Morgantown, West Virginia Morgantown, West Virginia City of Morgantown Downtown Morgantown from Fife Avenue Downtown Morgantown from Fife Avenue Official seal of Morgantown, West Virginia Location in Monongalia County in the State of West Virginia Location in Monongalia County in the State of West Virginia State West Virginia Morgantown is a town/city in and the governmental center of county of Monongalia County, West Virginia, situated along the banks of the Monongahela River.
Enumeration estimates, Morgantown is the biggest city in North-Central West Virginia.
The Morgantown urbane region has a populace of 138,176, and is the 3rd biggest in West Virginia.
West Virginia University adds a several thousand cyclic inhabitants to the town/city and encircling area from September through May.
Morgantown is best known as the home of West Virginia University and the Morgantown Personal Rapid Transit system.
6.3 West Virginia University (WVU) Lunch time for two boys working at the Economy Glass Works in Morgantown, 1908.
Morgantown 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 pioneer and Native Americans, and by the British and the French.
Zackquill Morgan, son of Morgan Morgan, and his brother David entered the region of Virginia that would turn into Morgantown in about 1767, although the rest such as Thomas Decker are recorded as attempting settlements in the region earlier or at about the same time.
Fort Morgan, at the present site of Morgantown, in 1772; Fort Dinwiddle, north a several miles at Stewartstown, in 1772; Fort Martin, a several miles north on the Monongahela River, in 1773; Fort Burris in the present-day Suncrest region of Morgantown, in 1774; and Fort Kern in the present-day Greenmont region of Morgantown, in 1774, in addition to other, lesser forts.
On February 3, 1838, the Virginia General Assembly enacted a municipal charter incorporating the city, now with a populace 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.
Notable early structures still standing in Morgantown as of 2012 include the Old Stone House, assembled in 1795 by Jacob Nuce on Long Alley (the modern-day Chestnut Street) and the John Rogers family home on Foundry Street, assembled in 1840 and occupied as of 2011 by the Dering Funeral Home. The Morgantown Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) has been in use since 1975.
Morgantown is positioned 75 miles (121 km) south of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 208 mi (335 km) north-northwest of Washington, D.C., 204 mi (328 km) east of Columbus, Ohio, and 156 mi (251 km) northeast of Charleston, West Virginia.
Morgantown is just south of the Mason Dixon line.
Morgantown lies in the transition between a humid subtropical (Koppen Cfa) and humid continental climate (Koppen Dfa), with four diverse seasons.
Climate data for Morgantown, West Virginia (Morgantown Municipal Airport), 1981 2010 normals, extremes 1877 present Morgantown from the west side of the Monongahela River Morgantown is made up of a several neighborhoods, some of which had been autonomous suburbs that were took in by the town/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 town/city limits, they are still considered part of Morgantown.
The City of Morgantown contained an estimated 31,073 inhabitants in 2014. The Morgantown MSA includes roughly 117,000 permanent residents, including over 30,000 full-time pupils at West Virginia University.
Fort Burris was erected in 1774 in what became the Suncrest region of Morgantown.
The Evans Farm was positioned on territory near Riverview Drive and 8th Street and was titled for Colonel John Evans, who fought in the American Revolution with Morgantown founder Zack Morgan.
The Krepps farmhouse was positioned on territory where the West Virginia University Creative Arts Center, Engineering and Agricultural buildings would later be built.
Suncrest Park bought Sears Roebuck home plans and divided Suncrest into three areas: Fairfield Street, Suncrest Park and Suncrest.
A civic group assembled facilities and the park was given to Morgantown, which made some improvements.
Suncrest finally became part of Morgantown.
Before Suncrest became part of Morgantown in 1949, it had first been incorporated in 1937 as the town of Suncrest; the name came from a developer who looked out one morning and saw the sun crest over a hill.
The region from University Avenue to the university's medical school held a racetrack at one point.
When there was talk of building a medical school in West Virginia, Charleston and Huntington vied for it, but Morgantown offered to give 60 acres (240,000 m2) and furnish a county hospital.
Around 1928, there was an airport near where the West Virginia University Coliseum was later built.
Suncrest pupils attend three or four schools throughout their K-12 education, starting at Suncrest Primary School or North Elementary School, Suncrest Middle School and Morgantown High School depending on where they live.
Sunnyside, positioned just north of downtown Morgantown, is an older neighborhood contiguous to West Virginia University's downtown campus.
