Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia | ||
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Town | ||
FIPS code 54-35284[4] | | |
GNIS feature ID | 2390232[2] | |
Website | www |
Harpers Ferry is a historic town in Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States, in the lower Shenandoah Valley. The population was 285 at the 2020 census. Situated at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, where the U.S. states of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia meet, it is the easternmost town in West Virginia.
Originally named Harper's Ferry after an 18th-century ferry owner,[5] the town lost its apostrophe in 1891 in an update by the United States Board on Geographic Names.[6][7][8] It gained fame in 1859 when abolitionist John Brown led a raid on the Harpers Ferry Armory in a doomed effort to start a slave rebellion in Virginia and across the South.[9] During the American Civil War, the town became the northernmost point of Confederate-controlled territory, and changed hands several times due to its strategic importance.[10][11]
An antebellum manufacturing and transportation hub with a pre-war population of around 1300, the town's present economy is oriented around tourism. Its manufacturing and other significant infrastructure was largely destroyed during the war and never really recovered, as its strategic importance faded.
Much of the lower town, which was in ruins by the end of the Civil War and ravaged by subsequent river floods, has been rebuilt and preserved by the National Park Service.[13]: 15
History
1700s
In 1733, Peter Stephens, a squatter, settled on land near The Point, the area where the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers meet, and established a ferry from Virginia (now West Virginia) to Maryland, across the Potomac River.
Robert Harper, from whom the town takes its name, was born in 1718 in Oxford Township near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since he was a builder, Harper was asked by a group of Quakers in 1747 to build a meeting house in the Shenandoah Valley near the present site of Winchester, Virginia.[14] Traveling through Maryland on his way to the Shenandoah Valley, Harper—who was also a millwright—realized the potential of the latent waterpower from the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers at an easily accessible location. He paid Stephens 30 guineas for his squatting rights to the ferry, since the land actually belonged to Lord Fairfax.[15]: 12
Harper then purchased 126 acres (0.51 km2) of land from Lord Fairfax in 1751.[16] In 1761, the Virginia General Assembly granted him the right to establish and maintain a ferry across the Potomac, even though a ferry had already been functioning since before Harper arrived. In 1763, the Virginia General Assembly established the town of "Shenandoah Falls at Mr. Harpers Ferry."[17]: 100 Harper died in October 1782 and is buried in the Harper Cemetery.[18]
On October 25, 1783, Thomas Jefferson visited Harpers Ferry as he was traveling to Philadelphia and passed through Harpers Ferry with his daughter Patsy. Viewing "the passage of the Potomac through the Blue Ridge" from a rock that is now named for him as Jefferson's Rock, he called the site "perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes in nature"[19]: 22 and stated, "This scene is worth a voyage across the Atlantic."[20] The town was one of his favorite retreats, and tradition says that much of his Notes on the State of Virginia was written there.[21] Jefferson County, in which Harpers Ferry is located was named for him on its creation in 1801.[22]
1800s
The federal armory
In 1796, the federal government purchased a 125-acre (0.5 km2) parcel of land from the heirs of Robert Harper. Construction began on what would become the
Canals
Harpers Ferry's first man-made transportation facility was the
The Potomac Canal ran on the Virginia side of the river. On the Maryland side, the later Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad competed for right-of-way on a very narrow patch of land downstream from Harpers Ferry.
Arrival of railroads
In 1833, the
The first railroad junction in the country began service in 1836 when the Winchester and Potomac Railroad opened its line from Harpers Ferry southwest to Charles Town and then to Winchester, Virginia.
Virginius Island
Virginius Island, which connected the Shenandoah River to the lower part of Harpers Ferry, was created by happenstance in the early 1800s after debris floated down from upstream mills during the construction of the Shenandoah Canal.[27] Cotton, flour mills, and other water-powered companies were developed on Virginius Island, taking advantage of the Shenandoah River’s water power and good routes to markets. The island came to house all of Harpers Ferry's manufacturing, except for the armory, which used the Potomac River for power, and its rifle plant, some distance upstream using the Shenandoah's power.
