Nov. 26, 1952: A blaze on the evening before Thanksgiving at the Huntington State Hospital killed 14 patients, with three more patients later dying from their injuries—making it the deadliest fire on record in West Virginia history. 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. 26, 1953: Politician Shelley Moore Capito was born in Glen Dale, the daughter of future congressman and governor Arch Moore. In 2001, she became the second woman ever to represent West Virginia in Congress and, in 2015, the first woman from the Mountain State to serve in the U.S. Senate.
Nov. 27, 1848: African American educator William H. Davis was born. As a teacher of Black children in Malden, his most famous student was Booker T. Washington. In 1888, Davis was nominated as an independent candidate for governor—to date, the only Black person so honored in West Virginia history.
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.
Nov. 28, 1864: In a local skirmish north of Moorefield, Rosser’s Confederate cavalry and McNeill’s Rangers rebuffed a raid by Union Col. R. E. Fleming and spared the South Branch Valley from destruction. The battlefields are part of the Middle South Branch Valley rural historic district.
Nov. 28, 1890: Colonel Hubbard W. Shawhan was born in Kentucky. As West Virginia’s first official State Forester and first director of the state Conservation Commission, Shawan oversaw the purchase of 102,000 acres of mountain lands and the development of the state’s first parks and forests.
Nov. 29, 1921: The actress Dagmar was born Virginia Ruth Egnor in Lincoln County.Her acting career took off in 1950 when she was hired to be on NBC’s “Broadway Open House,” the network’s first late-night television show.
Nov. 29, 2001: Writer John Knowles died in Florida. Knowles, born in Fairmont, attained literary fame in 1959 with his first novel, A Separate Peace.
Nov. 30, 1796: Brooke County was established under an act of the General Assembly of Virginia. The county was formed from part of Ohio County and named in honor of Robert Brooke, governor of Virginia.
Nov. 30, 1865: Hymnist Ida L. Reed was born into a Methodist family near Philippi. She wrote some 2,000 hymns, some of which have remained quite popular, such as “I Belong to the King.”
Dec. 1, 1936: Artist Ellie Schaul was born in Massachusetts. Since moving to West Virginia in 1956, she has been one of Appalachia’s most enduring artists.
Dec. 2, 1859: John Brown was hanged at Charles Town in Jefferson County. Maj. Thomas J. Jackson, later nicknamed “Stonewall,” was among those commanding the Virginia forces standing guard at the execution of the abolitionist who led the raid at Harpers Ferry.
Dec. 2, 1933: The Charles Town Race Track opened shortly after West Virginia legalized racing and parimutuel betting. The Jefferson County complex contained 22 buildings and included 12 stables.
Dec. 2, 1945: Betty Ireland was born in Charleston. In 2004, the Republican was elected secretary of state, making her the first woman elected to the executive branch of West Virginia state government
