Did you mean: West Virginia (state), West Virginia Mountaineers (NCAA Team), West Virginia (performed by John Linnell), Strauder v. West Virginia More...
| Dictionary: West Virginia |
A state of the east-central United States. It was admitted as the 35th state in 1863. West Virginia was part of Virginia until the area refused to endorse the ordinance of secession in 1861. Charleston is the capital and the largest city. Population: 1,810,000.
WestVirginian West Virginian adj. & n.
| 5min Related Video: West Virginia |
| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: West Virginia |
For more information on West Virginia, visit Britannica.com.
| US History Encyclopedia: West Virginia |
The British landed on the Virginia coast in 1606 but exploration into the interior was slow. Besides curiosity, the main motivation for westward expansion was the fur trade, which played a large role in the commercial success of the colony. Sir William Berkeley, William Byrd, and Abraham Wood organized and financed a number of western expeditions. In 1671 Thomas Batts and Robert Fallam led the first expedition, organized by Abraham Wood, to travel far enough west to reach what would become the Virginia-West Virginia border. The rugged and mountainous physical characteristics of the territory earned the state the title of "the Switzerland of America." A relatively small population of Native Americans inhabited the area, the largest group of whom were the Iroquois. By 1669, the Iroquois and other groups like the Cherokees, Delawares, and Mingos used the land mostly for hunting and as a source of salt.
The first settler of record is Morgan Morgan who made his home in Berkley County at Bunker Hill in 1726. By the late 1700s, settlers, mostly Scotch-Irish and German, had penetrated the wilderness of the Allegheny Plateau. On the far western border, settlers arrived in Wirt County in 1796, and Wood County was organized in 1798. The first census reported 55,873 persons living within the borders of what would become West Virginia. By 1800 the number increased to 78,592. A number of towns incorporated during the 1780s: Lewisburg (1782), Clarksburg (1785), Morgantown (1785), Charles Town (1786), Frankfort (1787), and Middleton and West Liberty (1787). These first settlers were true pioneers entirely dependent on themselves and their environment for survival.
By the start of the nineteenth century, small industries such as saw mills, gristmills, salt manufacturing, and boatyards had started in the west. Transportation also improved and opened western Virginia for commercial pursuits. The opening of the Mississippi River meant businesses had a route around the region's mountains. Roads also developed. The 1818 Cumberland Road, from Cumberland to Wheeling, particularly benefited the west. However, it was the railroad that created the most change. As railroads penetrated through the trans-Allegheny region, populations in already settled areas doubled and even tripled, new places were settled, coal mines were opened, and other natural resources were harvested. As the region settled and became prosperous the west Virginians became more dissatisfied with the state's eastern government.
West Virginia remained part of the larger colony and then state of Virginia until the Civil War. Tension between the two regions of eastern and western Virginia was evident in the early nineteenth century. The Virginia constitution, adopted in 1776, provided the east with a number of advantages. For example, the document granted voting rights to white men owning twenty-five acres of worked land or fifty acres of unworked land, which favored the plantation culture of the east, not the small farmers of the west. The constitution also provided that slaves be taxedless than any other kind of property, which again benefited the east. To complicate matters the slave population was counted in determining representation in the state legislature. As a result of the east's dominance there was a corresponding distribution of funds. The majority of money for public works and government buildings went to the east.
In 1798 John G. Jackson, Harrison County delegate, presented the state government with a petition calling for amendments to the 1776 constitution. Although the petition was rejected, Jackson continued by writing for the Richmond Examiner with the pseudonym "A Mountaineer." His arguments became the foundation for reform. The legislature still refused to call a constitutional convention but made attempts to appease the westerners. The West, however, continued to voice their discontent and in 1828 the legislature finally agreed to a constitutional convention.
The western delegates had a number of goals including the extension of voting rights to all white men; representation based on white population; and election of county officials instead of appointment. The convention in Richmondon 5 October 1829 included past and future presidents, jurists, and an array of other statesmen. Unfortunately for the West, the convention's officers were elected using the traditional method, which meant the east had a distinct and profound advantage. Voters defeated every western goal. In response, every western delegate (except one too sick to attend) voted against the new constitution. Angered, some westerners called for immediate secession. In response the east granted some concessions over the next twenty years. However, the concessions still did not resolve the need to revise the 1776 constitution. A second convention called the Reform Convention convened in 1850. Despite the uneasy relationship between eastern and western delegates, they reached agreements on the remaining 1829 issues. The convention gave white males age twenty-one and older the right to vote; it made numerous offices elective; and it reformed the jury system.
During the 1850s the sectional troubles of the nation overshadowed Virginia's newfound harmony. Joseph Johnson, governor from 1852 to 1856, was the first popularly elected governor and also the first governor from the west. Johnson provided the western region with a real and psychological boost. Railroads continued to grow, as did commercial success. The region's population expanded and new counties formed. By the late 1850s, however, national tension over slavery began to disrupt Virginia. The two regions responded very differently to the growing sectional crisis. Westerners tended to remain moderate while the easterners were adamantly against abolition. Even after John Brown's 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry in western Virginia, the westerners remained moderate and calm, much to the chagrin of easterners who were outraged by Brown's actions.
Virginia as a whole was against secession. Even after the election of Abraham Lincoln and the secession of seven southern states in 1860 and early 1861, Virginia was still undecided. The course changed with Lincoln's call for volunteers after the 12 April 1861 firing on Fort Sumter, South Carolina. Virginia passed a secession ordinance on 17 April by a vote of eighty-five to fifty-five. Of forty-seven western delegates, thirty-two voted against secession, eleven favored secession, and four did not vote. The western delegates hurried back to their home counties and began to organize themselves for resistance.
A number of mass town meetings were held all over the west. The most significant of these was at Clarksburg organized by John S. Carlile. The meeting called for each West Virginia county to send five of its wisest men to Wheeling. During the first Wheeling Convention, 13–15 May 1861, Carlile's group wanted to separate from Virginia immediately. A more conservative group, led by Waitman T. Willey, wanted to wait until the people had a chance to vote on the secession ordinance. After three days of growing tension Carlile agreed to wait until the referendum.
The ordinance passed 23 May 1861. The second Wheeling Convention convened 11–25 June 1861, and nullified the secession ordinance and formed the "Restored" government of Virginia. On 24 October 1861, west Virginians voted 18,408 to 781 in favor of creating a new state. The constitutional convention met from 26 November 1861 until 18 February 1862. It outlined a new government and the physical boundaries of the state. According to the U.S. Constitution, any new state must have the permission of its parent state before it can achieve statehood. West Virginia asked the Restored government at Wheeling for permission to form a new state. On 13 May 1862, the Restored governor Francis Pierpont approved the formation of a new state. The West Virginia state bill went to Congress on 29 May 1862. After debate on the slavery issue the bill passed with one amendment. The Willey Amendment was a compromise; it provided for emancipation of slaves over twenty-one and the emancipation of younger slaves when they reached twenty-one. The bill passed and President Abraham Lincoln signed it on 31 December 1862. The people of the fifty western Virginian counties voted in favor of the statehood bill on 26 March 1863, and on 20 June 1863, West Virginia officially became the thirty-fifth state. Among other names considered for it were Kanawha, Western Virginia, Allegheny, and Augusta; of the forty-four votes the name "West Virginia" received thirty.
After the Civil War, Virginia and West Virginia struggled over an issue of compensation. After a number of legal battles, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that West Virginia owed Virginia $12,393,930. The debt was paid off over time with the last installment made in 1939.
Throughout the Civil War the Union held the advantage in West Virginia. Supporters for both the Union and the Confederacy lived in West Virginia, and the war literally split families as some members fought for the North and others for the South. West Virginians also served in militias and irregular units sympathetic to the Confederacy. The fighting in the western theater was guerrilla in nature consisting of raids, arson, robbery, and intimidation.
Reconstruction was difficult for West Virginia, despite its Union loyalty. Hostility between former Confederate and Union soldiers was a serious problem. Some Confederate sympathizers continued violence causing Arthur Boreman, West Virginia's first governor, to recommend citizens organize themselves for protection. The majority of Confederate veterans, however, were not violent and in some cases federal troops were called to protect former Confederates from Unionist violence.
Another concern was that former Confederates, most of whom held Democratic views, would threaten the existence of the new state. Lincoln's reelection in 1864 lessened those fears, but his assassination in 1865 aroused them again. Governor Boreman traveled to meet with now President Andrew Johnson, who promised West Virginia his support. Boreman's administration also restricted former Confederates from holding public office and curtailed their voting rights. The laws did not relax until a new governor, William E. Stevenson, took office. By 1871, former Confederates were allowed to vote and hold office.
With restrictions removed, the Democrats slowly came to power in West Virginia, controlling the state from 1871 until 1897. The state held a constitutional convention in 1872 where sixty-six of seventy-eight members were Democrats. The new constitution omitted the word "white" from voter qualifications, placed executive power with the governor, and made changes in the judicial and legislative branches. The Democratic Party consisted of a diverse group of former Confederates, Unionists, former Whigs, and Bourbon Democrats. Republicans resumed control in 1897 and stayed in power until 1933 when Democrats regained their influence.
Sectional difference also affected the location of the state's capital. The capital was in Wheeling from 1863 until 1870. Associating the city with radical Republicanism, the Democratic legislature moved the capital to Charleston where it stayed until 1875. Charleston, however, was much smaller than Wheeling, and it was harder to reach since it did not have a railroad or an established structure for shipping. Legislators moved the capital back to Wheeling. Finally, in 1877 the legislature agreed to hold a referendum to establish a permanent capital. The voters chose among Charleston, Clarksburg, and Martinsburg; Charleston won and officially became the permanent capital of West Virginia on 1 May 1885.
