Marion County is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

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 ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 56,205. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...

is Fairmont. The county was named in honor of General

Francis Marion Brigadier-General Francis Marion ( 1732 – February 27, 1795), also known as the Swamp Fox, was an American military officer, planter and politician who served during the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. During the Amer ...

(''ca.'' 1732–1795), known to history as "The Swamp Fox". Marion County comprises the Fairmont, WV Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is part of the larger Morgantown–Fairmont, WV Combined Statistical Area.

History

The Adena and successor

Hopewell culture The Hopewell tradition, also called the Hopewell culture and Hopewellian exchange, describes a network of precontact Native American cultures that flourished in settlements along rivers in the northeastern and midwestern Eastern Woodlands from ...

s flourished in this area at one time. The region which includes the land now known as Marion County was sparsely occupied by Native Americans, if at all, in the late 18th century. Like much of the

Ohio Valley The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illin ...

, it had been depopulated by the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Indigenous confederations in North America, confederacy of First Nations in Canada, First Natio ...

during the later

Beaver Wars The Beaver Wars ( moh, Tsianì kayonkwere), also known as the Iroquois Wars or the French and Iroquois Wars (french: Guerres franco-iroquoises) were a series of conflicts fought intermittently during the 17th century in North America throughout t ...

(1670–1700). Only a few abortive attempts to start European settlements upon the

Monongahela River The Monongahela River ( , )—often referred to locally as the Mon ()—is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 15, 2011 river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-c ...

or its branches (such as that which gave its name to Dunkard Creek) are known prior to the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the st ...

. It was not until 1772 that any permanent settlements were made in this region. Marion County was created by an act of the Virginia Assembly on January 14, 1842, from parts of Monongalia and

Harrison Harrison may refer to: People * Harrison (name) * Harrison family of Virginia, United States Places In Australia: * Harrison, Australian Capital Territory, suburb in the Canberra district of Gungahlin In Canada: * Inukjuak, Quebec, or " ...

Counties. It was named after General Francis Marion, of

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

fame, known to history as "The Swamp Fox". 1852 was an eventful time in Marion County's history, starting with the great flood on Monday, April 5. Heavy rains the day before caused the Monongahela and

West Fork River The West Fork River is a principal tributary of the Monongahela River, long, in north-central West Virginia, United States. Via the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of 881 sq ...

s to rise at rate of 5 feet per hour until Tuesday afternoon, when the water reached 43 feet above its normal level. The greatest damage was sustained on the West Fork, where over 40 houses and buildings were swept away and floated past Fairmont. The flood damaged the railroad, which was in the final stages of being completed. By June 23 the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

was completed, connecting Fairmont to the west and to large cities in the east like Baltimore. The railroad required the building of a bridge to cross the

about 1 mile west of Fairmont. This was achieved by building a massive iron bridge spanning 650 feet and lifted 35 feet above the water. The third major event of the year 1852 was the completion of the Fairmont and Palatine

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridges, which lack vertical ...

, connecting Fairmont to what was then the town of Palatine. The bridge was built under the direction of James L. Randolph, assistant engineer of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, at a cost of about thirty thousand dollars. Marion was one of fifty Virginia counties that were admitted to the Union as the state of West Virginia on June 20, 1863, at the height of the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

. In the months that followed, West Virginia's counties were divided into

civil township A civil township is a widely used unit of local government in the United States that is subordinate to a county, most often in the northern and midwestern parts of the country. The term town is used in New England, New York, and Wisconsin to ref ...

s, with the intention of encouraging local government. This proved impractical in the heavily rural state, and in 1872 the townships were converted into magisterial districts. Marion County was divided into seven districts: Fairmont, Grant, Lincoln, Mannington, Paw Paw, Union, and Winfield. In the 1980s, the historic magisterial districts were consolidated into three new districts: Middletown, Palatine, and West Augusta.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.9%) is water.

Major highways

Interstate 79 Interstate 79 (I-79) is an Interstate Highway in the eastern United States, designated from I-77 in Charleston, West Virginia, north to Pennsylvania Route 5 (PA 5) and PA 290 in Erie, Pennsylvania. It is a primary thoroughfar ...

U.S. Highway 19 * US 250

U.S. Highway 250 *

West Virginia Route 218 West Virginia Route 218 (WV 218) is a north–south state highway located in Marion and Mononagalia counties in northern West Virginia, United States, that connects U.S. Route 19 (US 19) with the Pennsylvania state line. Route desc ...