At its antebellum peak, some 180 people lived on Virginius Island, including workers who lived in a
John Brown's raid
On October 16, 1859, the
The noise from that shot alerted Dr. John Starry shortly after 1 am. He walked from his nearby home to investigate the shooting and was confronted by Brown's men. Starry stated that he was a doctor but could do nothing more for Shepherd, and the men allowed him to leave. Starry then went to the livery and rode to neighboring towns and villages, alerting residents to the raid. John Brown's men were quickly pinned down by local citizens and militia, and forced to take refuge in the fire engine house (later called John Brown's Fort), at the entrance to the armory.[30]
The
Brown was quickly
American Civil War
The American Civil War was disastrous for Harpers Ferry, where five battles took place;[35] it changed hands eight times between 1861 and 1865.[11] (Another article says it changed hands twelve times.[35]) One of the first military actions by secessionists in Virginia was taken on April 18, 1861, when they wrested control of the Federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry from the Union Army, even before the convention which would consider whether or not the state should secede had been called together.[36]
Because of the town's strategic location on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and at the northern end of the Shenandoah Valley, both Union and Confederate troops moved through Harpers Ferry frequently. It was said that "Jefferson County is where the North and South met."[37] It was a natural conduit for Confederate invasions of the North, as in General Robert E. Lee's Maryland campaign of 1862, and his Gettysburg campaign of 1863, and Federal troops heading south in their attempts to thwart Rebel forces in the Valley which threatened Washington, D.C.
The town was "easy to seize, and hard to hold",
The effect on the town was devastating. It was described in March 1862:
Harper's Ferry presents quite a gloomy picture. The best buildings have been shelled to the ground, and nothing now remains but their foundations to mark the spot where they once stood. The old Arsenal has been burnt to the ground; that part of the building where old John Brown made such a fatal stand, still stands as a monument to his memory. Before the destruction of the town, it contained near 3000 inhabitants, but at the present time there are not more than 300 or 400 families there.[39]
The town's garrison of federal troops attracted 1,500
Lee needed to control Harpers Ferry because it was on his supply line and could cut off his possible routes of retreat if the invasion did not go well.[42]
Therefore. Lee divided his army of approximately 40,000 into four sections, sending three columns under Jackson to surround and capture the town.[43]
The
Because of the delay in capturing the town and the movement of federal forces to the west, Lee was forced to regroup at the town of Sharpsburg. Two days later he commanded troops in the Battle of Antietam, which had the highest number of deaths among troops of any single day in United States military history.
By July 1864, the Union again had control of Harpers Ferry. On July 4, 1864, the
Post-Civil War
Inspired by John Brown's raid, both runaway and freed slaves came to Harpers Ferry during and after the
The town and the armory, except John Brown's Fort, were destroyed during the American Civil War. "The larger portion of the houses all lie in ruins and the whole place is not actually worth $10," wrote a Massachusetts soldier to his mother in 1863.[38]: 285 A visitor in 1878 found the town "antiquated, dingy, and rather squalid";[46] another, in 1879, described it as "shabby and ruined."[38]: 286 Since the Arsenal had been Harpers Ferry's largest employer but was never rebuilt, the population never recovered to pre-Civil War levels.
Storer College
Storer College, devoted to training teachers for freedmen, opened in 1868, much to the displeasure of many residents of Harpers Ferry who petitioned the Legislature to revoke its charter. The War Department gave the Freedmen's Bureau its remaining assets in Harpers Ferry, principally four sturdy residences for the managers of the Armory, structurally sound but in need of repairs from damage during the war, and the Bureau gave them to Storer College. A one-room school for Blacks was already operating in one of them.
African-American tourism
As early as 1878, the
Storer, the only Black college at a location historically important to African-Americans, became a civil rights center and built the town's importance as a destination for Black tourists and excursionists. Douglass spoke there in 1881, as part of an unsuccessful campaign to fund a "John Brown professorship" to be held by an African American. In 1906, Storer hosted the first U.S. meeting of the Niagara Movement, the predecessor of the NAACP, after its organizational meeting in Fort Erie, Ontario.
In the late 1890s, the
Visits by tourists, many of them Black, now began to slowly turn the town into a real tourist center and return it to growth. "Harpers Ferry proved to be one of the most visited places of leisure for nineteenth-century African Americans."[52]: 41–42 There was a Black-owned hotel, the Hill Top House, built and run by a Storer graduate, Thomas Lovett, but it catered only to white clientele.[53] In the summer Storer rented rooms to Black vacationers until 1896.[54]: 183 The fort was the great monument where the end of slavery began. There were so many tourists that they were a nuisance to the farmer on whose lands the fort sat, and so it was moved to Storer in 1909. There it would remain until several years after the college closed in 1955, functioning as the College Museum. Male students practiced their public-speaking skills by giving tours of it.
