Category: Radio

Chuck Yeager Breaks the Sound Barrier: October 14, 1947

On October 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager’s Bell X-1 rocket airplane dropped from the belly of a B-29 bomber. Seconds later, Yeager entered the history books as the first pilot to break the sound barrier.

By this time, the 24-year-old Lincoln County native was already an aviation legend. During World War II, he had flown 64 combat missions over Europe and, in a single dogfight, had killed 13 Germans. In his eighth mission, he had been shot down over German-occupied France.

After the war, he served in California as a test pilot for high-speed planes. A year after breaking the sound barrier, he visited Charleston and gave the people a show they would never forget. During a boat race on the Kanawha River, he flew his Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star jet beneath Charleston’s South Side Bridge.

Yeager retired from the Air Force in 1975 as a brigadier general. Thirty years later, President George W. Bush promoted Yeager to the rank of major general. In 2012, on the 65th anniversary of his record-setting flight, he again broke the sound barrier—this time, at age 89.

October 10, 1774: The Battle of Point Pleasant is Fought

On October 10, 1774, perhaps the most important battle ever fought in present-day West Virginia occurred at Point Pleasant. It was preceded by a long spring and summer of deadly violence between settlers and Indians. In response to these hostilities, Virginia Governor Lord Dunmore dispatched two armies to attack Shawnee villages in Ohio. Dunmore personally led the northern army, while the southern column was under Colonel Andrew Lewis.

Shawnee Chief Cornstalk closely scouted both forces. He decided to attack Lewis’s troops at Point Pleasant before they could unite with Dunmore’s army. During the battle, both sides numbered about 1,000, and the struggle was intense. Much of the fighting involved brutal hand-to-hand combat. Late in the day, Cornstalk misread a flanking movement by the Virginians as a sign of reinforcements. He surrendered the battlefield and retreated across the Ohio River.

The resulting treaty, which was signed five months before the Revolutionary War began, brought relative peace to the region. Although the truce proved temporary, it kept American soldiers from fighting a two-front war and allowed them to focus on the British for the first two years of the conflict.

October 9, 2001: Actress and Model Dagmar Dies

The entertainer known as Dagmar died on October 9, 2001. In the 1950s, she was one of the most recognizable faces on television and even graced the cover of Life magazine.

She was born as Virginia Ruth Egnor in Logan County in 1921. At an early age, she moved with her family to Huntington, where she attended Huntington High School. During World War II, she moved to New York City and found work as a sweater model and Broadway actress. Her big breakthrough came in 1950, when she began appearing on NBC’s Broadway Open House. Audiences loved her deadpan delivery of punch lines and deliberate misuse of words. In one skit, she appeared as a character named Dagmar, and the name stuck. In her early career, she performed on stage with Milton Berle and Frank Sinatra. And, at one point, she was receiving 2,000 fan letters a week.

In 1952, she briefly hosted her own series called Dagmar’s Canteen. She drifted out of the spotlight after the 1950s but continued to perform in nightclubs. Dagmar moved back to West Virginia at age 75 and lived her final years in Ceredo.

October 8, 1764: Harman Blennerhassett Born in London

Harman Blennerhassett was born in London to a wealthy Irish family on October 8, 1764. He and his wife Margaret immigrated to the United States in 1796. Two years later, they settled on an island in the Ohio River near Parkersburg. In 1800, they built an immense mansion on what would become known as Blennerhassett Island.

Harman Blennerhassett is best remembered, though, for his role in a sketchy plot. In 1805, he and Aaron Burr began scheming to establish their own kingdom in the Southwest, most likely in Spanish-ruled Texas. President Thomas Jefferson soon learned of the military intrigue transpiring on Blennerhassett Island. He believed that Burr and Blennerhassett were targeting United States, not Spanish, territory. He ordered the arrests of both men on the charge of treason. Jefferson’s reaction could be attributed, in part, to politics. Burr had served as Thomas Jefferson’s vice president. Yet, the two men were bitter political enemies.

In 1807, Burr was acquitted of all charges. Harman Blennerhassett was then freed, too. But the damage had been done. Blennerhassett spent the remaining 24 years of his life trying to regain his lost fortune.

October 7, 1923: First Miles of the Appalachian Trail Opens in New York State

On October 7, 1923, the first miles of the Appalachian Trail were opened in New York state. Within 14 years, the trail would stretch some 2,200 miles—from Maine to Georgia.

The Appalachian Trail crosses into West Virginia in two places. In southeastern West Virginia, the trail crosses Peters Mountain a few miles east of Peterstown in Monroe County. Here, it zigzags along the state line for close to 13 miles. This stretch offers commanding views of Allegheny Mountain before dropping off into Virginia.

In the eastern panhandle, the Appalachian Trail again weaves along the West Virginia-Virginia border, this time east of Charles Town. About four miles of the trail are located entirely in West Virginia. Hikers can see stone remnants of Civil War fortifications and pits and ditches from the charcoal-producing days of the 1800s. The trail crosses the Shenandoah River and enters Harpers Ferry, headquarters of the Appalachian Trail Conference. It then crosses the Potomac River, leaving West Virginia and entering Maryland.

Various organizations, environmental advocacy groups, governmental agencies, and thousands of volunteers maintain the Appalachian Trail.

October 5, 1931: U.S Senator Dwight Morrow Dies

Financier, diplomat, and U.S. Senator Dwight Morrow died in New Jersey on October 5, 1931, at age 58. The Morrow Library at Marshall University is named for Dwight’s father, James E. Morrow, and was founded in part by Dwight.

Financier, diplomat, and U.S. Senator Dwight Morrow died in New Jersey on October 5, 1931, at age 58. He was born in Huntington in 1873, while his father, James E. Morrow, was serving as the 11th principal of Marshall College—now Marshall University. When Dwight was an infant, his family moved to West Liberty, where his father served briefly as president of West Liberty Normal School—which is today West Liberty University. The Morrows then moved to Pittsburgh.

After earning his law degree from Columbia University, Dwight Morrow became an attorney in New York City. In 1914, he joined the banking firm of J. P. Morgan and Company. In 1927, President Calvin Coolidge—an old college friend—named Morrow ambassador to Mexico. Morrow resigned from this position in 1930 to run successfully for the U.S. Senate from New Jersey. He died only a few months into his term in the Senate.

The Morrow Library at Marshall University is named for Dwight’s father, James E. Morrow, and was founded in part by Dwight Morrow. Dwight Morrow’s daughter, Anne, was married to aviator Charles Lindbergh.

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