[6] The area was first settled in the late 1780s by James Caldwell, who owned 20,000 acres (81 km2) of land that included present West Union.

The settlement was originally called Lewisport,[7] but Davis later supposedly suggested the name of "West Union", in deference to a proposed town of Union to be built on the eastern side of Middle Island Creek.

According to an early resident, A.A. Bee: "The first bridge across Middle Island Creek [at West Union] was of hewed logs with a center abutment of stones.

In 1842, a contract was awarded to the well-known civil engineer Claudius Crozet to build a new covered bridge at West Union, as part of a series of public works along the Northwestern Turnpike.

Ephraim Bee (1802–1888), a local blacksmith (who was also a district officer, magistrate, state legislator, hotelier, and postmaster at various times) made all the bolts and bands for the West Union Covered Bridge which was completed in 1843.

On the night of March 27, 1858, a fire utterly devastated the town of West Union.

The flames spread quickly to other buildings: first, a large hotel and store room belonging to James A. Foley.

The Parkersburg and Grafton branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad had just been completed, however, and the town was able to revive economically and structurally fairly quickly.

Doddridge County's oil and gas industry was a boon to West Union.

A long-remembered flood devastated West Union in June 1950, destroying homes and businesses and killing 22 people throughout the county.

Today farming, timbering, oil and gas, and the business of county government and public education support the area, and many people commute to jobs in Salem, Clarksburg, and Parkersburg, or to the North Central Regional Jail in Greenwood.

[11] The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters.