Kenova, West Virginia

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The Norfolk Southern Bridge as seen from Kenova

Kenova is a city in Wayne County, West Virginia, at the confluence of the Ohio and Big Sandy Rivers. The population was 3,485 at the 2000 census. Kenova is a part of the Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH, Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). As of the 2000 census, the MSA had a population of 288,649. The name of the town comes from its unique position between Kentucky, Ohio, and (West) Virginia.

Kenova is the hometown of contemporary Christian music superstar and Grammy Award winner Michael W. Smith.

The Norfolk Southern Railway's Ohio River bridge is located in this town, and the CSX Transportation's former C&O Kanawha Sub goes through town as well

In 1970, a plane carrying the Marshall University football team crashed on a hillside about a mile south of the town, on approach to Tri-State Airport, killing all on board. A movie about the tragedy, titled We Are Marshall, was released in 2006. For more information on the disaster see Southern Airways Flight 932, the official designation of the flight.

1 Geography
2 Education
3 Demographics
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Geography

Kenova is located at 38°23′59″N, 82°34′43″W (38.399786, -82.578573)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.4 km² (1.7 mi²). 3.1 km² (1.2 mi²) of it is land and 1.3 km² (0.5 mi²) of it (29.24%) is water.

[edit] Education

Since the closing of Ceredo-Kenova and Buffalo High Schools in 1998, Kenova Elementary is the lone public education facility within Kenova. The school has been awarded multiple national blue ribbons in academic achievement. The former Ceredo-Kenova High School, locally known as "C-K," boasted a great number of state championships, including 11 in football and one in cheerleading. Buffalo can credit championships in boys' and girls' basketball to their accomplishments. In 1998, C-K closed and consolidated with two other Wayne County high schools, Buffalo and Vinson, to form Spring Valley High School.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 3,485 people, 1,594 households, and 996 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,112.0/km² (2,887.9/mi²). There were 1,767 housing units at an average density of 563.8/km² (1,464.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 99.23% White, 0.23% African American, 0.17% Native American, 0.06% Asian, 0.03% from other races, and 0.29% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.20% of the population.

There were 1,594 households out of which 24.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.3% were married couples living together, 14.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.5% were non-families. 34.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.18 and the average family size was 2.77.

In the city the population was spread out with 20.5% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 25.7% from 25 to 44, 24.6% from 45 to 64, and 20.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there were 83.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.0 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $23,342, and the median income for a family was $29,688. Males had a median income of $27,656 versus $22,500 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,485. About 14.5% of families and 18.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 26.4% of those under age 18 and 12.6% of those age 65 or over.