Close to the downtown ground of West Virginia University and for decades known as a neighborhood of pupil housing, is also the scene of many off-campus parties and post-game celebrations including, until 1995, to the unsanctioned annual back-to-school block party that would annually draw upward of 10,000 revelers to jubilate the start of fall classes. The college and town/city put an end to the tradition that year after two pupils, Monica Potter of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Jason Callahan of Pennsauken, New Jersey, were shot in the leg 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.
First Ward is positioned south of High Street in Morgantown.
First Ward Elementary School was formerly positioned there; however, it was completed and the playground region converted to Jack Roberts Park, one of two parks in the region along with White Park.
White Park is the locale of the Morgantown Municipal Ice Arena and also features athletic fields and wooded hiking trails.
The Mountaineer Mall, Morgantown's first mall, is positioned here, as are South Middle School and the Monongalia County Technical Education Center.
South Park is athwart Deckers Creek from downtown Morgantown.
Originally farmland, it was one of the first suburbs of Morgantown.
The neighborhood is home to Morgantown High School, assembled in 1924 and later expanded.
Woodburn used to be farmland on the hills to the east of downtown Morgantown.
In 1950, Tom and Anna Torch opened the Richwood Avenue Confectionery, a corner store and lunch counter that served beer in large Weiss goblets from the Morgantown Glassworks.
In 2012, the town/city bought two acres that include the old Jerome Park Elementary School playground, and made it a park called the Paul Preserve.
The site of the tinplate foundry that later became the Sterling Faucet plant, this neighborhood in its early days was connected to downtown Morgantown by a street car line that ran the length of Richwood Avenue.
Following the 2010 census, Monongalia County (with governmental center of county Morgantown) and neighboring Preston County were acknowledged as a urbane statistical region (MSA) by the United States government.
Of the 10 biggest cities in West Virginia, only Morgantown and Martinsburg have shown positive populace growth since the 2010 census, with Morgantown burgeoning from 29,660 to a 2012 estimate of 31,000. West Virginia University constitutes 913 acres (3.69 km2) of the town/city and vicinity, and with the fall 2012 enrollment added an extra populace of 29,707 pupils.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Morgantown had some of the lowest unemployment rates in the United States as of early 2009.
Morgantown's age distribution, which is heavily influenced by the existence of West Virginia University, is: 11.1% under the age of 18, 44.7% from 18 to 24, 20.4% from 25 to 44, 13.5% from 45 to 64, and 10.4% who were 65 years of age or older.
West Virginia University Art Museum The West Virginia Black Bears are a minor league baseball team based in Morgantown.
The inaugural Morgantown Marathon was held in September 2015.
The 42.195 km (26.2 mi) course winds through Morgantown's seven wards and is characterized by its altitude changes.
Official times from the Morgantown Marathon can be used for Boston Marathon qualification.
In addition to the full marathon race, the Morgantown Marathon also contains The Mountain Mama 8k and a half-marathon.
The town/city is served by Monongalia County Schools.
Public elementary schools in Morgantown and its encircling area include Cheat Lake, North, Brookhaven, Ridgedale, Mountainview, Mylan Park, Skyview, and Eastwood.
There are four middle schools: Mountaineer Middle, South, Westwood, and Suncrest. The city's two high schools are University High School, the mascot of which is the Hawks, and Morgantown High School, whose mascot is the Mohigans.
The latter's name is that of a non-existent Native American tribe whose name is a combination of the words Morgantown (MO) High (HIG) Annual (AN), which was the school's yearbook.
The Native American mascot and logo were adopted because of the close relation to the name Mohican, a real Native American tribe. Notable Morgantown High School alumni include screenwriter film director Lawrence Kasdan (class of 1966), actor Don Knotts (class of 1942), college football coach Tommy Bowden (class of 1972), and TV college football analyst Terry Bowden (class of 1974).
As of April 2005, Monongalia County Schools working 897 experienced personnel and 490 service personnel, and carries an enrollment of 10,076 pupils, including 156 adult pupils at the Monongalia County Technical Education Center.
Three of Monongalia County's 23 schools have earned Exemplary Achievement status, as stated to the West Virginia Office of Educational Performance Audits' (OEPA) report issued November 2004.
Other private schools include: Covenant Christian School, Maranatha Christian Academy, Morgantown Christian Academy, Trinity Christian School, St.
