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.
Dec. 7, 1940: Radio station WAJR-AM in Morgantown began broadcasting. In 1949, it
became the flagship station for a statewide network (now the Mountaineer Sports Network)
distributing broadcasts of West Virginia University football and basketball games.
Dec. 7, 1941: The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The USS West Virginia suffered
massive damage from torpedoes and bombs. Two officers, including the captain and 103 crew
members, died.
Dec. 8, 1911: “Wally” Barron was born. Barron, West Virginia’s 26th governor, achieved
a remarkable record of legislative success during his term (1961-65), but his accomplishments
were overshadowed when he became the first governor in state history to be indicted or
convicted of a major crime.
Dec. 9, 1829: West Virginia’s fourth governor, John Jeremiah Jacob, was born in
Hampshire County. He was the first governor born within the area that became West Virginia
and the first Democratic governor of the state.
Dec. 9, 1932: Songwriter, musician, playwright, humorist, and poet Billy Edd Wheeler
was born in Whitesville.
Dec. 10, 1841: Logan County preacher “Uncle Dyke” Garrett was born on Big Creek. His
greatest fame was for converting and baptizing Devil Anse Hatfield in Main Island Creek in
1911.
Dec. 10, 1949: The first class of 20 cadets graduated from the West Virginia State Police
Academy in Institute. The State Police purchased property for the academy on a hilltop
overlooking Institute in Kanawha County for about $3,200. Construction began in 1948, and the
building was completed the next year.
Dec. 11, 1905: “Pare” Lorentz, known as “FDR’s filmmaker,” was born in Clarksburg. In
1933, Lorentz created The Roosevelt Year: 1933, a pictorial review of FDR’s first year in the
White House.
Dec. 12, 1931: Attorney George Daugherty, better known as the comic singer, storyteller,
and songwriter “The Earl of Elkview,” was born upstairs over a Mannington silent movie house.
Dec. 12, 1942: Internationally known jazz pianist and recording artist Bob Thompson
was born in Jamaica, Queens, New York. He studied music at West Virginia State College (now
University) and is the house pianist for the Mountain Stage radio program.
Dec. 12, 1953: Chuck Yeager set a speed record by flying two-and-a-half times the speed
of sound in a Bell X-1A. Yeager, who grew up in Hamlin, had broken the sound barrier six years
earlier on Oct. 14, 1947.
Dec. 13, 1861: The Battle of Allegheny Mountain, one of the bloodiest conflicts of the
Civil War’s first year, took place in Pocahontas County.
Dec. 13, 1926: Wheeling radio station WWVA-AM began broadcasting. The 50-watt
station operated from the basement of John Stroebel’s house for most of its first year. Stroebel
was a physics teacher and wireless pioneer.