Marshall University

university, Huntington, West Virginia, United States
Also known as: Marshall Academy
Quick Facts
Date:
1837 - present
Areas Of Involvement:
public education

Marshall University, public, coeducational institution of higher learning, with its main campus in Huntington, West Virginia, U.S., and a graduate college in South Charleston. Marshall University offers associate’s, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees, as well as a doctorate in biomedical sciences, an Ed.D. in education administration, and an M.D. It includes colleges of business, education, fine arts, liberal arts, science, and community and technical studies as well as schools of medicine, journalism and mass communications, nursing, and graduate studies. The university libraries’ special collections include the Rosanna Blake Library of Confederate History. The campus also features an art gallery and a centre for fine arts and performing arts. Marshall offers degrees in cooperation with West Virginia University and Duke University (Durham, North Carolina). Student enrollment is approximately 16,000.

Marshall University was founded in 1837 as Marshall Academy; instruction began the following year. It was named for John Marshall, fourth chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and it was first associated with the Episcopal and Methodist churches. Marshall became a college in 1858, a state normal (teacher-training) school in 1867, and a university in 1961; the education and liberal arts colleges opened during the 1920s. The School of Medicine was founded in 1974, and several regional centres are associated with it. There also are educational facilities at the Veterans Administration Medical Center near the campus.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Lorraine Murray.

Huntington, city, seat of Cabell county, western West Virginia, U.S. It lies at the confluence of the Ohio and Guyandotte rivers, about 50 miles (80 km) west of Charleston. Collis P. Huntington, a railroad magnate, proposed building the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway’s western terminal there in 1869. He purchased land then called Holderby’s Landing, and the city was incorporated in 1871 and renamed Huntington. After the railroad came through in 1873, the town began to prosper. In 1888 the county seat was moved from Barboursville to Huntington. The city lies in a semicircle on broad lowlands and has experienced floods throughout its history. It now is protected by an 11-mile- (18-km-) floodwall.

Huntington is now the centre of a tristate industrial region formed at the junction of Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia that includes the cities of Ashland, Kentucky, and Ironton, Ohio. During much of the 20th century it was a significant river and rail point of transfer, but that role has diminished. Railroad equipment, steel, coal, fabricated metal, mining equipment, rebuilt machinery, rubber products, chemicals, and clothing are some of the city’s diversified products. Huntington challenges Charleston for the position of the state’s largest population centre.

Huntington’s cultural institutions include Marshall University, founded as an academy in 1837, and the Huntington Museum of Art (1952). The East End Bridge, opened in 1985, has an unusual asymmetrical cable-stayed girder design and is one of the earliest such bridges in the country. Pop. (2000) 51,475; Huntington-Ashland Metro Area, 288,643; (2010) 49,138; Huntington-Ashland Metro Area, 287,702.

Tower Bridge over the Thames River in London, England. Opened in 1894. Remains an Important Traffic Route with 40,000 Crossings Every Day.
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This article was most recently revised and updated by Kenneth Pletcher.