Editing Morgantown, West Virginia (section)

==History==
[[File:Lunch-time.jpg|thumb|left|Lunch time for two boys employed at the Economy Glass Works in Morgantown, 1908. Photo by [[Lewis Hine]].]]
Morgantown's history is closely tied to the Anglo-French struggle for this territory. Until the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris]] in 1763, what is now known as Morgantown was greatly contested by white settlers and [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]], and by British and French soldiers. The treaty decided the issue in favor of the British, but Indian fighting continued almost to the beginning of the [[American Revolutionary War]] in 1775.{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}}

[[Zackquill Morgan]] and [[David Morgan (frontiersman)|David Morgan]], sons of [[Morgan Morgan]], entered the area of [[Virginia]] that would become Morgantown around 1767, although others, such as Thomas Decker, were recorded as attempting to settle in the area a decade earlier. Zackquill and David lived here for a few years and eventually built Fort Morgan in present-day Downtown Morgantown in 1772. Several forts were built in the area during this time: Fort Pierpont near the [[Cheat River]], in 1769; Fort Coburn, near [[Dorsey's Knob, West Virginia|Dorsey's Knob]], in 1770. Fort Morgan, at the present site of Morgantown, in 1772; Fort Dinwiddie, north several miles at [[Stewartstown, West Virginia|Stewartstown]], in 1772; Fort Martin, several miles north on the [[Monongahela River]], in 1773; Fort Burris in the present-day Suncrest area of Morgantown, in 1774; and Fort Kern in the present-day Greenmont area of Morgantown, in 1774, in addition to other, smaller forts.{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}}

Zackquill Morgan settled the area about 1772 by establishing a homestead near present-day Fayette Street and University Avenue. Morgan fought in both the [[French and Indian War]] and the [[American Revolutionary War]], rising to the rank of [[Colonel (United States)|colonel]]. By 1783, following his wartime duties, Colonel Morgan commissioned Major William Haymond to survey his land and divide it into streets and lots. Colonel Morgan then received a legal certificate for {{convert|400|acre|ha|abbr=off}} in the area of his settlement near the mouth of Decker's Creek. {{convert|50|acre|ha|abbr=off|spell=In}} were appropriated for Morgan's Town by the [[Virginia General Assembly]] in October 1785. On February 3, 1838, the Virginia General Assembly enacted a [[municipal charter]] incorporating the city, now with a population of about 700, as Morgantown, Virginia. The town became part of the newly created state of [[West Virginia]] on June 20, 1863, through the [[Reorganized Government of Virginia]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}}

[[File:Wharf-District.jpg|thumb|left|Historic warehouse in Wharf District, converted to restaurant during late-1990s/early-2000s riverfront refurbishing]]
Notable early structures still standing in Morgantown, include the [[Old Stone House (Morgantown, West Virginia)|Old Stone House]], built in 1795 by Jacob Nuce on Long Alley (the modern-day Chestnut Street)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wvculture.org/shpo/nr/pdf/monongalia/72001290.pdf|title=National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form(The Old Stone House)|publisher=West Virginia Division of Culture and History|access-date=August 5, 2011}}</ref> and the John Rogers family home on Foundry Street, built in 1840 and occupied as of 2011 by the Dering Funeral Home.<ref>{{cite book|author=Wallace Venable|author2=Norma Venable|title=Around Morgantown|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XIuMCwYnrmsC&pg=PA15|year=2007|page=15|publisher=Arcadia |access-date=August 5, 2011|isbn=9780738543932}}</ref>

During the 1970s, the [[U.S. Department of Transportation]] built an experimental driverless personal rapid transit system in the city, citing the area's variable seasonal [[climate]] and geographic elevations as factors in testing the technology's viability. The [[Morgantown Personal Rapid Transit]] (PRT) has been in use since 1975. University students use the system for travel between the campuses.