Auto Racing

The city of Weirton incorporated and Hollidays Cove, Maryland Heights and Weirton Heights ceased its separate existence

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

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

WKNA TV when on air in Charleston as channel 49

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

Elkins Speedway ran NASCAR-sanctioned modified racing

Reorganization changed name from AG&E back to Appalachian Power

Leroy Allen became president of Bluefield State College (now University)

Ruby Bradley became a colonel

Elk River Coal & Lumber Company was sold to Clinchfield Coal Company

Clarksburg Park Board developed Buffalo Lake into a public recreation area

Dale Brooks released "The Ambridge Boogie" on Cozy Records

Phyllis Curtin sang Susannah at the Brussels World's Fair

Phyllis Curtin sang with the Charleston Symphony Opera

Ellis Dungan returned to the Ohio Valley, settling in Wheeling

State superintendent of schools became a Board of Education appointee

National Radio Quiet Zone surrounding Green Bank observatory was established by the Federal Communications Commission

Jack Fleming became announcer for the Pittsburgh Steelers

Follansbee rolling and annealing facilities were sold to Wheeling Steel

"Biggie" Goldberg was elected to the NFL Hall of Fame and the West Virginia Sports Writers Hall of Fame

Davis Grubb wrote The Watchman

Alberta Pierson Hannum wrote Paint the Wind

Chuck Howley was drafted by the Chicago Bears

The school year was interrupted by an anti-integration school bombing at Osage near Morgantown

A new dormitory was constructed at Marshall College (now University)

The need for local graduate education was articulated by officials at Union Carbide Corporation and other Kanawha Valley chemical concerns, and Kanawha Valley Graduate Center was founded

John Matheus retired from West Virginia State College (now University)

Jack Maurice won the Sigma Delta Chi award for editorial writing

The McClain Printing Company was incorporated

McClain Printing Company published its first book, Chronicles of Border Warfare by Alexander Scott Withers

Mildred Mitchell-Bateman became superintendent of the Lakin State Hospital

Moncove Public Hunting and Fishing area was purchased by the West Virginia Conservation Commission

Construction on the National Radio Astronomy Observatory began at Green Bank

Marble King Factory moved to Paden City

Jennings Randolph flew from Morgantown to Washington on a plane fueled with gasoline made from West Virginia coal

William Revercomb left U.S. Senate, defeated by Robert C. Byrd

Leonard Riggleman led Morris Harvey to accreditation

Fred Schaus guided WVU's basketball team to a No. 1 national ranking at the end of the regular season

Festus Summers co-authored with Charles Ambler the second edition of West Virginia: The Mountain State

Morris Harvey College (now University of Charleston) was accredited by the North Central Accreditation Agency

Jerry West played on the WVU team that finished No.1 in the nation

Jerry West was a second-team All-American in basketball

West Virginia Yesterday and Today was adopted as a state textbook

The West Virginia turnpike was included in the Interstate highway system

A water ski show moved from Tennessee to Hinton

Aunt Jennie Wilson was discovered by Patrick Gainer

Elizabeth Gilmore helped organize the Charleston chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)

Muriel Dressler published "Appalachia"

Easton Roller Mill was willed to the Monongalia Historical Society

Ann Flagg died in Illinois

Jack Fleming became sports director of WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh

Jack Fleming became announcer for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association

Ruth Ann Musick published Green Hills of Magic

Fort Ashby was listed on the National Register of Historic Places

Population of Grant County was at 8,607

Alberta Pierson Hannum's book Spin a Silver Dollar radio play was published as The Blue House by U.S. Information Agency

The National Park Service opened the Harpers Ferry Center, to serve National Park units nationwide

Frank Haymond received the American Bar Association's ABA Medal

Henry Clay Furnace was added to the National Register of Historic Places

James Dickey's novel, Deliverance, made the term "hillbilly" sinister

Every Ohio River county except Jackson had at least one chemical plant

Sam Huff ran unsuccessfully for Congress

Alice Moore was elected to the Kanawha County Board of Education as an opponent of sex education

