Clarksburg, West Virginia

Clarksburg is a city located in Harrison County, West Virginia. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 16,743. It is the county seat of Harrison County{{GR|6}}. Since 1979 Clarksburg has hosted the annual West Virginia Italian Heritage Festival during Labor Day weekend. Each September since 1991 the city has been the site of the West Virginia Black Heritage Festival.

History

Clarksburg was formed in 1785 in Virginia. The city is named for General George Rogers Clark. In 1824, Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson was born in Clarksburg.

Related Topics:
1785 - Virginia - General - George Rogers Clark - 1824 - Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson

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On October 11, 1996, seven men having connections with the Mountaineer Militia, a local anti-government paramilitary group, were arrested on charges of plotting to blow up the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Criminal Justice Information Services Division complex in Clarksburg. While members of the group had been assembling large quantities of explosives and blasting caps, militia leader Floyd Raymond Looker obtained blueprints of the FBI facility from a Clarksburg firefighter. Plastic explosives were confiscated by law enforcement officials at five locations in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Looker was taken into custody after arranging to sell the blueprints for $50,000 to an undercover FBI agent, whom he believed to be a representative of an international terrorist group. In 1998 Looker was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Two other defendants were sentenced on explosives charges, and the firefighter drew a year in prison for providing blueprints.

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