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.
May 23, 1862: In what became known as the Battle of Lewisburg, Union troops repelled
a Confederate advance, killing 38 and wounding 66, while losing only 13 men.
May 23, 1941: Rod Thorn was born in Princeton. Declared by the legislature a state
“natural resource,” Thorn attended West Virginia University, where he was an All-American
guard. Thorn had a distinguished NBA career as a player and executive, which included drafting
Michael Jordan.
May 24, 1896: Confederate General John Echols died in Staunton, Virginia. Echols
served in the Kanawha Valley in 1862 and commanded Confederate forces at their defeat at the
Battle of Droop Mountain in November 1863.
May 25, 1903: Industrialist and philanthropist Bernard Patrick McDonough Jr. was born
in Texas. Starting with a Parkersburg construction business in the 1930s, McDonough built a
Fortune 500 company with operations in hand tools, building materials and barge building. The
Bernard McDonough Foundation remains one of the largest private foundations in West
Virginia.
May 25, 1937: William H. “Teepi” Kendrick died in Morgantown. Kendrick was a
pioneer in West Virginia’s 4-H program. He broadened the program to emphasize more than just
agriculture, and he was primarily responsible for establishing the state 4-H camp at Jackson’s
Mill.
May 26, 1895: Athlete Ira Errett “Rat” Rodgers was born in Bethany. He was WVU’s
first football All-American, lettering in 1915–17 and 1919.
May 26, 1923: Playwright Maryat Lee was born in Kentucky. In 1970, she moved to
Summers County and developed her Eco Theater into a national organization.
May 27, 1912: Legendary golfer Sam Snead was born at Ashwood, Virginia. When The
Greenbrier reopened as a resort after World War II, Snead returned as the golf pro.
May 27, 1922: Labor leader Bill Blizzard was acquitted of treason charges following the
1921 Battle of Blair Mountain. The trial was held in the Jefferson County Courthouse, where
John Brown had been convicted of treason against Virginia in 1859.
May 28, 1863: Arthur Boreman was elected as the first governor of the new state of West
Virginia.
May 28, 1920: Elmer Bird–“The Banjo Man from Turkey Creek”–was born in Putnam
County. He was named best old-time banjo player in the country four times in his 60s.
May 28, 1938: Basketball player Jerry West was born on Cabin Creek, Kanawha County.
West led East Bank High School to the state basketball championship in 1956 and then rewrote
the record books at West Virginia University and with the Los Angeles Lakers.
May 28, 1998: The Robert C. Byrd United States Courthouse in downtown Charleston
was dedicated. The 440,000-square-foot building incorporated Neoclassic, Egyptian and Art
Deco designs.
May 29, 1778: Dick Pointer, an enslaved person in Greenbrier County, helped save about
60 settlers who were attacked by Indians at Fort Donnally near Lewisburg during the
Revolutionary War.
May 29, 1949: Singer-songwriter, labor activist, educator and radio host Elaine Purkey
was born in West Hamlin.
May 29, 1961: Alderson and Chloe Muncy in McDowell County received the first food
stamps in the nation. After observing malnutrition and poverty during his campaign, President
John Kennedy directed the government to establish a pilot food stamp program.