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.
July 27, 1895: Singer, instrumentalist and educator Revella Hughes was born in Huntington. After becoming a star of the Harlem Renaissance, she returned home to care for her ailing mother and lead the music department of Cabell County’s segregated Black school system.
July 27, 1896: Clark Kessinger was born near Charleston. He was among the most prolific and influential fiddlers of the 20th century, and one of West Virginia’s most important traditional musicians.
July 27, 1909: Coach “Dyke” Raese was born in Davis, Tucker County. He directed West Virginia University to its first major sports national championship, winning the 1942 National Invitation Tournament in basketball.
July 28, 1836: Nathan Cook Brackett was born in Maine. In 1867, he founded and became the first president of Storer College in Harpers Ferry. For 24 years, it was the only Black college in West Virginia.
July 28, 1915: Frankie Yankovic was born in Davis, Tucker County. Yankovic did more to popularize polka music than any other performer.
July 29, 1873: Malcolm Malachi “Mack” Day was born. As sheriff of McDowell County, he claimed that God had called him to enforce Prohibition, even arresting an uncle and his own son.
July 29-31, 1915: Camp Good Luck, believed to be the world’s first 4-H club encampment, was held at Elkwater in southern Randolph County.
July 29, 1918: Novelist Mary Lee Settle was born in Charleston. Her literary reputation rests on the “Beulah Quintet,” a sequence of five historical novels spanning four centuries.
July 30, 1973: The Frederick Hotel in downtown Huntington closed to transient trade. After it was built in 1905, it was touted as the most elegant hotel between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.
July 31, 1932: Actor Theodore Crawford “Ted” Cassidy was born in Pittsburgh but was raised in Philippi. He was best known for his role as Lurch on The Addams Family.
Aug. 1, 1921: Baldwin-Felts detectives shot and killed Sid Hatfield and Ed Chambers as they approached the McDowell County Courthouse in Welch. As Matewan’s police chief, Hatfield had assisted the United Mine Workers’ campaign to organize Tug Fork miners. The assassinations set in motion an armed miners’ march ending with the Battle of Blair Mountain.
Aug. 1, 1940: Justice Franklin Cleckley was born in Huntington. In 1994, he became the first Black justice to serve on the West Virginia Supreme Court. The Supreme Court once referred to Cleckley’s handbooks on evidence and criminal procedure as “the bible for West Virginia’s judges and attorneys.”
Aug. 2, 2009: Golfers Sam Snead and Bill Campbell became the first two inductees into the West Virginia Golf Hall of Fame.
