In the early 1900s, Belgian immigrants, mostly Walloons, settled in West Virginia towns like South Charleston, Clarksburg, and Salem to work in the window-glass industry, attracted by the availability of cheap natural gas and silica sand. Many men brought skills learned in Belgium’s coal and steel industries.

By the late 1920s, new technology was replacing skilled glass workers with machines, reducing jobs, though some Belgian-Americans continued as glass cutters. Belgian communities were known for their distinct culture and social clubs. The Belgian-American Heritage Society, founded in 1992, preserves this history with an exhibit at the South Charleston Interpretive Center.