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.
July 4, 1882: The steamboats Scioto and John Lomas collided on the Ohio River as they
were returning from holiday excursions. The Scioto sank almost instantly, and 70 people
drowned.
July 4, 1918: Poet Muriel Miller Dressler was born in Kanawha County. Her poem
“Appalachia,” published in 1970, was her signature piece.
July 4, 1928: West Virginia dedicated Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park. Droop
Mountain was one of the most important Civil War battles fought on West Virginia soil.
July 4, 1938: Musician Bill Withers Jr. was born into a miner’s family of 13 children in
Slab Fork, Raleigh County. In 1971, he released his first album, Just As I Am, including his first
Grammy-winning song, “Ain’t No Sunshine.” In 2015, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame.
July 4, 1944: Drummer Butch Miles was born in Ohio but grew up in Hinton and
Charleston. He became one of jazz’s greatest drummers, performing with the likes of Count
Basie, Frank Sinatra, Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman, and Tony Bennett.
July 5, 1896: Cartoonist Kendall Vintroux was born at Fraziers Bottom. He began his
career with the Charleston Gazette when he submitted a cartoon about the town of Poca’s first
paved road. Many of his drawings are now in the collection of the University of Charleston.
July 5, 1923: Football coach John McKay was born in Everettville, Monongalia County,
and graduated from Shinnston High. McKay is the winningest coach in University of Southern
California history, leading his teams to a 127-40-8 record from 1960 to 1975, when he became
the first head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
July 5, 1950: Army Private Kenneth Shadrick of Wyoming County was one of the first
U.S. servicemen killed in action in the Korean War.
July 6, 1806: Statesman Charles James Faulkner was born in Martinsburg. Faulkner
served in the West Virginia legislature, U.S. Congress (1851-59, 1875-77), as U.S. minister to
France, and as an aide to “Stonewall” Jackson during the Civil War.
July 6, 1848: Historian Virgil A. Lewis was born in Mason County. In 1905, Governor
Dawson appointed Lewis as the first director of the Bureau of Archives and History.
July 6, 1883: Judge “R. D.” Bailey was born at Baileysville, Wyoming County. Bailey
came into wide prominence as the judge of the Matewan Massacre trial in 1921.
July 7, 1928: The Madonna of the Trail monument was dedicated in Wheeling. It is one
of 12 such statues erected along the National Road to honor America’s pioneering women.
July 8, 1894: Walter Aegerter was born in Helvetia. An amateur photographer, Aegerter
built both a studio and darkroom on his farm and photographed portraits, families, celebrations
and everyday scenes of the German Swiss settlement. The glass plate negatives survive today in
several archived collections.
July 8, 1924: Rock ’n’ roll pioneer Johnnie Johnson was born in Fairmont. Johnson
collaborated with Chuck Berry on songs such as “Roll Over, Beethoven.” Berry’s hit “Johnny B.
Goode” was supposedly written as a tribute to Johnson.
July 8, 1961: Sutton Dam was dedicated by Governor Wally Barron. The Army Corps of
Engineers operates the dam for purposes of flood control, low-flow augmentation and recreation.
July 9, 1942: An explosion at the Pursglove No. 2 Mine at Scotts Run near Morgantown
killed 20 men. It was one of three fatal accidents at the mining operation in an eight-month
period.
July 9, 1989: Treasurer A. James Manchin resigned after being impeached. With a stock
market downturn in 1987, Manchin bore much of the blame when the state lost nearly $300
million in investments for which he was responsible.
July 10, 1769: Physician Jesse Bennet was born. He performed the first successful
caesarian section in America in 1794, on his own wife and without proper equipment and with
no antiseptics. He later established a large practice in Mason County and served as an Army
surgeon in the War of 1812.
July 10, 1936: The temperature in Martinsburg reached 112 degrees. It tied the record for
the state’s hottest recorded temperature, which had been set August 4, 1930, at Moorefield.