Wheeling-LaBelle Nail Co. closes after 158 years in business — Sept. 30, 2010

The following events happened on these dates in West Virginia history. To read more, go to e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia at www.wvencyclopedia.org.

Sept. 28, 1955: Labor activist Sarah “Mother” Blizzard died at age 90. Blizzard was deeply involved in the United Mine Workers of America, from the organization’s early beginnings in the late 19th century.

Sept. 28, 1965: The first national recreation area within a U.S. national forest was established when President Lyndon B. Johnson created the Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area.

Sept. 29, 1861: The Kanawha Valley experienced severe flooding. The Kanawha River reached 46.87 feet in Charleston, more than 16 feet above flood stage.

Sept. 29, 1927: Artist June Kilgore was born in Huntington. She was an abstract expressionist painter who spent 30 years as an art professor at Marshall University.

Sept. 30, 1832: Social activist Anna Reeves Jarvis was born in Virginia. Years later, in Taylor County, she organized Mother’s Day Work Clubs to improve health conditions and to nurse Union and Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. She was the inspiration for Mother’s Day, first celebrated in Grafton in 1908.

Sept. 30, 1872: Educator Fannie Cobb Carter was born in Charleston. She organized the teacher-training department at what is now West Virginia State University, led the State Industrial Home for Colored Girls in Huntington, and was director of adult education in Kanawha County.

Sept. 30, 2010: Facing an economic downturn and foreign competition, Wheeling-La Belle Nail Company closed. The company was founded in 1852 as LaBelle Ironworks. By 1875, Wheeling was known as the Nail City, and La Belle was the city’s leading nail producer.

Oct. 1, 1896: Rural Free Delivery began in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle. Before this, there was no rural mail delivery, although more than half the country’s citizens lived in rural areas.

Oct. 1, 1950: West Virginia Poet Laureate Marc Harshman was born in Indiana. Harshman graduated from Bethany College and later moved to Wheeling. He is a noted storyteller, children’s author and poet who wrote and recited his poem “A Song for West Virginia” for our state’s sesquicentennial in 2013.

Oct. 2, 1923: Hershel “Woody” Williams was born in Quiet Dell. During World War II, Williams neutralized seven concrete pillboxes at the Battle of Iwo Jima. Prior to his death in 2022, he was the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient from World War II.

Oct. 2, 1924: Longtime labor leader Miles Stanley was born in Dunbar, Kanawha County. He was the first president of the West Virginia Labor Federation AFL-CIO, serving from 1957 until his death in 1974.

Oct. 3, 1935: A patient at Weston State Hospital started a fire in the main building that destroyed six men’s wards and caused a cupola to fall through the roof. The building was repaired, and the hospital remained in service for nearly 60 more years.

Oct. 4, 1934: Sam Huff was born at Edna, near Morgantown. Huff was part of a fearsome defense that led West Virginia University to a 38-7 record between 1952 and 1955, including three consecutive wins over rival Penn State.

Oct. 4, 1967: Basketball player Vicky Bullett was born in Martinsburg. While starring at the University of Maryland, she helped lead the U.S. women’s basketball team to a gold medal in the 1988 Olympics.