance similar to the last. No rear flashers are visible, but the bus does bear the words "STOP—STATE LAW" that were added to all school buses statewide following the passage of a 1949 West Virginia law.

Note that the bus bears a regular West Virginia passenger-vehicle licence plate: Specially-designated licence plates for county-owned vehicles do not appear to have been introduced until the 1950s at earliest. Randy Robinette, Mercer County's school transportation director, is visible at left. [Beckley Raleigh Register, 1949-08-30]

This bus body features sashless windows and thick pillars of similar design to the 1940 Wayne Matoaka example seen above, but differs slightly in material details and is of unknown manufacture. The fleet number is obscured, but appears to be in the 100 series. Mercer County fleet numbers hit three digits by 1941. [Athens High School yearbook, 1959]

School buses weren't the only buses making stops at schools: Following the end of local streetcar service in 1937, Bluefield was served by White Model 706M forward-control transit buses with bodies by Bender. [Bluefield High School yearbook, 1942]

This 1947 GMC school bus is very similar to a modern bus in length and capacity, and has a Superior body bearing the fleet number 109. By this time, flashing lights had begun to appear on the rear of buses as well as the front. Also note the "black belt" containing the district lettering, a livery element that still persists in the neighbouring state of Kentucky to this day. [Daily Telegraph, 1948-02-26]

Another, similar example of a Mercer County school bus with a Superior body from the late 1940s or very early 1950s; fleet number and chassis unknown. The window pillars appear to be thicker and the "black belt" district lettering is of a different x-width, so it obviously hails from a different production order. As a matter of trivia, this bus features the same body style as the Partridge Family's bus. [Athens High School yearbook, 1959]

This round-roofed Wayne/GMC is numbered 127, and is most likely a 1952 model. Note the unusual rear lighting configuration with a single oversize brakelight to the right of the emergency door, which may or may not have been a short-lived state requirement. By the year the left-hand picture was taken, West Virginia had introduced specially-designated black-on-white licence plates for county-owned vehicles. [Princeton High School yearbook, 1961 and 1963]

Frank Price (left) and George Rutledge (right) perform paint and maintenance work on two new Wayne buses on the eve of the 1953-54 school year, one of which quite evidently bears the fleet number 129. Note that the "black belt" for district lettering had been discontinued by this time, and the "STOP—STATE LAW" lettering required under the provisions of the 1949 West Virginia law was given the largest billing on the front roof cap. At the time, the Mercer County Board of Education operated 54 buses covering 129 routes. [Daily Telegraph, 1953-09-06]

Mercer County's vehicle numbers had reached #153 by the time these buses entered the fleet, readily identifiable as 1955 models thanks to a year-specific grille shared with that year's light Ford pickups. The bodies were manufactured by Blue Bird of Fort Valley, Georgia, and bear ridged "visors" over each side window...a production characteristic of Blue Bird bodies through to the present day.

Other signs of evolution in statewide trends are apparent. The roof-mounted flashers have much larger lenses than those on earlier buses, and the roof cap lettering has been changed to read "STOP—SCHOOL BUS" in an attempt to reconcile the requirements of the 1949 state law with effective frontal identification. These buses were purchased as direct replacements for two of the school board's original 1936 models. [Daily Telegraph, 1955-09-04]

#165, a 60-passenger model. For 1958, the county once again procured bodies from Blue Bird of Georgia, similar in structure to the buses of 1955 but with protruding rectangular buckets around the flashing lights and a redesigned windshield. Blue Bird's iconic roof logo had also made its first appearance by this time. [Princeton High School yearbook, 1959]

West Virginia's statewide school bus specifications continued to evolve by the dawn of the 1960s. Roof-mounted flashers began to be surrounded by visors similar to those on traffic signals in order to increase the contrast of the signals on sunny days. The roof cap lettering also changed to a cumbersome two-line "SCHOOL BUS/STOP—STATE LAW" legend in a shifting and evolving attempt to keep all requirements of state law happy.

This particular bus is a Blue Bird riding a 1960 Chevrolet chassis, and might have borne the fleet number 176. By 1971, these buses were the oldest in the county still being operated. [Princeton High School yearbook, 1961]

#175, another 1960 Blue Bird of identical design. This particular bus was repainted at some point in its nine-year operational life, and the black rub rails, roof logo, and side nameplate all bear evidence of being painted over. [Bluefield High School yearbook, 1969]

Enough of the fleet number is visible on this bus to reveal it as #185, a 1961 Superior/Ford. Also note the side emergency exit, which may have been retrofitted later in the vehicle's operational life. [Athens High School yearbook, 1973]

#188, a 1962 Blue Bird/GMC conventional model. Note the trapezoidal "Blue Bird" nameplate by the door, and the "half-out, half-in" door leaves that were a common configuration until jackknife and outward-opening door configurations began to dominate in the 1970s. Like the last, this bus features plain yellow rub rails with no black highlights. Black rub rails would not reappear on the state's school bus livery until the 1980s.

The second photo provides a glimpse at the interior accommodations that were typical for school buses of this era: Thinly-padded low-back seats with exposed steel backs, and frames with corner handles for standees. These seats would become archaic in the face of new safety standards a decade later. [Bluefield High School yearbook, 1963]