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Marshall County is part of West Virginia's Northern Panhandle. Except for the flat Ohio River Valley, the terrain is generally rolling and hilly.
The first white man known to have explored the area was Christopher Gist in 1751. The first settlement made within the county was by John Wetzel in 1769. The settlers who followed Wetzel relied upon Fort Henry, at what is today Wheeling, for protection from Indian raids.
Marshall County was formed from Ohio County in 1835. The county was named for John Marshall, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. By 1840, it had a population of 6,937.
Marshall County's economy remained largely agricultural until well after the Civil War. However, by 1890, manufacturing and the production of coal and gas had become increasingly important. The expanding economic base caused population to grow from 20,735 in 1890 to over 32,000 by 1910. Manufacturing and coal mining became mainstays of the economy.
Moundsville, the county seat and the county's largest town, is at the mouth of Grave Creek along the Ohio River. The first settlement here was made in 1770 by Joseph Tomlinson, who established a town on his land which he called Elizabethtown, after his wife. It and an adjacent town were consolidated as Moundsville in 1866.
The town received its name from the gigantic mound built by the Adena people thousands of years ago. The Delf Norona Museum near the site contains artifacts from and exhibits about the mound and its builders.
Moundsville is also the site of the former West Virginia Penitentiary, which was established in 1866.
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(From E. Lee North's 'The 55 West Virginias,' published by West Virginia University Press. Used with permission.)
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