In 1863 over 80 percent of West Virginians were involved in agriculture. The most important crop was corn, but wheat, oats, hay, and potatoes were also important. By the late nineteenth century, extractive industries such as coal mining, lumbering, and oil and gas production had overshadowed agriculture, taking wealth from the land without returning profit to the state.
The bituminous coal industry soared after the Civil War and climbed until the Great Depression. In 1914 coal production was 69,783,088 tons and by 1929 the production was 139,297,146 tons. The importance and place of coal in West Virginia created a new socioeconomic structure. As big business moved into the region the agrarian society became a mass of landless wage earners. Mining towns created a system of worker dependence on the company. A variety of people sought employment in West Virginia's mines, including newly freed slaves and new immigrants. As smaller coal companies consolidated into large powerful corporations they gained more and more influence over local and state governments. The vast wealth that coal mining generated went to absentee landowners who cared little about the land, environment, or people.
The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), organized in 1890, attempted to unionize West Virginia's coal miners. The powerful companies used special police, blacklisting, and court injunctions to block the UMWA from even meeting. Miners often tried striking in hopes of securing better working conditions, which resulted in their eviction from the company-owned housing. Often tensions between miners and company guards led to violence. One of the most violent episodes, the Paint Creek Strike of 1912–1913, resulted in martial law. The other extractive industries, oil, gas, and timber, developed along similar lines. The cycle of feudalistic absenteeism and the extractive nature of West Virginia's industries ravaged the environment and left the people in poverty.
During World War I, UMWA membership increased from 7,000 members in 1913 to 50,000 members by the end of the war. World War I also brought interest in chemical and steel industries. Labor made some advances, such as a workers' compensation law, but the wartime demand and necessity of industrial goods outweighed other needs. The Great Depression hit the entire Appalachian region especially hard. A 40 percent reduction in coal production meant a rise in unemployment in an already economically depressed area. For people whose whole lives depended on the company town, the Red Cross and religious organizations were often the only places left to turn. Falling in line with the rest of the country, West Virginia began to vote out Republicans in favor of Democrats. Although at the close of World War II West Virginia shared the nation's prosperity, the state experienced a drop in population largely due to an increased use of technology. Mechanization reduced the need for employees, so people went elsewhere for work.
West Virginia had few public schools before the Civil War, but advances came quickly between 1872 and World War I. West Virginia University opened 2 September 1868, in Morgantown. Still, financing schools was hard for the poor region. West Virginia did, however, establish a minimum wage for teachers: about $22 a month. Between 1910 and 1925 the state saw a surge in the growth of high schools, but the depression meant education took a backseat to survival. The 1940s and 1950s brought a wave of reforms to the educational system, including better benefits for teachers, new textbooks, merging elementary and secondary schools, and programs like Head Start and Upward Bound. Education, however, remained a problem well into the 1980s, due to financial problems in the state. In 1984 the average public teacher's salary was more than $4,000 less than the national average. Despite efforts to enact legislation to improve salaries and redesign state education financing, West Virginia's schools continued to suffer. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the state's high school and college graduation rates were the nation's lowest.
The governors during the 1960s began to initiate programs to help clean up the state's environment. William Wallace Barron created the Air Pollution Control Commission and a volunteer statewide cleanup program, and Hulett Carlson Smith's administration brought legislation to control air and stream pollution and strip mining. During the environmental movement of the 1970s, attention was finally given to the drastic impact extractive industries made on the region's land and people. Clear cutting and strip mining created pollution that ruined streams and landscapes. Government programs such as the Appalachian Regional Commission and private organizations strove to help rebuild the regions and increase money coming into the Appalachian regions with tourism. During the 1980s, West Virginia suffered severely from the recession and energy crisis. By 1984 the state had the nation's highest unemployment rate. Renewed attention helped to draw some people to the region. In 1970 the population was 1,744,237 and by 2000 the number had increased somewhat to 1,808,344 but both were still lower than the 1950 count of 2,005,552. In the year 2000 West Virginia's poverty rates remained the highest in the nation.
The population drop also cost West Virginia a congressional seat. Arch Alfred Moore Jr., governor from 1985 to 1989, developed a recovery program and tax cuts designed to attract new industries and revitalize the coal industry. While West Virginia failed to attract GM's Saturn automobile plant in 1985 (the plant went to Spring-hill, Tennessee), by 1990 over two hundred corporations were receiving tax credits and bolstering the state's economy. Jobs in the coal industry, however, continued to decline. The program of tax cuts also led to widespread corruption so severe that Moore was convicted of extortion in 1990. The next governor, William Gaston Caperton III (1989–1997), inherited the state's financial woes. To battle the long-term financial problems, he raised taxes and adopted a state lottery to no avail.
A great deal of financial help stemmed from the efforts of Senator Robert C. Byrd. In 1986 Byrd became chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and promised to bring more than $1 billion of federal projects to West Virginia by 1995; by 1992 he had exceeded that goal. Besides various highway and water projects, West Virginia also received a new federal prison and the FBI relocated its fingerprint center from Washington, D.C. to Clarksburg. The state also benefited from a new appreciation of Appalachian culture and art. Artists and novelists helped awaken the nation to West Virginia's beauty and plight while historians, sociologists, and anthropologists began to create a new body of scholarly interest and work about the region.
Bibliography
Ambler, Charles Henry. West Virginia. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1940.
Rasmussen, Barbara. Absentee Landowning and Exploitation in West Virginia, 1760–1920. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1994.
Rice, Otis. The Allegheny Frontier: West Virginia Beginnings, 1730–1830. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1970.
———and Stephen W. Brown. West Virginia: A History. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1993.
West Virginia Division of Culture and History. Available from http://www.wvculture.org/.
| Spotlight: West Virginia |
From our Archives: Today's Highlights, June 20, 2006
| Columbia Encyclopedia: West Virginia |
Facts and Figures
Area, 24,181 sq mi (62,629 sq km). Pop. (2000) 1,808,344, a 0.8% increase over 1980 pop. Capital and largest city, Charleston. Statehood, June 20, 1863 (35th state). Highest pt., Spruce Knob, 4,863 ft (1,483 m); lowest pt., Potomac River, 240 ft (73 m). Nickname, Mountain State. Motto, Montani Semper Liberi [Mountaineers Are Always Free]. State bird, cardinal. State flower, Rhododendron maximum, or “Big Laurel.” State tree, sugar maple. Abbr., W.Va.; WV
Geography
Nicknamed the “Mountain State,” West Virginia is very hilly and rugged, with the highest mean altitude (1,500 ft/457 m) of any state E of the Mississippi. Nearly all of the state is on the Allegheny Plateau, with the jagged Virginia–West Virginia line roughly following the eastern escarpment of the plateau (known as the Allegheny Front). Extremely irregular in outline, West Virginia has two narrow projections—the Northern Panhandle, which cuts north between Ohio and Pennsylvania, and the Eastern Panhandle, which cuts east between Maryland (with the Potomac River forming the state line) and Virginia. In the Eastern Panhandle, a part of the Appalachian ridge and valley country, lie the state's lowest point (240 ft/73 m) near Harpers Ferry where the Shenandoah River joins the Potomac, as well as its highest point, Spruce Knob (4,860 ft/1,481 m).
West Virginia is well drained; its important rivers include the Tug Fork, the Big Sandy River, the New River, the Kanawha, the Little Kanawha, the Cheat, and the Monongahela, all of which find their way to the Ohio. The New River and the Kanawha combine to form the most important waterway entirely within the state. West Virginia's climate is generally of the humid continental type, with hot summers (except in the highest areas) and cool to cold winters.
West Virginia's natural beauty is spectacular, and the excellent hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, and skiing offered here form the basis of a growing tourist industry. The state has numerous state parks, public hunting areas, and state forests; Monongahela National Forest and a portion of George Washington National Forest (most of which is in Virginia) are in West Virginia. Mineral springs are scattered throughout the state, notably at the resorts of Berkeley Springs and White Sulphur Springs. Other tourist attractions include Harpers Ferry National Historical Park (see National Parks and Monuments, table) and various mounds built by ancient peoples, most notably Grave Creek Mound in Moundsville, one of the nation's largest.
Economy
Except on river-bottom lands, on a few small plateaus, and in the northern end of the rolling, fertile Valley of Virginia in the Eastern Panhandle, farming is not extensive. (The population nevertheless is predominantly rural.) Apples, peaches, hay, corn, and tobacco are the principal crops, while broiler chickens, cattle, and dairy products lead in market receipts. West Virginia has extensive natural resources; it is among the nation's leading producers of bituminous coal, although coal production has declined. Natural gas, stone, cement, salt, and oil are also important.
Utilizing these mineral resources are major glass, chemical (including synthetic textile), and high-technology industries; they are concentrated in the highly industrialized Ohio and Kanawha river valleys, with Charleston a leading center; Huntington and Parkersburg are also important. Other manufactures include primary and fabricated metals and machinery. Steel mills extend south from Pittsburgh, Pa., into the Northern Panhandle; Wheeling is a manufacturing hub there. Lumber has long been an important resource; about two thirds of the land is still forested, most of it in valuable hardwoods. Since the 1960s a number of federal offices and facilities have been built in West Virginia, and government service is a growing employment sector.
Government, Politics, and Higher Education
West Virginia's first constitution was ratified in 1862. The present constitution dates from 1872. The executive branch is headed by a governor elected for a four-year term. The state's legislature has a senate with 34 members and a house of delegates with 100 members. The state sends two senators and three representatives to the U.S. Congress and has five electoral votes. Democrats have generally dominated West Virginia politics since the Great Depression, but in recent years Republican candidates have been more successful in the state. Gaston Caperton, elected governor in 1988 and reelected in 1992, was succeeded by Republican Cecil H. Underwood, elected in 1996, but Underwood lost to Democrat Bob Wise in 2000. In 2004, Democrat Joe Manchin was elected to the office; he was reelected in 2008.
