Television

Peak production of coal in West Virginia

Clair Bee wrote Touchdown Pass

Charles Town Opera House was closed

Westvaco Chemical Corporation became part of FMC

Oliver Chitwood published the second volume of A Short History of the American People

President Irvin Stewart approved Earl Core's proposal to found WVU arboretum

Five floors were added to the 1941 addition of the Diamond Department Store

Little Jimmy Dickens signed with Columbia Records

Joanne Dru appeared in Red River

The Edwards Moonlight was rehulled

K. K. Hall was elected mayor of Madison

Roy Lee Harmon wrote Up the Creek

Virgil Carrington Jones wrote The Hatfield and McCoys, published by University of North Carolina Press

The music department of Concord College awarded the first degree in music education

Louis Johnson chaired President Truman's finance committee

The federal government charged Big Bill Lias with income tax evasion

The Lilly Brothers moved to WWVA Wheeling where they worked with Red Belcher

The appointment of a separate dean for the Marshall College graduate school began

An addition was built to Louis Marx & Company facility for plastic toys

Bernard McDonough bought the Kanawha Sand & Gravel company

Herbert Chester Greer died

John Nash entered the doctoral program at Princeton University

The Spirit of Jefferson newspaper merged with the Farmers' Advocate

The last case of smallpox in West Virginia was reported

Jack Rollins joined music publishers Hill and Range in New York

West Virginia State College romped through an undefeated basketball season, winning the regular season and tournament championships

Construction began on the state police academy

Eleanor Steber sang at the Republican National Convention

Eleanor Steber commissioned and premiered Samuel Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915

Stone & Thomas opened a new store in downtown Charleston

P. D. Strausbaugh retired from WVU

Andre Van Damme settle in Charleston

WAJR-FM (now WVAQ) began broadcasting in Morgantown

The West Virginia Review ceased publication

WVU enrollment at 8,069

A physical therapy department was opened at Wheeling Hospital

WHIS radio increased to 5,000 watts

The Shott brothers made a premature effort at an FM station

Frankie Yankovic was voted “America’s Polka King” by an 8-to-1 margin at a contest sponsored by record companies

Appalachian Electric Power provided electricity in 21 counties

Clyde Beale pardoned by Governor Patteson

Walter Barnes wrote The Teacher Speaks

West Virginia Conservation Commission constructed Baker Lake

The Berkeley Woolen Company closed its operations in Martinsburg

Pearl S. Buck founded the international adoption agency, Welcome House, based in Pennsylvania

Lew Burdette married Mary Ann Shelton

The state's first television station WSAZ-TV went on air

West Virginia chose electric chair over hanging for capital punishment

Northern cardinal became the state bird

William E. Davies published first full report on West Virginia caves

The beginnings of the Cedar Lakes Conference Center originated in an act of the legislature

B'nai Jacob congregation moved to new synagogue

Little Jimmy Dickens joined the Grand Ole Opry at WSM

Henry Hazelwood retired as principal

The Booth family sold the Dreamland to group of Huntington businessmen

Joanne Dru appeared in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Bishop Strider announced his retirement

Forestlands of West Virginia covered 60 % of state

Major flood brought devastation to Grant County

Capt. Mary B. Greene, wife of Capt. Gordon Greene, died

Carroll High School in Hamlin was destroyed by fire

Alberta Pierson Hannum's book Roseanna McCoy was released as a motion picture

The Health Department shifted its emphasis from communicable diseases to chronic illnesses and other public health issues.

Cam Henderson resigned as the Marshall football coach

The Huntington Publishing Co. started WSAZ-TV Channel 3, first TV station in West Virginia and one of earliest in the country

The construction of Bluestone Dam on the New River was completed

Rush Holt changed his party affiliation from Democratic to Republican

William Flannery became speaker of the House of Delegates

Hayes Picklesimer succeeded John L. Dickinson as president of Kanawha Valley Bank

Kelly Axe and Tool Company changed its name to True Temper

Larry Richardson and Bob Osborne joined the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers

Berry Pink and Sellers Peltier founded the Marble King Company

Clarence Meadows opened a law office in Charleston

Morgantown annexed Suncrest and Sabraton

West Virginia Mountain State Gospel Singers Corporation invited groups from Greenbrier and Fayette counties to participate in Nicholas County homecoming of Mount Nebo Gospel Sings

