Built by Industry, Transformed by Innovation
Throughout its 250-year history, the city of Wheeling has been many things, including the first capital of the Mountain State and an industrial giant for industries such as steel, iron and glasswork. While its population and economy suffered for a number of years as factories began closing their doors, a recent resurgence has brought with it an influx of new businesses, young families and advocacy efforts to honor the city’s historic landscape.
Fighting for Market Share: The Evolution of Coal
When one stops to consider the impact coal has had on the development of the modern world, it is hard to imagine where civilization would be without this fossil fuel. More than heating homes and providing electricity, coal has inspired—and driven—innovation in other industries such as transportation, steel production and manufacturing throughout history.
Bouncing Back: Economic Resiliency in Appalachia
Invest in education, technology, infrastructure and broadband. Foster long-term community engagement. Create a community with a quality of life so attractive people want to live there.
When Dreams Take Flight: Brigadier General Christopher Walker
With his sights set on the heavens, as a boy Christopher “Mookie” Walker dreamed only of flying. Soon after graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy, he found himself on a career path that allowed him to spread his wings and explore his passion for flight.
Leading Lady
West Virginia native Dr. Patrice Harris is taking the national stage in health care leadership this year as the first-ever African-American female president of the American Medical Association, the largest association of physicians and medical students in the U.S.
Redefining Huntington
In the afterward of his popular 2015 book “Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic,” Sam Quinones ponders the decline of community as a predecessor to the drug epidemic in America. “We wound up dangerously separate from each other—whether in poverty or affluence,” he writes. “Kids no longer play in the street. Parks are underused. Dreamland lies buried beneath a strip mall. Why then do we wonder that heroin is everywhere? In our isolation, heroin thrives; that’s its natural habitat.