Mingo County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 23,568. Its county seat and largest city is Williamson. Created in 1895, Mingo is West Virginia's newest county, named for the historic Iroquoian Mingo people.
History
Mingo County is West Virginia's newest county, formed by an act of the state legislature in 1895 from parts of Logan County. The county was named for the Mingo Native Americans. After West Virginia's establishment in 1863, its counties were initially divided into civil townships, with the intent to encourage local government. This proved impractical in the heavily rural state, and in 1872 the townships were converted into magisterial districts.
Mingo County's five original districts were Hardee, Harvey, Lee, Magnolia, and Stafford. As West Virginia's only county established after 1871, Mingo is unique in never having been divided into townships, but Hardee, Lee, and Magnolia districts were formerly districts in Logan County, and Hardee and Magnolia were townships until 1872.
The attempt to unionize coal miners in the county in the 1920s led to the Battle of Blair Mountain in neighboring Logan County.
Politically, Mingo County strongly opposed former President Barack Obama. In 2008, Obama received only 8% of the vote in the Democratic primary, one of his worst performances nationwide. In 2012, Keith Russell Judd, a convicted felon who was the only other candidate on the ballot, received more Mingo County primary votes than Obama.
In 2014 Mingo County native Jeremy T. K. Farley published The Ghosts of Mingo County, based on the real-life story of Timmy Barker, a history of what Farley called "the bloodiest county in America." The book met with mixed reviews; some residents said it portrayed the county as too lawless, while others believed the book told the county's history accurately.
In 2016 Mingo County was "one of the places in America most touched by opioids."
In 2023, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) announced funding for a clean ammonia production facility to be placed in Mingo County, known as the Adams Fork Energy clean ammonia project. It will be the second-largest ammonia facility in the nation, producing 2 million pounds of ammonia per year.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.2%) is water.
Major highways
- (future)
- (future)
- 20px U.S. Highway 52
- 23px U.S. Highway 119
- 20px West Virginia Route 49
- 20px West Virginia Route 65
- 20px West Virginia Route 80
Adjacent counties
- Lincoln County (north)
- Logan County (northeast)
- Wyoming County (east)
- McDowell County (southeast)
- Pike County, Kentucky (west)
- Martin County, Kentucky (west)
- Wayne County (northwest)
- Buchanan County, Virginia (southeast)