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- West Virginia is the only state in the Union to have
acquired its sovereignty by proclamation of the President of
the United States.
- West Virginia is considered the southern most northern
state and the northern most southern state.
- Mother’s Day was first observed at Andrews Church in
Grafton on May 10, 1908.
- West Virginia has the oldest population of any state.
The median age is 40.
- Jackson's Mill is the site of the first 4-H Camp in the
United States.
- The world's largest sycamore tree is located on the Back
Fork of the Elk River in Webster Springs.
- The first state sales tax in the United States went into
effect in West Virginia on July 1, 1921.
- On January 26, 1960 Danny Heater, a student from
Burnsville, scored 135 points in a high school basketball
game earning him a place in the Guinness Book of World
Records.
- The first federal prison exclusively for women in the
United States was opened in 1926 in West Virginia.
- Cecil Underwood is the nation's oldest governor. He
turned 77 on November 5, 1999.
- The New River Gorge Bridge near Fayetteville is the
second highest steel arch bridge in the United States. The
bridge is also the longest steel arch bridge (1,700 feet) in
the world. Every October on Bridge Day, the road is closed
and individuals parachute and bungee cord jump 876 feet off
the bridge. Its West Virginia's largest single day event and
attracts about 100,000 people each year.
- The first major land battle fought between Union and
Confederate soldiers in the Civil War was the Battle of
Philippi on June 3, 1861.
- One of the nation's oldest and largest Indian burial
grounds is located in Moundsville. Its 69 feet high, 900
feet in circumference, and 50 feet high. An inscribed stone
was removed from the vault and is on display at the
Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.
- West Virginia's nickname is the Mountain State and its
motto is "Mountaineers Are Always Free."
- Some famous individuals from West Virginia include:
Pearl Buck (author), Peter Marshall (television host), Chuck
Yeager (test pilot /Air Force General), Don Knotts (actor),
Mary Lou Retton (Olympic gold medallist for gymnastics), and
Kathy Mattea (country music singer).
- Nearly 75% of West Virginia is covered by forests.
- West Virginia covers about 24,000 square miles and has a
population of about 1.8 million.
- 15% of the nation's total coal production comes from
West Virginia.
- According to the crime index for 1997, West Virginia had
the lowest crime rate in the country.
- West Virginia’s Memorial Tunnel was the first in the
nation to be monitored by television. It opened November 8,
1954.
- The first rural free mail delivery was started in
Charles Town on October 6, 1896, and then spread throughout
the United States.
- West Virginia was the first state to have a sales tax.
It became effective July 1, 1921.
- The first steamboat was launched by James Rumsey in the
Potomac River at New Mecklensburg (Shepherdstown) on
December 3, 1787.
- A naval battle was fought in West Virginia waters during
the Civil War. United States Navy armored steamers were
actively engaged in the Battle of Buffington Island near
Ravenswood on July 19, 1863.
- On February 14, 1824, at Harpers Ferry, John S. Gallaher
published the "Ladies Garland," one of the first papers in
the nation devoted mainly to the interests of women.
- Organ Cave, near Ronceverte, is the third largest cave
in the United States and the largest in the state.
- A variety of the yellow apple, the Golden Delicious,
originated in Clay County. The original Grimes Golden Apple
Tree was discovered in 1775 near Wellsburg.
- West Virginia has an mean altitude of 1,500 feet, giving
it the highest average altitude east of the Mississippi.
- The first iron furnace west of the Alleghenies was built
by Peter Tarr on Kings Creek in 1794.
- One of the first suspension bridges in the world was
completed in Wheeling in November 1849.
- Outdoor advertising had its origin in Wheeling about
1908 when the Block Brothers Tobacco Company painted bridges
and barns with the wording: "Treat Yourself to the Best,
Chew Mail Pouch."
- Moundsville is the site of the continent’s largest
cone-shaped prehistoric burial mound. It is 69 feet high and
900 feet in circumference at the base and was opened on
March 19, 1838.
- The first electric railroad in the world, built as a
commercial enterprise, was constructed between Huntington
and Guyandotte.
- On September 10, 1938, the Mingo Oak, largest and oldest
white oak tree in the United States, was declared dead and
felled with ceremony.
- Coal House, the only residence in the world built
entirely of coal, is located in White Sulphur Springs. The
house was occupied on June 1, 1961.
- The world’s largest shipment of matches (20 carloads or
210,000,000 matches) was shipped from Wheeling to Memphis,
Tennessee, on August 26, 1933.
- Daniel Boone made his last survey of Charleston on
September 8, 1798. He left the state in 1799.
- William Tompkins used natural gas to evaporate salt
brine in 1841, thus becoming the first person in the United
States to use natural gas for industrial purposes.
- The last public hanging in West Virginia was held in
Jackson County in December 1897.
- The first glass plant in West Virginia was at Wellsburg
in 1815. The first pottery plant was in Morgantown in 1785.
- In May 1860, the first well in the state for producing
crude oil was drilled at Burning Springs.
- Stone that was quarried near Hinton was contributed by
West Virginia for the Washington Monument and arrived in
Washington in February 1885.
- West Virginia University was established on February 7,
1867 under the name of "Agricultural College of West
Virginia."
- Bailey Brown, the first Union solider killed in the
Civil War, died on May 22, 1861, at Fetterman, Taylor
County.
- On May 31, 1910, the Supreme Court held that the
Maryland-West Virginia boundary was the low-water mark of
the south bank of the Potomac River.
- The first spa open to the public was at Berkeley
Springs, West Virginia, in 1756 (then, Bath, Virginia).
- The Christian Church was begun in West Virginia by
Alexander Campbell in Bethany.
- Mrs. Minnie Buckingham Harper, a member of the House of
Delegates by appointment in 1928, was the first African
American woman to become a member of a legislative body in
the United States.
- Chester Merriman of Romney was the youngest soldier of
World War I, having enlisted at the age of 14.
- The first brick street in the world was laid in
Charleston, West Virginia, on October 23, 1870, on Summers
Street, between Kanawha and Virginia Streets.
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