Huntington

Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is the county seat of Cabell County, and the largest city in the HuntingtonAshland metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as the Tri-State Area. As of the 2020 census, its metro area is the largest in West Virginia, spanning seven counties across three states and having a population of 359,862. Both the city and metropolitan area declined in population from the 2010 census, a trend that has been ongoing for six decades as Huntington has lost over 40,000 residents in that time frame. The city is the home of Marshall University as well as the Huntington Museum of Art and Camden Park, one of the world's oldest amusement parks. Its industrial sector is based in coal, oil, chemicals and steel, all of which support Huntington's diversified economy. The largest employers are Marshall University, Cabell Huntington Hospital, St. Mary's Medical Center, CSX Transportation, the U-S. Army Corps of Engineers, Amazon and DirecTV. The Port of Huntington Tri- state is the second-busiest inland port in the United States. The first identifiable permanent settlement, Holderby's Landing, was founded in 1775 in the Colony of Virginia. The site, previously a collection of agricultural homesteads, developed fast after the railroad's completion in 1871 and is eponymously named for the railroad company's founder, Collis Potter Huntington. Its location was selected as ideal for the western terminus of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway.

Geography

Huntington is the primary city name, but also Alltizer are acceptable city names or spellings, Beverly Hills on the other hand no longer accepted or obsolete and are no longer used as a designation. The official name is Huntington, West Virginia. Huntington is in the southwestern corner of West Virginia, on the border with Ohio. It is on the southern bank of the Ohio River, at the confluence with the Guyandotte River. Most of the city is in Cabell County, for which it is the county seat. The city lies within the ecoregion of the Western Allegheny Plateau. The north/south divider is the CSX railroad tracks, while the east/west divider are First Street. Residents of Huntington are called "huntingtonians" and the city has a total area of 18.46 square miles (47.81 km²) According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's total area is 16.22 sq mi (42.01 km²), of which 16. 22 sq mi is land and 2.24sq mi (5.80km²) is water. The Guy andotte River joins the Ohio river about 5 miles (8.0 km) east of downtown. Huntington fills the roughly three-mile wide flood plain of the south bank ofthe Ohio River for eighty square blocks and portions of the hills to the immediate south and southeast. A portion of Huntington, mainly the neighborhood of Westmoreland, is in Wayne County. The area is commonly divided into four main sections: Cabell, Wayne, Morgan, and Logan counties. It has a population of 3,816. It was the site of the World War II Battle of the Bulge, which took place in 1864.

Location and nomenclature

Huntington was founded on lightly populated lands near Guyandotte as a C&O Railroad hub, on the southern bank of the Ohio River. The area of greater Huntington, although situated in a Southern state, was long considered a western city in what was then the Colony of Virginia. A farmer James Holderby (1782-1855) purchased the lands in 1821 upon which much of Huntington now stands which is why the area was known as Holderby's Landing prior to 1870-71 when it was incorporated and renamed. As of the 2010 census, the Huntington Metro Area is the largest in West Virginia with a population of 365,419. Huntington is combined with Charleston, the state capital, as the Huntington-Charleston TV market, the 64th-largest in the nation. The city is influenced by Appalachian Culture, Southern culture, Midwestern culture, and Mid-Atlantic culture. The north/south divider is the CSX railroad tracks, while the east/west divider are First Street. A portion of the city, mainly the neighborhood of Westmoreland, is in Wayne County. Most of the town is in Cabell County, of which it is the county seat. It is often referred to as one of the northernmost cities in the South or one ofthe southernmost cities of the North. The Huntington Metro area is sometimes called KYOWVA, an acronym that refers to the three states that make up the region, (Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia).

History

Huntington was founded in 1871 as a hub for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. It was the second American city to feature electric streetcars in the early years, until they were gradually replaced with gasoline-powered buses. The city's population began to drop after 1950 because of urban sprawl and the decline of the steel and manufacturing industries. A shift to the city's economic base began in the late 1980s to focus more on education, tourism, and services, based mainly on healthcare/medicine and biotechnology. The modern Huntington Metro Area spans 7 counties across 3 states and is the largest West Virginia with a population of more than 360,000. The largest employers are Marshall University, Cabell Huntington University, Amazon, St. Mary's Medical Center, and DirecTV, the City of Huntington's largest employer is WVU. It is home to the Huntington Civic Arena, a $10.5 million arena with a capacity of 2,000 people. It has been the site of the filming of the Warner Bros. motion picture We Are Marshall in 2006, and of ABC's Food Revolution in 2010. It also hosts the National Museum of American History and Culture, which was opened in 2009. The National Park Service has a park in the city that is one of the world's oldest amusement parks, at 110 years old. It's home to one of America's oldest public parks, Camden Park, built in 1903 to encourage ridership on trolleys (then owned by the Camden Interstate Railway Company).

