HOUSE RESOLUTION 6

(By Delegates Howell, A. Evans, Rowan and
 R. Smith)

January 26, 2016

Honoring the town of Piedmont, in Mineral County, West Virginia, on the occasion of the town’s 160^th anniversary.

Whereas, The town of Piedmont was chartered in the year 1856; and

Whereas, Piedmont is located in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, on the south side of the North Branch of the Potomac River, at the foot of the Allegheny Front on the eastern edge of the Allegheny Mountains; and

Whereas, Piedmont is located at coordinates 39 degrees, 28 minutes, 49 seconds N and 79 degrees, 02 minutes, 53 seconds W (39.480232, -79.048086) and has a total area of 0.38 square miles of land; and

Whereas, The climate at Piedmont has mild differences between highs and lows, and has adequate rainfall throughout the year; and

Whereas, The main line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad reached Piedmont on July 21, 1851, and in the year 1853 connected Baltimore, Maryland and the Ohio River at Wheeling, Virginia, now West Virginia.  The railroad line through Piedmont is still a busy segment of the B & O system, part of CSX transportation; and

Whereas, During the American Civil War, 1861 to 1865, the town of Piedmont, largely because of the railroad line, was repeatedly raided by McNeill’s Rangers in efforts by the Confederates to disrupt train service; and

Whereas, William Luke established the West Virginia Paper Company (now NewPage Corporation) on 50 acres of Maryland land known as West Piedmont, adjacent to Westernport, Maryland, in 1888; and

Whereas, Well-known jazz performer Don Redman was born in Piedmont on July 29, 1900.  Henry Louis Gates, a professor of African-American history at Harvard University, author of several books and television commentator and host was raised in Piedmont, an experience he described in his 1994 book “Colored People”; and

Whereas, Industrialist Henry Gassaway Davis, who developed coal, timber, banking and railroad interests in West Virginia, was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates and to the State Senate, served two terms in the United States Senate, and in 1904 was a Democratic nominee for vice president of the United States, worked in Piedmont, West Virginia in the early part of his career; and

Whereas, The 2010 census shows there were 876 people, 385 households and 225 families living in Piedmont, with a racial makeup of 77.3% white, 17.9% African American, and the remainder Native American, Asian, Hispanic, Latino  or other; and

Whereas, The median age of residents in the town was 37.1 years and the gender makeup of the town was 47.3% male and 52.7% female; therefore, be it.  

Resolved by the House of Delegates:

That the House of Delegates hereby acknowledges the year 2016 as the 160^th anniversary of the town of Piedmont, West Virginia, and urges citizens to celebrate the many contributions made to the state and nation, by the town’s citizens, past and present; and, be it

Further Resolved, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for the appropriate representatives from the Piedmont area.