Cities In West Virginia With The Most Historic KKK Members


The cities in West Virginia with the most historic KKK members are Matoaka and Keystone for 2024 based on Saturday Night Science.

Historical KKK locations in West Virginia research summary. We analyzed research using Saturday Night Science from the Virginia Commonwealth University that mapped Klaverns by city from 1915-1940. This report analyzes the locations of historic KKK organizations to see where they were the most prevalent in West Virginia.

  • The city in West Virginia with the most number of Klaverns was Matoaka with 3 Klaverns.
  • The city in West Virginia with the most number of Klaverns per capita was Matoaka with 0.0119 Klaverns.
  • There were historically 35 Klaverns in West Virginia.
  • There were a total of 26 places in West Virginia with at least 1 Klavern during the period of reference.

Hate groups can be hard to measure because, typically, there’s no record of where they exist. But there is data on where there were distinct Klaverns of the Ku Klux Klan in each state. These cities have historically been the most racist in West Virginia based on the number of KKK Klaverns.

This report does not speak to the current people who live there or the current state of the KKK in the same towns or areas.

Most Racist Cities In West Virginia Map


Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table


A quick history lesson on the KKK

What is the KKK? In a nutshell, the KKK was formed back in 1865, and there have been three separate movements, all three of which were supposedly ‘purification movements’ in America. The 1865-1870s movement sought to overthrow Republican state governments.

The second movement (1915 – 1944) saw millions of members of the KKK form, which was opposed to immigration into America, especially against Catholics and Jews.

The most memorable movement of the KKK started in the 1950s, which was involved in the Civil Rights movement and targeted the black population in America.

The number of active members of the KKK is much smaller these days.

The cities below are the places where there were Klans back in the day and where the number of Klans per the current population is high. This means the number of racist members of the community has historically been the highest, according to the math.

The 10 Most Historically Racist Places In West Virginia

  1. Matoaka
  2. Keystone
  3. Northfork
  4. Piedmont
  5. Logan
  6. Mullens
  7. Hinton
  8. Wellsburg
  9. Follansbee
  10. Ravenswood

This report is an analysis of the locations of historic KKK organizations divided by the number of people who currently live there.

For more West Virginia reading, check out:

Methodology: How We Measured The Most Historically Racist Places In The Mountain State

While there are surveys and public polls on what places might be the most racist, we didn’t want to rely on speculation and opinion. Instead, we looked at the hard numbers from where KKK organizations have existed.

Specifically, we analyzed research out of Virginia Commonwealth University that mapped the Klans in each area and gave a history of their recruitment from 1915-1940.

Using Saturday Night Science, we analyzed the locations of historic KKK organizations per capita using current population data.

There You Have It – The Most Historically Racist Cities In West Virginia

When you’re looking at the places in West Virginia with the highest number of historical KKK Klaverns per capita, this is an accurate list.

Below is a chart that lists all cities in West Virginia with at least one KKK organization from 1915-1940.

The cities with the largest number of KKK klaverns per capita were Matoaka, Keystone, Northfork, Piedmont, Logan, Mullens, Hinton, Wellsburg, Follansbee, and Ravenswood.

For more West Virginia reading, check out:

Cities With Hisoritcally High KKK Membership In West Virginia

Rank City Population Klans Klans Per Capita
1 Matoaka, WV 252 3 0.01190476
2 Keystone, WV 246 1 0.00406504
3 Northfork, WV 358 1 0.0027933
4 Piedmont, WV 867 1 0.0011534
5 Logan, WV 1,896 2 0.00105485
6 Mullens, WV 2,020 2 0.0009901
7 Hinton, WV 2,615 1 0.00038241
8 Wellsburg, WV 2,763 1 0.00036193
9 Follansbee, WV 2,949 1 0.0003391
10 Ravenswood, WV 3,853 1 0.00025954
11 Grafton, WV 5,179 1 0.00019309
12 Keyser, WV 5,350 1 0.00018692
13 Princeton, WV 6,387 1 0.00015657
14 Clarksburg, WV 16,437 2 0.00012168
15 Oak Hill, WV 8,270 1 0.00012092
16 Moundsville, WV 8,960 1 0.00011161
17 Parkersburg, WV 31,195 3 9.617e-05
18 Bluefield, WV 10,465 1 9.556e-05
19 St. Albans, WV 10,939 1 9.142e-05
20 Wheeling, WV 28,129 2 7.11e-05
21 Morgantown, WV 30,133 2 6.637e-05
22 Martinsburg, WV 17,508 1 5.712e-05
23 Beckley, WV 17,529 1 5.705e-05
24 Weirton, WV 19,523 1 5.122e-05
25 Huntington, WV 49,053 1 2.039e-05
26 Charleston, WV 50,911 1 1.964e-05
About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

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