William Wallace Barron

A decline in membership left only 40 churches belonging to the African Methodist Episcopal denomination

Death of William G. Baldwin

Walter Barnes wrote The Photoplay as Literature Art

Betty Bartholomew earned a teaching certificate and A.B. in botany from WVU

Charleston and Huntington remained the only West Virginia cities in the Middle Atlantic League of baseball

The state purchased the initial three tracts of land to form Bear Rock Lakes near Wheeling

Van Bittner became Midwestern director of the Committee on Industrial Organization's campaign to unionize steel workers

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

Matthew Wesley Clair, Sr. retired as bishop of the Midwest black conferences of the Methodist Episcopals

Elsie Clapp left Arthurdale

Artist Ellie Schaul was born in Cambridge, Massachussetts

Ann Flagg graduated from Garnet High School

WVU granted a degree to its first known African-American student, Kenneth Jones

Chuck Yeager graduated from Hamlin High School

John McKay graduated from Shinnston High School

Great Britain recognized black lung as compensatory injury

Blakeley was purchased and rehabilitated by Raymond J. Funkhouser

Florence Blanchfield succeeded Col. Julia Flikke as Colonel

The legislature changed the name of Bluefield State Teachers College to Bluefield State College (now University)

Work suspended on Bluestone Dam because of WWII

Sawmill at Cass sold to Mower Lumber Company of Charleston

James B. Griffin described the Clover Archiological Site in The Fort Ancient Aspect

Name changed from Concord State Teachers College to Concord College

Artemus "A.W." Cox began serving as president of the board of trustees of Morris Harvey College

Fairmont State Teachers College became Fairmont State College

Floodwall in Huntington was completed

Construction of the Science Hall at Glenville State College was completed

Legislature changed the name from Glenville State Teachers College to Glenville State College

Alberta Pierson Hannum wrote The Mountain People

James Lowell McPherson succeeded Roy Lee Harmon as poet laureate of West Virginia

The Concord College He-Man Club did not meet during the war years

Standard Oil combined its gas subsidiaries under Consolidated Natural Gas

Jehovah's Witnesses won the U.S. Supreme Court decision in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette

Johnnie Johnson entered the Marines as one of the first African-Americans admitted to the Corps

Howard B. Lee retired from law practice

Clara Johnson became the executive secretary of the Library Commission

Jack Maurice served in the U.S. Navy Reserve

Ken and Faith Reynolds McClain bought the Parsons Advocate Newspaper

Frank McEnteer was made chief engineer of the construction division of the U.S. armed forces in the Middle East

Clarence Meadows was elected to a full term as 10th Circuit judge

Arch A. Moore Jr. served as an army infantryman

Raleigh County experienced its peak output of coal production during World War II.

Alex Schoenbaum settled in Charleston

Legislature authorized a return to the name Shepherd College

Joe Stydahar joined the navy

Festus Summers became president of the West Virginia Historical Society

Construction began on Thomas Memorial Hospital in South Charleston

Navy assigned the name Huntington to another cruiser

Legislature changed the name of West Liberty State Teachers College to West Liberty State College

Florence Blanchfield became superintendent of the Army Nurse Corps

WSAZ radio affiliated with the Blue Network

Frankie Yankovic enlisted in the Army

Jonah Edward Kelley was drafted into the army

Alderson-Broaddus College (now University) established the first baccalaureate nursing program in West Virginia

Normantown won unclassified basketball tournaments against all

Florence Blanchfield received the Distinguished Service Medal

Bill Blizzard was appointed president of UMWA District 17

Harry Brawley became director of political affairs at Charleston radio WCHS

Bill approved for a city-county hospital in Huntington

Fannie Cobb Carter became dean of women at National Trade and Professional School for Women and Girls in Washington

Extension of Route 39 linking Richwood to Marlinton was finished

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

George W. Hand became the president of Fairmont State College

Ann Flagg graduated from West Virginia State College (now University)

U.S. Forest Service reports 8.7 billion board feet of timber volume

Gunner Gatski played at Auburn University

General Dwight D. Eisenhower vacationed at the Greenbrier resort hospital upon returning from Europe

Alberta Pierson Hannum wrote Spin a Silver dollar: The Story of a Desert Trading Post

The name Happy Retreat was restored after being named Mordington by Isaac Douglas

The West Virginia Health Department assumed advisory medical supervision of state hospitals

Joseph Hodges began serving as director of the Roman Catholic Diocesan Mission Band in Richmond, VA

