History of Nitro, West Virginia
Nitro is a city in West Virginia, along the Kanawha River. Most of the city lies in Kanawha County, West Virginia|Kanawha County, with the remainder in Putnam County, West Virginia|Putnam County. The population was 6,824 at the 2000 census.
Nitro was incorporation (municipal government)|incorporated in 1932 by Circuit Court. Its name was selected by the United States government because of the establishment there during World War I of a large federal plant for the manufacture of explosives. This colorful history of Nitro culminated in several Superfund (environmental law)|Superfund-funded cleanups of the ensuing mess.
Major League Baseball player Lew Burdette was born in Nitro in 1926. Singer Kathy Mattea was raised in nearby Cross Lanes, West Virginia|Cross Lanes and graduated from Nitro High School in the Kanawha County portion of the city. Current Baltimore Orioles player J. R. House was a record-setting quarterback at Nitro High in the late 1990s.
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