Talk:Morgantown, West Virginia

Explanation of city motto found – how should we include it?

Morgantown’s motto “Vestigia nulla retrorsum regina monongahelae” has been analyzed in this comment on this Livejournal post about the motto. The comment explains the English translation of the motto and the history it references, and cites an employee of the Morgantown History Museum.

I’m not sure where in this article the information about the motto should go. I’m also not sure if that information needs a better source to be able to be included. Thus, I’m dropping this pointer to the information here in the hopes that someone who knows Wikipedia better can add that information properly. – Rory O'Kane (talk) 21:57, 3 October 2012 (UTC)

I'm afraid Livejournal is an WP:SPS and can't be cited. I'll look around — maybe there's a newspaper article or something somewhere that translates it. --Tenebrae (talk) 00:30, 5 October 2012 (UTC)

And actually, I've found a snippet view of a Polk's City Directory for Morgantown, W.Va., that says the motto is actually "Regina Monongahelae — Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum". I'll fix it with the cite. --Tenebrae (talk) 00:41, 5 October 2012 (UTC)

OK, it's definitely not "The Queen of the Monongahela has nothing to return to." One translation I've found says "Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum" means "no backward step," which makes a lot more sense. I would also note for the metaphor-challenged Livejournal writer that "Queen of the Monongahela" clearly does not refer to a beauty pageant but to the town itself. I'll try a Latin dictionary next. --Tenebrae (talk) 00:52, 5 October 2012 (UTC)

Google Translate isn't much use: "Trace back." Right. --Tenebrae (talk) 00:54, 5 October 2012 (UTC)

From a couple of others, it does appear to mean "No backward step," but since this would be original research and may not even be exactly correct, so I don't think we can translate it offhand. --Tenebrae (talk) 00:59, 5 October 2012 (UTC)

No. 1 Small City in America

According to an ad by WVU, the town was named "No. 1 Small City in America" by BizJournals.com. I haven't been able to confirm it at that Web site, though. Kdammers (talk) 02:28, 27 June 2015 (UTC)

And the Chamber of Commerce (http://www.morgantownchamber.org/about-the-morgantown-area/morgantowns-location/) says the town was "Ranked third in the nation for Best Small City for Business and Careers by Forbes Magazine!"Kdammers (talk) 02:37, 27 June 2015 (UTC)

Updated the Mayor. Didn't change anything else.

Mayor & city manager was out of date. I am new to editing wikipedia articles and I don't know how to update citations but, it is on the morgantown official website. https://www.morgantownwv.gov/Search?searchPhrase=mayor&pageNumber=1&perPage=10&departmentId=-1 JesusThelost (talk) 23:20, 16 August 2025 (UTC)