Italian POWs were repatriated, and many returned to America

Maryat Lee graduated from Wellesley College in religious studies

Big Bill Lias purchased Wheeling downs racetrack on Wheeling Island

Dora Ruth Parks became the executive secretary of the Library Commission

The United Zinc Smelting Corporation ceased operations in Marshall County

Bernard McDonough began a concrete business in Houston

The UMWA proposed a royalty to 10 cents per ton of coal to be paid to the union to provide medical services in the coalfields

The Monongahela Power & Railway Company changed to Monongahela Power Company, discontinuing street car business

The first issue of the bi-monthly National Hillbilly News appeared

Otis Rice received an M.A. in education at WVU

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

Louis Jordan composed "Salt Pork, West Virginia"

The one-room Cave School located in Germany Valley, Pendleton County, closed

Julia Davis published The Shenandoah

Julia Davis published The Shenandoah

The Strayer Report recommended basic reforms in the delivery of public education in West Virginia

The Sunrise mansion and adjoining mansion were acquired by the Salvation Army

Legislation to protect the environment from surface mining was enacted

The state of West Virginia purchased the Sweet Springs property and established the Andrew S. Rowan Memorial Home

Clint Thomas began working in the state capitol as messenger for the Department of Mines

Morris Harvey College (now University of Charleston) enrollment was at 2,000 students

There were 225 students enrolled at West Liberty

Kelly Miller was hired to coach at West Virginia State

Victorine Louistall became the first African-America female to earn a graduate degree from WVU

Reported 6,000 wild turkeys in West Virginia

M.J. Horsch became president of West Virginia Institute of Technology

John Ross Eakin suffered a stroke, ending his National Park Service career

JFK narrowly defeated Richard Nixon

C. Donald Robertson was elected attorney general

John Kelly was elected state treasurer

Chauncey H. Browning won the election to a full 12-year term to the court

William Revercomb ran unsuccessfully for governor

Cecil Underwood unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate

Discrimination against blacks in state's public places continued, according to West Virginia Human Rights Commission, including in the coal mines.

West Virginia purchased an additional 44 acres

A 65-site campground opened at Blackwater Falls State Park

The Army Corps of Engineers completed a dam on Elk River at Sutton

Marshall College became a university

Charleston's Davis Child Shelter orphanage closed

W. E. "Ned" Chilton III became publisher of the Charleston Gazette

Accident classified as a "disaster" changed from when 5 died to 3 or more

Bruce Crawford retired from the West Virginia Advertising Company

Reported 90% of West Virginia crimes were nonviolent

Phyllis Curtin made her Metropolitan Opera debut

Julia Davis wrote Legacy of Love

Douglass High School closed in Huntington

Joanne Dru was featured on Guestward Ho!

Ann Flagg moved to Chicago

Grafton National Cemetery reached its capacity of 2,119 graves

Charles Haden began practicing law with his father in a firm, Haden & Haden

Elizabeth Hallanan became a member and chairman of the Public Service Commission

Charles Hodel was named the Charleston Gazette's "man of the year"

Joseph Hodges was appointed coadjutor bishop with the right of succession to Archbishop John Swint of the Diocese of Wheeling

The gate house at the Huntington State Hospital entrance was removed

The coal seam at Kaymoor was worked out

Sam Mallison published Let's Set a Spell

Kyle McCormick left the position of state historian

Howard Gray passed presidency of the Meadow River Lumber Company to his son

Morgantown Glassware Guild made a line of elegant stemware for the White House for the Kennedy administration

Milan Puskar started Mylan Pharmaceuticals

Okey Patteson married Dorothy R. "Bebe" (Reuter) Warden.

The Omar riverboat was given to West Virginia

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

St. Francis Nursing School in Charleston closed

David Selby appeared in Honey in the Rock

The Salvation Army sold the Sunrise mansions and grounds to the Sunrise Foundation

The New River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship was established

Cyrus Vance was named general counsel for the Department of Defense

Charleston baseball joined the AAA International League

The Hinton Jaycees turned the water ski show into a full festival

WSAZ was sold out-of-state

Leonard C. Nelson became president of West Virginia Institute of Technology

Matthew Reese joined the Democratic National Committee as deputy chairman

Billy Cox met James "Jimi" Hendrix at the service club in Fort Campbell

President JFK spoke to 10,000 people at the official Centennial ceremony in Charleston

Jane Cox (George) served as Kanawha County's representative to the West Virginia Centennial Committee and helped organize the first Mountain State Art & Craft Fair at Cedar Lakes.

