The following events happened on these dates in West Virginia history. To read more, go to e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia.
Dec. 28, 1879: Brigadier General Billy Mitchell was born in France. As chief of the Army Air Service, Mitchell ordered aircraft of the 88th Squadron to perform reconnaissance during the 1921 Miners’ March on Logan.
Dec. 28, 1978: The last trains ran on the Greenbrier Division, a branch line of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway. Unlike most C&O branches in West Virginia, the Greenbrier Division was not a coal-hauling line but served the valley’s timber industry.
Dec. 29, 1861: Confederate soldiers burned most of downtown Sutton. The town slowly rebuilt but remained small until the local timber industry boomed in the 1890 to 1920 period.
Dec. 29, 1928: Humorist and political cartoonist James Frederick Dent was born in Charleston. His talent for turning daily events into delightful anecdotes gained him national fame. Reader’s Digest reprinted 194 items from his columns, and radio commentator Paul Harvey often used his work.
Dec. 29, 1970: John Denver and two friends completed the song “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” Denver performed “Country Roads” in West Virginia on several occasions, notably for the opening of the new Mountaineer Stadium in Morgantown in 1980.
Dec. 30, 1901: McKendree Hospital started providing medical care in rural Fayette County. It was one of three hospitals established by the state in the fast-growing coalfields.
Dec. 30, 1917: The temperature in Lewisburg dropped to 37 degrees below zero. It is the coldest official temperature on record for the state.
Dec. 31, 1939: Larry Combs, one of the world’s leading orchestral clarinetists, was born in South Charleston. He started studying woodwinds at age 10 and was principal clarinetist for the Charleston (now West Virginia) Symphony Orchestra at age 16. He later served in the same role for symphonies in Montreal and Chicago and was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2009.
Dec. 31, 2007: Sara Jane Moore was released from prison after serving 32 years for trying to kill President Ford. Moore grew up in Charleston and later moved to California, where she joined left-wing groups and became an FBI informant. She spent part of her incarceration at the Federal Prison Camp in Alderson.
Jan. 1, 1859: Glass maker and inventor Michael Owens was born in Point Pleasant. He is considered the foremost developer of mechanical glass production.
Jan. 1, 1888: In one of the most violent episodes of the Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Jim Vance, uncle to “Devil Anse” Hatfield, led an arson attack on the McCoy family cabin. Two of Randall McCoy’s children were killed, and his wife was beaten.
Jan. 1, 1953: Country music legend Hank Williams was found dead in his car in Oak Hill, Fayette County. He had been scheduled to perform in Charleston the previous night, but the concert was canceled due to bad weather.
Jan. 2, 2006: An explosion at the Sago Mine in Upshur County killed 12 men. Federal investigators pointed to a lightning strike as the most likely ignition source for the blast.
Jan. 3, 1856: Musician Lewis Johnson “Uncle Jack” McElwain of Webster County was born. He was the most respected fiddler in central West Virginia during his lifetime. He took part in many fiddle contests, and no one can recall him ever being beaten.
Jan. 3, 1921: The state capitol building in Charleston was destroyed by fire. The so-called Victorian capitol, the second one in Charleston, had opened in 1887. After the fire, a temporary wood-frame building was erected in just 42 days and became known as the “pasteboard capitol.” It burned in 1927.
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.
