West Virginia

Kanawha or West Virginia

West Virginia nearly had a different name. In 1861 voters approved the creation of a new state under the name Kanawha, after the river and county. But on December 3, 1861, the constitutional convention meeting in Wheeling voted 30 to 14 to drop that name. In the next roll call, “West Virginia” received 30 votes and Kanawha 9, with a few votes for Western Virginia, Allegheny and Augusta. The name itself goes back to Virginia, named for Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen.

A state born in war

West Virginia was formed from the western counties of Virginia during the Civil War. On March 26, 1863, voters ratified a constitution containing the Willey Amendment, which provided for gradual emancipation, by 28,321 to 572. On April 20, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed that West Virginia would become a state in 60 days, and on June 20, 1863, it entered the Union as the 35th state. June 20 is still West Virginia Day, a state holiday.

A capital on the river

The new state’s government first sat in Wheeling, in the Linsly Institute building. The Legislature moved the capital to Charleston in 1870, then voted to return to Wheeling in 1875; each time, officials and records traveled by river steamboat. In 1877 a statewide vote among Martinsburg, Clarksburg and Charleston gave Charleston a majority, and the government moved there for good in 1885. Its Capitol, designed by Cass Gilbert and dedicated on West Virginia Day in 1932, has a gilded dome 292 feet tall, a little taller than the dome of the US Capitol. The capital page tells the story.

Mountaineers are always free

The Great Seal, adopted on September 26, 1863, and drawn by Joseph H. Diss Debar, shows a farmer and a miner on either side of a rock bearing the date of admission, June 20, 1863, with two crossed rifles and a cap of liberty in front, under the motto Montani Semper Liberi, “Mountaineers Are Always Free.” The seal’s coat of arms is the centerpiece of the white state flag, framed by a wreath of rhododendron.

Rhododendrons, cardinals and coal

West Virginia has 29 official state symbols, most of them adopted by legislative resolution. The rhododendron, chosen by schoolchildren, has been the state flower since 1903. In a 1949 vote by schoolchildren and civic groups the northern cardinal became the state bird and the sugar maple the state tree. The black bear is the state animal, the brook trout the state fish and bituminous coal the state rock. The Golden Delicious apple, discovered in Clay County, is the state fruit, and “Take Me Home, Country Roads” is one of four official state songs. See them all on the West Virginia symbols page.

Land and people

West Virginia covers 24,230 square miles, 41st among the states, and had about 1.77 million residents in 2025, 39th in the country. Its population fell by about 1.5 percent from 2020, tied with Hawaii for the steepest decline of any state. It borders Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio. Charleston, with about 46,000 people, is the largest city, followed by Huntington, Morgantown, Parkersburg and Wheeling.