Батыс Вирджиния штатындағы Престон округі

County in West Virginia, United States

Preston County is a county located in the U. S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 34,216. Its county seat is Kingwood. The county was formed from Monongalia County in 1818 and named for Virginia Governor James Patton Preston. Preston County is part of the Morgantown, WV Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is the southernmost county of the Pittsburgh media market. It is the home of The Buckwheat Festival, a county fair known for making buckwheat pancakes.

Native Americans lived in (and traveled through) what would one day become Preston County; they crossed over from the Ohio River watershed, which drains into the Mississippi River, into the Chesapeake Bay watershed. From 1736, European traders and explorers lived in the County, and one boundary stone was laid in 1746—the Fairfax Stone marking the limits of the North Branch of the River. Larger numbers of white settlers began arriving in 1766, with even more coming to the region after the American Revolutionary War. Traveling by foot or horseback, settlers built their own log cabins. Further development followed from 1818, when the National Road was built slightly to the north. When the earliest railroads came, in 1851, all land passed into private ownership, the population increased 70% in a decade, and industrialization truly began. During the American Civil War, more Preston County men enlisted in Union service than with the Confederacy. There were relatively few slave owners in Preston County, and naturally, few slaves. There were virtually none within a half hour’s walk from the old Clarksburg Winchester Road, dated to the late colonial era. The United States Census indicates that Preston County’s all time slavery peak occurred in 1830, with 125 slaves accounted for, alongside 27 free colored persons. On June 20, 1863, Preston was one of 50 Virginia counties that were admitted to the Union as the State of West Virginia. Later that year, the counties were divided into civil townships, with the intention of encouraging local government. This proved impractical in the heavily rural state of West Virginia, and the townships were converted into magisterial districts in 1872. Preston County was divided into eight districts: Grant, Kingwood, Lyon, Pleasant, Portland, Reno, Union, and Valley. These remained largely unchanged until the 1990s, when they were consolidated into five new magisterial districts: First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 651 square miles (1,686 km2), of which 649 square miles (1,681 km2) is land and 2.6 square miles (7 km2) (0.4%) is water. In West Virginia's coldest month of January 1977, Terra Alta in Preston County saw a statewide record snowfall of .

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 33,520 people, 12,895 households, and 9,038 families residing in the county. The population density was There were 15,097 housing units at an average density of The racial makeup of the county was 97.6% white, 1.1% black or African American, 0.2% American Indian, 0.1% Asian, 0.2% from other races, and 0.8% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 0.7% of the population. Of the 12,895 households, 29.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.1% were married couples living together, 9.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 29.9% were non families, and 24.6% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 2.84. The median age was 42.0 years.

Preston County is represented by two Senators in the West Virginia Senate. Senate members Jay Taylor (R), and Randy Smith (R) both serve in West Virginia's 14th Senate district. The county is also represented in the West Virginia House of Delegates by two Delegates. The Delegates for Preston County are George Street (R) for district 83 and D. Rolland Jennings (R) for district 84.

Preston County is governed by a County Commission. The commission is made up of the Commission President and Commissioners whom wield administrative powers of the county's government. Samantha Stone (R) is the current President of the County Commission. The Preston County Commission consists of two members. The current members of the County Commission are Don Smith (R) and Hunter Thomas (R).