Charleston, W.Va. (WVDN) – 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.
July 19, 1850: Pope Pius IX established the Diocese of Wheeling, naming Richard V. Whelan as its first bishop.
July 19, 1863: A Confederate raid led by Gen. John Morgan came to an end on Buffington Island, near Ravenswood. The Confederates were overtaken by federal troops, local militia and three U.S. Navy gunboats.
July 19, 1946: Author Stephen Coonts was born in Morgantown. After graduating from West Virginia University and serving in the navy during the Vietnam War, Coonts became a best-selling action and adventure novelist with the 1986 publication of Flight of the Intruder.
July 19, 1952: Novelist Jayne Anne Phillips was born in Buckhannon. After graduating from West Virginia University, her short stories and novels began receiving wide recognition. In 2024, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her 2023 novel Night Watch, about a mother and daughter in West Virginia after the Civil War.
July 20, 2010: Carte Goodwin became the nation’s youngest sitting senator. Goodwin was appointed to fill Robert C. Byrd’s seat in the U.S. Senate following Byrd’s death.
July 21, 1924: Don Knotts was born in Morgantown. The comedy legend will be forever remembered for portraying Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show.
July 22, 1859: Athlete “Jack” Glasscock was born in Wheeling. Glasscock, who played bare-handed, was one of baseball’s premier shortstops of the 19th century.
July 22, 1930: The rollicking Dunglen Hotel, located across the New River from Thurmond, was destroyed by arsonists. A hubbub of illegal activity during the Prohibition era, it supposedly hosted a poker game that lasted 14 years.
July 22, 1937: Musician Tommy Thompson was born in St. Albans, Kanawha County. Through his group, the Red Clay Ramblers, and a career that spanned four decades, Thompson played a major role in spreading the popularity of old-time music.
July 23, 1863: Financier and industrialist Isaac Thomas Mann was born in Greenbrier County. As president of the Bank of Bramwell and the Pocahontas Fuel Company for three decades, “Ike” Mann held vast holdings in coal, timber and especially financial institutions.
July 23, 1900: Author Julia Davis was born in Clarksburg, the daughter of future presidential candidate John W. Davis. She achieved acclaim writing for youth and adults, fiction and nonfiction. She died in Ranson, near her Jefferson County home in 1993.
July 23, 1919: Novelist Davis Grubb was born in Moundsville. His renown came with his first novel, The Night of the Hunter (1953), a gripping suspense story adapted into a classic film in 1955 and for TV in 1991.
July 24, 1823: Arthur Boreman, West Virginia’s first governor, was born in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania. His family moved to Middlebourne, Tyler County, when he was still an infant.
July 24, 1919: Sam Taylor of Mercer County became the first West Virginia State Police trooper. During his tenure, Taylor tracked moonshiners and bootleggers, and helped set up new state police detachments.
July 24, 1929: Cornelius Charlton was born in East Gulf, Raleigh County. Charlton was killed in battle during the Korean War, and he was honored posthumously with the Medal of Honor.
July 24, 1942: Actor Chris Sarandon was born in Beckley. A film, stage and television performer, some of his credits include The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Princess Bride and an Oscar nomination for Dog Day Afternoon.
July 24, 1983: Kansas City Royals hall of fame player and Glen Dale native George Brett was involved in the “Pine-Tar Bat Incident.” After hitting a game-winning home run against the New York Yankees, the umpires ruled that Brett’s bat contained too much pine tar and called him out. The ensuing melee at home plate is classic baseball lore.
July 25, 1864: A colony of eight Catholic nuns set out from Washington, D.C., and Frederick, Maryland, for Parkersburg. The sisters, who created a monastery there and named it DeSales Heights, ran a boarding school for young women for 75 years.
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.