Pearl Buck founded the Pearl S. Buck Foundation

French Carpenter record, Old-Time Songs and Tunes from Clay County, West Virginia, released

Ted Cassidy secured television role on The Addams Family

Maryland Pimlico Race Course installed lighting to compete with newer tracks

C&O acquired the Western Maryland Railroad

Swimming pool at Chief Logan State Park opened

Congress passed the Civil Rights Act

Roy B. Clarkson published Tumult on the Mountains: Lumbering in West Virginia, 1770-1920

Legislature enacted law that authorized election of delegates to a state constitutional convention

Work began at Parkersburg to make U.S. 50 a four-lane highway

Ellis Dungan married Elaine Runner

North Hall was completed at Fairmont State College

Part four of Flora of West Virginia was published

The Food Stamp Act was passed, making the program permanent

U.S. Forest Service published reports on West Virginia forests, stating that 74% of the state was forested

Harry B. Heflin retired as president of Glenville State College

An addition to the Pioneer Center at Glenville State College was completed

The Hazel Atlas Corporate Headquarters in Wheeling was donated to the West Liberty State College

Homer Hickam graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute with a B.S. in industrial engineering

Ella Holroyd was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Music by Concord College

Sam Huff began his career with the Washington Redskins

Schools in West Virginia were considered fully desegregated

Don Redman died

A radiocarbon date estimated the Kanawha Madonna to be around 350 years old

Elizabeth Kee retired from Congress

John Knowles wrote Double Vision: American Thoughts Abroad

Supreme Court ruling State ex rel. Smith v. Gore required equal apportionment in the election of delegates to a constitutional convention and derailed a move to draft a new state constitution

The number of state senators was set at 34

The U.S. Library Services Act was amended to provide funds for library education and library construction

Hartman Hall was built at Beckley College (now Mountain State University)

The National Bank of Commerce purchased the old Kanawha County library property in Charleston

The N&W acquired the Nickel Plate in a merger that included the Wabash Railroad, the Wheeling & Lake Erie, the Akron, Canton & Youngstown and the Pittsburgh & West Virginia

John Norman joined the surgical team at Boston City Hospital

Oscar Mairs and Hillis Youse recorded the Luther Elkins petroglyph site.

Joe Powell became state director of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO.

Leonard Riggleman retired as president of Morris Harvey College (now University of Charleston)

Chuck Ripper quit Standard Printing & Publishing Co to be full-time freelance artist

The Rock Lake Pool remained racially segregated after the Civil Rights Act

Jay Rockefeller came to West Virginia as a poverty volunteer with Action for Appalachian Youth

The West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey first began extensive excavation on the St. Albans archeological site

The Soupy Sales Show weekday morning show debuted in New York

Lawmakers created a 17th state senate district in Kanawha County

Bill Campbell beat Ed Tutwiller in golf in the U.S. Amateur Championship Final

Miles Stanley organized the AFL-CIO Appalachian Council

Western Pocahontas Corporation and Pocahontas Land Corporation donated land for Twin Falls State Park

Morris Harvey College (now University of Charleston) began offering an associate degree in nursing

The Valley Falls State Park area was acquired by the state

Cyrus Vance became deputy secretary of defense under Robert McNamara

The federal Economic Opportunity Act was signed into law

Wheeling Dollar Saving & Trust acquired South Wheeling Bank and Trust

The state purchased the old Wheeling Custom House and leased it to the West Virginia Independence Hall Foundation.

Charles Gabor became conductor of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra

Henry Aaron left Wheeling

Jim Sprouse was elected chairman of the state Democratic party

The first VISTA members started work in West Virginia

J. W. Ruby bought the Preston County property and named it Alpine Lake

Bald eagle declared endangered in continental U.S.

Support spread through the coalfields for the Black Lung Movement

Legislation declaring black lung a compensatory injury passed in West Virginia

William H. Blenko died

Bloch Brothers Tobacco Company was sold to the General Cigar and Tobacco Company

Opposition to UMWA President Tony Boyle began

Harry Brawley helped Congressman Harley O. Staggers to write the Educational Television and Radio Amendments

Clarksburg opened a new public library designed by Marcel Breuer

Birch River was included in the State Natural Streams Preservation Act

James Rowley served as interim president of Bluefield State College (now University)

Bretz coke ovens and mining plant were placed on the National Register of Historic Places

Shelley Moore Capito earned B.S. from Duke University

City National Bank assets at $37.4 million

Tim Pyles hired by the Bureau of Vocational Education to revitalize the crafts education program

Elvis Presley stayed in Daniel Boone Hotel when visiting Charleston

Little Jimmy Dickens rejoined the Grand Ole Opry

Congress designated the Dolly Sods Wilderness and Scenic Area

Easton Roller Mill was surveyed by the Historic American Engineering Record