This Week in West Virginia History: Feb. 27 – March 5

Charleston, W.Va. – The following events happened on these dates in West Virginia history. To read more, go to e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia at www.wvencyclopedia.org.

Feb. 27, 1867: Marshall College was established as a normal school for the training of teachers.  The first term began June 15, 1868, with 25 students enrolled in three departments.

Feb. 27, 1871: The West Virginia Legislature approved an act incorporating the city of Huntington.

Feb. 28, 1875: Musician Edwin “Edden” Hammons was born in Pocahontas County. A subsistence farmer and hunter, he is remembered as one of the finest traditional fiddle players to come from West Virginia.

Feb. 28, 1909: Athlete John Zontini was born. Nicknamed the “Sheik of Seth” for his outstanding football career at Sherman High School, he still holds a state high school rushing record and a Marshall University rushing record.

March 1, 1870: The legislature passed an act to create a branch normal school at West Liberty. For the next 61 years, the school was a teacher preparatory institution.

March 1, 1898: Homer Adams Holt was born in Lewisburg. He became West Virginia’s 20th governor.

March 2, 1840: The Virginia General Assembly granted a charter for Bethany College. From the beginning, it has been a four-year, baccalaureate-degree college, the oldest such institution in West Virginia.

March 2, 1915: A blast swept through Layland No. 3 Mine in Fayette County, killing 114 men.

March 2, 1927: The West Virginia capitol building known as the “pasteboard capitol” was destroyed by fire. This wood-frame building in downtown Charleston had been built in just 42 days after the previous capitol building (the Victorian capitol) burned in 1921.

March 2, 1961: Governor Wally Barron signed legislation that granted Marshall College university status.

March 3, 1843: Barbour County was created from parts of Lewis, Harrison, and Randolph counties and named for the distinguished Virginia jurist Philip Pendleton Barbour.

March 3, 1890: Teacher and civic activist Memphis Tennessee Garrison was born in Virginia. She helped develop NAACP chapters in southern West Virginia and created the Christmas Seal Project.

March 4, 1849: Earl Williams Oglebay was born in Bridgeport, Ohio. He became one of West Virginia’s most successful industrialists and a generous benefactor.

March 4, 1924: Blues musician Nathaniel H. “Nat” Reese was born in Salem, Virginia. Growing up in Princeton, Reese learned and played blues, jazz, country and dance music throughout the southern coalfields.

March 5, 1856: Calhoun County was created from neighboring Gilmer County and named for John C. Calhoun, who served as vice president under John Adams and Andrew Jackson.

March 5, 1963: Country musician Hawkshaw Hawkins was killed in a plane crash, along with Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas, and Randy Hughes. Hawkins was born in Huntington.

e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia is a project of the West Virginia Humanities Council.  For more information, contact the West Virginia Humanities Council, 1310 Kanawha Blvd. E., Charleston, WV 25301; (304) 346-8500; or visit e-WV at www.wvencyclopedia.org.