Parkersburg, West Virginia

Parkersburg, located at the confluence of the Ohio and Little Kanawha Rivers, is the third largest city in the State of West Virginia. It is the county seat of Wood County^[3] and the largest city in the Parkersburg-Marietta-Vienna Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The Bureau of the Public Debt, an agency of the U.S. Treasury Department, is headquartered in Parkersburg.

History

Parkersburg was originally named Newport when it was laid out in the late 18th century. A section of the land in the town was laid out over land granted to Alexander Parker for his Revolutionary War service. The title conflicts between Parker and the city planners of Newport were settled in 1809 in favor of Alexander Parker's heirs. The town was renamed Parkersburg in 1810. It was chartered by the Virginia General Assembly in 1820. It was rechartered as a city in 1860.

The town was the terminus of the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike and the Northwestern Turnpike. In 1857 the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad built a branch line to the town. The town was important as a transportation and medical center during the American Civil War. It then became a transportation hub in the gas and oil boom following that war.

Blennerhassett Island is a historical site located in Parkersburg.

Geography

Parkersburg is located at 39°15'58" North, 81°32'32" West (39.266175, -81.542139).^[4]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 12.2 square miles (31.6 km²), of which 11.8 square miles (30.6 km²) is land and 0.4 square mile (1.0 km²) is water.

The city is situated at the confluence of the Ohio River and the Little Kanawha River. The Little Kanawha River divides the north and south sides of the city. Worthington Creek, a tributary of the Little Kanawha River, flows through the eastern part of the city.^[5]

Climate

Parkersburg's climate is warm during summer when temperatures tend to be in the 80's and cold during winter when temperatures tend to be in the 30's.

The warmest month of the year is July with an average maximum temperature of 85.80 °F (29.89 °C), while the coldest month of the year is January with an average minimum temperature of 22.30 °F (−5.39 °C).

Temperature variations between night and day tend to be moderate during summer with a difference that can reach 21°F (12°C), and fairly limited during winter with an average difference of 18 °F (10 °C).

The annual average precipitation at Parkersburg is 40.69 inches (1,034 mm). Rainfall is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year. The wettest month of the year is July with an average rainfall of 4.58 inches (116 mm). ^[6]

Demographics

As of the census^[1] of 2000, there were 33,099 people, 14,467 households, and 8,767 families residing in the city. In 2006 the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that Parkersburg's population had decreased 4.4% to 31,755.^[12] The population density was 2,800.5 people per square mile (1,081.2/km²). There were 16,100 housing units at an average density of 1,362.2 per square mile (525.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 96.36% White, 1.75% African American, 0.42% Native American, 0.20% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.21% from other races, and 1.00% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.81% of the population.

There were 14,467 households out of which 25.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.2% were married couples living together, 13.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.4% were non-families. 34.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.1% have someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.23 and the average family size was 2.83.

In the city the population was spread out with 21.2% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 27.1% from 25 to 44, 23.7% from 45 to 64, and 18.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 87.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.9 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $21,120, and the median income for a family was $29,731. Males had a median income of $28,320 versus $18,203 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,820. About 23.3% of families and 21.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 35.2% of those under the age of 18 and 12.5% of those 65 and older.

Transportation

• Parkersburg is served by Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Airport, with 3 flights a day Monday through Friday from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.
• Parkersburg is served by two major routes, Interstate 77 and US 50. Other routes through the city includes WV 2, 14, 68, 95, and 618.

Neighborhoods

North Parkersburg (North Side)

Beechwood, Downtown, Fairview Heights, Granada Hills, Julia-Ann Square, Meadowcrest, Oakwood Estates, Quincy Hill, Riverside, Woodland Park, North End, Worthington, East End

South Parkersburg (South Side)

The southern part of the City of Parkersburg, South Parkersburg was a separate city until it became part of Parkersburg in 1950. More rural parts of Wood County include the Tri-C areas of Washington, Lubeck, Mineral Wells, and Blennerhassett to the Southwest.

Media

The Parkersburg News and Parkersburg Sentinel were the city's two major daily newspapers until 2009 when they combined to form one daily edition, The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. The same company also publishes the Marietta A.M. and Graffiti, West Virginia's alternative news magazine.

There are many radio stations broadcasting from Parkersburg, including 106.1 Z106 (WRZZ),102.1 The River (WRVB), U.S. 107 WNUS, MIX 100 (WDMX), V96.9 (WVVV), WXIL, Froggy 99.1, and 103.1 The Bear.

