The following events happened on these dates in West Virginia history. To read more, go toe-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia at www.wvencyclopedia.org.
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.
Jan. 4, 1897: Classes began at Montgomery Preparatory School, a state institution established to prepare students for West Virginia University. The school evolved into the West Virginia University Institute of Technology.
Jan. 5, 1810: The Virginia General Assembly recognized 20 acres of land owned by farmer and trader Thomas Buffington at the confluence of the Guyandotte and Ohio rivers as the new village of Guyandotte.
Jan. 6, 1828: Ward Hill Lamon was born in Jefferson County. Lamon was friend, law partner and unofficial bodyguard to President Abraham Lincoln. President Lincoln was assassinated when Lamon was away in Richmond on business.
Jan. 6, 1931: An underground gas explosion killed eight men at the Glen Rogers coal mine in Wyoming County—eight years after another explosion had killed 27 at the same mine.
Jan. 7, 1955: The Cedar Lakes Conference Center officially opened, though it was not named until 1957. The name was chosen for its two lakes and an abundance of native cedar trees.
Jan. 8, 1866: William Gustavus Conley was born near Kingwood in Preston County. Conley was West Virginia’s 18th governor, serving from 1929 to 1933.
Jan. 8, 1919: The West Virginia legislature ratified the U.S. constitution’s 18th Amendment in the Senate, 26-0, and in the House, 81-3. West Virginia was the 21st state to ratify the amendment. National prohibition went into effect under the Volstead Act on January 16, 1920.
Jan. 8, 1926: Comedian Soupy Sales was born Milton Supman. Raised in Huntington and graduating from Marshall College (now University), he achieved fame as a wacky television personality.
Jan. 9, 1911: Louise McNeill was born on the family farm in Pocahontas County. She was appointed poet laureate by Governor Jay Rockefeller in 1979, holding that title until her death in 1993.
Jan. 9, 2014: Hazardous chemicals were discovered leaking into the Elk River, contaminating the water supply for a nine-county region.
