It all started with a Google search.
Looking up the address for the Dominion Post, I discovered the Morgantown-based newspaper was located on Earl L. Core Road. Certainly, when I arrived at my new workplace, I’d find out exactly who Dr. Core was.
Not exactly.
Sure, plenty of co-workers knew his name, his general fields of expertise and of the spots around the area named for him. Some even remembered he once penned a history column for the pages of the paper. I found books in my new office written by him, his face gracing the inside flap with a brief bio.
But character, not just accomplishments, are the stuff of having a street dedicated to you, so I returned to the internet, uncovering some of those notable achievements, while waiting on a response from someone who knew of the Monongalia County native behind the street sign.
A man of diverse interests, Core (Jan. 20, 1902 – Dec. 8, 1984) was a botanist, historian and professor. He spent 44 years in the Biology Department at West Virginia University, 18 of those as the chairman, before retiring in 1972. According to West Virginia Encyclopedia, Core convinced WVU administration to set aside 100 acres as an arboretum in 1948. This land, which stands still today as an outdoor classroom, botanical laboratory and natural retreat, represents Core’s passion for nature, teaching and research.
Descending from some of the earliest settlers in Western Monongalia County, Core’s draw toward history and civic leadership was natural. He served on Morgantown City Council for four years and as Morgantown mayor from 1956 to 1957. A five-volume history of Monongalia County, West Virginia, “The Monongalia Story,” contains his most comprehensive local history work. It is housed at the West Virginia and Regional History Center.
Beyond his interests in nature and history, Core devoted time and energy to a faith-based mission as a Morgantown Disciple. He was a departmental chairman and a member of the Disciples Student Fellowship board at the time of the 1957 dedication of the First Christian Church on Cobun Avenue in Morgantown.
Mildred Fizer, who passed away at 104 in fall 2025, once reminisced about Core and their first encounters at the First Christian Church when it occupied a building on Spruce Street. She got to know him well as he was one of the appointed fundraisers for the new church. Seeking donations, holding bake sales and more fundraising activities have a way of bringing people together, she said. She always appreciated Core’s staunch support of 4-H, of which Fizer was the state’s first female director.
The First Christian Church was a project of faith and passion for Core, but it doesn’t hold his name like other dedicated spots around Morgantown.
The WVU Core Arboretum began to bear the Core name in the 1970s, decades after the world-renowned botanist advocated for the old growth forest next to where the Hope Coliseum now sits. The renaissance man and gentleman who was “bigger than WVU biology,” according to arboretum director Zach Fowler, was passionate about the protection of this natural landscape.
A formal man who most likely donned a suit jacket for a hike, Core was an academic, a naturalist and a visionary who laid the foundation for the arboretum with his influence on university leadership. He recognized the importance of preserving the trees for future generations. The arboretum is still used as a classroom and as a connection to nature.
Kip Burnett reads the “Only God can make a tree” marker at the WVU Core Arboretum on Tuesday.
Fowler and Core share commonalities: professors, protectors of nature, believers that “public green spaces are very important things” and that community science is a worthwhile endeavor.
“From all perspectives, this is a true gem,” Fowler said of the arboretum, but he could have been referring to Core.
The Morgantown Area Partnership bestows the Earl L. Core Community Service Award to an individual who demonstrates exemplary dedication to bettering the community. The award is not given every year because the bar for recipients is so high.
Core set the standard: for dedication, passion, investment and service. His contributions to Morgantown were meaningful and long-lasting.
Through all of this discovery, I’m proud to say I work on Earl L. Core Road.
Candace Wolf is general manager and editor at the Dominion Post. She can be reached at CWolf@DominionPost.com and at 304-291-9433. Call or email her with suggestions for future New? Who knew? columns.