WTAP, the local NBC affiliate, is the main local television station.^[13]

Education

Higher education

• Mountain State College, a private, for-profit, two-year college, is located in the city.
• West Virginia University at Parkersburg, a public college, is located on the outskirts of the city.
• Ohio Valley University is located nearby in Vienna.
• Meredith Manor, a private technical school for equestrians, is located in Waverly just north of here

High schools

Parkersburg is the home of the Parkersburg High School Big Reds, Parkersburg South High School Patriots, and the Parkersburg Catholic High School Crusaders.

Middle schools

Middle schools include Van Devender, Edison, and Hamilton.

Jackson Middle School is located in Vienna and although having a Parkersburg mailing address, Blennerhassett Junior High School, now also adopting the "middle school" designation.

Culture

Museums

• Blennerhassett Museum of Regional History
• Henry Cooper Log Cabin Museum
• Oil and Gas Museum
• Sumnerite African-American History Museum
• The Artcraft Studio
• Veterans Museum of Mid-Ohio Valley

Parks

• Blennerhassett Island Historical State Park
• Bicentennial Park
• Corning Park
• Point Park
• Southwood Park
• Quincy Park
• City Park
• Johnson T. Janes Park
• Friendship Park
• Fort Boreman Historical Park
• Mountwood Park
• Fries Park

Sports

The Wood County Ravens, a semi-professional football team, is based in the city. The Ravens are a part of the Mountain State Football League. ^{[14] [15]}

Parkersburg was home to the Ohio Valley Redcoats, a minor league baseball team, until 1998. The city is in negotiations to bring professional baseball back to Parkersburg.^[16]

In 2008, the city and its three high schools placed second in ESPN's TitleTown USA competition.^[17]

"We don't have a lot of people, nor any professional sports teams, but here is a stat for you. AAA is the highest level that a high school can compete at in W.Va. Both schools mentioned hereafter are AAA schools. In Parkersburg, we have accumulated 192 overall state championships in 103 years with 183 if those coming since 1950. Parkersburg High School alone has 137 championships in its 103 years of existence. There is also another AAA school in Parkersburg called Parkersburg South High School, who, by the way, has 38 titles in 40 years. Not to be outdone Parkersburg Catholic, a single A school, has 17 state titles of its own. Not bad considering that there are 136 high school teams in West Virginia with 38 in AAA. We may not have a pro sports team, but in high school sports, Parkersburg as a whole is pretty dominant"^[18] as written in an article on espn.com.

Film and television

• The Steven Soderbergh film Bubble, released in 2006, was filmed in Parkersburg and neighboring Belpre, Ohio, using an all-local cast.
• Other films shot in the city are Salvage and The Barbecue.^[19]
• Parkersburg was the set for the 1962 television series It's a Man's World.^[19]
• The city was featured in a 1989 episode of Rescue 911.
• Parkersburg was mentioned in the novel and the classic film Night of the Hunter. In Davis Grubb's 1953 novel Parkersburg was the town where the murderous preacher Harry Powell was caught for car theft and sent to prison; it was the worldly town that Rachel Cooper (Lillian Gish in the film) avoided because she'd been short-changed there; and finally it was the home of the state troopers who came to arrest Powell for murder. In the book and in the 1955 film version Powell (Robert Mitchum) called Parkersburg "One of them Sodoms on the Ohio River," a reference to its reputation as a rough and tumble river town in the 19th and early 20th century. Night of the Hunter, which took place in the early 1930s, is generally considered the greatest West Virginia novel.

Notable natives and residents

• Allen Appel is a novelist best known for his series about time traveler Alex Balfour.
• Eddie Bailes was a locally popular country singer whose "Love Isn't Love" was a small 1976 chart hit.
• William M. Batten was a CEO of J.C. Penny and was chairman of the New York Stock Exchange from 1976 to 1981.^[20]
• Harman Blennerhassett, an ally of Aaron Burr and owner of Blennerhasset Island, was arrested for treason by President Thomas Jefferson.
• Arthur I. Boreman was the first governor of West Virginia.
• Ed Catmull, President, Walt Disney Animation Studios & Pixar Animation Studios

