Monongalia County, Virginia
| Monongalia County, West Virginia | ||
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 Location in the U.S. state of West Virginia |
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 West Virginia's location in the U.S. |
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| Founded | October 9, 1776 | |
| Seat | Morgantown | |
| Largest city | Morgantown | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 366 sq mi (948 km2) | |
| • Land | 360 sq mi (932 km2) | |
| • Water | 5.8 sq mi (15 km2), 1.6% | |
| Population (est.) | ||
| • (2015) | 104,236 | |
| • Density | 287/sq mi (111/km²) | |
| Congressional district | 1st | |
| Time zone | Eastern: UTC-5/-4 | |
| Website | www |
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Monongalia County, known locally as Mon County, is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 96,189, making it West Virginia's third-most populous county. Its county seat is at Morgantown. The county was founded in 1776.
Monongalia County is included in the Morgantown, WV Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is the largest county in North-Central West Virginia. It is defined entirely as part of the Pittsburgh media market.
Monongalia County takes its name from the Monongahela River. The name Monongalia may be a misspelling of Monongahela. Alternatively, the conventional Latinate ending "-ia" (designating "land of..." or "country of..." — as in Arabia, Bolivia or Columbia) may have been added to Monongahela (i.e., "Land of the Monongahela").
Monongalia County was formed in 1776 when Virginia's remote District of West Augusta was divided into three counties: Ohio, Yohogania and Monongalia, all named for their most prominent rivers. Ohio County then encompassed most of the western region of the district bordering the Ohio River, including parts of what is now southwestern Pennsylvania. Yohogania County consisted of much of what is now southwestern Pennsylvania and the present counties of Hancock and the northern part of Brooke in West Virginia. Monongalia County also encompassed what are now the counties of Tucker, Randolph, Harrison and Barbour in north-central West Virginia, as well as parts of what are now Washington, Greene and Fayette Counties in Pennsylvania. In 1780, in his Notes on the State of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson gave the militia enrollment of what was then the vast Monongalia County at 1,000 troops.
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