Marble King Factory moved to St. Marys

DuPont plant built at Washington Bottom

Alfred Knobler created the Pilgrim Glass Corporation

Mole Hill changed its name to Mountain

Jack Rollins wrote the lyrics to "Peter Cottontail"

Fred Schaus made All-American in basketball at WVU

Union Carbide developed its technical center above its South Charleston plant

Red Sovine began recording with MGM, Decca, and eventually Starday

Marshal played in the Tangerine Bowl

Buddy Starcher's "I'll Still Write Your Name in the Sand" became a hit

Weldon Cook and Robert Livingston Russell formed the Cook-Russell Theater Corp

The sugar maple became the state tree of West Virginia

The West Virginia State Police Academy began operation

The second USS Huntington was decommissioned after three tours to the Mediterranean

WAJR-AM in Morgantown became the flagship station for statewide network distribution of WVU football and basketball games

Land was donated to the state for the Watters Smith Memorial State Park

Wheeling Dollar Saving & Trust acquired National Exchange Bank

The State Education Association changed its name to the West Virginia Education Association

Riley Wilson became seriously ill at the inauguration of President Truman

Virginia Mae Brown became executive secretary of the West Virginia Judicial Council

Sam Jones signed with the Cleveland Indians

Elizabeth Harden married Virgil Gilmore, a future two-term Charleston city councilman

Toni Stone played for the San Francisco Sea Lions, then joined the New Orleans Creoles

Woodford Sutherland killed after training flight when his parked P-51 was hit by another

Akro Agate Company ceased production

Clair Bee ended his college coaching career at Long Island University after the point-shaving scandals that devastated college basketball

Florence Blanchfield received the International Red Cross's Florence Nightingale Medal

Harry Atlee Burdette and Fred Clifford Painter first to be put to death via electric chair in West Virginia

Charleston Memorial Hospital dedicated with 129 beds

Air Force ROTC program was established at Davis & Elkins College

Fiestaware colors forest green, rose, chartreuse, and grey were introduced

Floodwall in Point Pleasant was completed

Ruel Foster wrote William Faulkner: A Critical Appraisal

Tony Brown graduated from Garnet High School

Gunner Gatski earned All-Pro honors in football

Ella Holroyd retired from Concord College

Ray Wetzel died in a car accident

Elizabeth Kee took her place in the House of Representatives, replacing her late husband, John Kee

Maryat Lee wrote and produced the street play Dope!

The federal navigation system on the Little Kanawha River was turned over to the state

Kanawha County Democratic boss Homer Hanna Sr. and Governor Patteson picked William Marland as candidate for governor

Catherine Marshall wrote A Man Called Peter

J. Kemp McLaughlin led the squadron on active duty in the Korean War

Okey Mills married Netie Mae Neely

Waterford Park (later Mountaineer Race Track) opened

Ruth Ann Musick and others founded the West Virginia Folklore Journal

Karl Myers compiled a second poetry collection, Cross and Crown

College assumed its current name, Potomac State College of West Virginia University

Benjamin Rosenbloom retired from practicing law

K. Duane Hurley became president of Salem College

Sam Shaw became editor of the Moundsville Daily Echo

Hulett Smith became chairman of Beckley's Democratic executive committee.

The Paw Paw Tunnel was shut down

Bishop Swint asked Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus to help establish a Catholic college of liberal arts in West Virginia (now Wheeling Jesuit University)

Hurry-up Yost was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame

Robert Graetz Jr. married Jeannie Ellis

Raleigh County Memorial Airport built

Charleston baseball joined the American Association, class AAA

Henry Lake Dickason retired as president of Bluefield State Teachers College (now University)

The Lilly Brothers of Raleigh County relocated to Boston

Widen was scene of fatal labor confrontation

Consolidated Bus Lines traveled 5,873,468 miles

Virginia Ruth "Dagmar" Egnor began own variety show, Dagmar's Canteen

John W. Davis argued for the continuation of racial segregation in South Carolina before the U.S. Supreme Court Briggs v. Elliot, later Brown v. Board of Education

John Warren Davis accepted a U.S. government appointment in Liberia

A wing to the Denmar Hospital building was completed

Fairmont State College president George W. Hand lost his position by refusing to fire Luella Raab Mundell

