Michael L. Benedum

Thomas Anshutz painted Steamboat on the Ohio

B&O Railroad only hauled four percent of Tidewater-bound soft coal

Elk River Coal & Lumber Company began buying land in West Virginia

George Sturdevant and John W. Johnson purchased the factory at Brush Creek Falls in Mercer County

"Athens" name of new post office and village

William Coley founded the Parsons Advocate newspaper

John William Davis began teaching law at Washington & Lee

Democrats slipped into minority status in West Virginia

According to legend, underground Elk (River) was formed when a hole opened in the stream bed and simply swallowed the river

Thaddeus Fowler first visited West Virginia

Edward Bates Franzheim designed the Vance Memorial Presbyterian Church in Wheeling

The Trinity United Methodist Church was organized in Glenville

Grantsville was incorporated

The H.K. Bedford began Pittsburgh-Charleston service

William Jennings Bryan was defeated as free silver presidential candidate

Hamilton Hatter became the first principal of Bluefield Colored Institute (Bluefield State College)

Homer Laughlin incorporated as Homer Laughlin and Company

The original Seneca Glass Company building was built

William Leigh painted his portrait of Sophie H. Colston

The Moundsville Daily Echo became a daily publication

Louis Marx was born

John McGraw first served as a member of the Democratic National Committee

James Miller served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention

The Seneca Glass Company moved from Ohio to Morgantown

The South Branch Intelligencer merged with the Hampshire Review

Lawrence Nuttall and C. F. Millspaugh published Flora of West Virginia

Melville Davisson Post's short story collection The Strange Schemes of Randolph Mason made him immensely popular.

The second period of Republican dominance began

Telephone switchboards were installed at Morgantown

The Webster Springs Hotel was built

Agnes Westbrook Morrison was admitted to the bar

WVU hires its first full-time coach

Matthew Whittico graduated from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania

Matewan challenged Williamson as county seat of Mingo County

Carter Woodson graduated from Douglass High School

Hurry-up Yost played tackle on the WVU football team

The Shenandoah River flooded

Walter Barnes wrote An Easy Primer

Robert C. Byrd's mother died and he was sent to live with his aunt and uncle

Anne Camden died in Parkersburg, leaving the Camden mansion to the heirs which in turn donated the house to the city for use as a hospital

J. Howard Holt published Crime and Punishment, a pamphlet opposing the death penalty

Chamber of Commerce established in Wheeling

Fire destroyed Charleston Gazette newspaper plant located at the South Side Bridge

DuPont Company plant closed at end of WWI

John W. Davis ended his time as solicitor general

John W. Davis became ambassador to England

John W. Davis was a member of the American delegation to the Geneva conference

Construction began on the High Level Bridge in Fairmont

Fairmont Times began publishing Sunday editions

West Virginia Farm Bureau Federation was created

Homer Holt graduated from Washington and Lee University

The Spanish Influenza epidemic became one of the world's deadliest and swiftest pandemics

Weirton Steel Corporation was formed

Fanny Johnson's story "They Both Needed It" was among the best short stories of the year

Hayes Picklesimer first came to work at Kanawha Valley Bank

The United Zinc Smelting Corporation began operation in Marshall County

Williamson Memorial Hospital was founded

The Morgantown Post-Chronicle was renamed the Morgantown Post

The Weekly New Dominion, a Morgantown newspaper, ceased publication

The National Bank of Commerce was founded

Owens-Illinois Glass Company purchased a Huntington glass factory

A large brick hotel was constructed by the Pence family at Pence Springs

Board of Public Works acquired constitutional status by ratification of an earlier amendment

The town of Nitro was completed.

The Bryants built the Bryants New Showboat

The Parkersburg & Ohio Valley Electric Railway ceased operation

Boyd Stutler rose to the rank of sergeant and served with distinction in the American offensives

Eighteen of Melville Davisson Post's stories were published in Uncle Abner: Master of Mysteries by Appleton

The German Bank changed its name to the Wheeling Bank & Trust Company

A Romney hospital at the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind proved vital during influenza epidemic

Oglebay Hall was completed for the College of Agriculture at WVU

Plans for the West Virginian Hotel began with the Bluefield Rotary Club

West Virginians participated in the Italian Campaign

Lenna Yost became the legislative representative for the national Women's Christian Temperance Union

West Virginia had purchased 311 acres for Audra State Park

Lew Burdette learned to pitch with American Viscose Rayon Company Team

A community board, which helped raise funds to build Charleston Memorial Hospital, was formed in home of Mr. and Mrs. William Ziebold Sr.