• Jim Dawson has written a dozen books on American culture, particularly early rock 'n' roll, rhythm and blues, and dirty slang. He also wrote the best-selling 1999 book Who Cut the Cheese?.
• Diana DeRose was the lead vocalist of The Rose Garden, whose 1967 recording "Next Plane to London" was a national Top 10 hit.
• Paul Dooley is a longtime Hollywood character actor with major roles in Sixteen Candles, Breaking Away and Popeye, among others.
• James Dukas was a New York-based stage actor who played character roles between 1959 and 2000 in such films as The Amityville Horror, Brubaker and Ironweed.
• Paul Goldsmith is a 1999 inductee in the Motorcycle Hall of Fame
• Linda Goodman wrote several best-selling books on astrology, including Sun Signs.
• Tommy Hanlon Jr was a well-known TV announcer in Australia; he emigrated there in the 1960s.
• Dick "Doc" Hoblitzell (1888–1962) was an outfielder for the Cincinnati Redlegs (1908–1914) and Boston Red Sox (1915–1916). He played in the 1916 World Series.
• Homer A. Holt, (1831–1998), was a justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.
• Cyrus Cotton "Cy" Hungerford was a political cartoonist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for nearly half a century, until he retired in the 1970s; he got his start at the Parkersburg Sentinel.
• Jacob B. Jackson was the governor of West Virginia from 1881 to 1885.
• Mabel Mackey was a colorful mid-20th-century madam, known for her red hair and buckskin jackets, who was infamous up and down the Ohio Valley until her death in the early 1960s. Her ghost is said to haunt the Wood County Courthouse.
• Earle "Greasy" Neale (1891–1973) was an early 20th-century football star inducted into the National Football Hall of Fame in 1969. He was also an outfielder for the Cincinnati Redlegs in 1919 when the team played the Chicago White Sox in the infamous "Black Sox" World Series.
• Gary Null is a nationally-syndicated nutritionist who has written more than a dozen books and appeared regularly on PBS.
• Devon Odessa is an American actress and film producer.
• Patsy Ramsey was a Miss West Virginia and the mother of murder victim JonBenét Ramsey.
• Scenes from a Movie band members
• Freddie Scott was an R&B vocalist who recorded the 1963 Top 10 hit "Hey Girl".
• Susan Sheppard has written several books about hauntings, astrology and the paranormal (as well as poetry published internationally) and regularly leads "haunted tours" of Parkersburg's old neighborhoods.
• Songwriter Arlos Smith has written two number-one country music hits: "Home to You" for John Michael Montgomery (2000) and "Mayberry" for Rascal Flatts (2004).
• William E. Stevenson was governor of West Virginia from 1869 to 1871.
• Zachary E. Stubbs aka Zacarias Underground Hip Hop Artist
• Nick Swisher is an outfielder and first-baseman for the New York Yankees who played in the 2009 World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies. He played formerly for the Oakland A's and the Chicago White Sox.
• Steve Swisher, father of Nick Swisher, is a former major league baseball catcher who played for the Chicago Cubs.
• Peter G. Van Winkle, one of West Virginia's first U.S. senators, cast the deciding vote that prevented the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson; John F. Kennedy wrote a chapter about Van Winkle in his book Profiles in Courage.
• Richard Watts, Jr. was a film critic for the New York Herald Tribune
• H. T. Webster was the early 20th-century cartoonist who created Caspar Milquetoast
• Albert B. White was governor of West Virginia from 1901 to 1905.
• Gill Robb Wilson was a local aviator for whom Parkersburg's airfield is named.
• Glenn Wilson was a local television pioneer and a long-time news reporter for WTAP-TV
• Zao is a band formed in Parkersburg, now based out of Greensburg, Pennsylvania
• Deron Williams starting point guard for the New Jersey Nets of the NBA

References in popular culture

• Parkersburg was mentioned in the 1962 song "I've Been Everywhere".
• West Virginia novelist Davis Grubb made several references to Parkersburg's rowdy rivertown reputation in his 1953 novel The Night of the Hunter; in the classic 1955 film version written by James Agee and directed by Charles Laughton, Robert Mitchum called Parkersburg "One of the Sodoms of the Ohio River."

Awards

• CNNMoney.com named the city the #7 Best Shrinking Place to Live ^[21]

Sister cities

See also

• Hughes River Wildlife Management Area
• List of cities and towns along the Ohio River
• List of Registered Historic Places in West Virginia
• Vienna, WV
• Grand Central Mall

References

External links

• Parkersburg's website
• Parkersburg Skate Plaza Foundation's website
• Parkersburg, West Virginia: A Vintage Portrait
• Greater Parkersburg Tourism
• WTAP News (local NBC affiliate)
• The Parkersburg News (local newspaper)
• Parkersburg Police
• Parkersburg Fire
• [3] Detailed history; 1,000 vintage photos
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). "Parkersburg". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
• [4] Detailed history of Diana DeRose's hitmaking rock group