Virginia Coal and Iron Company

The Virginia Coal & Iron Company was incorporated on January 6, 1882, and renamed Penn Virginia Corporation on April 19, 1967. VC&I was a typical large southern Appalachian coal and land company founded by members of the Leisenring, Wentz and Kemmerer families.

The Leisenrings were among several Pennsylvania anthracite operators who made the transition to bituminous coal. Their first such venture, and VC&I's direct predecessor, was the Connellsville Coke & Iron Company, established in 1880 in the western Pennsylvania basin that then held a near-monopoly on the production of coking coal for the iron and steel industry.

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