While I was visiting all 55 counties in West Virginia, I started to learn a vast amount of history this tiny little state holds. As part of my Exploring West Virginia One County at a Time series, I decided to create a list of 100 fun and historical facts about this state. Before West Virginia became a state on June 20, 1863, it was part of Virginia. The first 16 listed were before this time but located in what would become the great state of West Virginia! I hope this helps the rest of the country learn that the great people of West Virginia are not just "uneducated hillbillies" as they are the people who have made historical American history!
1756 - American’s First Spa is located in Berkeley Springs. It was first mapped by Thomas Jefferson’s father in 1747 as a “Medicine Springs” and visited by George Washington in 1748. Its natural warm mineral spring water flows at a constant 74.3 degrees and is said to have health benefits. It became a favorite vacation spot for Washington who often brought his brother in hopes the healing waters would help his health.
1770 - This year is believed to be when the first European Americans discovered one of the oldest mound builder structures dated late Adena Period around 1000 BC to about 1 AD and is called Grave Creek Mound. It was excavated for the first time in 1838. This mound is said to be one of the oldest in the nation.
1787, December 3 - James Rumsey, is said to be the first to invent a steam engine that could propel a boat using hydraulic jet propulsion. This took place on the Potomac River near Shepherdstown on this day. This was twenty years before Robert Fulton’s boat design.
1794 - Year of the Whiskey Rebellion. WV has a long history of moonshine (also known as mountain dew or white lightning) starting mid-18th century when settlers from Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England came to the area. On March 3, 1791, Congress imploded the first taxes on stills and whiskey which caused the uprising that started in Pennsylvania and WV (or Virginia at this time), lasting until 1794. WV prohibition law took effect in 1914.
1797 - First salt furnace was built starting the commercial salt production. By 1840, there were over 50 saltworks producing millions of bushels annually. West Virginia sits on top of what used to be an ancient ocean called Lapetus Ocean which is dated over 600 million years ago. It became trapped as continents began to form making the area perfect for salt production.
1810 - The earliest commercial coal mine is dated back to 1810 located in Wheeling a full 68 years (1742) after coal was first discovered by John Peter Salley. In the 1820s with the growth of the salt industry, so came the coal boom and railroads. Today West Virginia is the second largest coal producing state in America. In 2023, 88 million tons of coal was mined which includes both thermal coal for power generation and metallurgical coal used for steel production. West Virginia coal is the highest quality known for clean coal combustion processes and high-grade steel manufacturing. It brings in $14 billion to the state as well as 57,000 jobs. As our coal is great for steel production, the state also does its part to help the steelmaking industry bring in $200 billion with 547,000 national jobs. America is starting to turn away from coal for power but 40 other countries seek out our coal. Our own state uses about 23% of the thermal coal to make electric power more affordable. Another 10% is shipped to countries such as Europe, South American and Asia. The rest of the coal is sent to 15 other states for use in their coal power plants and industrial uses. Out of the Metallurgical coal produced, 14% is sent to North America steel making facilities and 29% exported around the globe.
1813 - West Virginia’s first glass plant was built in Wellsburg because of the good sand, cheap natural gas and better railroads.
1824, February 14 - The 2nd publications for women in America - The Ladies’ Garland Newspaper was published in Harpers Ferry in 1824 by John S. Gallaher for $1.50 per subscription.
1833, April 24 - Patent for the soda fountain was issued to George Dulty of Wheeling, WV and Jacob Ebert of Cadiz, Ohio. Although there is history that says Samuel Fahnestock was the inventor and received a patent in 1819. You can still enjoy these old-fashioned soda fountains at The Corner Shop in Bramwell or Griffith & Feil Soda Fountain in Kenova.
1849, November - The Wheeling Suspension Bridge was built in 1856 to replace a 1836 wooden bridge that had been destroyed by a wind storm in 1854. This suspension bridge was the first of its kind in the world and the longest in the country. The Brooklyn Bridge followed later. It was designed by Charles Ellet Jr. with a main span of 1,010 feet from tower to tower. Today it remains the oldest suspension bridge and is a National Landmark. It has been called, “the most important extant antebellum civil engineering structure in North American” by the Historic American Engineering Record.