The state's leading institution of higher learning is West Virginia Univ., which has its main campus at Morgantown. Other schools include the Univ. of Charleston and West Virginia Wesleyan College, at Buckhannon. West Virginia also has an extensive state college system.
History
Early Inhabitants and European Settlement
The Mound Builders were the earliest known inhabitants. When the first Europeans arrived, however, the region was for the most part unpopulated, serving as a common hunting ground (and therefore a battleground) for the settlers and Native Americans. This part of Virginia, which later became West Virginia, was penetrated by explorers and fur traders as early as the 1670s. It was cut off from the eastern regions by rugged mountains and remained uninhabited for more than a century after Virginia had thriving colonies.
What is now the Eastern Panhandle attracted the first settlers. They were Germans and Scotch-Irish, and they came not over the Blue Ridge Mts. from Virginia but rather down the valleys from Pennsylvania. German families established (c.1730) a settlement on the Potomac and named it Mecklenburg; now called Shepherdstown, it is the oldest town in the state. Homes sprang up along the rivers, but the formidable Allegheny Plateau barrier was not crossed until after the British government, concerned about French claims to the Ohio valley, granted (1749) the Ohio Company large tracts of land in the trans-Allegheny region.
Settlers began laboriously making their way over the mountains, and they eventually came into conflict with the French; this conflict was the direct cause of the French and Indian War (1754–63; see under French and Indian Wars). During the war, most settlers fled the area. They returned after the English captured Fort Duquesne in 1758 and broke the French hold on the Ohio valley. Great numbers poured back over the mountains, ignoring the British proclamation of 1763, which, in the hopes of avoiding conflict with the Native Americans, forbade settlement W of the Alleghenies.
The Native Americans resented this encroachment on their hunting grounds, and their hostility was fed by the often unjust treatment they received at the hands of settlers. The brutal murder of the family of chief James Logan provoked a series of attacks that resulted in Lord Dunmore's War (see Dunmore, John Murray, 4th earl of), in which the Native Americans were decisively defeated (Oct. 10, 1774).
The American Revolution
During the American Revolution the area was invaded three times by British-led Native American forces. After the American conquest of the Northwest by an army (consisting mostly of western Virginians) under George Rogers Clark, the British and Native American threat to the area was virtually removed. Western Virginians overwhelmingly supported ratification of the U.S. Constitution; they wanted a strong federal government that would quell further conflict with the Native Americans and that would enrich commerce along the Ohio, a river of central importance to their economic life.
Growth and Estrangement from Eastern Virginia
Population growth and prosperity were spurred by the opening of the Mississippi River with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, by the resulting expansion and improvement of river-borne commerce, and by the completion (1818) of the National Road at Wheeling. The area became an increasingly important part of Virginia, but the predominance of small farms and the almost total absence of slavery were already contributing to a sense of estrangement from the eastern part of the state.
Virginia was politically dominated by the wealthy tidewater planters, who were overrepresented in the state legislature because slaves were counted in apportioning representation. As a result the western Virginians suffered from inequitable taxation, and their demands for internal improvements and public education were not met. A new Virginia constitution, ratified in 1830, brought no reforms, but another charter (1851) effected a compromise by which representation in the lower house was based on white population and under which universal white male suffrage was granted. It was not enough; tidewater domination of the state legislature continued, and the two sections were being pulled further apart by economic differences—western Virginia was becoming an industrialized coal and steel center—and by the increasing prominence of the slavery issue.
Civil War and the Creation of West Virginia
At the outset of the Civil War the northwestern counties of Virginia overwhelmingly opposed the state's ordinance of secession (Apr. 17, 1861). Unable to halt Virginia's secession from the Union, westerners in the state were quick to take advantage of a long-awaited opportunity for their own separation from Virginia. Protected by federal troops, delegates representing most of Virginia's western counties met at Wheeling on June 11, 1861, and nullified the Virginia ordinance of secession, declared the offices of the state government at Richmond to be vacated, and formed the “restored government” of Virginia, with Francis H. Pierpont as governor.
Creation of a new state was overwhelmingly approved in the referendum of Oct. 24, and in November another convention at Wheeling began to draft the state constitution that was approved in Apr., 1862. President Lincoln proclaimed (Apr. 20, 1863) admission of a new state, West Virginia, to be effective 60 days thence, and on June 20, 1863, Arthur I. Boreman was inaugurated as its first governor. Pierpont and his “restored government” of Virginia had, of course, consented to the formation of the new state, thereby technically fulfilling the requirement in the U.S. Constitution that a state consent to its own division. Pierpont continued to act as governor of occupied Virginia throughout the war.
Meanwhile, the Confederates had failed to hold on to the region militarily; Union forces, under the command of Gen. George B. McClellan and then under Gen. William S. Rosecrans, were victorious in battles at Philippi (June 3, 1861), Rich Mt. (July 11), Corrick's Ford (July 13), and Carnifax Ferry (Sept. 10). Gen. Robert E. Lee's attempt to rally the Confederate forces ended in defeat at Cheat Mt. (Sept. 12–13), and a year later Rosecrans's victory at Gauley Bridge extended Union control to the lower Kanawha valley.
The Confederates made no serious endeavor to recover the territory W of the Allegheny Front, although guerrilla attacks persisted throughout the war. The strategically important Eastern Panhandle, on the other hand, was the scene of continual fighting; not originally a part of West Virginia, it had been quickly annexed (1863) because it contained the Baltimore and Ohio RR. (West Virginia's possession of this area was confirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1871.) Of the many West Virginians who remained loyal to the old state, Virginia, the most notable was Gen. Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson; his only sister, however, was a staunch Union supporter. Such a division in allegiance was common in many families, and these divisions affected West Virginia's politics for several decades after the war.
Postwar Political Changes and the Hatfield-McCoy Feud
Slavery was abolished in 1865, but it was not until 1872 that the state allowed African Americans to vote and to hold public office. In 1866 Radical Republicans disenfranchised all persons who had aided the Confederacy, but after the Democrats came to power (which they held for 25 years thereafter), this act was annulled (1871) by the Flick Amendment.
In 1885 the capital, which had been shuttled back and forth between Wheeling and Charleston, became fixed at Charleston. Three years earlier, along the border region between West Virginia and Kentucky, there had begun the now famous Hatfield-McCoy feud, which was to encompass many killings and embroil the governors of the two states in lengthy and heated controversy. The blood of West Virginia Hatfields and Kentucky McCoys was shed until 1896.
Industrial Expansion and the Labor Movement
Of great significance to West Virginia was the state's industrial expansion in the late 19th cent. Based on rich resources and supported by the immigration of Southern blacks and northern laborers, industrialization marked a change from the largely self-sufficient economy of local communities to one of dependence on industry's profits and labor's wages. West Virginia's great chemical industry was founded during World War I when German chemicals could no longer be imported, and it was greatly expanded during World War II.
Both wars also brought unprecedented boom periods to the mines and the steel mills. The state's rapid industrialization, however, was long accompanied by serious labor problems. This was especially true in the coal mines, where wages were low and working conditions dangerous. Unionization was bitterly resisted by mine owners, and strikes throughout the latter part of the 19th cent. and the first third of the 20th cent. were often marked by serious and extended violence, particularly in 1912–13 and in 1920–21.
The Great Depression in 1930 intensified difficulties, but reform measures under the New Deal finally assured the miners their right to organize; membership in the United Mine Workers of America soared, and by 1937 labor leaders enjoyed tremendous political power in the state. During the 1950s economic weakness in the coal industry, combined with the mechanization and automation that enabled mines to operate at top efficiency with far fewer employees, were the chief factors in bringing about the highest unemployment rate in the country and a major exodus of the state's population—down 7.2% from 1950 to 1960 and another 6.2% from 1960 to 1970.
Late-Twentieth-Century Developments
Economic conditions improved during the 1960s, as federal aid poured into the state (in part owing to the rise to power in the U.S. Senate of Robert C. Byrd), and massive efforts were made to attract new industry. Since the 1960s the ravages of surface mining have been a major political issue; recently, the practice of leveling mountains and filling creeks with slag has come under fire. In the 1970s, West Virginia's coal-based economy flourished as energy prices rose dramatically; but in the 1980s energy prices fell and employment in the mines rapidly declined as West Virginia suffered through one of the worst economic periods in its history. By 1983 the state's unemployment rate had risen to 21% as its manufacturing base also slumped. West Virginia's population declined 8% from 1980 to 1990. It rose slightly from 1990 to 2000, as a modest recovery based largely on foreign investment and further development of the tourist industry took place, but the state still ranked last in U.S. housing construction.
Bibliography
See O. K. Rice, The Allegheny Frontier: West Virginia Beginnings, 1780–1830 (1969); West Virginia: The State and Its People (1972); and West Virginia: A History (1985); Federal Writers' Project, West Virginia: A Guide to the Mountain State (1941, repr. 1980); S. B. Cohen and M. Pervical, King Coal (1984); A. Hyde, A Portrait of West Virginia (1989).
| Geography: West Virginia |
State in the southeastern United States bordered by Pennsylvania and Maryland to the north, Virginia to the east and south, and Kentucky and Ohio to the west. Its capital and largest city is Charleston.
| Local Time: West Virginia |
Local Time: Jul 4, 1:09 PM
| Stats: West Virginia |
 |
| Parks: West Virginia |
| Wikipedia: West Virginia |
West Virginia (
/ˌwɛst vərˈdʒɪnjə/ (help·info)) is a state in the Appalachian, Upland South, and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia on the southeast, Kentucky on the southwest, Ohio on the northwest, and Pennsylvania and Maryland on the northeast. The capital and largest city is Charleston.
