Talk:West Virginia

This article is written in American English, which has its own spelling conventions (color, defense, traveled) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

West Virginia was one of the Geography and places good articles, but it has been removed from the list. There are suggestions below for improving the article to meet the good article criteria. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
January 21, 2006	Good article nominee	Listed
February 17, 2006	Peer review	Reviewed
January 3, 2009	Good article reassessment	Delisted
July 7, 2010	Peer review	Reviewed
A fact from this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "On this day..." column on June 20, 2010.
Current status: Delisted good article

United States: West Virginia Top‑importance

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Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.
	West Virginia portal This article is supported by WikiProject West Virginia (assessed as Top-importance).
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Appalachia Top‑importance

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Section sizes

Section size for West Virginia (53 sections)
Section name	Byte count	Section total
(Top)	10,815	10,815
History	4,409	48,426
Prehistory	7,380	7,380
European exploration and settlement	4,223	4,223
Trans-Allegheny Virginia	5,547	5,547
Separation from Virginia	13,199	14,025
Claims by Maryland	826	826
In the Civil War	3,299	3,299
Development of natural resources	9,543	9,543
Geography	1,575	18,966
Geology and terrain	6,572	6,572
Climate	4,784	4,784
Flora and fauna	55	55
Major cities	5,980	5,980
Demographics	13,339	25,232
Birth data	4,419	4,419
Languages	1,220	1,220
Religion	6,254	6,254
Economy	175	19,881
Overview	4,498	4,498
Tourism	3,316	3,316
Resources	1,696	6,461
Green energy	4,765	4,765
Taxes	3,469	3,469
Largest private employers	1,962	1,962
Quality of life	267	19,211
Economy	2,220	2,220
Employment	2,478	2,478
Wages and poverty	1,664	1,664
Population	1,814	1,814
Family	2,784	2,784
Health	6,524	7,984
Life expectancy	1,460	1,460
Governance	295	15,947
Legislative branch	1,090	1,090
Executive branch	545	545
Judicial branch	1,291	1,291
Politics	12,726	12,726
Transportation	9,581	9,581
Education	684	2,033
Colleges and universities	1,349	1,349
Culture	12	10,054
Sports	1,811	1,811
Music	46	8,231
Appalachian music	1,888	1,888
Classical music	1,474	1,474
Musical innovation	4,823	4,823
See also	278	278
References	3,065	3,065
External links	68	3,390
State government	1,027	1,027
U.S. government	776	776
Other	1,519	1,519
Total	186,879	186,879

Archives

Archive 1

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Date of Statehood

The article states "West Virginia became a state following the Wheeling Conventions of 1861, at the start of the American Civil War." That's a false statement. West Virginia became a state on June 20, 1863. SimpsonDG (talk) 04:11, 13 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@SimpsonDG: If you can find reliable sources to back this up, then edits can be made. Currently, the statement you claim is false is sourced. The article currently says that the 1863 date is when WV became part of the Union. Airplaneman (talk) ✈ 04:46, 13 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I suppose the problem here is with the phrasing, "became a state". Airplaneman (talk) ✈ 04:54, 13 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@Airplaneman: No wonder Wikipedia is so full of errors. All it takes is for someone to claim to have a "source" for something that is easily checked and found to be false. If you actually check the claimed source [26] shown in the article, you'll see that there is no place where it says that "West Virginia became a state following the Wheeling Conventions of 1861," nor is there even any mention of the Wheeling Conventions or of 1861. Yet there must be thousands of reliable sources stating that West Virginia became a state on June 20, 1863. (1) West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture, and History: http://www.wvculture.org/history/archives/statehoo.html (2) West Virginia: A History by Otis K. Rice, p. 153 (U. Kentucky Press, 1985); (3) West Virginia Governors by John C. Morgan, (2nd ed., Charleston Newspapers, 1980) p. 10; (4) The West Virginia Encyclopedia, Ken Sullivan (ed.), p. 338 (West Virginia Humanities Council, 2006); (5) The Encyclopaedia Britannica, Volume 12 ("West Virginia"), 15th ed.; (6) The flag of the state of West Virginia itself clearly shows the date of statehood: June 20, 1863. And many more: just about any encyclopedia, almanac, or history book you care to pick up. And there's no dispute over what's meant by "became a state." It can only mean "officially admitted to the Union as a new state." I'd fix this myself, but I don't edit Wikipedia anymore. SimpsonDG (talk) 05:45, 14 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I'm going to come out of retirement very briefly and fix this. The first two sentences in the second paragraph read: "West Virginia became a state after the Wheeling Conventions of 1861, at the start of the American Civil War. Delegates from northwestern Virginia's Unionist counties decided to break away from Virginia, which also included secessionist counties in the new state." That is a completely false statement. West Virginia became a state on June 20, 1863 (as shown in the many references indicated above). Just because this sentence is "sourced" doesn't make it true. In fact, I have a copy of the claimed "source" (Foner, Eric, Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877, Harper, 2002, p. 39) and it's phoney. NOWHERE in the book is there even any mention of the "Wheeling Conventions". Since the sentences are proveably false and the "source" is phoney, I'm deleting these sentences. As "Airplaneman" indicates above, "If you can find reliable sources to back this up, then edits can be made." I have (see above), and so I'm going to make the edits myself. SimpsonDG (talk) 02:18, 27 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