1852 - The African Zion Baptist Church (also known as Mother Church) in Malden was organized in 1852 and is considered the oldest Black Baptist church in West Virginia. The church members numbered more than 1,500 people. General Lewis Ruffner donated the land, money and materials for the construction to build the current day church which held its first service in 1872. Booker T. Washington attended this church and also taught Sunday School when he was an adult.
1861, May 22 - On this day, Private Thornsbury Bailey Brown was killed making him the first union soldier to die during the American Civil War at the age of 32. Brown was a resident of Taylor County. Private Brown was walking across a bridge with Lieutenant Daniel Wilson when confronted by the Confederate and ordered to halt. Brown fired. The Confederate returned fired, killing Brown.
1861, June 3 - Although a small engagement, the first organized land battle "Philippi Races” of the Civil War happened in Philippi. The Union attacked a Confederate camp resulting in the Confederates' hasty retreat.
1861, June 11 - On this day, the Battle of Laurel Hill started. During the battle, Confederate General Robert S. Garnett becomes the first general killed during the Civil War.
1861, September 10 - Battle at Cheat Mountain in Elkwater. This became the first battle in the Civil War in which troops was lead into battle by Robert E. Lee.
1862, May 17 - Battle of Princeton resulted in 128 casualties.
1863, June 20 - WV seceded from a Confederate state (Virginia) during the American Civil War making it the 35th state and the only state to be formed by separation from another during the Civil War with President Lincoln’s approval.
1864, August 7 - Battle of Moorefield which was a surprise Union raid killing 400 Confederate soldiers and capturing 400 horses.
1864, November 06 - Battle of Droop Mountain which was the largest battles in West Virginia during the Civil War.
1865 - After slaves gained their freedom under the Emancipation Proclamation, Booker T. Washington (at age 9), along with his family, moved to the free state of West Virginia to be with their father. They settled in Malden and Booker worked to teach himself to read and attend school. At 16, he attended Hampton Institute where he worked as a janitor to pay for his studies. He became the first leader of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute which he served for 30 years. Throughout his life he was an educator, reformer, and influential leader of the African American community. His speech “Atlanta Compromise” is his most famous thoughts on race relations and progress for Black Americans.
1867, February 7 - The Agricultural College of West Virginia (aka West Virginia University) was the first public land-grant research university in the state.
1864, October - Although construction started in 1858, the first patient was not admitted to the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum until 1864 and not completed until 1881. The structure is the largest hand-cut stone masonry building in North America and second in the world to the Kremlin. Originally the Asylum was to accommodate 250 patients but by the 1950s there were 2,400 calling this building home. It closed its doors in May 1994 by court order as part of a class action lawsuit filed by family members of patients. It was sold in 2007 and now open for tours.
1870 - First brick road in America was laid on Summers Street in Charleston by Engineer Mordecai Levi and funded by Dr. John Hale as an experiment. His invention was a big step in advancement in urban infrastructure while moving away from dirt roads.
1877, July 16 - B&O Railroad Company cut wages to workers causing them to go on strike. This became the nation’s first nationwide strike and also caused work stoppage across the United States for both railroad workers and steelworkers in Pittsburgh.
1882, August 7 - Hatfield and McCoy feud ending in 100 wounded or dead.
1884 - First golf course in the United States was Oakhurst Links in White Sulphur Springs. Russell W. Montague developed the nine-hole course and held its first competition in 1888.
1890 - The Bloch Brothers Tobacco Company (aka Helme Tobacco Company) was founded in 1879 in Wheeling, West Virginia. It was this company that came up with the outdoor advertising with the most popular starting with the 1925 Mail Pouch Tobacco Ads on the side of barns. Between 1891 to 1992, there were over 20,000 barns in 22 states with the Mail Pouch Ads with most of them being hand painted by Harley Warrick after World War II with the logo “Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco - Treat Yourself to the Best.” Warrick retired in 1992 and the advertisement program was suspended. Other painters were Mark Turley, Don Shires and Dick Green. If you are lucky to find an original painting, you can locate their initials somewhere in the blue border. Barn owners were paid $1-$2 each year to rent the barn space but it was the desired fresh coat of paint on the barns to preserve the integrity of the wood that was mostly wanted. These barns are not considered historic landmarks.
