West Union, WV

West Union is Doddridge County’s seat, set along Middle Island Creek where U.S. Route 50 meets West Virginia Route 18. The North Bend Rail Trail passes through town, adding a former rail corridor to the courthouse-town geography. West Union was incorporated in 1881, but its story reaches back to the late 1780s, when James Caldwell held a large tract that included the present town before selling it to Nathan Davis Jr. and his brothers.

Industry later changed the town’s scale. Doddridge County’s oil and gas boom helped bring a glass factory in 1906 and a second window-glass company soon after; together, the plants employed about 300 people. When those factories and later garment work disappeared, West Union settled into the mix of county government, schools, farming, timbering, and energy work that supports it now. The Downtown and Residential Historic Districts preserve two different views of the town, one commercial and one domestic, while the creek and the rail trail keep its older layout visible.