Jews first arrived in West Virginia before it became a state. Many came from Germany in the 1800s, followed by others from Eastern Europe in the late 1800s and early 1900s. They settled in cities and small towns, working mostly as store owners and businesspeople.

The first Jewish community formed in Wheeling in the 1840s, and by the 1920s, significant Jewish populations had grown in Charleston, Beckley, and Weirton, thanks to the booming coal and steel industries. Jewish people helped build local businesses and were involved in politics and community life. Charleston’s Alex Schoenbaum even started what became the first Shoney’s restaurant.

Jews built synagogues and followed different branches of Judaism—Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox—to keep their traditions alive.

The Jewish population in West Virginia peaked at around 7,000 in the 1950s but has since dropped to about 2,300, mostly in Charleston, Huntington, Morgantown, Wheeling, and Beckley, as people moved away from the state.