1891, March 17 - The West Virginia Colored Institute was established, becoming the first of 17 black land-grant colleges in the United States. It was founded under the Second Morrill Act of 1890. This school became one of the country's most respected black colleges under the leadership of John W. Davis. The school became regionally accredited in 1927, the first of the original black land-grant colleges to achieve this status. In 1929 the college was renamed West Virginia State College. You can watch the movie River of Hope, directed by Calvin Grimm who tells the story of the founding of this college.
1896, October 1 - First Rural Postal Mail Delivery in Jefferson County. Postmaster General William Lyne Wilson, conducted a limited experiment with five carriers; Harry Gibson, Frank Young, John Lucas, Keyes Strider and Melvin Strider dispatched from Charles Town, Halltown and Uvilla. Within a year, 29 states had started the service on 44 RFD routes. By 1902 the experiment became permanent.
1897, March 11 - On this day a meteorite entered earth’s atmosphere and exploded over New Martinsville, causing damage but no human injuries.
1897, June 22 - Only known case where a ghost's testimony helped convict a murder. On January 23, 1897, Elva Zona Heaster was found dead in her home and the cause of death was listed as "childbirth". However, her mother, Mary Jane Heaster, claimed Zona’s ghost came to her bedside and told her that Edward Stribbling Trout Shue, Zona’s husband, had murdered her by breaking her neck one night in a fit of rage because she did not cook any meat to go with their dinner. The local prosecutor decided to get Dr. Knapp to exhumed Zona’s body after hearing of how Shue had been asking after the body was found and Knapp confessing he did not examine Zona before writing the death certificate. During the examination, it was discovered Zona’s neck had been broken. Mary was allowed to testify at the trial and Shue was found guilty on July 11.
1907, December 06 - Tragedy happened at a coal mine in Monongah, killing 361.
1908, May 10 - First Mother’s Day Celebration at Andrews Church in Grafton in memory of Ann Jarvis “Mother Jarvis.”. In 1858, Ann, worried about the sanitation and death from disease-bearing insects as well as polluted water, organized “Mother’s Work Days.” Ann died in 1905 and her daughter, Anna, founded Mother’s Day as a way to memorialize her mother’s life. Congress made it an official holiday in 1914. The flower of choice was always the white carnation for this day.
1912 - Golden Delicious Apple was first found in Clay County on the Mullins family farm and it was called “Mullins’ Yellow Seedling”. Anderson Mullins sold the tree to Stark Brothers Nursery as well as the propagation rights for $5,000 in 1914. It was renamed the Golden Delicious Apple and began being sold to the public in 1916. On February 20, 1995, the Golden Delicious Apple became the official state fruit and there is a Festival held in its honor every year since 1973.
1914, April 28 - Tragedy at a coal mine in Eccles killing 181.
1915 - As part of the agreement for West Virginia to separate from Virginia, they had to take on part of the pre-war debt which through legal battles came to $12,393,929.50 based on the value of the two states’ property at the time of separation. Final payment of this debt was not paid until 1939.
1917, April 6 - This was the start of the WWI in which West Virginia mustered 58,000 soldiers and suffered 5,000 casualties. Three drafts were held in West Virginia between May 1917 and September 1918. On August 1917, Frank Woodruff Buckles, at the age of 16, lied abouthsi age to enlist in the Army. Out of nearly 5 million American veterans of WWI, he was the last survivor. He died on February 27, 2011 at the age of 110.
1918 - Chester Merriman, age 14 and resident of Romney, ran away to Cumberland Maryland to enlist to fight in WWI. He was large for his age so it was easy to believe he was older. By June that year, he sailed for France. President Wilson sent a congratulation letter stating, "Through a ranking officer of the war department I learn you are the youngest (whether officially so or not) American soldier to set foot on foreign soil in defense of democracy and for those things for which we Americans stand. As your former commander-in-chief, I extend to you my heartiest congratulations and may each American youth have in their bosom a love for country such as you have shown.”