Historically the area now occupied by West Virginia was contested territory, mainly by Pennsylvania and Virginia. Some speculative land companies, such as the Vandalia Company,[4] and later the Ohio Company and Indiana Company tried to legitimize their claims to land in parts of West Virginia and Kentucky but failed. With the settlement of the Pennsylvania and Virginia border dispute, which resulted in the creation of Kentucky, Kentuckians "were satisfied...and the inhabitants of a large part of West Virginia were grateful."[5]
After the Wheeling Conventions, West Virginia broke away from Virginia during the American Civil War and was admitted to the Union as a separate state on June 20, 1863, and was a key Civil War border state. It is one of only two states formed during the American Civil War (along with Nevada, which separated from Utah Territory) and is the only state to form by seceding from a Confederate state.
The Census Bureau considers West Virginia part of the South because most of the state is south of the Mason-Dixon Line. The northern panhandle, however, extends adjacent to Pennsylvania and Ohio with the West Virginia cities of Wheeling and Weirton being just across the border from the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, while Bluefield is less than seventy miles from North Carolina and Harper's Ferry is considered to be a part of the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. The unique position of West Virginia means that it is often included in a wide variety of geographical regions, including the Southeastern United States and even the Northeastern United States. Notably, it is the only state which entirely lies within the area served by the Appalachian Regional Commission, which is a common definition of "Appalachia".[6]
The state is noted for its natural beauty, its historically significant logging and coal mining industries, and its labor history. It is also known for a wide range of outdoor recreational opportunities, including skiing, whitewater rafting, rock climbing, caving, fishing, hiking, mountain biking, and hunting.
Contents |
West Virginia is bordered by Pennsylvania to the north; by Ohio to the north and west; by Kentucky to the west; by Maryland to the north and east; and by Virginia to the east and south. The Ohio and Potomac rivers form parts of the boundaries.
West Virginia is the only state in the nation located entirely within the Appalachian Mountain range, and in which all areas are mountainous; for this reason it is nicknamed The Mountain State and also is partially the reason why its motto is "mountaineers are always free." About 75% of the state is within the Cumberland Plateau and Allegheny Plateau regions. Though the relief is not high, the plateau region is extremely rugged in most areas. The average elevation of West Virginia is approximately 1,500 feet (460 m) above sea level, which is the highest of any US state east of the Mississippi River.
On the eastern state line with Virginia, high peaks in the Monongahela National Forest region give rise to an island of colder climate and ecosystems similar to those of northern New England and eastern Canada. The highest point in the state is atop Spruce Knob, at 4,863 ft (1,482 m),[2] is covered in a boreal forest of dense spruce trees at altitudes above 4,000 feet (1,200 m). Spruce Knob lies within the Monongahela National Forest and is a part of the Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area.[7] A total of six wilderness areas can also be found within the forest. Outside the forest to the south, the New River Gorge is a 1,000 feet (300 m) deep canyon carved by the New River. The National Park Service manages a portion of the gorge and river that has been designated as the New River Gorge National River, one of only 15 rivers in the U.S. with this level of protection.
Other areas under protection and management include:
The native vegetation for most of the state was originally mixed hardwood forest of oak, chestnut, maple, beech, and white pine, with willow and American sycamore along the state's waterways. Many of the areas are rich in biodiversity and scenic beauty, a fact that is appreciated by native West Virginians, who refer to their home as Almost Heaven (from the song, "Take Me Home, Country Roads"). Ecologically, most of West Virginia falls into the Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests ecoregion.
The underlying rock strata are sandstone, shale, bituminous coal beds, and limestone laid down in a near shore environment from sediments derived from mountains to the east, in a shallow inland sea on the west. Some beds illustrate a coastal swamp environment, some river delta, some shallow water. Sea level rose and fell many times during the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian eras, giving a variety of rock strata. The Appalachian Mountains are some of the oldest on earth, having formed over 300 million years ago.
The climate of West Virginia is a humid subtropical climate (Koppen climate classification Cfa) in some of the lower elevations, primarily in the southwestern portion of the state (including Huntington and Charleston), along with parts of the Eastern Panhandle east of the Appalachians with hot, humid summers and milder winters. The rest of the state generally has a humid continental climate (Koppen climate classification Dfa, except Dfb at the higher elevations) with warm to hot, humid summers and cool to cold winters, increasing in severity with elevation. Some southern highland areas also have a mountain temperate climate (Koppen Cfb) where winter temperatures are more moderate and summer temperatures are somewhat cooler. However, the weather is subject in all parts of the state to change. The hardiness zones range from zone 5b in the central Appalachian mountains to zone 7a in the warmest parts of the lowest elevations. In the Eastern Panhandle and the Ohio River Valley temperatures are warm enough to see and grow subtropical plants such as Southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora), Crepe Myrtle, Albizia julibrissin, American Sweetgum and even the occasional needle palm and sabal minor. These plants don't thrive as well in other parts of the state.
Average January temperatures range from around 26°F (-4°C) near the Cheat River to 41°F (5°C) along sections of the border with Kentucky. July averages range from 67°F (19°C) along the North Branch Potomac River to 76°F (24°C) in the western part of the state. It is cooler in the mountains than in the lower sections of the state.
Annual precipitation ranges from less than 32 inches (81 cm) in the lower eastern section to more than 56 inches (140 cm) in higher parts of the Allegheny Front. Slightly more than half the rainfall occurs from April to September. Dense fogs are common in many valleys of the Kanawha section, especially the Tygart Valley. West Virginia is also one of the cloudiest states in the nation, with the cities of Elkins and Beckley ranking 9th. and 10th. in the U.S. respectively for the number of cloudy days per year (over 210). In addition to persistent cloudy skies caused by the damming of moisture by the Alleghenies, West Virginia also experiences some of the most frequent precipitation in the nation, with Snowshoe averaging nearly 200 days a year with either rain or snow. Snow usually lasts only a few days in the lower sections but may persist for weeks in the higher mountain areas. An average of 34 inches (86 cm) of snow falls annually in Charleston, although during the winter of 1995–1996 more than three times that amount fell as several cities in the state established new records for snowfall. Average snowfall in the Allegheny Highlands can range up to 180 inches (460 cm) per year. Severe weather is somewhat less prevalent in West Virginia than in most other eastern states, and it ranks among the least tornado-prone states east of the Rockies.
| Monthly normal high and low temperatures for various West Virginia cities | ||||||||||||
| City | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beckley | 39/22 | 43/25 | 52/32 | 62/41 | 71/49 | 77/57 | 80/61 | 79/60 | 73/54 | 63/42 | 52/34 | 43/26 |
| Charleston | 43/24 | 47/27 | 57/34 | 67/42 | 75/50 | 82/58 | 85/63 | 84/62 | 77/55 | 67/43 | 56/35 | 47/28 |
| Elkins | 39/18 | 44/20 | 53/27 | 63/35 | 72/44 | 78/53 | 82/58 | 80/57 | 74/50 | 64/37 | 53/29 | 44/22 |
| Huntington | 41/24 | 46/28 | 56/36 | 67/44 | 75/53 | 82/61 | 85/65 | 84/64 | 77/57 | 66/45 | 55/37 | 45/29 |
| [8] | ||||||||||||
In a summary to quote Dr. Robert F. Maslowski, "The Adena Indians used pipes for ceremonies. They were carved of stone and they were exceptional works of art. Pipes and the smoking of tobacco became more common during the Late Prehistoric period. They were often made of clay and rather plain." "Nothing is known about Paleo-Indian and Archaic houses in the Kanawha Valley, but archeologists have found evidence of Woodland and Fort Ancient houses." "Woodland Indians lived in wigwams...The Woodland Indians grew sunflowers, gourds, squash and several seeds such as lambsquarter, may grass, sumpweed, smartweed and little barley." "Fort Ancient Indians lived in much larger square or rectangular houses...The Fort Ancient Indians can be considered true farmers. They cultivated large agricultural fields around their villages. They no longer grew such a variety of seeds but concentrated on growing corn, beans, sunflowers, gourds and many types of squash including the pumpkin. They also grew domestic turkeys and kept dogs as pets."
West Virginia's unique geography allowed for exploration from two concurrent directions and a duality of a "Border State".
In 1671, General Abram Wood, at the direction of Royal Governor William Berkeley of the Virginia Colony, sent a party which discovered Kanawha Falls. In 1716, Governor Alexander Spotswood with about thirty horsemen made an excursion into what is now Pendleton County. John Van Metre, an Indian trader, penetrated into the northern portion in 1725. The same year, German settlers from Pennsylvania founded New Mecklenburg, the present Shepherdstown, on the Potomac River, and others followed.
King Charles II of England, in 1661, granted to a company of gentlemen the land between the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers, known as the Northern Neck. The grant finally came into the possession of Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, and in 1746, a stone was erected at the source of the North Branch Potomac River to mark the western limit of the grant. A considerable part of this land was surveyed by George Washington between 1748 and 1751. The diary kept by the surveyor indicates that there were already many squatters, largely of German origin, along the South Branch Potomac River. Christopher Gist, a surveyor in the employ of the first Ohio Company, which was composed chiefly of Virginians, explored the country along the Ohio River north of the mouth of the Kanawha River between 1751 and 1752. The company sought to have a fourteenth colony established with the name "Vandalia". Many settlers crossed the mountains after 1750, though they were hindered by Native American resistance. Few Native Americans lived permanently within the present limits of the state, but the region was a common hunting ground, crossed by many trails. During the French and Indian War the scattered British settlements were almost destroyed.