Cityscape

Huntington's central business district is directly between the Ohio River and the CSX Railroad track. There are also 2 smaller business districts: "Old Central City", well known for its antique shops, and one in Guyandotte. The city also has a wealth of architecture, including Gothic, Art Deco, and Edwardian Renaissance, along with many Craftsman, Colonial, Classical, and Tudor Revival homes. The Port of Huntington-Tristate, the largest port in West Virginia and the 17th-largest in the United States, is the nation's second largest inland port. The most famous attraction in Huntington is the Keith-Albee Theatre, a former Vaudeville palace in the "Art Deco style" from the 1920s, now known as the Keith Albee Performing Arts Center. The Downtown Huntington Historic District is a national historic district. A large portion of the division's revenue comes from hauling coal out of the coalfields of WestVirginia and Eastern Kentucky. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. A boundary increase added 53 more contributing buildings to the district in 2007. It is the largest of 10 operating divisions on CSX's transportation network, serving the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio and Ohio. The Huntington Division is still the largest in the CSx Transportation network. The port's area is 100 miles (160 km) of the Ohio river from the mouth of the Scioto River in Portsmouth, Ohio to the northern border of Gallia County, Ohio.

Demographics

There were 21,774 households, of which 22.9% had children under age 18 living with them, 32.2% were married couples living together, 13.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 49.5% were non-families. For every 100 females, there were 88.7 males, and the median income for a family was $34,756. The ethnic makeup of the city was 89.61% White, 7.49% Black or African American, 0.20% Native American, 0.82% Asian, 0,05% Pacific Islander, and 1.53% from two or more races. The average household size was 2.12 and the average family size was2.83. The median age was 35.4 years, and 18% of residents were under the age of 18; 16.7 percent were 18 to 24; 25.8% were 25 to 44; 24.2 percent were 45 to 64; and 15.2 per cent were 65 or older. The gender makeup was 48.6% male and 51.4% female. The population density was 3,029.5 inhabitants per square mile (1,169.7/km²). There were 25,146 housing units at an average density of 1,550.3 per squaremile (598.6/ km²) The average income for the city is $16,717. About 17.5 per cent of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.8 of those 65 and older.

Government and politics

The city of Cabell County, New York, has a mayor and city council. The mayor is elected to a four-year term. The city council has the authority to veto the mayor's vetoes. There are 11 members of the city council, nine of whom represent single-member districts, and the other two are elected at large. The county council is made up of seven members, all of whom are Democrats. The town's mayor is a Democrat, who is currently in his third term. There is a county council, which is made of four members, who are elected to three-year terms, and a city council of three, who can serve a fourth-term. The council can veto any of its members' vetoes with a two-thirds majority, which can be achieved by a majority of two votes in each of the three seats. It is the only city in the state to have a mayor who is not a member of the county council. It also has a county court, which has the power to issue fines to the city for non-compliance with the city's laws. It has its own city council and county council which are elected by the county's residents. It's the only town in the county to have its own mayor, who was elected in 2008. The state's county council has a council that is elected every four years. It was the first county to hold elections for a mayor, which was held on a non-presidential basis in the 1980s.