1919 - Vesta Watters Jones became the first WV woman mail carrier taking the place of Gibson after his retirement. She was among the first in the United States. She served for over 40 years, covering over 600,000 miles.
1921, July 1 - This state became the first to impose a sales tax on a small number of products such as coal, oil, natural gas, timber and electric power. On April 1, 1934, taxes were broadened to add consumers’ sales tax. In 1951, a new “use tax” was added to supplement the sales tax and target out-of-state purchases. In 2005, WV adopted the uniform Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement being used across America. On March 1, 1934, Mississippi started a widespread sales tax on most all items sold. It is often said to be the state that first started sales tax.
1921, August 25 - Battle of Blair Mountain was the largest labor battle in American history as well as the largest armed battle since the Civil War. This was part of the Coal Wars in which 10,000 coal miners fought against 3,000 lawmakers and strikebreakers over trying to unionize.
1921, October 8 - First nation’s radio broadcast of a football game between WVU Mountaineers and Pittsburgh University on KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Although this happened in another state, WVU was one of the teams playing during that heated rivalry. It is thanks to radio that college football became a national obsession.
1921, June - First 4-H Camp at Jackson’s Mill near Weston and was called “Camp Good Luck” by the young attendees. This camp became a permanent site in 1952 and is called Camp Pioneer today.
1924, April 28 - Tragedy at a coal mine in Benwood, killing 119.
1925, August 12 - The first cast of Alpha Psi Omega was founded at Fairmount State College after the dramatic arts took off as a way to join a national honorary organization. Within a year, 18 more were created across the country.
1927 - Pepperoni Rolls was first commercially sold in 1927 by Giuseppe Argiro, owner of Argiro’s Country Club Bakery, in Fairmont for hungry coal miners who could eat with one hand and drink water with the other. Argiro was an Italian immigrant as well as a coal miner and wanted to create something convenient that didn’t have to be refrigerated for his fellow miners. Argiro sold a dozen pepperoni rolls by the dozen for 45 cents each.
1927, April 30 - The Federal Industrial Institution for Women opened in Alderson, making it the first federal women’s prison in the United States. The first warden was Mary B. Harris with 174 women being sent to the prison the first year.
1928, January - First African-American women to serve in a US government body. Minnie Harper Buckingham, of McDowell County, was appointed to fill her husband’s term after his death in the state House of Delegates. The Republican Executive Committee unanimously recommended her. During her term she served on the House committees on Federal Relations, Railroads and Labor. She did not seek re-election and passed at the age of 91. It took 22 more years before another African-American woman was elected, Elizabeth Drewry in 1950.
1928, April - Largest Alluvial Diamond (Jones Diamond aka Punch Jones Diamond, The Grover Jones Diamond or The Horseshoe Diamond) in North America was found in Peterstown, weighing 34.48 carats. William P. “Punch” Jones and his father, Grover C. Jones, Sr. found the diamond while playing horseshoes. They originally thought it was just a shiny quartz stone and was kept in a wooden cigar box in the tool shed for fourteen years. In 1942, Punch decided to have Roy J. Holden, a geology professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, took a look at it and its discovery shocked everyone. It was put on display at the Smithsonian Institution for many years before the family brought it back in 1964. It was sold at auction in 1984 to an agent representing a lawyer in an undisclosed east Asian country. There is a historical marker at the spot it was found.
1931 - The oldest and largest living white oak tree in the world was discovered in Mingo. It reached 200 feet in height with a diameter of 60 feet and a crown of 130 feet. In May 1938, the Mingo Oak failed to produce leaves and was declared dead. On September 23, 1938, the area held a falling ceremony and a transections was sent to the Smithsonian Institution and West Virginia State Museum. The tree's seeding is said to have occurred between 1354 and 1361 AD. Its death was thought to have been because of poisonous gases and sulfur fumes from a nearby coal mine.
