Editing New Cumberland, West Virginia (section)

==History==
[[File:Upper and Lower Clay Mines at Etna Plant in New Cumberland, West Virginia.jpg|thumb|left|Clay mines in New Cumberland, 1907]]
Pioneer George Chapman settled in the area of present-day New Cumberland in 1783 or 1784 and founded Fort Chapman. In 1839, John Cuppy laid out a town at the site and named it Vernon, although it was also referred to as Cuppytown.<ref name="West Virginia Blue Book"/><ref name="e-WV">{{cite web|url=https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1635 |author=Bailey, Kenneth R. |title=New Cumberland |publisher=e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia |date=October 21, 2010 |access-date=January 13, 2023}}</ref><ref name="BHJMPC">{{cite web|url=https://www.bhjmpc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/newcumberland.pdf |author=Bailey, Kenneth R. |title=Community Profile: New Cumberland, WV |publisher=Brooke Hancock Jefferson Metropolitan Planning Commission |access-date=January 13, 2023}}</ref> Cuppy changed the name to New Cumberland per the requests of the earliest land buyers, naming it after [[Cumberland, Maryland]].<ref name="e-WV" /><ref name="BHJMPC" /> The town was incorporated by the [[West Virginia Legislature]] in 1872.<ref name="West Virginia Blue Book"/><ref name="BHJMPC" />

When [[Hancock County, West Virginia|Hancock County]] was formed in 1848, New Cumberland competed with [[New Manchester, West Virginia|New Manchester]] (at the time Fairview, and later, Pughtown) for the [[county seat]].<ref name="e-WV" /> New Cumberland was chosen by thirteen votes in a referendum, but the already-seated courthouse in New Manchester refused to comply. In 1850, New Cumberland won a second referendum by forty-six votes and the seat was moved, but just two years later yet another referendum resulted in a New Manchester victory.<ref name="BHJMPC" /> In 1884, a final election resolved the matter, and New Cumberland became the permanent county seat.<ref name="e-WV" />

Local industry in the past involved the manufacture of fire and paving brick, sewer pipe, glassware, foundry and machine-shop products, and tiling. There were also coal mines and mills for the pulverization of fire clay for use in ironworks. The [[First National Bank-Graham Building]] and [[Marshall House (New Cumberland, West Virginia)|Marshall House]] are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2009a}}</ref>