Marshall County, West Virginia    Biography of Merton A. SYBERT

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Submitted by Valerie Crook, <vfcrook@earthlink.net>, March 1999
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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., 
Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 82-83

MERTON A. SYBERT is a leader in the moving-picture
theatrical business in Marshall County, West Virginia, and
is recognized as one of the most vital and progressive
business men and loyal citizens of Moundsville. Here ho
owns and conducts two modern theaters of this type, the
Strand and the Park, and at McMechen, this county, he
owns and operates the Midway Theater. The Park was
opened in 1912, with a seating capacity of about 300,
which has since been increased to 750. The seating ca-
pacity of the Midway is 553. Mr. Sybert erected the
Strand Theater in 1920, at a cost of $100,000, including
equipment, and this fine modern amusement resort was
opened to the public on November 15th of that year, the
house having a seating capacity of 1,050. Mr. Sybert is
financially interested also in theaters at Marietta and
Cambridge, Ohio, under the title of the C. & M. Amuse-
ment Company. Mr. Sybert made his initial appearance
in the theatrical field in 1910, when he became the oper-
ator of a house at Marietta, Ohio. In 1912 his capitalistic
resources were less than $1,000, and he not only lost the
amount which he thus invested but also a position that
was yielding him $1,500. He retained his confidence in
the possibilities for successful amusement enterprise at
Moundsville, and as soon as he was able to eliminate com-
petition of adverse order he made rapid advancement, over-
came obstacles that presented and made his way forward
to the goal of substantial success.

Mr. Sybert is president of the Moundsville Chamber of
Commerce, a director of the local Rotary Club, and in the
Masonic fraternity he has completed the circle of both the
York and Scottish Rite bodies. He is a past master of
Phoenix Lodge No. 73, Ancient Free and Accepted Ma-
sons, at Sistersville, this state, and is also a past high
priest of the Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, at that place.
He is a member of Nemesis Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of
Parkersburg, West Virginia. He has been influential in
the councils and campaign activities of the democratic
party within the period of his residence in West Virginia,
and in 1920 was his party's nominee for the State Senate,
in which connection he made a vigorous campaign in a
district that has a large normal republican majority, which
he succeeded in reducing materially, though he failed of
election, as he had anticipated.

At Sistersville was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Sy-
bert and Miss Laura Blankensop, of Martin's Ferry, Ohio,
and she is a popular figure in the social activities of
Moundsville.

Mr. Sybert was born in Armstrong County, Pennsyl-
vania, and his early educational advantages were those
of the public schools. As a boy he began to assist in his
father's mercantile establishment, and as a youth he held
for several years the position of assistant postmaster at
Livingston, Montana. In 1895 he opened a retail grocery
at Sistersville, West Virginia, and later he became city
salesman for a wholesale grocery company at Marietta,
Ohio. He finally found his maximum potential when he
directed his energies into his present field of enterprise,
in which he has gained both success and high reputation.