Island Park Resort and Amusement Park
To increase ridership, the B&O in 1879 built Island Park Resort and Amusement Park on Byrne Island in the Potomac, which the railroad bought and built a footbridge to reach it. One had to pay 5¢ ($5 in 2021 value) to cross and enter, after which rides and other activities were free.[55] Access to the park was also a benefit for B&O employees, as it had done in Relay, Maryland. Among the many events held there were a reunion of 4,000 Odd Fellows in 1880[56] and a "Grand Tri-State Democratic Mass Meeting" 1892.[57]
The park was large enough that parades could be held. There were a steam-powered
The amusement park was kept open despite periodic flooding and repairs until 1909.[58] The B&O kept the site open after that for picnicking.[59]
The bandstand, the only surviving structure, has been moved twice. At the park's closing, it was moved to Arsenal Square (the current location of John Brown's Fort), then later to the park at Washington and Gilmore Streets. It is referred to as The Bandstand or the Town Gazebo, and many civic, cultural, and recreational activities take place there.[60]
The bridge was destroyed by flooding in 1896,[61] as was a replacement bridge in 1924. The remaining structures on the island were destroyed in a 1942 flood.[60]
20th century
2nd Niagara Movement Conference
On August 15, 1906, Black author and scholar W. E. B. Du Bois led the first meeting on American soil of the new Niagara Movement. Named after the site of its initial meeting in Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada on the Niagara River,[62] the movement met on the campus of Storer College, a primarily Black college that operated until 1955. (After it closed, the campus became part of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.) The three-day gathering, which was held to work for civil rights for African Americans, was later described by DuBois as "one of the greatest meetings that American Negroes ever held".[63] Attendees walked from Storer College to the farm of the Murphy family, the location at the time of John Brown's historic "fort," the armory's firehouse. As a result, the fort was soon moved to the Storer campus, where it became the college's central icon. After the college closed in 1955, the National Park Service moved it back to as close as possible to its original location.[64]
Harpers Ferry National Monument and National Historical Park
A 1936 flood left the lower town "shabby and almost uninhabited", with no bridge across the Shenandoah to Virginia and no highway bridge to Maryland. All remaining structures on
The backbone of the effort to preserve and commemorate Harpers Ferry was Henry T. MacDonald, President of Storer, an amateur historian appointed by West Virginia Governor Okey Patteson as head of the Harpers Ferry National Monument Commission.[51]: 45 He was assisted by the Representative from West Virginia's Second District, Jennings Randolph, who in 1935 introduced a bill to establish Harpers Ferry National Military Park in "the area where the most important events of [John Brown's raid] took place.[51]: 35–36 Although this bill did not pass, the flood of 1936 made the project more feasible by destroying buildings not historically important and thus freeing land. After several other attempts, a bill creating Harpers Ferry National Monument was passed and signed by President Roosevelt in 1944, subject to the proviso that nothing would be done with it until the war ended.[51]: 39
An urgent priority was the new highway, which is today U.S. Route 340. A new bridge connecting Sandy Hook, Maryland with Loudoun County, Virginia opened in October 1947, on which work had begun in 1941 but was interrupted by the war.[67] Another new bridge over the Shenandoah connecting Virginia to Bolivar Heights, West Virginia, opened two years later. Federal highway traffic now bypassed Harpers Ferry entirely.[68] Land acquisition started in lower Harpers Ferry; the project was supported both by Harpers Ferry mayor Gilbert Perry and Governor Patteson. Twenty-two eviction notices were served in the lower town, and two taverns closed.[51]: 57 Property acquisition, not all of which was unproblematic, was completed in 1952 and presented to the United States in January 1953.[51]: 46 The National Monument's first on-site employee, John T. Willett, began work in 1954.
