[2] The county seat is Charleston,[3] which is also the state capital and most populous city.

Kanawha County is part of the Charleston, WV Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The county began taking formation on November 14, 1788, under the authorization of the Virginia General Assembly and was founded on October 5, 1789.

In 1863 West Virginia's counties were divided into civil townships, with the intention of encouraging local government.

This proved impractical in the heavily rural state, and in 1872 the townships were converted into magisterial districts.

[5] Kanawha County was divided into ten districts: Big Sandy, Cabin Creek, Charleston, Elk, Jefferson, Loudon, Malden, Poca,[i] Union, and Washington.

[6] Kanawha County was the site of a bloody miners' strike in 1912, and a school textbook controversy in 1974, that resulted in bombings, and received national attention.

30.80% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

Kanawha County was dominated by the Democratic Party for much of the 20th century, albeit to a lesser extent than much of West Virginia.

The county seat and state capital of Charleston is heavily Democratic.

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, there are approximately 5,481 private sector businesses within Kanawha County.