What are West Virginia’s ‘Sister Cities’ and what are they for?

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — “Sister cities” or “twin cities” are meant as a way for cities, usually in two different countries, to engage in an official kind of cultural exchange. Morgantown, Charleston, Harpers Ferry and Bluefield, West Virginia, all have official sister city programs.

The original idea of “sister cities” was most prominently described in 1956, when former World War II general and acting president Dwight D. Eisenhower announced the beginning of the “People-to-People Program,” a cultural exchange initiative “by which people can gradually learn a little bit more of each other,” Eisenhower said during his 1956 announcement (which can be watched on YouTube). Over time, People-to-People grew into Sister Cities International (SCI), which continues the goal of cultural exchange by linking or pairing cities in different countries.

Although sister city relationships can strengthen or weaken over time, the SCI representative for West Virginia and Virginia, Fred Blanton, told 12 News in an interview that new sister city relationships are still being formed today. In fact, the city of Elkins in Randolph County is currently exploring a sister city partnership of its own, according to Blanton.

“The idea is just to get cities together and to acknowledge their common interests and differences and learn from that,” Blanton said. “What we’ve noticed, now that we have a lot of data and a lot of history all the way back to ’56, is that cities that have sister cities tend to have a little bit more global view or worldview. They tend to have more empathy, appreciation for other cultures.”

The nature of a sister city relationship varies from place to place, but common interactions between cities include visiting delegations from one city to another, student exchange programs, zoo animal exchanges, museum exhibit exchanges, and even providing emergency aid to one another during times of need.

Morgantown

Morgantown has two different sister cities through Sister Cities International:

• Guanajuato, Mexico
• Xuzhou, China

In the past, Morgantown has participated in high school student exchange programs and has also hosted two separate delegations from Xuzhou: once in 2012 and again in 2017. Xuzhou is a city in Eastern China with a population of about nine million people. One similarity the city shares with West Virginia is that it is located inside a large coalfield; mining, power generation and manufacturing are some of the city’s largest industries, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Morgantown and Xuzhou’s sister city partnership remains active; In 2024, Morgantown featured an art exhibit of 2,000-year-old artwork in the form of stone rubbings from China’s Han Dynasty, which lasted from 206 B.C. until 220 A.D.

Guanajuato, Mexico, is the capital city of the state of Guanajuato. Mexican government data shows that the Guanajuato region is a large exporter of motor vehicle parts and accessories. In the past, the two cities have exchanged delegations, and West Virginia University and Universidad de Guanajuato are also partnered for student foreign exchange programs.

Charleston

The state’s capital and the Slovakian city of Banská Bystrica officially became sister cities in 2009. According to reporting from WBOY sister station WOWK, two Charleston residents traveled to Banská Bystrica to assist the city during the dissolution of Czechoslovakia and transition into Slovakia in 1992. The pair found many similarities between their home and Banská Bystrica, and their fondness for the Slovakian city grew into an official partnership with Charleston.

According to the Banská Bystrica tourism website, the town was once “the most strategically important city in Hungary because of the castle there, which guarded important trade routes. Copper and silver mines in the area also helped the city become quite wealthy; today, the city is home to several museums, art galleries and historic buildings.

Harpers Ferry

Harpers Ferry in the Eastern Panhandle is a sister city of Chatham-Kent in Ontario, Canada, according to the Harpers Ferry website. Chatham-Kent neighbors Detroit on the coast of Lake Erie, and although there is not much information online about the relationship between the two cities, they both share a history in the emancipation of Black slaves and Black civil rights.

Perhaps most notably, Harpers Ferry was the site of John Brown’s raid, but it was also a meeting place for the Niagara Movement, a civil rights movement led by W.E.B. Dubois and William Trotter in 1905. Conversely, Chatham was seen as an “endpoint” for the Underground Railroad as escaped slaves fled the United States into Canada.

Bluefield

Bluefield in southern West Virginia is a sister city of Lithgow, Australia. Like Bluefield, Lithgow is also situated in a large coalfield, and is about two and a half hours west of Sydney. However, the relationship between Bleufield and Lithgow is not very active in 2025.

If you’re interested in finding a sister city for your own town or city, you can find the contact information for West Virginia’s SCI representative on the Sister Cities International website.