1932, June 20 - On this day, and West Virginia’s 69th birthday, the Capitol in Charleston was dedicated with a finished construction cost of $9,491,180.03. It consists of 530,000 square feet of floor space and 333 rooms of the main unit with two wings. The Rotunda features a 4,000 pound chandelier with an eight foot diameter made of 10,080 pieces of Czechoslovakia crystal and 96 light bulbs. The exterior is made of buff Indiana limestone which took more than 700 train carloads of limestone and 4,640 tons of steel to build. The gold dome is 293 feet making it five feet taller than the dome at the United States Capitol. It is covered with copper and gold leaf which gives it a shine when the sun hits it. An eagle on top of a 25 foot bronze spire built on a 34 foot lantern is resting on top of the dome.
1933 - The first building made out of coal was built by architect H.T. Hicks and the idea of O.W. Evans, the Fuels Department Manager for the Norfolk & Western Railroad. The 1,600 square foot house is made of 65 tons of locally mined bituminous coal covered in weatherproofing varnish to help preserve the structure.
1938 - Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker Buck (Pearl S. Buck), a native resident of Hillsboro, became the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature for her book The Good Earth. Her childhood home has been turned into a museum and is open to visit.
1938 - Chester became the location of the World’s Largest Teapot Shaped Building, which measures 14 feet in height by 14 feet diameter and could hold 13,000 gallons of tea. It was constructed out of an Hires Root Beer Barrel sign by William “Babe” Devon to help advertise the area’s largest pottery industry in the world at the time.
1941, September 1 - First municipally owned parking garage opened in Welch. It is a four-story concrete structure designed to hold 232 cars. In 1960, JFK gave a speech in front of it. It was renovated in 2005 and cars are still using it today.
1941, December 7 - After Pearl Harbor, West Virginia became the fifth-highest percentage of servicemen to serve with 218,665 West Virginians with 66,716 being volunteers. Around 600 of the 11,000 African-Americans from West Virginia, came from West Virginia State College. West Virginia lost 5,830 of its residents during WWII.
1942, March 7 - Aviator George Spencer “Spanky” Robertson became the first Africa-American military pilot from West Virginia with the famous Tuskegee Airmen during WWII.
1943, October 14 - Aviator James Kemp McLaughlin, flying the B-17 bomber, became the lead pilot in a mission against the ball-bearing works of Schweinfurt, Germany. This was the largest Allied daytime bombing raid during WWII. McLaughlin is also the founder of the 167th Fighter Squadron which is now West Virginia Air National Guard.
1945, February - West Virginia was home to Hershel Woodrow “Woody” Williams, who earned the Medal of Honor at Iwo Jima for his actions in directly neutralizing one of the best defended strongholds on the island. He passed on June 29, 2022.
1947, July 1 - Several areas merged to form the city of Weirton, West Virginia making it the only city in the United States that runs from one state border to another. The metropolis shares borders with Ohio to the west and Pennsylvania to the east.
1947, October 10 - Welch native resident, pilot and Air Force Captain Charles “Chuck” Yeager, broke the sound barrier flying the Bell X-1 at an altitude of 45,000 ft.
1948, March 16 - Famous Jazz musician, Billie Holiday, was released early from Alderson Federal Prison Camp in WV for good behavior after pleading guilty to drug possession. Holiday was very talented, ranking second in the DownBeat poll, fifth in Billboard’s, and winner of the Metronome magazine polls before her arrest. On March 27, 1948, she played at Carnegie Hall to a sold-out crowd. She died on July 17, 1959, of pulmonary edema and heart failure caused by cirrhosis of the liver. Her recorded Crazy He Calls Me, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2010.
1949 - Marble King was founded and is still the leader in marble production. They produce more than a million marbles each day which are shipped worldwide. You can find Marble King marbles in games, decorative vases, industrial applications and spray paint cans. These marbles have also made their appearance in movies such as Goonies, Hook and Home Alone. Marble King is also the sponsor of the National Marbles Tournament.
1954, November 8 - The Memorial Tunnel became the first nation’s first closed-circuit television monitored for surveillance inside the tunnel at a cost of $5 million dollars. By 1987 the area saw a huge increase in travel and the two lanes were causing heavy congestion so a new bypass of 1.72 miles was built and the tunnel was closed to traffic in 1987 and then served the Center for National Response for training situations until 2020. In February 2022 a local farmer, with the blessing of WV Adjutant General’s office, started using the tunnel to grow mushrooms.
