The name of Pierpont Community & Technical College might be new to you, but it has roots that reach back to the creation of the state of West Virginia.
Fairmont State College established its community college component in 1974 through the leadership of Paul E. Edwards. During his 23 years at the reins of the community college, 25 associate degrees and certificates were established, and developmental education was expanded to better serve the needs of students. Over the years, the community college that became known as Fairmont State Community & Technical College continued to grow. Blair Montgomery was named FSC&TC's first president in April 2004.
During the legislative session in 2006, Montgomery was asked to rename the community college. He wished to choose a name that had a strong association with North Central West Virginia. He wanted a name that would be distinctive and would embody his desire that our college be recognized as a national leader in community college education. The name "Pierpont" immediately sprang to his mind. Why? West Virginia history scholars know that Francis Harrison Pierpont, who lived in Fairmont, is considered the "father of West Virginia."
"How proud we should all be to remember such a great man each time we say the name of our school, Pierpont Community & Technical College," Montgomery said. "Like our namesake, we will move forward providing great leadership and opportunity to North Central West Virginia and our state."
Today, FSU and Pierpont C&TC are separate institutions that continue to share a main campus. With an enrollment of more than 3,000, Pierpont offers more than 50 associate degree programs, skill sets and certificates, as well as a variety of courses at more than 15 sites in North Central West Virginia, including the Braxton County Center in Flatwoods. Through its Center for Workforce Education in downtown Fairmont, Pierpont provides workforce training and community education for its 13-county region. Pierpont's Robert C. Byrd National Aerospace Education Center in Bridgeport offers programs in flight and aviation maintenance.
At Pierpont C&TC's first independent commencement ceremony in December 2008, Jo Ann Lough, Professor Emerita, Speech and Theater, dressed as Julia Augusta Robertson Pierpont and delivered a "living history" presentation about the Pierponts.
Lough compiled the following information about Francis H. Pierpont:
Francis H. Pierpont, known to friends and family as Frank, was born in Monongalia County to Francis and Catherine Weaver Pierpont on January 25, 1814. He and his family moved to Middletown (now Fairmont) in 1819 and in 1827 established a tannery. Pierpont lived and worked as a tanner in Middletown until age 21 when he walked to Meadville, Pennsylvania, to attend Allegheny College from which he graduated in 1839. He spent his young adulthood teaching school in Weston and in Pontotoc and Aberdeen, Mississippi. In 1842 he returned home to practice law in Marion County. In 1854 he married Julia Robertson, the governess of Judge Thomas Haymond.
Frank Pierpont was instrumental in the Railroad Convention of July 1845 that developed the strategy that brought the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad through Marion County and Fairmont. He and James Otis Watson established American Coal Company, the first rail-shipping bituminous coal mine west of the Allegheny Mountains, in 1852 in the Washington Street area of town. He served as Commissioner of Schools for Marion County in 1856 and worked to improve the struggling system.
All of these accomplishments set him apart, but it was the events that unfolded in the spring of 1861 that would propel Pierpont to great leadership and would land him in the history books. On April 12, 1861, Confederate soldiers fired on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, beginning the Civil War. Virginia, which included at that time West Virginia and Fairmont, wished to join the Confederacy.
Francis Pierpont joined with 1,200 Virginians in Clarksburg on April 22, 1861, to plan the Wheeling Convention. He served as a delegate to the first Wheeling Convention in May of that year. Forty thousand of the 44,000 votes cast by citizens in western Virginia were against succession from the Union, but the state of Virginia ratified the Ordinance of Succession on May 23, 1861. Pierpont was a delegate to the second Wheeling Convention held on June 20, 1861, and was elected unanimously by all 77 delegates as the Provisional Governor of the Restored Virginia. In May of 1862, Gov. Pierpont convened a special session of the General Assembly of the Restored Virginia to grant the northwestern counties permission to separate and become a new state to the Union - West Virginia. On June 20, 1863, West Virginia was admitted as the 35th State to the Union with Arthur I. Boreman serving as its first governor. After serving two terms as governor of Virginia, Pierpont returned to West Virginia, serving as a member of its legislature.
He died on March 24, 1899, and was buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery beside his wife Julia, who died in 1886. In April 1910 the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives accepted a statue of Pierpont for placement in Statuary Hall honoring him as the "Father of West Virginia."
After all, it was the Pierpont plan that made it happen. Stephen B. Elkins, who was serving as a senator from West Virginia at the time of the dedication said of Pierpont: "He founded a state whose people will love and bless his memory as the suns roll on."
