photo by: Joselyn King

President Abraham Lincoln, portrayed by John King, left, prepares to blow out the candles on West Virginia’s 162nd birthday cake while Debbie Jones, site manager for West Virginia Independence Hall, stands by during events in Wheeling on Friday.

WHEELING — West Virginia celebrated its 162nd birthday Friday with events where it all began — West Virginia Independence Hall in Wheeling.

“What better place is there for you to see today than this beautiful facility that’s in your own backyard,” said Debbie Jones, site manager for West Virginia Independence Hall.

She noted that with all the flooding devastation that has happened in the surrounding area this past week, many have experienced hardships while others have gone “above and beyond” to assist their neighbors. Jones encourages the public to nevertheless come inside West Virginia Independence Hall and take a break for a few moments.

“Maybe it will put a smile on your face,” she told the small crowd who turned out. “It (the recovery) could be a long process, so we’re going to try and make it a little bit easier.”

Roger Micker, president of the Ohio Valley Civil War Roundtable, spoke and told the crowd the story of West Virginia’s path to statehood.

He noted that in 1861, the state of Virginia opted to secede from the Union — a move that wasn’t acceptable by many in western counties of what was then Virginia.

Delegates representing 39 western Virginia counties would meet later that year at Independence Hall to start the process of forming their own state. They would go on to form the Restored Government of Virginia, then electing its own representatives to Congress.

This move provided a constitutional basis for West Virginia to break from Virginia and form a new state.

According to Article IV, Section 3 of the U.S.Constitution: “…no new states shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as of the Congress.”

The new Restored Government of Virginia gave its consent for the new state’s formation, and the federal government would later recognize the decision.

As in past years, Abraham Lincoln impersonator John King addressed those present to tell of Lincoln’s role in permitting West Virginia to become a state.

On Jan. 1, 1863, Lincoln declared West Virginia could become a state under certain conditions.

“They had to come in as a free state,” Lincoln/King said. “They also had to have a plan that would allow slavery to gradually be emancipated.

“The results of that happened June 20, 1863. I read the proclamation that all the provisions had been made and that West Virginia would be a free state, and could be entered into the United States.”

Micker returned to the podium with another member of the Ohio Valley Civil War Roundtable, local retired educator and historian Pete Chacalos, to present the organization’s first award to an organization “showing leadership in Civil War history.”

The award was presented to Jones and West Virginia Independence Hall.