Editing McDowell County, West Virginia (section)

==History==
On February 20, 1858, McDowell County was formed from the northern portion of [[Tazewell County, Virginia|Tazewell County]], [[Virginia]].<ref name="Welch" />  In 1861, as the nation lurched toward [[American Civil War|civil war]], delegates from McDowell County voted in favor of Virginia's secession from the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Votes for Secession by County - Virginia Convention of 1861 - Civil War Collections - University of Richmond |url=https://secession.richmond.edu/visualizations/vote-maps.html |access-date=April 22, 2019 |website=secession.richmond.edu}}</ref>  The northwestern counties of the region were Union-affiliated and voted to secede from Virginia the following year, but McDowell, [[Greenbrier County, West Virginia|Greenbrier]], [[Logan County, West Virginia|Logan]], [[Mercer County, West Virginia|Mercer]], [[Monroe County, West Virginia|Monroe]], [[Pocahontas County, West Virginia|Pocahontas]], [[Webster County, West Virginia|Webster]], and [[Wyoming County, West Virginia|Wyoming]] counties in the southern section all refused to participate. The status of these eight counties would be decided by the [[Supreme Court of the United States|United States Supreme Court]] in the case of ''[[Virginia v. West Virginia]]''.<!-- Needs more explanation and date--><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Klement |first1=Frank L. |last2=Curry |first2=Richard Orr |date=March 1965 |title=A House Divided: A Study of Statehood Politics and the Copperhead Movement in West Virginia |journal=The Journal of American History |volume=51 |issue=4 |pages=720 |doi=10.2307/1889831 |issn=0021-8723 |jstor=1889831}}</ref>

McDowell was one of fifty former Virginia counties that were recognized as the state of West Virginia on June 20, 1863. The same year, the residents of McDowell County chose Perryville, now [[English, West Virginia|English]], then the most populous town, as their new [[county seat]].<ref name="Lewis" /> However, in 1866 the [[West Virginia Legislature|state legislature]] relocated the county seat to a farm near the mouth of Mill Creek. There it remained until 1874, when it returned to Perryville.<ref name="Welch">{{Cite book |last=Byrne |first=George |title=1915 Handbook of West Virginia |publisher=Lovett Printing Company |year=1915 |location=Charleston, WV |page=88}}</ref> The location of the county seat remained in dispute until 1892, when it moved to [[Welch, West Virginia|Welch]].<ref name="Welch" />

In 1863, West Virginia's counties were divided into [[civil township]]s, with the intention of encouraging local government. This proved impractical in the largely rural state, where population density was low. 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> McDowell County was divided into three districts: Big Creek, Elkhorn, and Sandy River. In the 1890s, Browns Creek District was formed from a portion of Elkhorn, and North Fork District was created from parts of Browns Creek and Elkhorn. A sixth district, Adkin, was created from part of Elkhorn District in the early 1900s. These districts remained stable until the 1980s, when Adkin, Elkhorn, and North Fork were consolidated into the district of North Elkin.<ref>[[United States Census Bureau]], [[United States Census|U.S. Decennial Census]], Tables of Minor Civil Divisions in West Virginia, 1870–2010.</ref>

Referring to the unconventional demographics and political state of McDowell County, a local newspaper editor described the county as "the Free State of McDowell", a description that has stuck in the popular imagination.<ref name="Free state">{{Cite thesis |last=Deaner |first=Larry Scott |title=Home in the McDowell County Coalfields: The African-American Population of Keystone, West Virginia |access-date=September 20, 2022 |degree=M.S., Geography |publisher=[[Ohio University]] |url=https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_etd/send_file/send?accession=ohiou1089820789&disposition=inline |year=2004}}</ref> The origin of this moniker is unknown. Tom Whittico, the founder and first editor of The McDowell Times—the first African-American paper in West Virginia—said he used it because African Americans had greater electoral power, civil freedoms, and freedom from segregation in McDowell County than in other locations in the state.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=P. Ahmed |title=Mountain Heritage |publisher=McClain Publishing Company |year=1980 |isbn=9780870122798 |editor-last=Maurer |editor-first=B.B. |pages=186–187}}</ref>

McDowell County had the first World War One Memorial to honor black soldiers.<ref name=":0" />

By the first half of the 20th century, McDowell County's economy was dominated by coal mining. In 1950, it was the "leading coal producing county" in the United States. Sixteen percent of the county's population in 1950 was employed in the coal mining sector. However, in the next few decades major breakthroughs in mechanization in the coal industry resulted in job declines. By 1960 the mining workforce had decreased from around 16,000 to around 7,000. Many people left because of the lack of jobs, but people with longstanding family ties were reluctant to do so.<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 10, 2016 |title=Why Don't People Who Are Stuck in Depressed Appalachian Towns Just Leave? |url=https://reason.com/2016/12/10/why-dont-people-who-are-stuck-in-depressed-appalachian-towns-just-leave/}}</ref>

While running for president, [[John F. Kennedy]] visited McDowell County and promised to send help if elected. His first executive order created the [[Food Stamp]]s program and the first recipients of food stamps were in McDowell County.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 20, 2014 |title=50 Years into the War on Poverty, Hardship Hits Back |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/21/us/50-years-into-the-war-on-poverty-hardship-hits-back.html |access-date=December 28, 2020 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> In May 1963, the increasing rate of poverty in McDowell County led President Kennedy to remark in a speech given in the city of Welch:
<blockquote>I don't think any American can be satisfied to find in McDowell County, in West Virginia, 20 or 25 percent of the people of that county out of work, not for 6 weeks or 12 weeks, but for a year, 2, 3, or 4 years.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kennedy |first=John F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VLraAwAAQBAJ&q=%22kennedy%22%22west%20virginia%22%22McDowell%20County%22&pg=PR1 |title=Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1963 |publisher=Best Books on, 1964 |year=1964 |isbn=9781623769031 |pages=366}}</ref></blockquote>