In 1957, The Baltimore Sun reported that the lower town was "a sagging and rotted ghost town."[citation needed] The idea of making Harpers Ferry into a National Monument was to prevent the further deterioration and to rebuild the tourist industry.[69][70] The first task of the Park Service was to stabilize the buildings on Shenandoah Street, the main commercial street of lower Harpers Ferry. Roofs were covered, missing windows replaced, walls on the verge of collapse reinforced, and debris removed. Post-1859 buildings were not restored, and most were removed.[71] The NPS built a Visitor's Center and a John Brown Museum.[72] Harpers Ferry National Monument became Harpers Ferry National Historical Park on May 29, 1963.[73]
"Recreationists" who wanted a park and did not care about the history were a problem. Local residents did not want to lose recreational opportunities, but swimming and fishing on the Shenandoah shore, formerly common, were prohibited. In order to keep recreationists out of the historic area, and especially Virginius Island, John Brown's Fort was moved to Arsenal Square from a now-inconvenient location on the former Storer College campus, parking in the lower town was prohibited, and a shuttle bus service begun.[51]: 62 Tensions between the NPS and town residents were ongoing. However, the NPS helped the town achieve Main Street Status from the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2001.[51]: 64
The population of Harpers Ferry continued to decline in the 20th century. The majority of the surviving homes in Harpers Ferry are historic, some of which are registered on the National Register of Historic Places.
21st century
On July 23, 2015, a fire broke out in downtown Harpers Ferry, destroying eight or nine businesses and two apartments in two historic buildings. The buildings are being rebuilt.[74][75]
In the early morning of December 21, 2019, multiple cars of a train owned by CSX derailed from the railroad bridge crossing the Potomac River. The derailment damaged a portion of the Goodloe E. Byron Memorial Pedestrian Walkway, which is attached to the railroad bridge and connects the Appalachian Trail between West Virginia and Maryland. Although the accident did not result in any injuries or fatalities, it effectively inhibited all pedestrian access across the Potomac.[76] The bridge reopened in early July 2020.[77]
Hill Top House project
The Hill Top House Hotel, which had opened in 1888 to accommodate African Americans as the sole hotel in Harpers Ferry that would accept them as guests, burned in 1911. It was then rebuilt on a larger scale, but that building also burned in 1919. It was rebuilt a second time on a slightly smaller scale but closed in 2008. As of 2021, developers plan to demolish it and build a new 120-room hotel on the site.[78] Controversies about the impact such a proposed venue would have on the town have delayed its development.
China Folk House Retreat
John Flower, director of the Sidwell Friends School Chinese Studies Program, dismantled a Chinese folk house from Yunnan and rebuilt it in 2019 outside Harpers Ferry with his students. For this project, Flower and his wife Pamela Leonard formed a non-profit organization, the China Folk House Retreat.[79][80]
Archaeology
Under the auspices of the National Park Service, the archaeology of the town of Harpers Ferry as well as that of Virginius Island have been studied in depth. The journal Historical Archaeology published its entire volume 28, no. 4, issue of 1994 on Harpers Ferry.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.61 square miles (1.58 km2), of which 0.53 square miles (1.37 km2) is land and 0.08 square miles (0.21 km2) is water.[81] Some properties are currently threatened by development.[82] From most of Harpers Ferry, a fading advertisement for Mennen's Borated Talcum Toilet Powder painted on the cliff face of Maryland Heights decades ago is still visible.[83]
The geographical and physical features of Harpers Ferry were the principal reasons for its settlement and eventual industrial development. It is a natural transportation hub and a major river, the Shenandoah, joins the Potomac River at Harpers Ferry. It guarded the entrance to Virginia's large Shenandoah Valley, and the Potomac provided easy access to Washington. The valleys of the rivers made it possible to build the never-completed Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, then the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and shortly after that the Winchester and Potomac Railroad. The first railroad junction in the United States was at Harpers Ferry,[citation needed] and telegraph lines passed through the town. The armory, and later other industries, were located in Harpers Ferry because of the abundant water power available from the rivers.
