Morgantown, WV news and local guide

Morgantown's early history was shaped by the struggle between Britain and France for the region. Until the Treaty of Paris in 1763 the area was fought over by settlers and Native Americans and by British and French soldiers, and Native resistance continued almost until the Revolution. Thomas Decker and others tried to settle the area about a decade before Zackquill and David Morgan, sons of Morgan Morgan, arrived around 1767. In the late 1760s and early 1770s settlers built a string of forts in the area, including Fort Pierpont near the Cheat River in 1769, Fort Coburn in 1770, Fort Morgan downtown and Fort Dinwiddie in 1772, Fort Martin in 1773, and Forts Burris and Kern, in today's Suncrest and Greenmont neighborhoods, in 1774.

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Zackquill Morgan, who fought in the French and Indian War and the Revolution and rose to colonel, set up a homestead around 1772 near today's Fayette Street and University Avenue. By 1783 he had Major William Haymond survey his land into streets and lots, and he received a certificate for 400 acres near the mouth of Decker's Creek. In October 1785 the Virginia General Assembly set aside 50 acres for Morgan's Town. The Old Stone House, built in 1795 by Jacob Nuce on what is now Chestnut Street, still stands, as does the John Rogers family home on Foundry Street, built in 1840. Sources Wikipedia: Morgantown, West Virginia