Morgantown, West Virginia
Morgantown is a city in Monongalia County, West Virginia, United States, and its county seat. Located along the Monongahela River in north-central West Virginia, it is home to West Virginia University. With a population of 30,347 at the 2020 census, Morgantown is the third-most populous city in West Virginia. The Morgantown metropolitan area has an estimated 140,000 residents. The local economy is largely driven by education and healthcare, anchored by West Virginia University and the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center.
History
Morgantown's history is closely tied to the Anglo-French struggle for this territory. Until the Treaty of Paris in 1763, what is now known as Morgantown was greatly contested by white settlers and Native Americans, and by British and French soldiers. The treaty decided the issue in favor of the British, but Indian fighting continued almost to the beginning of the American Revolutionary War in 1775.Zackquill Morgan and David Morgan, sons of Morgan Morgan, entered the area of Virginia that would become Morgantown around 1767, although others, such as Thomas Decker, were recorded as attempting to settle in the area a decade earlier. Zackquill and David lived here for a few years and eventually built Fort Morgan in present-day Downtown Morgantown in 1772. Several forts were built in the area during this time: Fort Pierpont near the Cheat River, in 1769; Fort Coburn, near Dorsey's Knob, in 1770. Fort Morgan, at the present site of Morgantown, in 1772; Fort Dinwiddie, north several miles at Stewartstown, in 1772; Fort Martin, several miles north on the Monongahela River, in 1773; Fort Burris in the present-day Suncrest area of Morgantown, in 1774; and Fort Kern in the present-day Greenmont area of Morgantown, in 1774, in addition to other, smaller forts.
Zackquill Morgan settled the area about 1772 by establishing a homestead near present-day Fayette Street and University Avenue. Morgan fought in both the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War, rising to the rank of colonel. By 1783, following his wartime duties, Colonel Morgan commissioned Major William Haymond to survey his land and divide it into streets and lots. Colonel Morgan then received a legal certificate for in the area of his settlement near the mouth of Decker's Creek. were appropriated for Morgan's Town by the Virginia General Assembly in October 1785. Notable early structures still standing in Morgantown, include the Old Stone House, built in 1795 by Jacob Nuce on Long Alley and the John Rogers family home on Foundry Street, built in 1840 and occupied as of 2011 by the Dering Funeral Home.
On February 3, 1838, the Virginia General Assembly enacted a municipal charter incorporating the city, now with a population of about 700, as Morgantown, Virginia. The town became part of the newly created state of West Virginia on June 20, 1863, through the Reorganized Government of Virginia.
While informal schools existed from Morgantown's earliest days, formal education began in July 1803 with a one-story, coeducational Virginia common school supported by tuition. In 1814, the Virginia General Assembly incorporated Monongalia Academy, the county's first public school and a male-only institution roughly equivalent to a modern high school, funded by mandatory surveyors fees. The Academy moved to a new two-story building in 1830 and expanded its curriculum; under Presbyterian minister James Robertson Moore, it reached its peak between 1852 and 1864, enrolling students from 14 states. Parallel developments included the establishment of the Morgantown Female Academy in 1831 and the Presbyterian-affiliated Woodburn Female Seminary, both of which closed during the Civil War era, with their assets eventually donated toward the founding of West Virginia University.
After statehood in 1863, West Virginia created a public-school system that nominally provided education for African-American children but in practice enforced a segregated, unequal structure, with white students attending regular terms and Black students limited to short terms at St. Paul's African Methodist Episcopal Church. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Morgantown was also home to educational reformer Alexander Wade, whose work on graded rural schooling influenced public education nationwide.
During the 1970s, the U.S. Department of Transportation built an experimental driverless personal rapid transit system in the city, citing the area's variable seasonal climate and geographic elevations as factors in testing the technology's viability. The Morgantown Personal Rapid Transit has been in use since 1975. University students use the system for travel between the campuses.
In the 21st century, Morgantown is economically driven by mainly the West Virginia University and by the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center. It is a sprawling small city, with townhouses, shopping centers and office buildings that have replaced acres of woods.
Geography
Morgantown is south of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, west-northwest of Washington, D.C., east of Marietta, Ohio, and northeast of Charleston. Morgantown is just south of the Mason–Dixon line.According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of, of which is land and is water.
Neighborhoods
Morgantown is made up of several neighborhoods, some of which had been independent towns that were annexed by the city as it continued to grow. Neighborhoods include First Ward, Woodburn, South Park, Jerome Park, South Hills, Second Ward, Greenmont, Suncrest, Evansdale, Wiles Hill, Sunnyside, Sabraton, the Mileground, and North Hills. While some of these, such as the Mileground, Easton, and Sabraton, are in part or entirely outside the city limits, they are still considered part of Morgantown. The City of Morgantown contained just over 30,000 permanent residents in 2020. The city is host to about 30,000 students at West Virginia University.Sunnyside, just north of downtown Morgantown, is an older neighborhood adjacent to West Virginia University's downtown campus. The neighborhood is bounded by University Avenue to the east and Campus Drive to the south. Close to the downtown campus of West Virginia University and for decades known as a neighborhood of student housing, is also the scene of many off-campus parties and post-game celebrations including, until 1995, the unsanctioned annual back-to-school block party that would annually draw upward of 10,000 revelers to celebrate the start of fall classes. The university and city put an end to the tradition that year after two students were shot the previous year. The City of Morgantown and West Virginia University jointly established the Sunnyside Up Project: Campus Neighborhoods Revitalization Corporation, dedicated to the redevelopment of this area. The first step was to create a comprehensive revitalization plan, which was published in fall 2004. The university's Summit Hall Dormitory and the Honors Hall Dormitory are in the southern part of the neighborhood.
Woodburn used to be farmland on the hills to the east of downtown Morgantown. The area saw a rapid growth in population at the beginning of the 20th century as home to tinsmiths from Wales who came to work in the tinplate mill that later became the Sterling Faucet Company plant in Sabraton. A trolley line ran the length of Richwood Avenue and originally connected downtown with Sabraton. The Welsh community was active in the Methodist Church at the intersection of High Street and Willey Street, and held picnics in Whitemoore Park, the main green space in Woodburn. Many of these immigrants retained the Welsh language, and as late as the 1930s it was common to hear Welsh spoken on the streets of Woodburn and the community was known for carrying on a traditional eisteddfod every year.
Located in the southeastern part of Morgantown, Sabraton is a former coal town and was previously known as Sturgiss City and Sabraton Station. The community was named after Sabra Vance Sturgiss, the wife of a local judge. Part of Sabraton was home to a tin plate mill, which later become a manufacturing plant for Sterling Faucet. In its early days, Sabraton was connected to downtown Morgantown by a trolley line that ran the length of Richwood Avenue. Its amenities include Marilla Park.
Terrain
Morgantown lies in the Appalachian Region. The city is hilly with several sections rising over in elevation. The highest point is on Sky Rock in Dorsey Knob Park. The lowest point is on the banks of the Monongahela River at. The area surrounding Morgantown is mountainous. Coopers Rock State Forest, east of Morgantown, has elevations between and above sea level.Climate
Morgantown lies on the border between a humid subtropical climate and a humid continental climate, with four distinct seasons. Winters are cool to cold with a January daily mean temperature of, an average annual snowfall of and 1.3 nights of sub- readings. Summers are hot and humid with a July daily mean temperature of and 13.2 days of + highs annually. Precipitation is generous, with winter being the driest period and May through July the wettest. Extreme temperatures range from on February 10, 1899, up to on August 26, 1893.Demographics
Following the 2010 census, Monongalia County and neighboring Preston County were acknowledged as a metropolitan statistical area by the United States government. Estimates from 2010 put the Metropolitan Statistical Area population at 129,709; as of July 2013, the estimate was 136,133. Of the 10 largest cities in West Virginia, only Morgantown and Martinsburg have shown positive population growth since the 2010 census, with Morgantown growing from 29,660 to a 2012 estimate of 31,000.West Virginia University constitutes of the city and vicinity, and with the fall 2012 enrollment added an additional population of 29,707 students.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Morgantown had some of the lowest unemployment rates in the United States as of early 2009.