"Virginie-Occidentale" listed at Redirects for discussion

An editor has identified a potential problem with the redirect Virginie-Occidentale and has thus listed it for discussion. This discussion will occur at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2022 September 19#Virginie-Occidentale until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. TartarTorte 00:43, 19 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Pronunciation

Somone put in the non-rhotic pronunciation. I added the rhotic one, which would be usual in the state. Kostaki mou (talk) 03:54, 2 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Featured picture scheduled for POTD

Hello! This is to let editors know that File:West Virginia state coat of arms (illustrated, 1876).jpg, a featured picture used in this article, has been selected as the English Wikipedia's picture of the day (POTD) for November 9, 2023. A preview of the POTD is displayed below and can be edited at Template:POTD/2023-11-09. For the greater benefit of readers, any potential improvements or maintenance that could benefit the quality of this article should be done before its scheduled appearance on the Main Page. If you have any concerns, please place a message at Wikipedia talk:Picture of the day. Thank you! — Amakuru (talk) 14:22, 3 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

West Virginia is a state in the Southern or Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. It is the 10th-smallest state by area and ranks as the 12th-least populous state, with a population of 1,793,716 residents. The state was formed in 1861, comprising a number of counties which separated from the state of Virginia after the latter had seceded from the United States. West Virginia was admitted to the Union in 1863, and was a key border state during the American Civil War. The state is noted for its mountains and rolling hills, its historically significant coal mining and logging industries, and its political and labor history. It is also a popular tourist destination. Charleston is the capital and most populous city of the state. This 1876 illustration of the Seal of West Virginia was produced by Henry Mitchell as part of a series titled The State Arms of the Union.

Illustration credit: Henry Mitchell; restored by Godot13

Recently featured:

October 1861 vote totals

In the October 1861 election the article says that "18,408 votes were cast for the new state and 781 against." But the graphic showing the vote by county has only two counties (Monogalia and Preston) where the yes votes exceeded 50% of the total. Many counties don't show any votes for statehood. What's going on? I looked up the source, only to figure out that much of this history is taken nearly verbatim from the Encyclopedia Brittanica's poorly written article on West Virginia. There's no source for the graphic, so I have no idea where the data came from. MiguelMunoz (talk) 03:05, 27 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Many counties had no vote on statehood. The percentages in red show what percent of that county voted for statehood, relative to the number of voters in that county. The vote results can be found in Richard O. Curry's book "A House Divided". The number of voters in each county was taken from the 8th United States Census. The vote was poorly attended, so few counties had over 50% in favor. See this page from the WV Archives https://archive.wvculture.org/history/statehood/statehood10.html Dubyavee (talk) 03:44, 27 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]