Country-and-western musician Billy Cox was born near Charleston on August 4, 1897. He started his career in 1928, singing and playing guitar and harmonica on Charleston’s WOBU radio station, which later became WCHS.
During the 1930s, Cox was recognized as one of West Virginia’s premier singer songwriters.
Among his 150 recordings were future country standards like “Sparkling Brown Eyes” and this song, “Filipino Baby,” which he performed with Cliff Hobbs of Cedar Grove.
Several of Billy Cox’s songs celebrated Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal. But the Great Depression, along with personal problems, cut Cox’s career short.
He soon left the music business and worked various odd jobs, including a stint at Charleston’s Kelly Axe Factory. He was later discovered by musicologists in the 1960s living in poverty. Billy Cox, known as the “Dixie Songbird,” died in 1968 at age 71.
West Virginia University researchers recently completed a year-long project exploring the history of a coal community in Monongalia County, using photos and oral history to create an exhibit.
Scott’s Run is a five-mile area that stretches along the banks of the Monongahela River, about four miles from West Virginia University.
Today less than 2,000 people live there, and the former towns in Scotts Run – such as Osage and Cassville – are all unincorporated.
But, in the early 1900s the area was booming from the coal industry. Its main economic advantage was its proximity to the river, railroads and coal resources. But, by the 1930s during the Great Depression, like much of the country, Scott’s Run hit hard times.
Credit Photo courtesy of West Virginia and Regional History Center
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School children at Osage, a town within Scott’s Run, with their Sunday school teacher in the 1940s. When researchers showed this photo to Scott’s Run elders one said, “As youngsters on Osage Hill we all played together. No difference in color. We didn’t know a difference until we went to school.”
Consequently, the community banded together, creating a family-like bond that still exists today.
“There’s this community that is a completely different world from what you’ve seen of Morgantown that has this history that’s very much the history of West Virginia,” said Kristina Hash, a professor of social work at WVU.
Hash was one of six researchers on the team that studied Scott’s Run. Other researchers included Catherine Gouge, Lori Hostuttler, Tamba M’bayo, Christine Rittenour and Tyler Redding.
The project was funded in 2018 through a grant from the West Virginia University Humanities Center.
Many photos were taken of the people of Scott’s Run during the Great Depression years, Hash said. Using these photos, she and her team documented stories from West Virginians who were children during the early years of Scott’s Run.
About a dozen of the original residents of Scott’s Run still get together every weekend. Hash said the sense of community is strong.
“People that had a really diverse community that lived in harmony that centered around coal and together faced major tragedy,” she said.
All the research was compiled into a video and an exhibit that has been donated to the Scott’s Run Museum where it will be permanently on display. The museum is open every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
On March 30, 1837, the Virginia legislature chartered a private academy at West Liberty, north of Wheeling.
The first 65 students met for classes the following year. In 1857, public-spirited citizens completed the red-brick Academy Hall, which survived until the mid-1970s.
Enrollment at West Liberty fell during the Civil War, and in 1867, debt forced trustees to sell the school to the state of West Virginia. In 1870, the legislature established a high school and a teacher-training school at West Liberty. Enrollment began to increase in the 1920s, when Curtis and McColloch halls were built. These two structures are today part of Main Hall. In 1931, the school was renamed West Liberty State Teachers College.
During the Great Depression, the New Deal provided funding to build a boys’ dorm, a fraternity hall, faculty housing, and the first student union in West Virginia. New programs were added, including a dental hygiene department, which became one of the college’s most widely respected majors. In 1938, a branch campus opened in Wheeling, which in 1972 became West Virginia Northern Community College.
On October 21, 1940, former West Virginia Governor William G. Conley died at the age of 74. The Republican started his career as a schoolteacher and became superintendent of Preston County schools at age 25. After earning his law degree, he opened a legal practice in Tucker County and founded the Parsons Advocate newspaper. He also served as mayor of Parsons and Kingwood before being appointed West Virginia attorney general in 1908.
After a defeat for Congress in 1912, Conley focused on his legal work and became involved in the coal industry. In 1928, he returned to politics and won the governorship. But troubling times were just around the corner. The stock market crashed during his first year in office. Over the next three years, West Virginia lost more than 30,000 coal jobs. Despite his distrust of government intervention, Conley promoted efforts to distribute food and create jobs.
The Great Depression was a turning point for West Virginia politics. During Conley’s term, the state became solidly Democratic. Since Conley left office in 1933, only two Republicans, Cecil Underwood and Arch Moore, have served as West Virginia’s governor.