1956 - Cecil Harland Underwood made history as the youngest governor in West Virginia history at the age of 34 and one of the youngest U.S. Governors to ever be elected. He also became the oldest to be re-elected at the age of 74 in 1996.
1959 - From 1959-1962 a bunker was built under the Greenbrier Hotel, code-named “Project Casper (aka Project Greek Island)”, as a secret emergency relocation center to house the United States Congress due to the Cold War. It was being built at the same time as the West Virginia Wing was being added to the Hotel. It had to be decommissioned in 1992 after being exposed by The Washington Post, reporter Ted Gup. Today it is being used as a data storage facility for the private sector and is open for tours.
1960, January 26 - On this day, Danny Heater, senior basketball player for Burnsville High School in Braxton, scored 135 points in a 32-minute game and was awarded a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records.
1961, May 5 - Katherine Johnson calculated the trajectory for the space flight of Alan Shepard, the first American in space. Johnson was born and raised in WV. She attended WV State College graduating summa cum laude in 1937 with degrees in mathematics and French at the age of 18. She worked at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics from 1953 until her retirement in 1986. She passed away on February 24, 2020 at the age of 101. A movie was released in December 2016 called, Hidden Figures, which was based off of the book with the same title by Margot Lee Shetterly. Taraji P. Henson played Johnson in the film.
1961, May 29 - On this day, the Chloe and Alderson Muncy family in Paynesville (McDowell County) became the first to receive food stamps after a visit to the area in 1960 by John F. Kennedy who saw the struggle of the area after coal production declined. Kennedy spoke about this in his September 27, 1960 speech "McDowell County mines more coal than it ever has in its history, probably more coal than any county in the United States and yet there are more people getting surplus food packages in McDowell County than any county in the United States. The reason is that machines are doing the jobs of men, and we have not been able to find jobs for those men." Their family of 15-person was given $95 in federal food stamps by the Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman, to buy food as part of a pilot program. They bought cans of pork and beans at Henderson’s Supermarket. By 1964 the program had expanded to 22 states with 380,000 participants.
1962, October 1 - The 300’ (91m) radio telescope was installed by the US National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank. Today it remains the world’s premier single-dish telescope and key instrument in space studies.
1963 - In 1963, WV held the Big Tree Contest which resulted in the Division of Forestry maintaining a Big Tree database. There were 240 trees of 37 different species that entered the contest. A sycamore tree near Viola in Marshall County held the title of the state's biggest tree of 311-inch circumference and 128-foot crown standing 117 feet tall. The trees are measured every 10 years to update the records. It was estimated the tree was between 200-300 years old. This award winning tree fell in 2023.
1969, February 22 - Barbara Jo Rubin, riding Cohesian, became the first licensed woman jockey to win a professional horse race at Charles Town.
1970 - Bill Withers releases his album Just as I Am, with songs “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “Grandma’s Hands”. Withers was born in Slab Fork and joined the US Navy at the age of 17 when he started singing and writing songs. His album got him an invite to Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show. In 1972 he won a Grammy Award for the Best R&B Song. Withers went on to have a successful music career. He was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2007 for his song, “Lean on Me”. He passed away On March 30, 2020 at the age of 81 from heart complications.
1970, November 14 - Tragedy when a plane filled with the Marshall University football team crashed in Kenova, killing 75.
1971, April 12 - The song Take Me Home, Country Roads, sung by John Denver was released. In March 2014, the song became one of four official state anthems of West Virginia. In November 2017, the WV Tourism Office got permission to use it for marketing efforts.
1972, February 26 - Tragedy hit when a slag heap dam collapsed above Buffalo Creek, killing 125.
1973, May 27 - Grandparents Day was founded by Marian McQuade of Oak Hill and West Virginia was the first state in America to honor grandparents by proclamation signed by Governor Arch Moore. It was adopted federally in 1978 by President Jimmy Carter. However, Russell Capper (age 9) first wrote President Nixon of the suggestion in 1969 but was denied by President Nixon. The goal of the holiday was to educate youth of the importance of seniors and for the community to “adopt” a grandparent.