Ann Kathryn Flagg resigned her teaching position at Dunbar High School in Fairmont and became director of Children's Theater in Cleveland

U.S. Forest Service published reports on West Virginia Forests

Report stated that 64% of the state was forested

Gunner Gatski earned All-Pro honors in football

The Health and Physical Education Building at Glenville State College was dedicated

Original Mound Museum opened at Grave Creek Mound

K. K. Hall became circuit judge of West Virginia's 25th Judicial Circuit

Joseph Hodges was made an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Richmond

Johnnie Johnson moved to St. Louis and hired Chuck Berry to be in the Johnnie Johnson Trio

The 167th Fighter Squadron returned to West Virginia

The current number of members was established for the House of Delegates

The Wheeling Downs racetrack and other assets of Big Bill Lias were seized by the federal government

Library service was improved with creation of regional library systems

Hobert Skidmore wrote The Years Are Even

Lock No. 1 on the Big Sandy was closed

Walter Martens became a fellow of the American Institute of Architects, a distinctive honor

The Toledo & Ohio Central Railroad was merged into the New York Central System

Walter Reuther was elected president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations

Jack Rollins wrote "Smokey the Bear"

WVU's Mark Workman became All-American in basketball

Jim Sprouse began serving with the Central Intelligence Agency

Spruce Knob Lake was constructed as a fishing lake

P. D. Strausbaugh published Part One of Flora of West Virginia

Planning for Sutton Dam was suspended because of Korean War

S. A. Abram began redevelopment of the old seminary grounds at Hilltop, near Oak Hill in Fayette County

The Bluestone Dam and Lake was completed

A strike at Widen occurred

Virginia Mae Brown was named West Virginia’s first woman assistant attorney general

Southern tract of present Calvin W. Price State Forest was sold to the state by New River Company

Carr China Company went out of business

Statewide circulation of the Charleston Gazette peaked at 86,000

Consolidated Bus Lines employed 337 individuals and operated 100 buses

Phoebia Moore died

Phyllis Curtin made her debut with New York City Opera

John Warren Davis retired as president of West Virginia State

Julius DeGruyter wrote The Kanawha Spectator: History of the Kanawha Valley

The Dunbar-South Charleston Bridge opened as a toll bridge

Gunner Gatski earned All-Pro honors in football

Perry Gresham became president of Bethany College

Perry Gresham wrote Disciples of the High Calling

John Ailes became editor of the Hampshire Review, Hampshire County

Hardy County Heritage Weekend began at Mill Island

Another 400 acres was added for the Harpers Ferry National Monument

Ken Hechler became the associate director of the American Political Science Association

Jean Lee Latham wrote The Story of Eli Whitney

The Library Commission moved to Charleston from Morgantown

The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers left West Virginia

A fire damaged the Martinsburg Journal building

"Speedy" Estep was killed racing a stock car in Columbus, Ohio

Davis Grubb wrote Night of the Hunter

A trail at the WVU Arboretum was named in honor of Lawrence Nuttall

Eldora Nuzum joined the Elkins Inter-Mountain

The West Virginia State Poultry Association annual meeting moved to Moorefield

Distribution of Salk polio vaccine

Chuck Ripper moved to Huntington as art director for the Standard Printing & Publishing Co.

Rat Rodgers was admitted to the College Football Hall of Fame

Eleanor Roosevelt stopped serving as U.S. representative to the United Nations

Alex Schoenbaum's restaurant chain was named Shoney's

WVU played in the Sugar Bowl

West Virginia became one of the first sates to finance development of park facilities by selling bonds

The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of the Kanawha Valley was established

Oscar Nelson died

The initial accreditation attempt for Morris Harvey College (now University of Charleston) failed

The Baptist State Convention began to meet at Hilltop

William J. Wallace became president of West Virginia State College

Enrollment at West Virginia State College was at 837 students

WJLS-FM Beckley became WBKW-FM

William B. Axtell became president of West Virginia Institute of Technology

Katherine Johnson began working with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics as a “computer” doing complex analysis and calculations

Toni Stone joined the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League

The city of Nitro welcomed home the 1957 World Series MVP for "Lew Burdette Day"