In 1774, the Crown Governor of Virginia John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, led a force over the mountains, and a body of militia under then-Colonel Andrew Lewis dealt the Shawnee Indians, under Hokoleskwa (or "Cornstalk"), a crushing blow during the Battle of Point Pleasant at the junction of the Kanawha and the Ohio rivers. Native American attacks continued until after the American Revolutionary War. During the war, the settlers in western Virginia were generally active Whigs and many served in the Continental Army, however Claypool's Rebellion of 1780–1781 where a group of men refused to pay Colonial taxes showed war-weariness in West Virginia.
Social conditions in western Virginia were entirely unlike those in the eastern portion of the state. The population was not homogeneous, as a considerable part of the immigration came by way of Pennsylvania and included Germans, Protestant Ulster-Scots, and settlers from the states farther north. Counties in the east and south were settled mostly by east Virginians. During the American Revolution, the movement to create a state beyond the Alleghanies was revived and a petition for the establishment of "Westsylvania" was presented to Congress, on the grounds that the mountains made an almost impassable barrier on the east. The rugged nature of the country made slavery unprofitable, and time only increased the social, political, economic and cultural differences (see Tuckahoe-Cohee) between the two sections of Virginia.
The convention that met in 1829 to form a new constitution for Virginia, against the protest of the counties beyond the mountains, required a property qualification for suffrage and gave the slave-holding counties the benefit of three-fifths of their slave population in apportioning the state's representation in the U.S. House of Representatives. As a result, every county beyond the Alleghenies except one voted to reject the constitution, which nevertheless passed because of eastern support.
The Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850-51, the Reform Convention, addressed a number of issues important to western Virginians. The vote was extended to all white males of 21 years of age plus. The governor, lieutenant-governor, the judiciary, sheriffs and other county officers were to be elected by public vote. The composition of the General Assembly was changed, representation in the house of delegates was apportioned on the white basis of the census of 1850, but the Senate was fixed arbitrarily, the west receiving twenty, and the east thirty, senators. This was made acceptable to the west by a provision that required the General Assembly to reapportion representation on the white basis in 1865, or else put the matter to a public referendum. But the east also gave itself a tax advantage in requiring a property tax at true and actual value, except for slaves. Slaves under the age of 12 years were not taxed, and slaves over that age were taxed at only $300, a fraction of their true value. Small farmers, however, had all their assets, animals and land, taxed at full value. Despite this tax and the lack of internal improvements in the west, the vote was 75,748 for and 11,063 against the new Constitution, most of the latter being from eastern counties, which did not like the compromises made for the west.[9]
West Virginia is the only state in the Union to secede from a Confederate state, Virginia, during the American Civil War.[11] On April 17, 1861 fifteen of the forty-six delegates from the area located in the present state of West Virginia voted to secede from the United States.[12] Almost immediately after the vote to proceed with secession from the Union prevailed in the Virginia General Assembly, a mass meeting at Clarksburg recommended that each county in northwestern Virginia send delegates to a convention to meet in Wheeling on May 13, 1861. When this First Wheeling Convention met, 425 delegates from 25 counties were present, though more than one-third of the delegates were from the northern panhandle area,[13] but soon there was a division of sentiment. Some delegates favored the immediate formation of a new state, while others argued that, as Virginia's secession had not yet been passed by the required referendum, such action would constitute revolution against the United States.[14] It was decided that if the ordinance were adopted (of which there was little doubt), another convention including the members-elect of the legislature should meet at Wheeling in June. At the election on May 23, 1861, secession was ratified by a large majority in the state as a whole, but in the western counties 34,677 voted against and 19,121 voted for the Ordinance.[15]
The Second Wheeling Convention met as agreed on June 11 and declared that, since the Secession Convention had been called without the consent of the people, all its acts were void, and that all who adhered to it had vacated their offices. The Wheeling Conventions, and the delegates themselves, were never actually elected by public ballot to act on behalf of western Virginia.[16] An act for the reorganization of the government was passed on June 19. The next day Francis H. Pierpont was chosen by other delegates at the convention to be governor of Virginia, other officers were elected and the convention adjourned. The legislature was composed of 103 members, 33 of whom had been elected to the Virginia General Assembly[17] on May 23. This number included some hold-over Senators from 1859, and as such had vacated their offices to convene in Wheeling. The other members "were chosen even more irregularly-some in mass meetings, others by county committee, and still others were seemingly self-appointed"[18] This irregular assembly met on June 20 and appointed Unionists to the hold the remainder of the state offices, organized a rival state government and elected two United States senators who were promptly recognized by the Federal government in Washington, D.C. Thus, there were two state governments in Virginia, one pledging allegiance to the United States and one to the Confederacy.
The Wheeling Convention, which had taken a recess until August 6, reassembled on August 20, and called for a popular vote on the formation of a new state and for a convention to frame a constitution if the vote should be favorable. At the October 24, 1861 election, 18,489 votes were cast for the new state and only 781 against. The honesty of these election results have been questioned, since the Union army then occupied the area and Union troops were stationed at many of the polls to prevent Confederate sympathizers from voting.[19] Most of the affirmative votes came from ten counties in the Wheeling area.[20] Over 50,000 votes had been cast on the Ordinance of Secession, yet the vote on statehood gathered little more than 19,000. In Ohio County, home to Wheeling, only about one-quarter of the registered voters cast votes.[21] At the Constitutional Convention in November 1861, Mr. Lamb of Ohio County and Mr. Carskadon said that in Hampshire County, out of 195 votes only 39 were cast by citizens of the state; the rest were cast illegally by Union soldiers.[22] In most of what would become West Virginia, there was no vote at all as two-thirds of the territory of West Virginia had voted for secession and county officers were still loyal to Richmond.[23] Votes recorded from pro-secession counties were mostly cast elsewhere by Unionist refugees from these counties.[24] The convention began on November 26, 1861, and finished its work on February 18, 1862; the instrument was ratified (18,162 for and 514 against) on April 11, 1862.
On May 13, the state legislature of the reorganized government approved the formation of the new state. An application for admission to the Union was made to Congress, and on December 31, 1862, an enabling act was approved by President Abraham Lincoln admitting West Virginia, on the condition that a provision for the gradual abolition of slavery be inserted in its Constitution. Many, including Lincoln, felt that West Virginia's admission as a state was both illegal and unconstitutional, but wartime politics prevailed.[25] The Convention was reconvened on February 12, 1863, and the demand was met. The revised constitution was adopted on March 26, 1863, and on April 20, 1863, President Lincoln issued a proclamation admitting the state at the end of sixty days (June 20, 1863). Meanwhile, officers for the new state were chosen and Governor Pierpont moved his capital to Union-occupied Alexandria, where he asserted jurisdiction over all of the Virginia counties within the Federal lines.
The question of the constitutionality of the formation of the new state was brought before the Supreme Court of the United States in the following manner: Berkeley and Jefferson counties lying on the Potomac east of the mountains, in 1863, with the consent of the reorganized government of Virginia voted in favor of annexation to West Virginia. Many voters of the strongly pro-secessionist counties were absent in the Confederate Army when the vote was taken and refused to acknowledge the transfer upon their return. The Virginia General Assembly repealed the act of secession and in 1866 brought suit against West Virginia, asking the court to declare the counties a part of Virginia which would have declared West Virginia's admission as a state unconstitutional. Meanwhile, on March 10, 1866, Congress passed a joint resolution recognizing the transfer. The Supreme Court, in 1870, decided in favor of West Virginia.[26]
During the American Civil War, West Virginia suffered comparatively little. George B. McClellan's forces gained possession of the greater part of the territory in the summer of 1861, culminating at the Battle of Rich Mountain, and Union control was never again seriously threatened, despite of the attempt by Robert E. Lee in the same year. In 1863, General John D. Imboden, with 5,000 Confederates, overran a considerable portion of the state. Bands of guerrillas burned and plundered in some sections, and were not entirely suppressed until after the war ended. The Eastern Panhandle counties were more affected by the war, with military control of the area repeatedly changing hands.
The area which became West Virginia actually furnished about an equal number of soldiers to the Federal and Confederate armies[2], approximately 22,000-25,000 each. The Wheeling government found it necessary in 1865 to strip voting rights from returning Confederates in order to retain control. James Ferguson, who proposed the law, said that if it was not enacted he would lose election by 500 votes.[27] The property of Confederates might also be confiscated, and in 1866 a constitutional amendment disfranchising all who had given aid and comfort to the Confederacy was adopted. The addition of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution caused a reaction. The Democratic party secured control in 1870, and in 1871, the constitutional amendment of 1866 was abrogated. The first steps toward this change had been taken, however, by the Republicans in 1870. On August 22, 1872, an entirely new constitution was adopted.
Beginning in Reconstruction, and for several decades thereafter, the two states disputed the new state's share of the pre-war Virginia government's debts, which had mostly been incurred to finance public infrastructure improvements, such as canals, roads, and railroads under the Virginia Board of Public Works. Virginians, led by former Confederate General William Mahone, formed a political coalition which was based upon this, the Readjuster Party. Although West Virginia's first constitution provided for the assumption of a part of the Virginia debt, negotiations opened by Virginia in 1870 were fruitless, and in 1871, Virginia funded two-thirds of the debt and arbitrarily assigned the remainder to West Virginia. The issue was finally settled in 1915, when the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that West Virginia owed Virginia $12,393,929.50. The final installment of this sum was paid in 1939.
After Reconstruction, the new 35th state benefited from development of its mineral resources more than any other single economic activity.
Salt mining had been underway since the 18th century, though it had largely played out by the time of the American Civil War, when the red salt of Kanawha County was a valued commodity of first Confederate, and later Union forces. Later, more sophisticated mining methods would restore West Virginia's role as a major producer of salt.