1977, October 22 - At the time it was built, the New River Gorge Bridge was the world’s longest single-span arch bridge. Designed by Michael Baker Company and built by the US Steel American Bridge Division at a cost of $37 million with an arch of 1,700 feet long. Travel time was cut from 45 minutes to 45 seconds. Today it is the fifth longest.
1978, April 27 - Tragedy hit when a cooling tower collapsed at a coal-fired power plant in Willow Island, killing 51.
1979 - Jerry West, basketball player, was elected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. West was born and raised in Cheylan, later to be widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. He was known for making baskets late in the game which earned him the nickname “Mr. Clutch”. In 1968, West’s silhouette was incorporated into the NBA logo. In 2010, he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame as a member of the 1960 US Olympic team. His list of awards is lengthy. His No. 44 Lakers jersey was retired in 1983. He passed on June 12, 2024 at the age of 86.
1984, December 21 - Georgeann Wells, a West Virginia University basketball player became the first woman to dunk a basketball during a college game. It happened at the Elkins Randolph County Armory while playing against University of Charleston. There was 11:18 minutes remaining when Wells received a pass from point guard Lisa Ribble and dunked the ball. WVU won 110-82.
1984 - Mary Lou Retton, native resident of Fairmont, became the first American woman to win the all-around gold medal in Olympic gymnastics at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
1988, July 15 - Phil G. McDonald Bridge in Beckley is one of the 10 highest bridges in North America at 700 feet high. It has the tallest piers ever built on an American Bridge raising 341 feet making it the World’s Highest Truss Bridge.
1989 - The Gesundheit! Institute was founded in Hillsboro, West Virginia by Hunter Doherty “Patch” Adams is an American physician who, along with his wife Linda and friends, wanted to create a free holistic care to anyone who wanted it. The 1998 movie Patch Adams starring Robin Williams is based on this doctor's life and his view of medicine. As of now the Institute is focused on fundraising.
2001, September 14 - James “Jay” Justice, became the recorder holder for harvesting 487.6 metric tones (19,196.59 bushels) of corn at the Catfish Bay Farm in Beckley, WV using a Caterpillar 485 Lexion Combine.
2011 - WV became one of six states which provided live internet streaming of Supreme Court arguments.
2011, July 28 - Rev. Donnie Russell discovered the world’s smallest chicken egg which was 2.1 centimeters long and weighs 3.46 grams, or the size of a penny, on his farm in West Virginia. It was named, John Spencer Russell, after his two grandsons.
2017, July 27 - World record for 820 dreidels spun simultaneously for 10 seconds happened on this day as part of the Boy Scouts of American’s 2017 National Jamboree at the Summit Bechtel Family Scout Reserve in Glen Jean, West Virginia.
2021, July 1 - Natural Light Beer became the world recorder holder for the longest plastic water slide of 2,021 feet at Canaan Valley Ski Resort in Davis, West Virginia.
2022, November 5 - Mountain Mission Inc. became the world record holder for the largest packaged food word with 25,550 items that spelled the word “Mountaineers” in front of the capital.
2023, October 20 - The world record for the most people in a digging relay was Nucor Steel West Virginia with 545 people in Apple Grove.
West Virginia is the only state fully located within the Appalachian Mountain Region.
West Virginia is listed as the state with the most towns named after cities in other countries such as: Vienna, Athens, Berlin, Calcutta, Geneva, London, Rome, Shanghai and Cairo.
You can find a 2x4 sandstone block on the Washington Monument that reads “Tuum Nos Sumus Monumentum West Virginia”. This stone was donated to the building of the monument in 1885 and is located at the 200 foot level. Another stone is at the National Cathedral.
West Virginia has the highest average elevation of any state east of the Mississippi River at Spruce Knob.
West Virginia has a total area of 24,230 miles making it the 10th smallest state in the United States.
West Virginia is the third most forested state in the country with Monongahela National Forest spanning across 10 Counties and covering nearly a million acres.
West Virginia is made up of 75% forest.
The New River is the oldest river in North America dating between 10 and 360 million years old. It flows through West Virginia as well as North Carolina and Virginia.
The lowest point in West Virginia is Harpers Ferry at 247 feet.
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