The following events happened on these dates in West Virginia history. To read more, go to e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia at www.wvencyclopedia.org..
Sept. 27, 1914: Author Catherine Marshall was born in Johnson City, Tennessee. Her family moved to West Virginia and lived in Keyser during the late 1920s and the 1930s. Her best-loved novel, Christy (1967), was based on her mother’s girlhood in the southern mountains.
Sept. 28, 1955: Labor activist Sarah “Mother” Blizzard died at age 90. Blizzard was deeply involved in the United Mine Workers of America, from the organization’s early beginnings in the late 19th century.
Sept. 28, 1965: The first national recreation area within a U.S. national forest was established when President Lyndon B. Johnson created the Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area in Pendleton County.
Sept. 29, 1861: The Kanawha Valley experienced severe flooding. The Kanawha River reached 46.87 feet in Charleston, more than 16 feet above flood stage.
Sept. 30, 1832: Community leader Ann Reeves Jarvis was born in Virginia. She organized Mother’s Day Work Clubs in Taylor County to improve health conditions and is credited with pulling together a divided community after the Civil War. She was the inspiration for Mother’s Day, first celebrated in Grafton in 1908.
Sept. 30, 1872: Educator Fannie Cobb Carter was born in Charleston. She organized the teacher-training department at what is now West Virginia State University, led the State Industrial Home for Colored Girls in Huntington and was director of adult education in Kanawha County.
Oct. 1, 1896: Rural Free Delivery began in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle. Before this, there was no rural mail delivery, although more than half the country’s citizens lived in rural areas.
Oct. 2, 1867: Storer College, one of the earliest integrated institutions of higher learning in the nation, opened in Harpers Ferry. It closed in 1955, but many of its buildings still stand in Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.
Oct. 2, 1923: Hershel “Woody” Williams was born in Quiet Dell. During World War II, Williams neutralized seven concrete pillboxes at the Battle of Iwo Jima. At the time of his death in 2022, he was the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient from World War II.
e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia is a project of the West Virginia Humanities Council. For more information contact the West Virginia Humanities Council, 1310 Kanawha Blvd. E., Charleston, WV 25301; (304) 346-8500; or visit e-WV at www.wvencyclopedia.org
