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Colliers is an unincorporated community in Brooke County, West Virginia, United States. It is the second oldest town in Brooke County, Wellsburg being the oldest. Its population expanded steadily throughout the 1800s and into the 1900s because a section of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis (PCC&StL) Railroad ran through the town, and because numerous coal mines were established, including the Blanch Coal Mine and the Locust Grove Mine. After both enterprises closed, the population declined until Colliers became a small, residential community. Throughout its existence, Colliers’ social life has revolved primarily around the local schools and churches.

Colliers has a population of 2,045 people. Of these, 2,008 of the people are Caucasian, eight are African American, eight are Asian/Pacific Islanders, fourteen are Hispanic, one is American Indian/Eskimo/Aleut, and nineteen are listed as other. 1,085 people are male, and 959 are female.

In 1771, Jacob Collier founded the settlement of Colliers. There was a small fort located in this settlement. The fort was used during battles with Native Americans during the late 1700s. The city of Colliers was officially founded in 1843. Many workers and their families immigrated from outside the United States. The coal mining industry was profitable, and numerous people immigrated to Colliers to work in the mines. These immigrants formed a community on the west end of Colliers called Logrow, or the Boardwalk. The PCC&StL Railroad ran through this section of Colliers, which brought about the rise of a pool hall, a movie theater, and a mining company store, among other establishments. The east end of Colliers was known as Mine Hill.

In the mid 1800s, Elisha Stansbury, a man who owned 335 acres of land in Colliers and the surrounding area, realized that the town needed a school to educate the children, including his own eight. He donated a portion of his land on the west end of Colliers for a school. The school, known as the Number 2 School, was made up of one 60’x30’ room. The typical school year lasted between four and six months to ensure that the children would be free to assist their parents during harvests, as well as to avoid the harsh conditions of winter. Colliers Primary School was ranked 94th out of 420 primary schools in the state of West Virginia for the year 2017, with an overall grade of a B from Niche. Colliers Primary School was named a 2017 National Blue Ribbon School with the designation as an Exemplary High Performing School. Colliers Primary was the first school in Brooke County to be nominated by the West Virginia Department of Education as a National Blue Ribbon School. Also, the Colliers Primary School principal, JoEllen Connolly, was presented the national Terrel H. Bell Outstanding Leadership Award by the U. S. Department of Education. The award was a first for any West Virginia administrator.

There are several churches in Colliers. The earliest church is the Colliers United Methodist Church, which was organized in 1834. In 1898, the Colliers Christian Church was founded as a non denominational church. The First Nazarene Church of Colliers opened in 1958.

Blanch Mine was a coal mine owned by L. C. Smith, William Smith, and John McNulty. It was plagued by tragic accidents in the late 1800s. On November 21, 1892, three workers, one of them only fifteen years old, were killed and seven were wounded when twenty five kegs of powder exploded inside the mine. Luckily, most of the workers had exited the mine to eat by the time the accident occurred. Two years later, on November 20, 1894, another explosion was caused in the mine by a new miner detonating an overcharged blast. The accident caused the deaths of seven workers and wounding eleven. The profitability of the town was also a major factor. With its mining industry, Colliers provided its citizens with excess money that could be used for the customary collection that was taken for the loser of the fight, who would otherwise win no prize money. In 1880, the bareknuckle boxing world heavyweight championship match between Paddy Ryan and Joe Goss was held in Colliers. The match was prevented from occurring in Canada with extra border control and undercover detectives in America. Pennsylvania authorities also prohibited the match in Allegheny County, and Joe Goss assured the authorities that it would take place outside the county. The fight lasted for 87 rounds. Joe Goss, the reigning champion, was much more experienced than Ryan, who had never fought a championship match before. Ryan suffered many injuries to his head, and much of his body was bruised. However, due to Goss’s advancing age, he was unable to continue the fight, leaving Ryan the victor.