Brooke County, formed in 1797 from Ohio County, was named for Robert Brooke, who had just completed his term as governor of Virginia. Occupying the narrowest portion of the slender Northern Panhandle, it is West Virginia's second smallest county, containing only eighty-nine square miles. Its population in 2000 was 25,447, a decline from the all-time high of 31,117 achieved in 1980.
Brooke County has long enjoyed profits from its significant coal deposits and from attendant manufacturing enterprises. Much of the county's Ohio River frontage has an industrial appearance, especially the communities of Follansbee and Weirton (most of the latter city is in Hancock County). On the hills to the east, toward the Pennsylvania border, Brooke County's long-standing agricultural heritage is more in evidence.
Writing Credits
If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.
SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.