In 1837, the people of Guyandotte, then a village on the Virginia frontier, resolved to open a school for their sons and daughters. Tradition says local lawyer John Laidley convinced his neighbors to name the school for his friend, Chief Justice John Marshall. The one-room log cabin that housed those first students soon gave way to a two-story brick building that, with various additions over the years, became the school's Old Main. For decades, the cherished landmark has stood like a proud sentinel, watching Marshall grow and evolve into a major university with an enrollment over 16,000. This remarkable volume, with more than 200 historic photographs from the Marshall archives, chronicles the dramatic Marshall saga.
Retired newspaper editor James E. Casto is the author of Arcadia Publishing's Cabell County and Southern West Virginia: Coal Country. In 2004, Marshall awarded him its John Marshall Medal of Civic Responsibility in recognition of his services to the university and the community.