March 1
Homer Adams Holt, who served as governor of West Virginia from 1937 to 1941, was born on
March
1, 1898, in Lewisburg.
March 2
On March 2, 1915, an explosion at Layland in Fayette County killed 115 coal miners.
On March 2, 1927, fire destroyed the temporary "pasteboard" capitol in Charleston.
March 3
On March 3, 1870, the West Virginia legislature passed an act establishing the West Virginia
Schools For the Deaf and the Blind.
On March 3, 1921, McDowell County Deputy Sheriff William Johnson Tabor was shot and killed on the streets of Welch by the town's mayor, J. H. Whitt.
March 4
Alexander Campbell, the founder of the Disciples of Christ and Bethany College, died in
Bethany on
March 4, 1866.
March 5
On March 5, 1917, John J. Cornwell of Hampshire County was inaugurated as governor of West
Virginia.
March 6
Industrialist Johnson Newlon Camden, who served as United States senator from 1881 to 1887,
and
1893 to 1895, was born in Lewis County on March 6, 1828.
March 7
On March 7, 1866, the U. S. Congress recognized and consented to the transfer of Berkeley and
Jefferson counties from Virginia to West Virginia.
March 8
On March 8, 1888, David Hunter Strother, the artist and author known as "Porte Crayon," died in
Charles Town.
March 9
On March 9, 1977, U. S. District Judge Charles Haden issued a ten-day restraining order to the
FMC
Corporation to cease operation of the South Charleston plant's carbon tetrachloride unit.
March 10
On March 10, 1920, the West Virginia Legislature passed a joint resolution ratifying the 19th
amendment to the U.S. Constitution giving women the right to vote.
March 11
On March 11, 1916, businessman and former U.S. Senator from West Virginia Henry Gassaway
Davis died in Washington.
March 12
Wheeling Hospital was incorporated on March 12, 1850.
March 13
On March 13, 1928, three African American residents of Kanawha County were refused
admittance to
the Charleston Public Library.
March 14
On March 14, 1891, the Legislature passed an act establishing a commission to organize the
West
Virginia exhibit at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893.
March 15
West Virginia State Auditor John C. Bond resigned from office on March 15, 1927, after being
impeached.
March 16
On March 16, 1838, the Virginia General Assembly passed an act to provide for the construction
of a
turnpike road from Staunton to Parkersburg.
March 17
On the night of March 17, 1925, an explosion in the Bethlehem Mine No. 41 at Barrackville
killed 33 coal miners.
Representative John M. Slack Jr. died on March 17, 1980.
March 18
On March 18, 1932, convicted murderer Harry F. Powers, the "Bluebeard of Quiet Dell," was
hanged
at the West Virginia Penitentiary at Moundsville.
March 19
The Grave Creek Mound, a Native American burial mound located in present-day Moundsville,
was
opened on March 19, 1838, by Jesse Tomlinson.
March 20
On March 20, 1973, inmates staged a riot at the West Virginia Penitentiary in Moundsville.
March 21
On March 21, 1980, about one-fourth of the state's teachers walked off the job in a one-day
protest
over the legislature's failure to approve a larger increase in salary.
March 22
On March 22, 1906, a coal mine explosion at Century in Barbour County killed 23 miners.
March 23
On March 23, 1831, the Virginia General Assembly passed an act authorizing the Monongalia
Academy to establish a separate academy for female students, which opened in 1833 and was
called
the Morgantown Female Academy.
March 24
The Fayette County community of Mount Hope burned on March 24, 1910.
March 25
Harry Brawley, Charleston historian and the first executive director of the West Virginia
Educational Broadcasting Authority, died on March 25, 1992.
March 26
On March 26, 1858, the Virginia General Assembly passed an act authorizing the governor to
appoint
a commissioner to negotiate a boundary line between Maryland and Virginia from the mouth of
the
Potomac River at the Atlantic Ocean to the Fairfax Stone. The boundary dispute, later between
Maryland and West Virginia, was not settled until 1910.
March 27
Cyrus R. Vance, who served as United States Secretary of State from 1977 to 1980, was born in
Clarksburg on March 27, 1917.
March 28
On March 28, 1863, a detachment of the 13th West Virginia Infantry repelled a Confederate
attack led
by General Albert Gallatin Jenkins at Hurricane Bridge.
March 29
On March 29, 1973, African-American educator Fannie Cobb Carter died at the age of 100.
March 30
On March 30, 1930, ground was broken at Gauley Junction to begin construction of the Hawks
Nest
tunnel and dam.
March 31
On March 31, 1919, Governor John J. Cornwell signed legislation creating the Department of
Public
Safety, later known as the West Virginia State Police.
On This Day in West Virginia History