Community Bulletin
The Healthy Hero Hustle 5K Run/Walk in Buckhannon will return for its third year on Saturday, September 19, 2026, as WVU Medicine St. Joseph's Hospital and West Virginia Wesleyan College team up again to benefit nursing students. Read more →
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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.
Nov. 21, 1810: Allen Taylor Caperton was born in Monroe County. Caperton served in the Confederate Senate during the Civil War and in the U.S. Senate from 1875 to 1876.
Nov. 22, 1910: Fire destroyed the academic building at Concord College. By the next morning, community leaders arranged for teaching the 300 students in rooms throughout the town.
Nov. 22, 1926: Selva Lewis ‘‘Lew’’ Burdette Jr. was born in Nitro. Burdette was an outstanding major league baseball player who spent most of his career with the Milwaukee Braves.
Nov. 23, 1962: Roman Catholic Bishop John Joseph Swint died. He was a great builder of religious institutions in the Diocese of Wheeling.
Nov. 24, 2008: Former Governor Cecil Underwood died in Charleston. Underwood, West Virginia’s 25th and 32nd governor, had the distinction of having served as the state’s youngest and oldest chief executive.
Nov. 24, 2015: For her accomplishments in the field of mathematics and science, Katherine Johnson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama. Johnson worked for NASA calculating trajectories for manned space flights.
Nov. 25, 1896: Athlete Clinton Cyrus Thomas was born in Greenup, Kentucky. Thomas was a star in the Negro Leagues, during the days of racial segregation in major league baseball. Thomas settled in Charleston after his playing days and made a long career in West Virginia state government.
Nov. 26, 1952: A fire on the evening before Thanksgiving at the Huntington State Hospital killed 14 patients, with three more patients later dying from their injuries. Huntington State Hospital is known today as the Mildred Mitchell-Bateman Hospital.
Nov. 26, 1861: The Constitutional Convention of 1861–63 was convened in Wheeling. The convention provided the foundation for state government in preparation for statehood.
Nov. 27, 1933: Daniel Boardman Purinton, a faculty member and president of West Virginia University, died. He was an early and strong supporter of co-education.
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.
West Virginia University President Daniel B. Purinton 
Lew Burdette 
Clint Thomas
