Clarksburg, West Virginia 1950 Snow Storm To Remember

The 1950 storm, fueled by an arctic front, unleashed unprecedented snowfall and frigid conditions on Clarksburg and the surrounding region, leaving a lasting legacy as the worst winter storm in West Virginia's history. With its Category 5 classification on the Regional Snowfall Index, the event remains a benchmark for measuring severe winter weather, highlighting the importance of historical data for future storm preparedness.

The Clarksburg Exponent | June 24, 1944 | Author Unknown

Central West Virginia counted more than half a hundred dead and several hundreds more injured and missing this morning after a sudden, terrific tornado ripped a path of destruction through the area last night.

The holocaust apparently wreaked the greatest havoc in the Pleasant Hill addition to Shinnston, virtually destroying the entire suburb before the “twister” lazily spiraled its way southeast into Taylor county.

Conceived of frustration, blood and tears, West Virginia had its birth in the midst of the nation's most tragic War - the Civil war, or the War Between the States, depending upon one's heritage.

As Clarksburg marks the 117th birthday of the mountain state with West Virginia celebration days, chances are that few of today's celebrants ( are aware of the fact that it was a Harrison County resident who was among the early “Sowers of the seed” from which the 35th state of the union eventually grew.

The Clarksburg History Museum recently received a prestigious award

Charles Leib was commissioned as a Captain in the Quartermaster Corps at the beginning of the Civil War and posted to a critical, yet obscure, post in western Virginia where he established a major logistical operations center to support Generals McClellan and Rosecrans in the early days of the Civil War.