Grafton, West Virginia
| Grafton, West Virginia | |
|---|---|
| City | |
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 Location of Grafton, West Virginia |
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| Coordinates: 39°20′30″N 80°1′11″W / 39.34167°N 80.01972°WCoordinates: 39°20′30″N 80°1′11″W / 39.34167°N 80.01972°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | West Virginia |
| County | Taylor |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Uncle Chuck |
| Area | |
| • Total | 3.80 sq mi (9.84 km2) |
| • Land | 3.67 sq mi (9.51 km2) |
| • Water | 0.13 sq mi (0.34 km2) |
| Elevation | 1,024 ft (312 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 5,164 |
| • Estimate (2012) | 5,177 |
| • Density | 1,407.1/sq mi (543.3/km2) |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP code | 26354 |
| Area code(s) | 304 |
| FIPS code | 54-32716 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1554590 |
Grafton is a city in and the county seat of Taylor County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 5,164 at the 2010 census. Both of West Virginia's national cemeteries are located in Grafton. Mother's Day was founded in Grafton on May 10, 1908; the city is the home to the International Mother's Day Shrine. Grafton was one of the first places to observe Memorial Day in the United States. Grafton was a junction point for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad; the southwestern line wends its way to Clarksburg while the northwestern line runs through Fairmont then to Morgantown; to the East lies Piedmont and on to Cumberland; lines to the south reached Elkins and Charleston, as well as numerous coal branches.
The settlement of Grafton was part of a rapid movement west to the new frontier in the early to mid 1700's. The Current Family, one of Grafton's first residents, were late seventeenth-century Irish immigrants who entered the continent by the way of Maryland. James Current traded a horse for 1300 acres of virgin land in Virginia, situated where the City of Grafton, West Virginia, is today. In 1751, he hired George Washington to stake his property. James Current and his wife Margaret are buried in Bluemont Cemetery; his is the only Revolutionary War soldier's grave in Grafton. Grafton is near what may be called the headwaters of the Monongahela River, which now form in the lee of the Tygart Valley Dam. The Tygart Valley was first settled by Europeans in 1753 when David Tygart (for whom the valley and river are named) arrived with his family.
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