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.
Jan. 4, 1897: Classes began at Montgomery Preparatory School, a state institution established to prepare students for West Virginia University. The school evolved into the West Virginia University Institute of Technology.
Jan. 5, 1810: The Virginia General Assembly recognized 20 acres of land owned by farmer and trader Thomas Buffington at the confluence of the Guyandotte and Ohio rivers as the new village of Guyandotte.
Jan. 6, 1828: Ward Hill Lamon was born in Jefferson County. Lamon was friend, law partner and unofficial bodyguard to President Abraham Lincoln. President Lincoln was assassinated when Lamon was away in Richmond on government business.
Jan. 6, 1931: An underground gas explosion killed eight men at the Glen Rogers coal mine in Wyoming County – eight years after another explosion had killed 27 at the same mine.
Jan. 6, 1937: Football coach Lou Holtz was born in Follansbee, Brooke County. At Notre Dame, he won his only national championship after defeating West Virginia University in the 1989 Fiesta Bowl.
Jan. 6, 1948: Bob Wise, West Virginia’s 33rd governor (2001-05) was born in Washington, D.C.
Jan. 7, 1910: A fire destroyed everything on Main Street in Bramwell from the train depot to Block Street with the exception of two buildings. The town quickly rebuilt, creating many of the beautiful Victorian houses that stand today.
Jan. 7, 1955: The Cedar Lakes Conference Center officially opened, though it was not named until 1957. The name was chosen for its two lakes and an abundance of native cedar trees.
Jan. 8, 1866: William Gustavus Conley was born near Kingwood (Preston County). Conley was West Virginia’s 18th governor, serving from 1929 to 1933.
Jan. 8, 1919: The West Virginia legislature ratified the U.S. constitution’s 18th Amendment in the Senate, 26-0, and in the House, 81-3. West Virginia was the 21st state to ratify the amendment. National prohibition went into effect under the Volstead Act on January 16, 1920.
Jan. 8, 1926: Comedian Soupy Sales was born Milton Supman. Raised in Huntington and graduating from Marshall College (now University), he achieved fame as a wacky television personality.
Jan. 9, 1911: Louise McNeill was born on the family farm in Pocahontas County. She was appointed poet laureate by Governor Jay Rockefeller in 1979, holding that title until her death in 1993.
Jan. 9, 2014: Hazardous chemicals were discovered leaking into the Elk River, contaminating the water supply for a nine-county region.
Jan. 10, 1925: Judge Elizabeth Virginia Hallanan was born in Charleston. She was West Virginia’s first female federal court judge.
Jan. 10, 1928: Gov. Howard Gore appointed Minnie Buckingham Harper of McDowell County to fill the unexpired term of her husband, E. Howard Harper. She was the first Black woman to serve in a state legislative body in the United States.
Jan. 10, 1940: The Pond Creek No. 1 mine at Bartley in McDowell County exploded. The blast killed 91 miners, with another 47 escaping. Rescue teams worked five days to retrieve the bodies but found no additional miners alive.
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.