Kanawha Records stopped recording

Kenova population peaked at 5,000

Maryat Lee moved to Powley Creek

Everett Lilly moved back to Raleigh County following son's death

Alex Mahood died

Joe Manchin graduated from WVU with a bachelor's in business administration

The tannery in Marlinton closed

Paul Marshall became a registered architect

Irene McKinney received her master's from WVU

The Meadow River Lumber Company was sold to Georgia-Pacific

Arnold Miller was forced to retire from mining by black lung disease and arthritis

Alan Mollohan began a Fairmont law firm

Mylan Pharmaceuticals incorporated in Pennsylvania as Mylan Laboratories

Justin B. Roberts became president of Ohio Valley College (now University)

Squire Parsons graduated from West Virginia Institute of Technology

The Penn Central Railroad corporation entered bankruptcy

Frank Beyer purchased the Philippi mummies

The first VHF non-commercial station in the state, WSWP-TV, started in Grandview

Rock Springs Park shut down and was purchased by the Department of Highways.

The first indication of Jay Rockefeller's intention to run for governor came when he spoke out against strip mining

The Ruffner Hotel closed and was demolished for a parking lot

David Selby earned a doctorate in drama from Southern Illinois University

The Meadow River Lumber Company closed

Jim Comstock republished Hubert Skidmore's Hawks Nest

Ada "Bricktop" Smith recorded her only recording, "So Long, Baby," with Cy Colemen

The South Charleston Mound was placed on the National Register of Historic Places

State Police department headquarters relocated to new facilities

Jerry West led the NBA in scoring

The Folklore Society met at WVU

The Highlands Conservancy worked to make cranberry backcountry a federal wilderness area

Federal Highway Act passed allowing tolls to be retained

Bob Wise received a B.A. from Duke University

Bill Withers moved to Los Angeles

WSAZ changed to WGNT

An addition was added to the Kanawha (now Yeager) Airport

West Virginia became one of the top ten states as regards marijuana plant eradication

Irene McKinney won a poetry fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts

An extensive renovation of the McLure Hotel in Wheeling was completed

The Department of Mines was merged into a new West Virginia Department of Energy

The Mountain Stage first national broadcast was live from Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina

A grant from the Benedum Foundation provided funds for renovations to three buildings at Beckley College (now Mountain State University)

The WVU Mountaineer mascot figure was registered as a U.S. trademark

Walter Dean Myers received the Coretta Scott King Award for his books

A section of Myrtle Beach became the Mountain State's unofficial shoreline

John Norman received the Congressional High Technology Award

Northfork High School was absorbed into Mount View High

Pence Springs Hotel was placed on the National Register of Historic Places

Camp Twin Creeks at Minnehaha Springs became coed

Mountain Stage began broadcasting on public television

North Bend State Park added a 305-acre lake

Brad Paisley joined the Grand Ole Opry

Ashby Berkley and his sister sold the Pence Springs property

Jayne Anne Phillips published Motherkind

Pilgrim's Pride bought out WLR Foods poultry processors

The PROMISE scholarship was funded

The governance role in St. Joseph's Hospital by the Sisters of St. Joseph ended

Mary Lee Settle wrote I, Roger Williams

Michael Smith performed at the presidential inaugural prayer service

The Smoke Hole Lodge closed

Surface mining production was 60 million tons

The Thomas Memorial emergency center was expanded

Marsh Wheeling Stogies stopped making cigars

Joseph Carter was elected president of UMWA District 17

The West Virginia Mining and Reclamation Association merged with the West Virginia Coal Association

Carl J. Smith began serving as director of the Geological and Economic Survey

The West Virginia Hillbilly ceased publication

Grant Cooper became conductor of the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra

Major renovations took place at Kanawha Airport