West Virginia Marks 150 Years of Statehood
On June 20, 2013, West Virginia reached the 150th anniversary of its founding, an event commemorated at a special ceremony held at the state capitol in Charleston. Governor Earl Ray Tomblin presided over the ceremony, which included the unveiling of the U.S. Postal Service's "West Virginia Statehood Forever " stamp. The state is celebrating its sesquicentennial with special events through the month of June.
West Virginia became the nation's 35th state under President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, in the midst of the Civil War. It is one of only two states created during the war. Today West Virginia is one of the 13 states that belong to the ARC partnership and the only state that lies fully within the Appalachian Region. Socioeconomic data on its 55 counties is available on ARC's Web site.