About Our School

126 Excellence Way, Inwood, WV 25428

History of Musselman

Christian H. Musselman spent his boyhood days working on the farm of his father growing crops and marketing them. In 1907 Mr. Musselman together with his father, John Musselman, Sr, and younger brother, John S. came to Biglerville and purchased the Biglerville Canning Company. From 1911 to June 1922 the business conducted as a proprietorship under the trade name of The C.H. Musselman Company. In June 1922 the business was incorporated with Mr. Musselman as its President and General Manager. The Inwood Plant in Berkeley County was built in 1912.

Both C.H. Musselman and his very helpful and capable young wife Emma came from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, a land noted for thrifty, hard working farm people who loved the land they cultivated.

Mr. and Mrs. Musselman comprised a remarkable personal and business union where all major decisions were made mutually. They also shared the physical responsibilities in the development of the company with Mrs. Musselman devoting long hours to supervising and training hundreds of women in canning skills. She worked side by side with her husband in the Inwood, West Virginia Plant in 1921, teaching the new employees how to do the work and providing counsel for many other problems confronting the new operation.

Officially, Mrs. Musselman held the position of First Vice-President of the company from the time of the reorganization of the Board of Directors following Mr. Musselman's death in 1944 until the merger with Pet Milk Company in 1961.

Mr. and Mrs. Musselman established the Musselman Foundation in 1942 for the disbursement of earnings from a trust fund in the form of gifts "for enabling needy students to obtain educations, and for such other charitable, literary, and public purposes. In 1955 Mrs. Musselman created the Emma G. Musselman Foundation for similar purposes.

Coming as a complete surprise in September 1947 the trustees of the C.H. Musselman Foundation announced that it had allocated funds for the construction of the first of three units of a modern high school building for the general area of Inwood operations. Planned in cooperation with the architects and representatives of the BOard of Education, the trustees proceeded to authorize the work which was accomplished by the Musselman Company employees who took a personal interest in the project. Step by step they carefully molded the building into an institution of community service. Musselman High School came to represent the ambition of the late C.H. Musselman to be of help to everyone who came within the area of his influence.

Dedication of the school took place on Friday evening, February 10, 1950. Four years later a second grant made possible a gymnasium and additional classrooms. In 1963 the foundation donated a completely equipped athletic field.