Clerk’s office marking Monongalia County’s semiquincentennial
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MORGANTOWN - On Oct. 9, 1776 - just over three months after the Second Continental Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence, and some 86 years before West Virginia achieved statehood - the Virginia General Assembly passed an act subdividing the District of West Augusta.
And thus, Monongalia County was born.
On Wednesday, Monongalia County Clerk Carye Blaney said her office has spent the last month or so putting together an informational pamphlet celebrating the county's 250th birthday. Commemorative pins were provided to members of the Monongalia County Commission and made available to all in attendance.
Caitlyn Harless and Samantha Ryder spearheaded the effort for the clerk's office.
"Throughout Monongalia County's history we have risen above the challenges of redistricting, statehood and the Civil War to form a county where we're always improving. From education, health and business, Monongalia County has always been on the cutting edge and we wanted to create a pamphlet to kind of highlight some of that," Ryder said.
Harless noted that the pamphlet recounts the history of the county's settlement and highlights the unique history of its courthouses as well as landmark advancements in industry, infrastructure and education.
The clerk's office is hosting a public celebration on the courthouse square from 11 a.m.- 1 p.m. on Oct. 9.
"We will have some pictures and newsworthy artifacts in our office so that anytime someone's in the courthouse and they want to look at that stuff, we will have it available. We're going to be doing these kinds of things all month long ... showcasing some of the historical things that we have here at the courthouse for Monongalia County," Blaney said.
She went on to say that staff worked with the West Virginia and Regional History Center at WVU among others to pull together photographs and documents that will be used to create a digital display.
"We have the original land grant for Morgan's Town. Several years ago, I sent some staff to Richmond to do some research. We've created a list of all the elected officials from the creation of the county - all of your county commissioners, all of your sheriffs - and we're trying to put all of those things together. We're going to put it on our website and sort of highlight it," she said.
The goal is to make October Monongalia County's anniversary month.
Despite the workload the clerk's office is currently facing with the approaching election, Blaney said she believes the effort is warranted.
"I did not want the occasion to go by without us noting that we are turning 250. That's quite an accomplishment. So, I just wanted to make sure that the citizens were aware of it, and so we had the pins made to commemorate that. And we're going to continue doing these things," she said. "Our office is a repository for these permanent records, and it's very interesting. That's why we partnered with the history department at WVU because the staff that I have on-board are all committed and devoted to preservation and curation and archiving.”