The Wall Street Journal has a new article about the low unemployment rates of smaller college towns. Morgantown is prominently featured in the piece and the article includes a slide show of Morgantown photos. The article went on to show why Morgantown, and smaller college towns in general have unemployment rates much lower than their state average.
The article outlined many of the redevelopment projects currently underway in Morgantown as well as highlighting past successes with joint projects of West Virginia University and the City of Morgantown.
College towns like Morgantown have a distinct advantage over many other cities: They enjoy a constant stream of graduates, some who stay put and others who return years later — and each year brings a new crop of students and potential residents to the area.
NBC nightly news featured a video segment on Morgantown’s economy and shone a spotlight on why Morgantown has the lowest unemployment rate in the country.
Read this sentence aloud – if you’re brave. — “The Monongahela River flows through Monongalia County.”
Stumble a bit? You’re not alone.
The Anglicized version of a Native American phrase, “Monongahela” (muh non guh HE la) translates loosely as “river with slippery banks” or “river whose banks fall in.” The word wandered further from its indigenous roots when the Virginia Assembly chartered its vast northwestern territory as “Monongalia” (mon un GAIL ya) County in 1785.
Sound like a native Monongalian in no time by adopting the verbal shorthand of referring to both as the “Mon” River and “Mon” County.
Both Mon (or Monongalia) and Preston Counties offer history buffs ample opportunities to explore the Greater Morgantown Area’s rich and diverse architectural, commercial and social heritage.