However, in the second half of the 19th century, there was an even greater treasure not yet developed, bituminous coal. It would fuel much of the Industrial Revolution in the U.S. and the steamships of many of the world's navies.
The residents (both Native Americans and early European settlers) had long known of the underlying coal, and that it could be used for heating and fuel. However, for a long time, very small "personal" mines were the only practical development. After the War, with the new railroads came a practical method to transport large quantities of coal to expanding U.S. and export markets. As the anthracite mines of northwestern New Jersey and Pennsylvania began to play out during this same time period, investors and industrialists focused new interest in West Virginia. Geologists such as Dr. David T. Ansted surveyed potential coal fields and invested in land and early mining projects.
The completion of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) across the state to the new city of Huntington on the Ohio River in 1872 opened access to the New River Coal Field. Soon, the C&O was building its huge coal pier at Newport News, Virginia on the large harbor of Hampton Roads. In 1881, the new Philadelphia-based owners of the former Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad (AM&O), which stretched across Virginia's southern tier from Norfolk, had sights clearly set on the Mountain State, where the owners had large land holdings. Their railroad was renamed Norfolk and Western (N&W), and a new railroad city was developed at Roanoke to handle planned expansion. After its new president Frederick J. Kimball and a small party journeyed by horseback and saw firsthand the rich bituminous coal seam which his wife named "Pocahontas", the N&W redirected its planned westward expansion to reach it. Soon, the N&W was also shipping from new coal piers at Hampton Roads.
In 1889, in the southern part of the state, along the Norfolk and Western rail lines, the important coal center of Bluefield, West Virginia was founded. The "capital" of the Pocahontas coalfield, this city would remain the largest city in the southern portion of the state for several decades. It shares a sister city with the same name, Bluefield, in Virginia.
In the northern portion of the state and elsewhere, the older Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) and other lines also expanded to take advantage of coal opportunities. The B&O developed coal piers in Baltimore and at several points on the Great Lakes. Other significant rail carriers of coal were the Western Maryland Railway (WM), Southern Railway (SOU), and the Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N).
Particularly notable was a latecomer, the Virginian Railway (VGN). By 1900, only a large area of the most rugged terrain of southern West Virginia was any distance from the existing railroads and mining activity. Within this area west of the New River Coalfield in Raleigh and Wyoming counties lay the Winding Gulf Coalfield, later promoted as the "Billion Dollar Coalfield."
A protégé of Dr. Ansted was William Nelson Page (1854–1932), a civil engineer and mining manager in Fayette County. Former West Virginia Governor William A. MacCorkle described him as a man who knew the land "as a farmer knows a field." Beginning in 1898, Page teamed with northern and European-based investors to take advantage of the undeveloped area. They acquired large tracts of land in the area, and Page began the Deepwater Railway, a short-line railroad which was chartered to stretch between the C&O at its line along the Kanawha River and the N&W at Matoaka, a distance of about 80 miles (130 km).
Although the Deepwater plan should have provided a competitive shipping market via either railroad, leaders of the two large railroads did not appreciate the scheme. In secret collusion, each declined to negotiate favorable rates with Page, nor did they offer to purchase his railroad, as they had many other short-lines. However, if the C&O and N&W presidents thought they could thus kill the Page project, they were to be proved mistaken. One of the silent partner investors Page had enlisted was millionaire industrialist Henry Huttleston Rogers, a principal in John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Trust and an old hand at developing natural resources, transportation. A master at competitive "warfare", Henry Rogers did not like to lose in his endeavors, and also had "deep pockets".
Instead of giving up, Page (and Rogers) quietly planned and then built their tracks all the way east across Virginia, using Rogers' private fortune to finance the $40 million cost. When the renamed Virginian Railway (VGN) was completed in 1909, no less than three railroads were shipping ever-increasing volumes of coal to export from Hampton Roads. West Virginia coal was also under high demand at Great Lakes ports. The VGN and the N&W ultimately became parts of the modern Norfolk Southern system, and the VGN's well-engineered 21st century tracks continue to offer a favorable gradient to Hampton Roads.
As coal mining and related work became major employment activities in the state, there was considerable labor strife as working conditions, safety issues, and economic concerns arose. Even in the 21st century, mining safety and ecological concerns is still challenging to the state whose coal continues to power electrical generating plants in many other states.
Coal is not the only valuable mineral found in West Virginia, as the state was the site of the 1928 discovery of the 34.48 carat (6.896 g) Jones Diamond.
| Historical populations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1790 | 55,873 |
|
|
| 1800 | 78,592 | 40.7% | |
| 1810 | 105,469 | 34.2% | |
| 1820 | 136,808 | 29.7% | |
| 1830 | 176,924 | 29.3% | |
| 1840 | 224,537 | 26.9% | |
| 1850 | 302,313 | 34.6% | |
| 1860 | 376,688 | 24.6% | |
| 1870 | 442,014 | 17.3% | |
| 1880 | 618,457 | 39.9% | |
| 1890 | 762,794 | 23.3% | |
| 1900 | 958,800 | 25.7% | |
| 1910 | 1,221,119 | 27.4% | |
| 1920 | 1,463,701 | 19.9% | |
| 1930 | 1,729,205 | 18.1% | |
| 1940 | 1,901,974 | 10.0% | |
| 1950 | 2,005,552 | 5.4% | |
| 1960 | 1,860,421 | −7.2% | |
| 1970 | 1,744,237 | −6.2% | |
| 1980 | 1,949,644 | 11.8% | |
| 1990 | 1,793,477 | −8.0% | |
| 2000 | 1,808,344 | 0.8% | |
The center of population of West Virginia is located in Braxton County, in the town of Gassaway.[28]
As of 2005, West Virginia has an estimated population of 1,816,856, which is an increase of 4,308, or 0.2%, from the prior year and an increase of 8,506, or 0.5%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural decrease since the last census of 3,296 people (that is 108,292 births minus 111,588 deaths) and an increase from net migration of 14,209 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 3,691 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 10,518 people.
Only 1.1% of the state's residents were foreign-born, placing West Virginia last among the 50 states in that statistic. It has the lowest percentage of residents that speak a language other than English in the home (2.7%).
The five largest ancestry groups in West Virginia are: American (23.2%), German (17.2%), Irish (13.5%), English (12%), Italian (4.8%).
Large numbers of people of German ancestry are present in the northeastern counties of the state.
5.6% of West Virginia's population were reported as under 5, 22.3% under 18, and 15.3% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 51.4% of the population.
There were 20,928 births in 2006. Of these, 19,757 (94.40% of the births, 95.19% of the population) were to Non-Hispanic Whites. There were 22 births to American Indians (0.11% of the births and 0.54% of the population), 177 births to Asians (0.85% of the births and 0.68% of the population), 219 births to Hispanics (1.05% of the births and 0.88% of the population) and 753 births to Blacks and others (3.60% of the births and 3.56% of the population).[29]
The state's Northern Panhandle, and North-Central region feel an affinity for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Also, those in the Eastern Panhandle feel a connection with the Washington, D.C. suburbs in Maryland and Virginia, and southern West Virginians often consider themselves Southerners. Finally, the towns and farms along the mid-Ohio River have an appearance and culture somewhat resembling the Midwest.[30]
| Demographics of West Virginia (csv) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| By race | White | Black | AIAN* | Asian | NHPI* |
| 2000 (total population) | 96.01% | 3.49% | 0.59% | 0.66% | 0.05% |
| 2000 (Hispanic only) | 0.63% | 0.04% | 0.02% | 0.01% | 0.01% |
| 2005 (total population) | 95.99% | 3.56% | 0.56% | 0.69% | 0.05% |
| 2005 (Hispanic only) | 0.80% | 0.04% | 0.02% | 0.01% | 0.01% |
| Growth 2000–05 (total population) | 0.46% | 2.49% | -3.96% | 5.57% | -2.80% |
| Growth 2000–05 (non-Hispanic only) | 0.28% | 2.30% | -4.24% | 5.96% | -0.52% |
| Growth 2000–05 (Hispanic only) | 27.74% | 21.51% | 5.56% | -20.22% | -16.67% |
| * AIAN is American Indian or Alaskan Native; NHPI is Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander | |||||
Responses to a 2001 religious survey were:[31]
 |
This article may be too long to comfortably read and navigate. Please consider splitting content into sub-articles and using this article for a summary of the key points of the subject. (December 2008) |
According to U.S. Census Bureau data, West Virginia is the third lowest in per capita income,[32] ahead of only Arkansas and Mississippi. It also ranks last in median household income.[33] The proportion of West Virginia's adult population with a bachelor's degree is the lowest in the U.S. at 15.3%.[34]
West Virginia's GDP was $55.6B in 2006, which was a 0.6% increase from 2005. This makes growth rate for the state the 2nd lowest in the nation, ahead of only Michigan. However, by 2008, West Virginia was one of only four U.S. states to have a surplus state budget, indicating renewed economic growth.
One of the major resources in West Virginia's economy is coal. According to the Energy Information Administration, West Virginia is a top coal-producer in the United States, second only to Wyoming. West Virginia produces minimal oil and natural gas. Nearly all of the electricity generated in West Virginia is from coal-fired power plants. West Virginia produces a surplus of electricity and leads the Nation in net interstate electricity exports.[35] Farming is also practiced in West Virginia, but on a limited basis because of the mountainous terrain over much of the state.
