Until the American Civil War, there was no such place as West Virginia. The area was known only as the western part of Virginia. the Virginia government in Richmond yielded to the pleas of other Southern states and seceded from the Union in April 1861. After the ordinance of secession was passed, a large majority of voters from the western counties vowed that they would keep Virginia or as much of her as possible loyal to the Union and. . . eventually move for dismemberment. Subsequent meetings were held in Wheeling and thus were dominated by the western delegates. In June the Richmond government was declared void and a restored government of Virginia was formed. A popular election in October favored the creation of a new state in the west. After a third Wheeling convention, in November, a new constitution was created. On June 20, 1863, West Virginia became the 35th state in the Union. It was the youngest state east of the Mississippi River.
The idealized West Virginia character, as well as its history, is captured in the state motto Montani Semper Liberi (Mountaineers Are Always Free). The legend on the state license plates reads Wild, Wonderful West Virginia. Even more, it is a state that has constantly challenged its people. They were locked, both economically and socially, into small, closed communities by the mountains.
Farming has always been difficult in the mountainous state. Due to its rich mineral wealth and what became a desirable geographical location, West Virginia emerged as a large manufacturing center. Its most important industry, the production of chemicals, is centered in Charleston. The northern panhandle area boasts an important steel industry. West Virginia is one of the nation's leading producers of soft coal. Traditionally, coal has been the cornerstone of the state's economy. It provides fuel for West Virginia's many steel mills and vast chemical industries, and its significance as a national source of energy was renewed during the oil crisis of the 1970s.
When the state first broke away from Virginia, the name Kanawha was proposed as the name of the new state in honor of a river in the south-central area, but the name West Virginia was officially adopted by the constitutional convention of 1861-62. The nickname Mountain State comes from its location in the heart of the rugged Appalachian Highlands. Its average elevation is 1,500 feet (457 meters)--the highest of any state in the eastern half of the nation. West Virginia is sometimes known as the Switzerland of America because of its picturesque mountain scenery.
West Virginia is in the east-central part of the United States. It is roughly oval in shape, with two panhandles: one extends northward between Pennsylvania on the east and Ohio on the west and the other extends eastward between Maryland on the north and Virginia on the south. Between the two panhandles the northern part of West Virginia extends along both sides of the square corner of southwestern Pennsylvania. To the southeast and south is Virginia, with the boundary line along mountain ridges. On the southwest the state is separated from Kentucky by the Tug Fork and Big Sandy rivers. On the northwest the Ohio River provides a 277-mile (446-kilometer) boundary between West Virginia and Ohio. West Virginia is among the smallest of the states. From east to west its greatest length is 266 miles (428 kilometers). Its greatest width, from north to south, is 237 miles (381 kilometers). The total area is 24,231 square miles (62,758 square kilometers), including 111 square miles (290 square kilometers) of inland water surface.