* West Virginia Route 273 * West Virginia Route 310

Adjacent counties

* Monongalia County (north) * Taylor County (southeast) * Harrison County (south) * Wetzel County (west)

Demographics

2000 census

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

of 2000, there were 56,598 people, 23,652 households, and 15,515 families living in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

was 183 people per square mile (71/km²). There were 26,660 housing units at an average density of 86 per square mile (33/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 95.10%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

, 3.22%

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.20% Native American, 0.41% Asian, 0.01%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

, 0.13% from other races, and 0.93% from two or more races. 0.70% of the population were

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

or Latino of any race. There were 23,652 households, out of which 26.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.40% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

living together, 10.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.40% were non-families. 28.90% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.90% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.34 and the average family size was 2.88. In the county, the population was spread out, with 20.60% under the age of 18, 10.50% from 18 to 24, 26.40% from 25 to 44, 24.70% from 45 to 64, and 17.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 90.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.30 males. The median income for a household in the county was $28,626, and the median income for a family was $37,182. Males had a median income of $29,005 versus $21,100 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the county was $16,246. About 11.70% of families and 16.30% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 21.30% of those under age 18 and 8.70% of those age 65 or over.

2010 census

As of the

of 2010, there were 56,418 people, 23,786 households, and 15,271 families living in the county. The population density was . There were 26,463 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 94.3% white, 3.3% black or African American, 0.5% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, 0.2% from other races, and 1.5% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 0.9% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 23.5% were

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

, 17.8% were Irish, 13.7% were

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

, 12.0% were

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

, and 10.3% were

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

. Of the 23,786 households, 27.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.5% were married couples living together, 11.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 35.8% were non-families, and 29.3% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.85. The median age was 41.0 years. The median income for a household in the county was $38,115 and the median income for a family was $49,046. Males had a median income of $38,948 versus $27,179 for females. The per capita income for the county was $20,752. About 11.3% of families and 16.8% of the population were below the

, including 24.0% of those under age 18 and 8.6% of those age 65 or over.

Politics

Starting in 1932, Marion County tended to vote for Democrats through the 20th century, similar to many counties in West Virginia. As a matter of fact, the only time in the 20th century after 1932 that the county voted Republican was in Richard Nixon's 1972 landslide. Similar to West Virginia, the county has trended Republican in the 21st century, albeit at a slower pace as it voted Democratic through the 2000s. In 2012, Mitt Romney flipped the county and it has voted Republican since, with Trump winning more than 60% of the vote both times.

Communities

Cities

* Fairmont (county seat) * Mannington * Pleasant Valley

Towns

* Fairview * Barrackville * Farmington * Grant Town * Monongah * Rivesville *

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Sq ...

* Worthington

Magisterial districts

* Middletown * Palatine * West Augusta

Census-designated places

* Carolina * Idamay *

Rachel Rachel () was a Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban. Her older sister was Leah, Jacob's first wife. Her aun ...

Unincorporated communities

* Baxter * Basnettville *

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. ...

* Big Run * Boothsville * Brink * Bunner Ridge * Catawba * Colfax * Flyblow * Forksburg * Four States * Grays Flat *

Hebron Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after Eas ...

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

* Hopewell * Hutchinson * Joetown *

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

* Katy * Kingmont * Logansport *

Meadowdale Meadowdale may refer to: * Meadowdale High School (Washington), Lynnwood, Washington *Meadowdale High School (Ohio), Dayton, Ohio *Meadowdale International Raceway *Carpentersville, Illinois Carpentersville is a village in Kane County, Illinois ...

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

* Montana Mines * Paw Paw * Pettyjohn * Pine Grove * Pleasant View * Quiet Dell * Shagtown * Seven Pines * Stringtown *

Viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

Wahoo Wahoo (''Acanthocybium solandri'') is a scombrid fish found worldwide in tropical and subtropical seas. It is best known to sports fishermen, as its speed and high-quality flesh makes it a prized and valued game fish. In Hawaii, the wahoo is ...

Watson Watson may refer to: Companies * Actavis, a pharmaceutical company formerly known as Watson Pharmaceuticals * A.S. Watson Group, retail division of Hutchison Whampoa * Thomas J. Watson Research Center, IBM research center * Watson Systems, make ...

* Winfield

Notable people

David Carpenter David Joseph Carpenter (born May 6, 1930), a.k.a. The Trailside Killer, is an American serial killer and serial rapist known for stalking and murdering a variety of individuals on hiking trails in state parks near San Francisco, California. He ...

