Charleston WV – 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.
May 28, 1863: Arthur Boreman was elected as the first governor of the new state of West Virginia.
May 28, 1920: Elmer Bird–“The Banjo Man from Turkey Creek”–was born in Putnam County. He was named best old-time banjo player in the country four times in his 60s.
May 28, 1938: Basketball player Jerry West was born on Cabin Creek, Kanawha County. West led East Bank High School to the state basketball championship in 1956 and then rewrote the record books at West Virginia University and with the Los Angeles Lakers.
May 28, 1998: The Robert C. Byrd United States Courthouse in downtown Charleston was dedicated. The 440,000-square-foot building incorporated Neoclassic, Egyptian and Art Deco designs.
May 29, 1778: Dick Pointer, an enslaved man, helped defend Fort Donnally near Lewisburg from an attack by Shawnee Indians during the Revolutionary War.
May 29, 1949: Singer-songwriter and labor activist Elaine Purkey was born in West Hamlin, Lincoln County. She is best remembered for her labor anthem “One Day More.”
May 29, 1961: Alderson and Chloe of Bradshaw, McDowell County, received the first food stamps in the nation. He was an unemployed coal miner, and they were the parents of 15 children.
May 30, 1883: The Soldiers Aid Society of Wheeling dedicated the Soldiers and Sailors Monument to honor Civil War Union veterans. It now stands beside West Virginia Independence Hall in Wheeling.
May 30, 1914: Nurse Dolores Dowling was born in Ohio and graduated from Huntington’s St. Mary’s Hospital. During World War II, she was one of the first American nurses to land during the 1943 Sicily invasion at Gela.
May 30, 1940: Smoke Hole Caverns in Grant County opened for tours. The cave is beautifully decorated with stalactites hanging in rows along the ceiling; the main room is called the “Room of a Million Stalactites.”
May 30, 1881: Frederick Douglas gave a notable speech at Storer College in Harpers Ferry honoring John Brown, who was executed for his abolitionist raid on the town’s armory in 1859.
May 31, 1841: Roman Catholic Bishop John Joseph Kain was born near Martinsburg. As bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling, he worked to meet the needs of newly arrived immigrants who came to labor in West Virginia’s mines and factories.
May 31, 1946: Writer Meredith Sue Willis was born in Clarksburg and raised in Shinnston. Willis has authored books for children and on the subject of writing, and much of her adult fiction is set in West Virginia.
June 1, 1880: An 86-round bare-knuckle prize fight for championship of the world was held in the Brooke County town of Colliers, between defending champion Joe Goss and challenger Paddy Ryan. Boxing was illegal in every state, and matches were often held in railroad villages to avoid big-city police.
June 1, 1935: Musician Hazel Dickens was born in Mercer County, the eighth of 11 children. She was a pioneering old-time and bluegrass musician, known for preserving the traditional vocal styles of West Virginia.
June 1, 1858: The Artists’ Excursion left Baltimore on its way to Wheeling. A Baltimore & Ohio executive planned the rail trip to promote tourism. About 50 passengers were on board, including artist and writer David Hunter Strother, who described the experience in an article for Harpers magazine.
June 2, 1951: Cornelius Charlton died of the wounds he received in battle during the Korean War. Charlton, a Raleigh County native, was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously.
June 3, 1856: Harriet B. Jones was born in Pennsylvania. After attending Wheeling Female College and graduating from the Women’s Medical College of Baltimore, she opened a private practice in Wheeling, becoming the first woman licensed to practice medicine in West Virginia.
June 3, 1861: The first land battle of the Civil War between organized troops took place in Philippi. About 3,000 federal troops drove about 800 Confederates from the town.
June 3, 1861: A company of Confederate soldiers known as the Logan Wildcats was created at the Logan Courthouse. The company, consisting of about 85 men, first saw action at the Battle of Scary Creek.
June 3, 1880: Benjamin Rosenbloom, to date the only Jewish member of Congress from West Virginia, was born in Pennsylvania. As a Republican in Congress from 1921 to 1925, he was an outspoken opponent of Prohibition.
June 3, 1936: The first Strawberry Festival was held in Buckhannon. More than 6,000 spectators attended the festivities, which also included a parade of 30 princesses down Main Street.
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.
