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Founded in 1871 by Collis P. Huntington, the rail tycoon's namesake city thrived as a gateway to the coalfields of southern West Virginia. The city's earliest leaders included Mayor Rufus Switzer, who created one of the community's true jewels, Ritter Park, and John Hooe Russel, who opened the city's first bank and, when it was robbed, jumped on his horse and gave chase to the bandits. Over the years, Huntington has been home to such varied individuals as Carter Woodson, the father of Black History Month; Dr. Henry D. Hatfield, who was West Virginia governor but said he would rather be known as a "country doctor;" Dagmar, the blonde bombshell of 1950s television; basketball star Hal Greer; golfing great Bill Campbell; Stella Fuller, who spent her life ministering to Huntington's poor; and the spectacularly generous Joan Edwards, who gave away $65 million. Legendary Locals of Huntington captures their stories and many others in a striking panorama of a remarkable community.

West Virginia's most impoverished county, McDowell County, is also its richest, with reserves of mineral wealth that continue to provide the framework for modern society from Panama and Toyko to New York and Chicago. With a history cratered by triumph and tragedy, the people of McDowell County have endured unspeakable hardships and near isolation but continue to excel in a myriad of unexpectedly surprising ways. Robert Morris, "the financier of the American Revolution," went to the poor house with the belief that McDowell's mineral wealth could fuel a new nation. Jedediah Hotchkiss, the mapmaker who charted the course for Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's valley campaign, resurrected Morris's dream to rebuild the South into an industrial giant on local coal. Men of vision and means like Frederick Kimball and J.P. Morgan built fortunes on McDowell County's mineral wealth. The musical Womack family, baseball manager Charlie Manuel, comedic genius Steve Harvey, writers Kermit Hunter and Jeannette Walls, and thousands who served in all ranks of the military, many making the supreme sacrifice, are among those who have made their mark on McDowell County.

From its founding as a frontier outpost through its role as the birthplace of a new state during the Civil War and its evolution into a manufacturing center, Wheeling has been home to a fascinating array of personalities. The old legends feature Betty Zane's bold dash to save Fort Henry and Samuel McColloch's daring leap on horseback from Wheeling Hill. Businessmen like Henry Schmulbach and Michael Owens contributed to Wheeling's industrial rise, while Augustus Pollack and Walter Reuther earned fame as friends of labor. And even as notorious men like "Big Bill" Lias capitalized on Wheeling's wide-open ways, community leaders like James "Doc" White worked quietly for racial justice. On local ball fields built in the shadows of steel mills, Wheeling's gritty sports heroes, like Chuck Howley and Rose Gacioch, demonstrated their athletic prowess. Notoriety in the arts was earned through the music of Doc and Chickie Williams and opera star Eleanor Steber as well as the works of writers like Keith Maillard and Marc Harshman, the current West Virginia Poet Laureate.