, baseball player * Frank Kendall Everest, Jr., ''The Fastest Man Alive'' * Michael Garrison, former president of

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...

. *

Frank Gatski Frank "Gunner" Gatski (March 18, 1921 – November 22, 2005) was an American professional football player who was a center for the Cleveland Browns of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and the National Football League (NFL) in the 1940 ...

, athlete in the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coa ...

* Sam Huff, Pro Football Hall of Fame * Johnnie Johnson, musician * John Knowles, author *

Joe Manchin Joseph Manchin III (born August 24, 1947) is an American politician and businessman serving as the senior United States senator from West Virginia, a seat he has held since 2010. A member of the Democratic Party, Manchin was the 34th governor o ...

, the former governor of

and current senior

United States senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...

from West Virginia. *

Luella Mundel Luella Raab Mundel (April 26, 1913 – March 22, 2004),"Luella Mundel", ''The Lompoc Record'' (April 2, 2004), p. 3."Art Galleries", ''Santa Maria Times'' (June 30, 2006), p. 21. a former head of the art department of Fairmont State College in Fairm ...

, professor and McCarthyism victim * Francis H. Pierpont, father of West Virginia *

Mary Lou Retton Mary Lou Retton (born January 24, 1968) is an American retired gymnast. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, she won a gold medal in the individual all-around competition, as well as two silver medals and two bronze medals. Her performanc ...

, all-around gymnastics Olympic gold medal winner ( 1984 Olympic Games). *

Rich Rodriguez Richard Alan Rodriguez (; born May 24, 1963), also known as Rich Rod, is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach at Jacksonville State University. Rodriguez previously was the head football coach at Salem Un ...

, former college football coach (

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

) *

Nick Saban Nicholas Lou Saban Jr. (; born October 31, 1951) is an American football coach who has been the head football coach at the University of Alabama since 2007. Saban previously served as head coach of the National Football League's Miami Dolphi ...

, current

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publ ...

head football coach *

Harrison C. Summers Harrison C. Summers (July 12, 1918 – August 3, 1983) was a United States Army soldier and a decorated war veteran. He served with the 1st Battalion, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division in World War II. Early life ...

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

hero * Natalie Tennant,

Secretary of State of West Virginia The Secretary of State of West Virginia is an elected office within the U.S. state of West Virginia state government. The secretary of state is responsible for overseeing the state's election process, including voter registration and election re ...

and 2014 U.S. Senate candidate. *

Robert Tinnell Robert Tinnell is an American writer, film director and producer. Robert directed such films as ''Feast of the Seven Fishes'' (2019), ''Frankenstein and Me'' (1996), and ''Kids of the Round Table'' (1995). His producer credits include ''Back Fo ...

, Director, Writer, Producer *

Hershel W. Williams Hershel Woodrow "Woody" Williams (October 2, 1923 – June 29, 2022) was a United States Marine Corps Reserve warrant officer and United States Department of Veterans Affairs veterans service representative who received the Medal of Honor, ...

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of val ...

recipient for the

Battle of Iwo Jima The Battle of Iwo Jima (19 February – 26 March 1945) was a major battle in which the United States Marine Corps (USMC) and United States Navy (USN) landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA ...

* Tom Wilson, creator of the comic strip Ziggy. * Fielding H. Yost, Football Coach

Literary presence

In the ''1632'' series of

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

novels, the fictional town of Grantville (closely modelled after real-life Mannington) and its environs were part of Marion County until the

alien Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...

-caused

space-time In physics, spacetime is a mathematical model that combines the three dimensions of space and one dimension of time into a single four-dimensional manifold. Spacetime diagrams can be used to visualize relativistic effects, such as why differen ...

anomaly which sent it to 17th-century

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...

. The county and its institutions are frequently mentioned in the course of the series, and writers interested in the series have held a number of "mini-cons" (miniature science fiction conventions) in Mannington. Flint has stated, "The town of Grantville is very closely modeled on the actual town of Mannington. There are rules that I require everyone to follow when they write in the series. One of them is that it if it wasn’t in the town of Mannington in 2000, you can’t have it in Grantville. The one cheat I had to do was that I needed a power plant. The power plant is about 15 miles away, in a town called Granttown, so I just sorta moved it over. That’s the only real cheat.”Locus">"Eric Flint: Remaking History" December 4, 2016 '' Locus
'' magazine website/ref>

Footnotes

References

External links

Marion County Government
{{authority control 1842 establishments in Virginia Populated places established in 1842 Counties of Appalachia