Law enforcement

The Huntington Police Department traces its history to 1872 with the appointment of Isaac H. Mitchell as the first Town Marshal of the city. The current police department is composed of 92 sworn officers and a professional support staff of 6 civilians. Karl Colder was approved by the Huntington City Council to be the HPD Chief of Police. Colder previously worked with the DEA and is the first African American police chief in Huntingtons history. Law enforcement and security for Marshall University is provided by the Marshall University Police Department. The Cabell County Sheriff's Office is responsible for the security of the Court House and property, public schools, service of court-ordered writs, protective and peace orders, warrants, tax levies, prisoner transportation and traffic enforcement. In addition to both municipal and county law enforcement agencies, Huntington is also home to a detachment of the West Virginia State Police. Troopers from this detachment are assigned to both Cabell and Wayne counties and can serve as a backup to any neighboring counties. Citing double-digit drops in overall crime, and drops of more than 20% in violent crime, HPD has been recognized by the U.S. Attorney's Office as the "Law Enforcement Agency of the Year" for 2011 and 2012. The HPD is the primary law enforcement agency serving Huntington. It has been named "Law enforcement agency of the year" twice in the past three years, in 2011 and in 2012. It is the only police department in West Virginia to have been awarded the title.

Huntington Fire Department

Huntington Fire Department was founded in 1897. The department currently provides nine fully staffed companies with a complement of support staff and apparatus. Jan Rader, the first paid female fire chief in the history of West Virginia, was sworn in as Chief of the Huntington Fire Department. The city of Huntington is on the southern bank of the Ohio River and is the river's largest port area. It is the host locality to the Regional # 6 West Virginia Regional Response Team which provides Hazardous Materials and Technical Rescue Team responses. The fire department holds a Class 2 rating from the Insurance Services Office (ISO) and was the first department in the State to achieve this status. In 1874, the city council enacted an ordinance creating a fire department to consist of an Engine Company, a Hose Company, and the previously formed Hook & Ladder Company. On August 5, 1875, the organization was complete and the department was ready for action. A tower bell for alarms was bought in 1875 and more cisterns were placed in 1876. In April 1926 the last two teams of horse-drawn hose companies were led away from Hose Companies No 5 and No 6 in Guyandotte Hills. In February 1929, Huntington's firefighters were issued a local union charter. The local firefighters were given the 289th International Fire Fighters Association of the U.S. and Canada. The old St. Cloud Fire Station is the city's reminder of the horse- Drawn Fire Station, which was built in 1883.

Health care

The two largest hospitals in Huntington are St. Mary's Medical Center and Cabell Huntington Hospital. The city is also home to the state's largest psychiatric hospital, Mildred Mitchell-Bateman Hospital. Huntington also is known for several health issues including opioid addiction and morbid obesity being featured on Jamie Oliver's food revolution. It was voted "the fattest city in America" in the late 2000's after being voted "The fattiest city in the United States" in a poll by CNN.com readers. It is also the home of the Marshall University School of Medicine, which includes the Joan C. Edwards Schools of Medicine and Nursing. The Huntington Veteran's Administration (VA) Medical Center, on Spring Valley Drive, is an 80-bed medical and surgical care facility that offers primary inpatient and outpatient care, along with mental health services and subspeciality outpatient options. It also is the primary teaching facility for theMarshall University School Of Medicine and is also affiliated with the University of Pikeville Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine. The hospital is a not-for-profit, regional referral center with 303 staffed beds. It cares for patients from more than 29 counties throughout West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio. Opened in 1956, the hospital is also a teaching hospital and home to Marshall University Medical Center. In 1993, the Robert C. Byrd Clinical Addition expanded the hospital's surgery, radiology, laboratory, cardiology, nuclear medicine, and rehabilitation services and renovated inpatient care facilities. In 1998, a $10 million research facility was completed.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Huntington, Cabell County, West Virginia = 38.2. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 40. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 81. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Huntington = 4.1 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 1,961 individuals with a median age of 37.7 age the population dropped by -5.90% in Huntington, Cabell County, West Virginia population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 2,888.1 residents per square mile of area (1,115.1/km²). There are average 2.1 people per household in the 21,576 households with an average household income of $27,447 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 7.70% of the available work force and has dropped -6.91% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 18.48%. The number of physicians in Huntington per 100,000 population = 439.9.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Huntington = 41.9 inches and the annual snowfall = 20.6 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 132. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 162. 90 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 28.2 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 39, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Huntington, Cabell County, West Virginia which are owned by the occupant = 46.73%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 57 years with median home cost = $65,740 and home appreciation of 5.87%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $6.55 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $5,668 per student. There are 15.2 students for each teacher in the school, 1025 students for each Librarian and 214 students for each Counselor. 4.63% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 12.70% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 9.99% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).