John E. Kenna

Old Main campus construction began at Bethany College

The Blue Sulphur Springs resort property was sold to the Western Virginia Baptist Association

John Brown met in Chatham, Ontario, with supporters to plan for armed insurrection of slaves

Martin Delany aided John Brown in convening the Chatham Convention

Henry Gassaway Davis left the B&O

Delta Tau Delta was founded at Bethany College

Weston College was chartered

Marshall College was established from Marshall Academy

George Imboden was admitted to the bar

Other mills were destroyed by floods on the Jug of the Middle Island Creek

General Assembly amended the act of incorporation

Presbyterians established the Woodburn Female Seminary in Morgantown

Z. D. Ramsdell relocated to Ceredo.

The second courthouse at Ripley was built

Robert Simmons had fathered nine children

Spencer was chartered

The Weston & Gauley Bridge Turnpike opened

McDowell County seat was at Perryville

Weston was chosen for the site of Virginia's third mental hospital

Construction began on Weston State Hospital

Schools for black children were being built in 18 communities in West Virginia

A construction bid for Clarksburg School, an elementary black school, was accepted

A springhouse was built at Barger Springs (Summers County)

Jacob Blair was appointed minister to Costa Rica

The new Harpers Ferry bridge was completed

Thayer sold Ceredo to mortgage holder, Charles B. Hoard

Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad was created

Gen. William C. Wickham became president of the C&O Railroad

The state purchased the institution now known as Fairmont State University

Vedette changed name to the West Virginian

Freedmen's Bureau ceased operation in West Virginia

President Grant appointed Nathan Goff Jr. U.S. district attorney for West Virginia

Catherine Jackson White purchased Jackson's Mill

Lincoln County's borders changed

The Agricultural College of West Virginia was renamed West Virginia University at the recommendation of Alexander Martin

Dr. H. Stieren of St. Louis established a bromine factory in Mason County

The Grand Army of the Republic established Decoration Day, predecessor to Memorial Day

The legislature created two public school districts in Morgantown, white and black

Anna Maria Jarvis organized Mothers' Friendship Day celebration

The steamboat Mountain Boy was built on the Monongahela River at Brownsville, Pennsylvania

All refineries except one founded by Johnson Newlon Camden closed due to his partnership with Standard Oil Trust

George Peterkin graduated from the Theological Seminary of Virginia.

Drilling for oil and gas began in Roane County

William Rosecrans served as minister to Mexico

John Cunningham acquired the Phillip R. Thompson property, which he had incorporated and named Kanawha City

Senator Peter Van Winkle cast the next-to-last vote and only Republican vote that saved President Andrew Johnson from being removed on impeachment charges

Fred E. Brooks was born

Reported 200 patients were being cared for at Weston State Hospital

Winfield was incorporated

Celebration staged in Parkersburg after ratification of the 15th Amendment

Railroad magnate Collis P. Huntington located the western terminus of Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad in present Huntington

Cheat River declared a public highway

Claymont Court mansion (Jefferson County) was advertised for sale by Bushrod Corbin Washington's grandson

Henry Gassaway Davis helped lead the Democrats in for their control over the state

Marmaduke Dent received B.A from WVU

Joseph Diss Debar produced The West Virginia Hand-Book and Immigrant's Guide

Alexander Donaghho came to Parkersburg

Fayetteville population jumped to 6,647

Thaddeus Mortimer Fowler began his map-making trips

Camp Straton United Confederate Veterans began controlling Logan County polices

German immigration increased during the Franco-Prussian War

John Hale started the first steam ferry at Charleston

John Hale was a leader in having the state capital moved to Charleston

Literary Hall was built in Romney

The West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind was established in Romney

John Henry began working as a steel driver during the construction of the Big Bend (Great Bend) Tunnel

The state was reported to have 2,270 schools

Investment in manufacturing began increasing

Immigrants from Switzerland settled in the area of Holly River

George Imboden moved to Fayette County

Jacob Jackson became Wood County's prosecuting attorney

A proposed waterway between Tidewater Virginia and Rocky Mountains was proposed to Congress by Waitman T. Willey

The capital was moved from Wheeling to Charleston

Henry Clay Dickinson became president of Kanawha Valley Bank

James Kay arrived in Charleston

Crosscut saws replaced the ax as the preferred tool for felling trees

Marshall College added a new brick addition at the west end of the existing building

John Nuttall bought coal lands on New River

The Flick Amendment was introduced

Petersburg became the county seat of Grant County

Henry Ragland moved to Wayne County.

Alexander Reynolds began serving in Egypt

Literary Hall was built by the Literary Society in Romney

Cecil Clay of Philadelphia began timber purchases in Greenbrier Valley

William Stevenson was defeated for second term as governor

There were 178 tanneries in West Virginia

The Daily Sentinel became the Taylor County newspaper

The town of Volcano was founded

Wayne County population was at 7,852

WesBanco was founded as German Bank

Legislature voted for additional buildings at Weston State Hospital

The Potomac River flooded

The Shenandoah River flooded

Stephen Elkins was elected to represent New Mexico Territory in Congress

Aretas Fleming won election to the House of Delegates

Henry Mathews was elected attorney general of West Virginia

Emanuel Wilson was elected to the state senate

W. H. H. Flick elected prosecuting attorney for Pendleton and Grant counties

George Imboden was elected to the House of Delegates

Henry Mason Mathews, a Redeemer and former Confederate officer, was elected the first of the so-called "Bourbon" governors.

W. H. H. Flick was an unsuccessful candidate for the West Virginia Supreme Court

Jacob Jackson was elected governor and moved to Wheeling

Nathan Goff Jr. was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives

Wm. Lyne Wilson was elected to Congress

William Edwin Chilton appointed to an unexpired term as Kanawha County prosecutor

Legislature established the West Virginia Department of Mines and fatality records began to be kept

Cincinnati Gas & Electric Company acquired the Ohio Fuel Supply Company

Henry Gassaway Davis left the U.S. Senate

Fayetteville was incorporated under its name

The Calhoun Chronicle was first published

John P. Hale published a pamphlet on Daniel Boone's years in the Kanawha Valley

James Edward "Blind Ed" Haley was born

William "Coin" Harvey went to Colorado to work as silver prospector and miner

The Lovett family began ownership of the Lockwood House in Harpers Ferry

William Howells retired from Ohio politics

The James Produce Company was started by Charles H. James

Frances Benjamin Johnston began her studies at the Academie Juilian in Paris

William Leigh left Maryland Institute to begin studying at the Royal Academy in Munich, Germany

The Wheeling Public Library was created

The Norfolk & Western Railway arrived in Mercer county

Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller wrote The Bride of the Tomb

The first mine safety laws in West Virginia were enacted

English immigrants settled in the Linwood-Mingo area of Randolph County

A prohibition amendment passed in the House of Delegates but was defeated in the Senate.

Ripley's population was at 614

Lewis Ruffner died

The Salvation Army opened its first West Virginia "corps" in Wheeling

Seventh-Day Adventist churches were organized in Wood and Kanawha counties

The West Virginia Central & Pittsburgh Railroad first entered Upshur County

Dr. John J. Moorman stopped doctoring the crowds at White Sulphur Springs

Harley Martin Kilgore was born in Harrison County