West Virginia personal income tax is based on federal adjusted gross income (not taxable income), as modified by specific items in West Virginia law. Citizens are taxed within 5 income brackets, which range from 3.0% to 6.5%. The state's consumer sales tax is levied at 6%. Effective January 1, 2004 calculation of WV consumer sales tax has been converted to a calculated figure from the bracket system, and remains at six percent for most goods (food goods are now taxable at three percent). The computation of tax is carried out to the third decimal place and rounded up when the third decimal place is five (.005) or higher; and similarly rounded down if the third place is four (.004) or lower. By virtue of this method, sales totaling $0.08 and below would not have a sales tax associated with them.[36]
West Virginia counties administer and collect property taxes, although property tax rates reflect levies for state government, county governments, county boards of education, and municipalities. Counties may also impose a hotel occupancy tax on lodging places not located within the city limits of any municipality that levies such a tax. Municipalities may levy license and gross receipts taxes on businesses located within the city limits and a hotel occupancy tax on lodging places in the city. Although the Department of Tax and Revenue plays a major role in the administration of this tax, less than one-half of one percent of the property tax collected goes to state government. The primary beneficiaries of the property tax are county boards of education. Property taxes are paid to the sheriff of each of the state's 55 counties. Each county and municipality can impose its own rates of property taxation within the limits set by the West Virginia Constitution. The West Virginia legislature sets the rate of tax of county boards of education. This rate is used by all county boards of education statewide. However, the total tax rate for county boards of education may differ from county to county because of excess levies. The Department of Tax and Revenue supervises and otherwise assists counties and municipalities in their work of assessment and tax rate determination. The total tax rate is a combination of the tax levies from four state taxing authorities: state, county, schools, and municipal. This total tax rate varies for each of the four classes of property, which consists of personal, real, and intangible properties. Property is assessed according to its use, location, and value as of July 1. All property is reappraised every three years; annual adjustments are made to assessments for property with a change of value. West Virginia does not impose an inheritance tax. Because of the phase-out of the federal estate tax credit, West Virginia's estate tax is not imposed on estates of persons who died in 2005.
Highways form the backbone of transportation systems in West Virginia, with over 37,300 miles of public roads in the state.[37] Airports, railroads, and rivers complete the commercial transportation modes for West Virginia. Commercial air travel is facilitated by airports in Charleston, Huntington, Morgantown, Beckley, Bluefield, Lewisburg, Clarksburg, Martinsburg, Wheeling, and Parkersburg. Cities like Charleston, Huntington, Clarksburg, Fairmont, Bluefield, and Logan have bus-based public transit systems. Charleston also has a limited number of trolley cars that run primarily through the downtown area. West Virginia University in Morgantown boasts the PRT (personal rapid transit) system, the state's only single rail public transit system. Developed by Boeing, the WVU School of Engineering and the Department of Transportation, it was a model for low-capacity light transport designed for smaller cities. It was also the model for Disney World's tram system. Recreational transportation opportunities abound in West Virginia, including hiking trails,[38] rail trails,[39] ATV off road trails,[40] white water rafting rivers,[41] and two tourist railroads (Cass Scenic Railroad,[42] and the Potomac Eagle Scenic Railroad).[43]
West Virginia is crossed by several interstate highways. I-64 enters the state near White Sulphur Springs in the mountainous east, and exits for Kentucky in the west, near Huntington. I-77 enters from Virginia in the south, near Bluefield. It runs north past Parkersburg before it crosses into Ohio. I-64 and I-77 are merged in a stretch of toll road known as the West Virginia Turnpike, on which construction began in 1952. It runs from just east of Charleston south to the exit for Princeton. I-68's western terminus is in Morgantown. From there it runs east into Maryland. At the I-68 terminus in Morgantown, it meets I-79, which enters from Pennsylvania and runs through the state to its southern terminus in Charleston. I-70 briefly runs through West Virginia, crossing the northern panhandle through Wheeling. I-81 also briefly runs in West Virginia through the Eastern Panhandle where it goes through Martinsburg.
An interstate quality road is currently being built that will eventually stretch from I-79 near Weston, WV to at least Wardensville, WV. The western stretch has been completed as far east as Elkins, WV but is incomplete from there to Moorefield, WV. It is not certain whether the highway will eventually continue east past Wardensville on up to the Virginia state line and ultimately connect to I-81 just south of Winchester, VA or not.
Rail lines in the state used to be more prevalent, but many lines have been discontinued because of increased automobile traffic. Many old tracks have been converted to rail trails for recreational use, and the state is still served by a few commercial lines for hauling coal and by Amtrak. In 2006 Norfolk Southern along with the West Virginia and U.S. Government approved a plan to modify many of the rail tunnels in West Virginia, espeically in the southern half of the state, to allow for double stacked cars (see intermodal freight). This is expected to also help bring economic growth to the southern half of the state.
Because of the mountainous nature of the entire state, West Virginia has several notable tunnels and bridges. The most famous of these is the New River Gorge Bridge, which was at a time the longest steel single-arch bridge in the world with a 3,031-foot (924 m) span. The bridge is also pictured on the West Virginia state quarter. The Fort Steuben Bridge (Weirton-Steubenville Bridge) was at its time of construction one of only three cable-stayed steel girder trusses in the United States. "The Veterans Memorial Bridge was designed to handle traffic from the Fort Steuben Bridge as well as its own traffic load," to quote the Wierton Daily Times news paper.[44] The 80-year-old Fort Steuben Bridge (Weirton-Steubenville Bridge) was permanently closed on January 8, 2009.
In March 2008, The American State Litter Scorecard, presented at the American Society for Public Administration national conference, rated West Virginia as a nationally Worst state for removing litter/debris from highways and public properties. The state has an above average fatality rate from litter/debris-caused vehicle accidents[45] In fact, deer insurance claims frequency is highest in West Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia according to an Erie Insurance report concerning single car accidents.[46]
West Virginia's capital and seat of government is the city of Charleston, located in the southwest area of the state.
The West Virginia Legislature is bicameral, consisting of the House of Delegates and the Senate. It is a citizen's legislature, meaning that legislative office is not a full-time occupation, but rather a part-time position. Consequently, the legislators often hold a full-time job in their community of residence.
Typically, the legislature is in session for 60 days between January and early April. The final day of the regular session ends in a bewildering fury of last-minute legislation in order to meet a constitutionally imposed deadline of midnight. During the remainder of the year, monthly interim sessions are held in preparation for the regular session. Legislators also gather periodically for 'special' sessions when called by the governor.
The governor, elected every four years on the same day as the U.S. Presidential election, is sworn in during the following January.
Governors of West Virginia can serve two consecutive terms but must sit out a term before serving a third term in office.
West Virginia is one of thirteen states that does not have a death penalty.
For the purpose of courts of general jurisdiction, the state is divided into 31 judicial circuits. Each circuit is made up of one or more counties. Circuit judges are elected in partisan elections to serve eight-year terms.
West Virginia’s highest court is the Supreme Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia is the busiest appellate court of its type in the United States. West Virginia is one of 11 states with a single appellate court. The state constitution allows for the creation of an intermediate court of appeals, but the Legislature has never created one. The Supreme Court is made up of five justices, elected in partisan elections to 12-year terms.
West Virginia is an alcoholic beverage control state. However, unlike most such states, it does not operate retail outlets, having exited that business in 1990. It retains a monopoly on wholesaling of distilled spirits only.
At the state level, West Virginia's politics are largely dominated by the Democratic Party, with Democrats currently holding the governorship, both senate seats, two of three house seats and both houses of the state legislature. West Virginia also has a very strong tradition of union membership. In the Republican landslide of 1988, it was one of only ten states, and the only southern state (as defined by the US Census), to give its electoral votes to Michael Dukakis; it was one of only six states to support Jimmy Carter over Ronald Reagan in 1980; and it supported Bill Clinton by large margins in both 1992 and 1996. However, the West Virginia State Democratic Party, like many State Democratic Parties in the South, is on the whole more conservative than the national party. For example, Senator Robert Byrd opposes affirmative action and same-sex marriage, while Governor Joe Manchin and Congressmen Alan Mollohan and Nick Rahall are pro-life on the issue of abortion. Furthermore, the state has trended increasingly Republican in Presidential elections; despite the earlier Democratic wins in Presidential matchups mentioned, it narrowly elected George W. Bush over Al Gore in 2000, then re-elected Bush by a much larger margin in 2004 and voted for John McCain in 2008 by a similar margin to 2004. In 2008 it was the only state that went for McCain that had also been in the Union during the Civil War.
The most consistent support for Democrats is found in the coal fields of southern West Virginia (especially McDowell, Mingo, Logan, Wyoming, and Boone Counties), while Republicans are most numerous to the east of the Allegheny Mountains, especially in the state's Eastern Panhandle and Potomac Highlands. The Northern Panhandle and North-Central West Virginia regions usually split right down the middle in terms of being Republican or Democratic.
