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Marshall County, West Virginia
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===Postwar=== In 1866, after prisoners escaped from local jails, West Virginia's legislature authorized the purchase of land in Moundsville for the new state's penitentiary. The wooden structure was replaced by a gothic-style stone and brick building ([[West Virginia Penitentiary]] now operated as a tourist attraction), probably modeled upon a [[Joliet Correctional Center|facility]] opened in 1858 in [[Joliet, Illinois]]. It remained West Virginia's maximum security penitentiary from 1876 until 1995 (with a section for female inmates until construction of a separate facility in the 1940s). A more modern set of buildings at the town's outskirts is now the northern regional jail. The Marshall County courthouse was rebuilt in 1876. The [[U.S. Army Corps of Engineers]] had dealt with flooding on the Ohio River as interference to navigation long before the American Civil War, and in 1870 adopted a plan for construction of 13 locks and dams between Pittsburgh and Wheeling, and a few years later Congress authorized funding of a new prototype with adjustable gates near Pittsburgh to secure a 6-foot water flow. As the 20th century began, a series of appropriations funded 18 locks and dams, finally finished in 1929. These were built for flood control, and the canals of 9-foot depth between them facilitated transportation of heavy raw materials (including coal and iron ore) and finished goods (including steel). The [[McMechen Lockmaster Houses on the Ohio River]] (built in Marshall County in 1911) are among the few that remain (and have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1992). In 1872, Marshall County's nine townships were converted into magisterial districts. Their names and boundaries remained largely unchanged, with only minor adjustments over the next century. In the 1970s, Marshall's nine historic districts were consolidated into three new magisterial districts: District 1, District 2, and District 3.<ref name="Census Bureau MCD" /> In the late 19th century, several industries, including manufacturers of brooms, buggy whips, bricks, building supplies, steel and glassware developed in Marshall County. In 1892, the Fostoria Glass Company began producing quality tableware in Moundsville (the plant closed in 1986), and in 1901 the United States Stamping Company began producing enameled cooking ware. In the former sheep-farming community of [[Glen Dale, West Virginia|Glen Dale]], Wheeling Metal and Manufacturing Company opened a plant in 1904. Industries which developed locally in the early 20th century included: paper box manufacturing, building materials, pottery, well-drilling tools, women's clothing, guns, and chemicals (in World War II). Most of the buildings in the [[Moundsville Commercial Historic District]] date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. On April 28, 1924, a mine in [[Benwood, West Virginia|Benwood]] that supplied Wheeling Steel experienced the then-worst mining disaster in West Virginia history, killing an entire shift (119 men; now the state's third worst mining disaster). Between the 1890s and 1941, Benwood, [[McMechen, West Virginia|McMechen]], and Moundsville were connected by an electric railway. Coal mining remains important in Marshall County, with two mines producing 9.1 million tons of coal in 2009.<ref name="wvencyclopedia.org">{{Cite web |title=E-WV | Marshall County |url=https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1521}}</ref> In 1924, Marshall County elected the first woman to serve as a West Virginia legislator, Dr. [[Harriet B. Jones]]. On August 4, 1927, Charles Lindbergh landed near Moundsville, and by the decade's end the [[Fokker|Fokker Aircraft Company]] established a plant, which became a major employer in the area, and in 1934 was transformed into a toy factory (which closed in 1980).<ref name="wvencyclopedia.org" /> Part of northern Marshall County is now within the city of Wheeling. In 1968, [[A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada]] established [[New Vrindaban]] near the historic village of [[Limestone, West Virginia|Limestone]]. In 1972, his followers built [[Prabhupada's Palace of Gold]]. Both have now become tourist attractions, although New Vrindaban also operates a substantial farm.
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