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CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) — The West Virginia State Museum holds within it the vast history and culture of the young state, but it took a number of years after the state’s creation before it was established.
The museum was born from the West Virginia Historical and Antiquarian Society, a semi-private society organized in the Senate Chamber of the State House on January 30, 1890. The society’s collection became the beginning of the State Museum, displaying on the ground floor of the state capitol building.
On April 3, 1894, West Virginia Governor William A. MacCorkle announced the official opening of the West Virginia State Museum within the then-standing capitol building on Capitol Street.
Much of the collection was split between the historical society’s collection and artifacts from the West Virginia Building at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.
On February 18, 1905, the legislature declared the historical society’s artifacts as part of the museum, combining the collections. The museum was also moved to the Capitol Annex, which spared it from the 1921 Capitol fire.
After the completion of the modern state capitol building in 1932, the collection was moved to its basement.
The museum continued to grow, leading to legislatures greenlighting the construction of the West Virginia Science and Culture Center. The $14 million center was completed on July 11, 1976, with the museum ready and open. Plans for renovations began in the late 1990s but didn’t fully come to fruition until 2009.