Institute is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

on the

Kanawha River The Kanawha River ( ) is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 97 mi (156 km) long, in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The largest inland waterway in West Virginia, its valley has been a significant industrial region of the stat ...

Kanawha County Kanawha County ( ) is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 180,745, making it West Virginia's most populous county. The county seat is Charlest ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

, United States.

Interstate 64 Interstate 64 (I-64) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the Eastern United States. Its western terminus is at I-70, U.S. Route 40 (US 40), and US 61 in Wentzville, Missouri. Its eastern terminus is at an interchange w ...

and

West Virginia Route 25 West Virginia Route 25 is an east–west state highway located within the counties of Kanawha and Putnam in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The western terminus of the route is at West Virginia Route 62 in Rock Branch (unincorporated) b ...

pass by the community, which has grown to intermingle with nearby

Dunbar Dunbar () is a town on the North Sea coast in East Lothian in the south-east of Scotland, approximately east of Edinburgh and from the English border north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Dunbar is a former royal burgh, and gave its name to an ecc ...

. As of 2018, the community had a population of 1,489, 54% of whom were African American. The town was founded by a formerly enslaved woman, Mary Barnes. Institute is home to

West Virginia State University West Virginia State University (WVSU) is a public historically black, land-grant university in Institute, West Virginia. Founded in 1891 as the West Virginia Colored Institute, it is one of the original 19 land-grant colleges and universities ...

(formerly the ''West Virginia Colored Institute'' and the source of the town's

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

) and the

West Virginia State Police Academy The West Virginia State Police Academy is a law enforcement training institution, operated by the West Virginia State Police, located in Institute, West Virginia. The academy trains West Virginia troopers for the State Police force and all newly h ...

. Its economy includes several major industrial plants, which have had a number of environmental incidents polluting the local community.

Industry

In August 2008 a chemical plant explosion here killed two and injured eight at the

Bayer CropScience Bayer AG (, commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's areas of business include pharmaceutica ...

facility.

History

Prehistoric community

The community is the location of the

prehistoric Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

Shawnee Reservation Mound, one of three remaining

Adena Adena may refer to: Artists *ADENA, Romanian singer-songwriter *Adeena Karasick (born 1965), Canadian poet, performance artist, and essayist *Adena Halpern (born 1968), American author *Adena Jacobs (born 1982), Australian theatre director Places ...

-era earthwork mounds and

enclosure Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or " common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...

s found in an eight-mile stretch along the river. Also called Fairgrounds Mound and Poorhouse Mound, it is now located within Shawnee Regional Park. The mound is about 20 feet high and 80 feet in basal diameter, but was originally 25 feet high and greater than 80 feet in diameter. In the late 19th century, the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

inventoried an Adena-era complex along the Kanawha River that had more than 50 earthwork mounds and ten enclosures. These works were likely built by indigenous peoples from approximately 300

BCE Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...

to 200 CE. During a 1902 archaeological exploration by

Gerard Fowke Gerard Fowke (June 25, 1855 – March 5, 1933) was an American archeologist and geologist best known for his studies of Native American mounds.Leahy, Ethel C. ''Who's Who on the Ohio River and Its Tributaries''. Cincinnati: The E.C. Leahy Publishin ...

, a total of 27 fully wrapped mummies were discovered in near perfect conditions due to the unique qualities of the local weather conditions. Most of these mounds have been lost to development in the area, particularly of Charleston."Shawnee Reservation Mound"
Shawnee Reservation Park, hosted on Angelfire.com, accessed 31 Oct 2009

Settlement and history

The community was established on the land of formerly enslaved Mary Barnes. She bequeathed land to her children that became Institute and later the

. A synthetic rubber plant was constructed in the town during World War II. Located on the campus of West Virginia State University are the historic East Hall and

Canty House Canty House, also known as "The Magnolia," is a historic home located on the campus of West Virginia State University at Institute, Kanawha County, West Virginia. It was built about 1900, as a simply designed, two-story frame farm house. In 192 ...

, both listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1988. State legislator and “colored” orphans institute superintendent Howard H. Railey died at his home in Institute.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Kanawha County, West Virginia Unincorporated communities in West Virginia Charleston, West Virginia metropolitan area Populated places on the Kanawha River Populated places established by African Americans