Since 1996, coal interests have contributed more than $4 million to candidates for governor, the state Supreme Court and the West Virginia Legislature. The 2004 election was a record-setter for the coal industry. Gov. Joe Manchin received $571,214 from coal interests for his campaign and $174,500 for his inaugural. West Virginians for Coal, the West Virginia Coal Association's political action committee, contributed more money than any other coal industry donor.[47]
|
|
|
|
West Virginia has received low marks for reading and math skills at the eighth-grade level and ranked 51st in college education rates.[48]
|
| Club | Sport | League |
|---|---|---|
| West Virginia Mountaineers | Football / Basketball | College Football / College Basketball |
| Marshall Thundering Herd | Football / Basketball | College Football / College Basketball |
| Bluefield Orioles | Baseball | Appalachian League |
| Princeton Rays | Baseball | Appalachian League |
| West Virginia Power | Baseball | South Atlantic League |
| Wheeling Nailers | Ice hockey | ECHL |
| West Virginia Wild | Basketball | International Basketball League |
| West Virginia Wild | Indoor football | Continental Indoor Football League |
| West Virginia Crash | Football | United States Football Alliance |
| West Virginia Chaos | Soccer | USL Premier Development League |
| West Virginia Bruisers | Football | Womens Football Alliance |
| West Virginia state insignia | |
|---|---|
| Motto | Montani semper liberi (Latin, "Mountaineers are Always Free") |
| Slogan | "Wild and Wonderful" "Open for Business" (former) "Almost Heaven" (former) |
| Bird | Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) |
| Animal | Black Bear (Ursus americanus) |
| Fish | Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) |
| Insect | European Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) |
| Flower | Rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum) |
| Tree | Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) |
| Song | "The West Virginia Hills" "This Is My West Virginia" "West Virginia, My Home Sweet Home" |
| Quarter |  Released in 2005 |
| Butterfly | Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus) |
| Reptile | Timber Rattler (Crotalus horridus) |
| Wildflower | Fringed Gentian (Gentiana crinita) |
| Colors | Old Gold and Blue |
| Gemstone | Silicified Mississippian Fossil Coral (Lithostrotionella) |
| Rock | Coal |
| Soil | Monongahela Silt Loam |
| Fruit | Golden Delicious Apple (Malus domestica) |
The state has a rich, lush beauty reflecting its temperate topography. Tourist sites include the New River Gorge Bridge,[49] Harpers Ferry National Historical Park and many state parks. The Greenbrier hotel and resort, originally built in 1778, has long been considered a premier hotel frequented by numerous world leaders and U.S. Presidents over the years. West Virginia is also home to the Green Bank Telescope at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.
A common story told about West Virginia is the folktale about how it got the nickname "West, By God, Virginia". According to the legend, a West Virginia native who was being inducted into the US Army during the First World War (some versions make it as early as the Spanish-American War), was repeatedly asked by his induction officer, "What part of Virginia?" And the soldier, finally getting fed up with the confusion, said "Not Virginia! West Virginia! West, by God, Virginia!". This story, whether true or not, has entered American folklore, and it is not unusual to hear not only West Virginians themselves, but other Americans, refer to the state as "West, By God, Virginia";, or often as "West By-God", or sometimes simply as "By-God". Many West Virginians, when travelling outside the state, or when abroad, enjoy paying homage to the legend by referring to their home state in this manner.
The X Files: I Want to Believe (2008): Partly set in fictional Somserset, West Virginia.
Live Free or Die Hard (2007): One scene is set in the fictional town of Middleton, West Virginia.
Rocket Science (film) (2007)
We Are Marshall (2006): set at Marshall University in Huntington. Filmed in Huntington, Kenova and Atlanta, Georgia.
Silent Hill (2006): adapted from the Konami video game series of the same name, this film is set in the fictional Toluca County, West Virginia.
Walk the Line (2005): Actors Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon played Johnny Cash and June Carter in a scene featuring Wheeling, West Virginia in which they talk to locals and perform a concert.
Bubble (2005): set and filmed in Belpre, Ohio and Parkersburg.
Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004): set in Fraziers Bottom, West Virginia.
Wrong Turn (2003): set in West Virginia, although the movie was filmed in Ontario, Canada.
The Mothman Prophecies (2002): set in Point Pleasant, but filmed in Pennsylvania.
October Sky (1999): set in Coalwood in McDowell County, but filmed in Tennessee.
Whatever (1998): independent film set within Northern New Jersey in the early 1980s, but filmed in Wheeling, West Virginia.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991): Partly filmed in Weirton, West Virginia.
Paradise Park (1990): set and filmed in West Virginia.
Matewan (1987): set in Matewan, filmed in Thurmond.
Reckless (1984): partially filmed in Weirton.
The Deer Hunter (1978): partially filmed in Weirton, but is set in Western Pennsylvania.
Fool's Parade (1971): set in 1930s West Virginia, filmed in Moundsville.
Holy Ghost People (1967): documentary on a congregation in Scrabble Creek, West Virginia.
The Night of the Hunter (1955): filmed in Moundsville and Hollywood.
West Virginia's folk heritage is a part of the Appalachian folk music tradition, and includes styles of fiddling, ballad singing, and other styles that draw on Scots-Irish music. Camp Washington-Carver, a Mountain Cultural Arts Center located at Clifftop in Fayette County, hosts an annual Appalachian String Band Festival.[50] The Capitol Complex in Charleston hosts The Vandalia Gathering, where traditional Appalachian musicians compete in contests and play in impromptu jam sessions and evening concerts over the course of the weekend.[51] The Augusta Heritage Center sponsored by Davis & Elkins College in Elkins in Randolph County produces the annual Augusta Heritage Festival which includes intensive week-long workshops that are in the summer that help preserve Appalachian heritate and traditions.[52]
The West Virginia Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1939, as the Charleston Civic Orchestra, before becoming the Charleston Symphony Orchestra in 1943. The first conductor was William R. Wiant, followed by the prominent conductor Antonio Modarelli, who was written about in the November 7, 1949 Time Magazine for his composition of the River Saga, a six-section program piece about the Kanawha River according to the Charleston Gazette's November 6, 1999 photo essay, "Snapshots of the 20th Century".[53] Prior to coming to Charleston, Modarelli had conducted the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra, according to the orchestra's website.[54]
The Pulitzer Prize winning 20th century composer George Crumb was born in Charleston and earned his Bachelor's Degree there before moving outside the state. There had also been a series of operatic style concerts performed in Wheeling during mid-century as well.
The West Virginia Cultural Center in Charleston[55] is home to the West Virginia Division of Culture and History[56] which helps underwrite and coordinate a large number of musical activities. The Center is also home to Mountain Stage, the internationally broadcast live-performance music radio program established in 1983.[57] The program also travels to other venues in the state such as the West Virginia University Creative Arts Center in Morgantown.[58]
The Center hosts concerts sponsored by the Friends of Old Time Music and Dance, which brings an assortment of acoustic roots music to West Virginians.[59] The Center also hosts the West Virginia Dance Festival, which features classical and modern dance.[60]
Huntington's historic Keith-Albee Theatre, built by brothers A.B. and S.J. Hyman, was originally opened to the public on May 7, 1928, and hosts a variety of performing arts and music attractions. The theatre was eventually gifted to Marshall University and is currently going through renovation to restore it to its original splendor.
Every summer Elkins hosts the Augusta Heritage Festival, which brings folk musicians from around the world.[61] The town of Glenville has long been home to the annual West Virginia State Folk Festival.[62]
The Mountaineer Opera House in Milton hosts a variety of musical acts.
John Denver's song "Take Me Home, Country Roads" describes the experience of driving through West Virginia. The Boston, Massachusetts band Big Wreck wrote a song titled "West Virginia".
Also, a popular "Country Roads Remix" by Gangsta Mario is played only in Myspace Music. The lyrics involve foreign opinions on West Virginia, economics and sports.
The Daily Mail Kanawha County Majorette and Band Festival is West Virginia's longest running music festival. It is for the eight public high schools in Kanawha County. The festival began in 1947. It is held at the University of Charleston Stadium at Laidley Field in downtown Charleston.
Primary sources
Definitions from Wiktionary
Textbooks from Wikibooks
Quotations from Wikiquote
Source texts from Wikisource
Images and media from Commons
News stories from Wikinews
Learning resources from Wikiversity
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Preceded by Kansas |
List of U.S. states by date of statehood Admitted on June 20, 1863 (35th) |
Succeeded by Nevada |
 |
Ohio | Pennsylvania | Maryland |
|
|||
 |
|||||||
 West Virginia  |
|||||||
 |
|||||||
| Kentucky | Virginia |
Coordinates: 39°00′N 80°30′W / 39°N 80.5°W
West Virginia's state animal is the black bear, it's state insect is the bubble bee, and it's state flower is the rododendron.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
| Translations: West Virginia |
Dansk (Danish)
n. - West Virginia
Deutsch (German)
n. - West Virginia
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
西弗吉尼亚州
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 美國 - 西維吉尼亞州 (西維珍尼亞州), 西維吉尼亞州
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - וירג'יניה המערבית
If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.
To select your translation preferences click here.
| Shopping: West Virginia |
| west virginia | Rose Lustre West Virginia Glass |
| map county west virginia |
Did you mean: West Virginia (state), West Virginia Mountaineers (NCAA Team), West Virginia (performed by John Linnell), Strauder v. West Virginia More...
 | Civil War |
| Virginia |
| Virginia v. West Virginia |
 | Do USS WEST VIRGINIA dependents WHO ARE FROM WEST VIRGINIA get full college PAID? Read answer... |
| If living in West Virginia and getting married in Kentucky do you have to report it to the state of West Virginia? Read answer... |
| Can a 18 yr old male from connecticut date a 15 yr old female from west virginia with parental consent or will the male get in trouble since the age difference in ct is 2 yrs and 4yrs in west virginia? Read answer... |
 | Is there any famous piece of art displayed in West Virginia that was created by an artist from West Virginia? |
| Which US state extends further west pennsylvania virginia west virginia or new york? |
| What percentage was West Virginia of Virginia when West Virginia became a state? |
Copyrights:
 |
 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| US History Encyclopedia. © 2006 through a partnership of Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Spotlight. © 1999-2009 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more |
 |
| Geography. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
Maps. ©2008 Google. All rights reserved. Read more | |
| Local Time. Copyright © 2001 - Chaos Software. All rights reserved Read more | |
|
| Stats. © 1999-2009 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more |
|
| Parks. © 1999-2009 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "West Virginia". Read more |
 |
| Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. Read more |
Mentioned in
Come to West Virginia and we'll show you how to live ... how to treat people. We're open for business.
- Gov. Joseph Manchin
|
