Editing Kanawha County, West Virginia (section)

==History==
The county began taking formation on November 14, 1788, under the authorization of the Virginia General Assembly and was founded on October 5, 1789. The county was named for the [[Kanawha River]], which in turn was named after a Native American tribe that lived in the area.<ref name="WV Culture and History">{{Cite web |title=West Virginia Counties |url=http://www.wvculture.org/history/wvcounties.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010923185022/http://www.wvculture.org/history/wvcounties.html |archive-date=September 23, 2001 |access-date=February 24, 2014 |publisher=West Virginia Division of Culture and History}} (WV County Etymology)</ref>{{failed verification|date=November 2024}} During the [[American Civil War]], a number of state [[infantry]] and [[cavalry]] regiments were organized in the county for both [[Confederate Army]] and [[Union Army]] service.

In 1863 West Virginia's counties were divided into [[civil township]]s, with the intention of encouraging local government. This proved impractical in the heavily rural state, and in 1872 the townships were converted into [[minor civil division|magisterial districts]].<ref>Otis K. Rice & Stephen W. Brown, ''West Virginia: A History'', 2nd ed., University Press of Kentucky, Lexington (1993), p. 240.</ref>  Kanawha County was divided into ten districts: Big Sandy, Cabin Creek, Charleston, Elk, Jefferson, Loudon, Malden, Poca,{{efn-lr|Originally "Pocatalico".}} Union, and Washington. In the 1970s the historic districts were consolidated into five new magisterial districts: District 1, District 2, District 3, District 4, and District 5. A District 6 was created in the 1980s, but in the 1990s the county was redistricted again, reducing the number of magisterial districts to four: District 1, District 2, District 3, and District 4.<ref>[[United States Census Bureau]], [[United States Census|U.S. Decennial Census]], Tables of Minor Civil Divisions in West Virginia, 1870–2010.</ref>

Kanawha County was the site of [[Paint Creek–Cabin Creek strike of 1912|a bloody miners' strike]] in 1912, and a [[Kanawha County textbook controversy|school textbook controversy]] in 1974, that resulted in bombings, and received national attention.