Editing West Union, West Virginia (section)

===18th and 19th centuries===
[[File:Fowler's 1899 West Union.jpg|thumb|left|200px|''West Union, West Virginia, 1899'']]

The area was first settled in the late 1780s by James Caldwell, who owned {{convert|20,000|acre|km2}} of land that included present West Union. Caldwell sold this land to Nathan Davis, Jr (1772-1866) and his brothers about 1807. They in turn sold {{convert|16,000|acre|km2}} to [[Lewis Maxwell]] (1790-1862), a Virginia congressman.

The settlement was originally called Lewisport,<ref>"County Seat of Doddridge was First Named Lewisport", ''[[Clarksburg Exponent]]'', April 14, 1940.</ref> but Davis later supposedly suggested the name of "West Union", in deference to a proposed town of Union to be built on the eastern side of Middle Island Creek. (Union has disappeared, if it ever existed.) According to an early resident, A.A. Bee: "The first bridge across Middle Island Creek [at West Union] was of hewed logs with a center abutment of stones. In the great flood of 1835 it was washed away". In 1842, a contract was awarded to the well-known [[civil engineer]] [[Claudius Crozet]] to build a new covered bridge at West Union, as part of a series of public works along the [[Northwestern Turnpike]]. [[Ephraim Bee]] (1802–1888), a local [[blacksmith]] (who was also a district officer, magistrate, state legislator, hotelier, and postmaster at various times) made all the bolts and bands for the [[West Union Covered Bridge (West Virginia)|West Union Covered Bridge]] which was completed in 1843.

On the night of March 27, 1858, a fire utterly devastated the town of West Union. At the time, many of the citizens were attending the U.S. court at Clarksburg, and so were not available for fire suppression efforts. The fire originated in an upper room of the residence of Lathrop Russell Charter. The flames spread quickly to other buildings: first, a large hotel and store room belonging to James A. Foley. Next came the residence of Ethelbert Bond and a storehouse belonging to Arthur Ingram. Other buildings followed and the next morning the entire settlement appeared a "mass of smoldering ruins". The Parkersburg and Grafton branch of the [[Baltimore and Ohio Railroad]] had just been completed, however, and the town was able to revive economically and structurally fairly quickly.

Nearby Maxwell Ridge — named for the family of Congressman Maxwell — is said to have a cave that was used by the [[Underground Railroad]] in the years leading up to the Civil War.<ref name="e-WV">{{cite web|url=http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1012|title=The West Virginia Encyclopedia: West Union|date=November 12, 2010|access-date=July 23, 2011 |author=Frank Engle McCallum|publisher=West Virginia Humanities Council}}</ref>

West Union was home to Matthew M. Neely, grandfather of West Virginia's 21st governor. Governor [[Matthew M. Neely]], also a [[US Senator]], was born in 1874 just south of the town.<ref name="e-WV"/>

West Union was [[incorporation (municipal government)|incorporated]] on July 20, 1881.