Committee began searching for church camp site to honor the Peterkins

Pete Everest was assigned to China-Burma-India region

Smokey Bear was introduced by the Wartime Advertising Council

"Biggie" Goldberg served in the U.S. Army for two years

Davis Grubb's first published story was "The Lollipop Tree" in Good Housekeeping

The GI Bill of Rights provided generous educational benefits to WWII veterans

The Jones Diamond was first displayed at the Smithsonian

Jean Lee Latham received a Silver Wreath for her work training Signal Corps inspectors for the War Department

The first meeting of the West Virginia League of Women Voters was held

Ned Cline died

Kermit McKeever became superintendent of Watoga State Park

A summer youth camp began at Minnehaha Springs

The Monongahela Power & Railway Company was completely out of the streetcar business

Eleanor Steber sang at the Democratic National Convention

Increasing pressure to install a black administration at Storer College led to the forced retirement of President Henry T. McDonald

Institute produced 131,000 tons of butadiene

W.W. Trent was reelected state superintendent of Schools

The government began selling the Tygart Valley Homesteads to settlers

The United Carbon Building appeared on the cover of Pencil Points architectural magazine

The nursing school at Welch Community Hospital ceased operation

Only 118 students enrolled at West Liberty State College

Cornelius Charlton moved with his family to New York City

West Virginia Air National Guard's 167th was reorganized

Appalachian Bible Institute graduated 6 students in its first class

Mercer County Airport built

All American Aviation changed its name to Allegheny Airlines

Mercury Coal & Coke Company purchased the Bretz property

Calvin W. Price State Forest was created

Emile Hodel became editor of the Beckley Post-Herald

Reorganization transferred state mental health and penal institutions to Department of Mental Health and the Commissioner of Public Institutions

Weirton Steel purchased Browns Island for $40,000

S. Maude Kaemmerling willed 3,135 acres of land in Canaan Valley to West Virginia for recreational use

FMC developed new source of brine at Bens Run

City National Bank opened its doors under President Donald Shonk

Bishop mine explodes again

Jim Comstock founded the weekly West Virginia Hillbilly

Deer restocking program ended

Roy Bird Cook received the Award of Merit from the West Virginia Library Association

Little Jimmy Dickens left the Grand Ole Opry

Irvin Dugan retired as newspaper artist

Donald Duncan's sons took over the Duncan Yo-Yo Company

Fairfax Stone dedicated as state historic monument and became state park

Gunner Gatski played football one year for Detroit

The Knights of the South Branch was organized to revive medieval jousting

Roy Lee Harmon wrote Unto the Hills

Logan High School and its field house and athletic fields were constructed on Hatfield Island

Ken Hechler moved to West Virginia to teach at Marshall College (now University)

The first interstate highway construction contract in the state was awarded on I-64 for a bridge across a road in Cabell County

Jean Lee Latham was awarded the Boys' Clubs of America Junior Book Award for Trail Blazer of the Seas

The McClains were approached by WVU professors who feared that early West Virginia histories would be lost if not reprinted

Kyle McCormick wrote The Story of Mercer County

John Norman served on the aircraft carrier Saratoga

A group from West Virginia and Ohio purchased land to establish a college with an independent board of trustees, now Ohio Valley University

Marbon Chemical is built

The announcement of plans to merge the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central System was made

Filippo Colasessano's son began selling pepperoni rolls in his Fairmont lunch spot

The Division of Disease Control began a statewide polio vaccination program

The Kanawha River bridge was opened in Winfield

Red Ribble stopped photographing southern West Virginia

Otis Rice began teaching at West Virginia Institute of Technology

The Wm. M. Ritter Lumber Company company stores were sold

The Wm. M. Ritter Lumber Company coal reserves were leased to the Island Creek Coal Company

Jay Rockefeller went to the International Christian University in Tokyo

Shenandoah Downs purchased land north of Charles Town Race Track for night harness racing

WVU Rod Hundley became All-American in basketball

Jim Sprouse began practicing law

Beckley radio station WAJR increased to 5,000 watts

Ernest T. Weir died

The last high school basketball was played under the African-American West Virginia Athletic Union

Benjamin Starks founded the Beacon Journal in Charleston

The Federation of Labor and Industrial Union Council agreed to combine as the West Virginia Labor Federation, AFL-CIO

West Virginia State College lost its federal land-grant status

Stanley H. Martin became president of West Virginia Wesleyan College

The Whipple mine shut down and the company store closed

The Winfield bridge was completed

WSAZ radio switched affiliation to NBC