Francis Elementary/Middle School, and the alternative, non-religious Morgantown Learning Academy.
While informal schools existed from Morgantown's earliest days, the town established a one-story, coeducational, Virginia common school in July 1803, that pupils visited on a tuition basis. On Nov.
29, 1814, the Virginia General Assembly incorporated Monongalia Academy, the county's first enhance school. Supported by obligatory surveyors' fees, the male-only institution was the equivalent of a modern-day high school. The Academy moved to a new two-story building in 1830, with principal Jonathan Haddock offering courses in geography, surveying, and navigation in addition to traditional subjects.
Presbyterian minister Reverend James Robertson Moore was principal amid the Academy's 1852 1864 heyday, when its enrollment encompassed pupils from 14 states. In 1867, the Academy closed, and donated its territory toward the establishment of West Virginia University.
The Virginia Assembly in March 1831 authorized the creation of the Morgantown Female Academy.
This school opened April 1, 1834. After the Assembly allowed a charter change in 1838, the school became known as the Methodist Academy. This prompted small-town Presbyterians to problematic the Woodburn Female Seminary, for which the Monongalia Academy's Rev.
Following the 1863 creation of West Virginia, the new state's first council created a public-school system.
However, a two-tier fitness was created: White kids visited a regular term (at the second former Monongalia Academy building, purchased in 1867 from West Virginia Agricultural College, the future West Virginia University), only a short term was provided for African-Americans, who met at St.
Paul's African Methodist Episcopal Church, on Beechurst Avenue. In the late 19th and early 20th century, non-urban educational reformer Alexander Wade lived in Morgantown and was involved in establishing a fitness of graded education for nation schools that was later adopted athwart the rest of the United States. A Roman Catholic elementary school, Saint Francis de Sales, began sometime before to 1915 as a two-room school in a home on Mc - Lane Avenue in the Seneca neighborhood, and run by lay teacher Miss Sterbutsal, who became Sister M.
Francis Central High School existed for a several decades on Birch Street in the Evansdale neighborhood until that ground was taken over by the elementary school on June 9, 1990. Its mascot was the Trojans, and its football field was titled for Father Flynn. The West Virginia University Foundation purchased its building and territory in July 2003, formally selling it to WVU for $11 million in August 2004, with the college then announcing it intended to use the football and contiguous baseball fields as intramural recreation area. Through January 2006, the building homed the St.
West Virginia University (WVU) Woodburn Circle at West Virginia University Main article: West Virginia University Morgantown has two newspapers.
The university-owned and pupil-run college newspaper, The Daily Athenaeum, is presented on weekdays while classes are in session, and is provided no-charge of charge on ground and to many businesses around Morgantown.
There are also other small-town quasi-newspapers such as the Post Extra and the Morgantown Times, which typically feature a several small-town news stories and an abundance of advertisements.
Both are no-charge of charge and mass-mailed throughout the Morgantown area.
WDTV 5 CBS affiliate, Bridgeport, West Virginia WBOY 12 NBC affiliate, Clarksburg, West Virginia WNPB 24 West Virginia Public Broadcasting, Morgantown, West Virginia WVFX 46 Fox affiliate, Clarksburg, West Virginia WAJR 1440 AM News/Talk West Virginia Radio Corporation WVAQ 101.9 FM Contemporary hit radio West Virginia Radio Corporation WWVU-FM 91.7 FM College radio West Virginia University Board Of Governors WFGM-FM 93.1 FM Oldies West Virginia Radio Corporation WKKW 97.9 FM Country West Virginia Radio Corporation WVPM 90.9 FM Public radio West Virginia Educational Broadcasting Authority Morgantown Municipal Airport is one of West Virginia's several commercial airports.
The only active rail line near Morgantown is owned by Norfolk Southern with CSX trackage rights and serves a mine positioned northwest of Rivesville, West Virginia.
Morgantown relies heavily on the Monongahela River for shipping coal and other products.
The river is fully navigable from its mouth at the Ohio River in Pittsburgh, past Morgantown upstream to Fairmont.
Morgantown Lock and Dam, positioned in the southern part of the city, helps to furnish a continuous pool heading upstream towards the Hildebrand Lock and Dam, and the Opekiska Lock and Dam.
Point Marion Lock and Dam, the next downstream dam, is responsible for most of the river's pool in Morgantown.
WV-43.svg West Virginia Route 43 (Mon-Fayette Expressway) WV-7.svg West Virginia Route 7 WV-705.svg West Virginia Route 705 Morgantown Personal Rapid Transit Most of Morgantown is accessible by Mountain Line Transit Authority bus system. Most service operates Monday-Saturday from 7 a.m.
Mountain - Line's Grey Line bus operates every day of the year between Clarksburg, West Virginia and Pittsburgh International Airport.
Morgantown also has the Morgantown Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system.
Electric service is provided by Mon Power, natural gas services by Dominion Resources, and water and sewage by the Morgantown Utility Board.
Trash pickup in the Morgantown region is provided by Republic Services.
The City of Morgantown has adopted a weekly recycling program, as part of the Clean Community Concept, an initiative by the town/city government.
Made Morgantown his home. Bob Huggins, West Virginia University head basketball coach Rachel Shoaf, interval up in Evansdale, a close-by section of Morgantown.
Allison Williams, Miss West Virginia (2003) Morgantown is twinned with Morgantown established Friendship City relations with Quanshan District, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China, in 2012. The cable tv network MTV reported in October 2006, that it would tape an eight-episode reality TV series, Show Choir, following Morgantown High School's show choir, which performs music in four-part harmony, with costumes and choreography, on a competing circuit.
The Joni Mitchell song "Morning Morgantown" is popularly believed to be written about Morgantown, West Virginia. The 2006 film We Are Marshall has two brief scenes set in, but not filmed in, Morgantown.
Morgantown is the title and locale of the second volume of Keith Maillard's quartet of novels, Difficulty at the Beginning.
The town is also mentioned in other novels by Maillard, where it is placed near the fictitious town of Raysburg, West Virginia.
2008 "Best Walking City in West Virginia", "34th Best in Country" (out of 500) by Prevention periodical & American Podiatric Medical Association 2007 Morgantown Named One of "Dozen Distinctive Destinations" by National Trust for Historic Preservation Records kept intermittently from July 1877 to December 1892 and more regularly at Morgantown Municipal Airport since November 1945, although the National Weather Service had ceased measuring snow flurry at this locale in December 1999.
Polk's Morgantown (Monongalia County, W.
Morgantown, governmental center of county of Monongalia County, West Virginia, has inscribed in Latin on its town/city seal, 'Regina Monongahelae Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum' West Virginia Division of Culture and History.
Around Morgantown.
"Station Name: WV MORGANTOWN HART FLD".
Morgantown Board of Park and Recreation Commissioners.
West Virginia University.
"Morgantown, West Virginia".
"West Virginia Black Bears and Metro - News ink radio network agreement".
West Virginia Metro - News Network.
"Morgantown High School Mohigan Facts The Mohigan".
A History of Education in West Virginia from Early Colonial Times to 1949 (Huntington, W.Virginia, Standard Printing and Publishing Co., 1951), p.
Morgantown Times: "St.
"Recycling | City of Morgantown, WV".
San Diego Sports The Charleston Gazette West Virginia News and Sports".
"Morgantown Sister City".
"Sister City Commission: Morgantown's Friendship City Xuzhou, China".
City of Morgantown (official site).
"The Efficacy of Sacrifice-Based Protest" Doris Haddock's Remarks in Morgantown, West Virginia".
"Best (and Worst) Walking Cities in America".
"2008 Best Walking Cities (Overall Rankings)".
"Dozen Distinctive Destinations (Morgantown, WV)".
"Best Small Places (Morgantown WV)".
History of the Making of Morgantown, West Virginia, by Callahan, James Morton (Morgantown, W.Virginia, West Virginia University, 1926) Morgantown a Bicentennial History, by West Virginia University Public History Option for the Morgantown Bicentennial Commission (Morgantown, W.Virginia, Monongalia Historical Society, 1985) Wikimedia Commons has media related to Morgantown, West Virginia.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Morgantown.
City of Morgantown, West Virginia West Virginia University official site Greater Morgantown Convention & Visitors Bureau Main Street Morgantown Morgantown Area Economic Partnership (MAP) Morgantown Area Chamber of Commerce City of Morgantown Municipalities and communities of Monongalia County, West Virginia, United States Municipalities of West Virginia State of West Virginia
Categories:
Cities in West Virginia - County seats in West Virginia - Cities in Monongalia County, West Virginia - Morgantown, West Virginia - University suburbs in the United States - West Virginia University - Morgantown urbane region - Populated places on the Monongahela River
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