The ferry ended in 1824, when a
The town's original lower section is on a
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) headquarters is in Harpers Ferry. The Appalachian Trail passes directly through town, which some consider the psychological midpoint of the trail[85][86] despite the exact physical midpoint is being farther north in Pennsylvania. Uniquely, the towns of Harpers Ferry and adjoining Bolivar have partnered with the ATC to be declared a united Appalachian Trail Community.[87]
Climate
The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters, with yearly snowfall averaging 20.7 inches. According to the
.[88]
Demographics
Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
---|---|---|---|
1850 | 1,747 | — | |
1860 | 1,339 | −23.4% | |
1880 | 764 | — | |
1890 | 958 | 25.4% | |
1900 | 896 | −6.5% | |
1910 | 766 | −14.5% | |
1920 | 713 | −6.9% | |
1930 | 705 | −1.1% | |
1940 | 665 | −5.7% | |
1950 | 822 | 23.6% | |
1960 | 572 | −30.4% | |
1970 | 423 | −26.0% | |
1980 | 361 | −14.7% | |
1990 | 308 | −14.7% | |
2000 | 307 | −0.3% | |
2010 | 286 | −6.8% | |
2020 | 269 | −5.9% | |
U.S. Decennial Census[89] |
2010 census
As of the
Of the 131 households, 21% had children under the age of 18 living with them; 44% were married couples living together; 13% had a female householder with no husband present; 3% had a male householder with no wife present; and 41% were non-families. Individuals were 29%, with 15% living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.18 and the average family size, 2.69.
The median age in the town was 52. Of all residents, 17% were under the age of 18; 3% between the ages of 18 and 24; 19% from 25 to 44; 38% from 45 to 64; and 23% 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 49.3% male and 50.7% female.
Politics
Harpers Ferry is part of West Virginia's 2nd congressional district, represented by Republican Alex Mooney since 2014. Republican Bill Ridenour represents it in the West Virginia House of Delegates as part of the 100th district,[90] and Republican Jason Barrett represents it in the West Virginia Senate as part of the 16th district.[91]
Transportation
Roads and highways
The only significant highway providing access to Harpers Ferry is
Rail
Notable people
- Nathan Cook Brackett
- John Brown
- John Brown's raiders
- Drusilla Dunjee Houston[92]
- Col. Edward M. Kirby[93]
- Celeste Brackett Newcomer
- Lewis Washington
See also
- Beall-Air
- Heyward Shepherd monument
- Hill Top House Hotel
- Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area
- USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49)
- Virginius Island, West Virginia
References
Notes
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- ^ a b U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
- ^ a b "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on December 27, 1996. Retrieved January 24, 2013.
- ^ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on December 27, 1996. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
- University of Maryland., for his generosity in giving information on this subject".
{{cite book}}
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- ^ "Apostrophes don't always make the cut". pilotonline.com. August 27, 2013. Archived from the original on August 17, 2021. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
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- ^ Norris, J. E. (1890). History of the lower Shenandoah Valley counties of Frederick, Berkeley, Jefferson and Clarke, their early settlement and progress to the present time; geological features; a description of their historic and interesting localities; cities, towns and villages; portraits of some of the prominent men, and biographies of many of the representative citizens. Chicago: A. Warner & Co. p. 431.
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- ^ "Hikes – Harpers Ferry National Historical Park". U.S. National Park Service. Archived from the original on October 4, 2017. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
- ^ "Headquarters and psychological mid-point of the Appalachian Trail, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on September 21, 2017. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
- ^ "Harper's Ferry & Bolivar, West Virginia: An Appalachian Trail Community". Appalachian Trail Conservancy. Archived from the original on May 25, 2018. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
- ^ "Harpers Ferry, West Virginia Köppen Climate Classification". WeatherBase. Archived from the original on October 21, 2016. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
- ^ "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Archived from the original on October 3, 2014. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
- ^ "Bill Ridenour". www.wvlegislature.gov. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
- ^ "Jason Barrett". www.wvlegislature.gov. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
- ^ "Houston, Drusilla Dunjee (1876–1941)". Oklahoma History Center. Archived from the original on February 4, 2017. Retrieved February 4, 2017.
- ^ "Dollar Year Men," Military Establishment Appropriation Bill for 1942: Hearings Before the Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, Seventy-seventh Congress, First Session, on the Legislative Branch Appropriation Bill, 1942 (United States Government Printing Office, Washington [D.C.], 1941), p. 91. https://books.google.co.in/books?id=WIU0AAAAIAAJ&pg=RA2-PA91&lpg=RA2-PA91&dq=%27col.+edward+m.+kirby%27+harpers+ferry&source=bl&ots=O4jX8equfq&sig=ACfU3U2zxQAXSdBm0_oDx5Q_B93UV3Ro6Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjX2det-e74AhXlZWwGHWtdBk0Q6AF6BAgCEAM#v=onepage&q='col.%20edward%20m.%20kirby'%20harpers%20ferryedwardkirby&f=false
Further reading
- Besche, John (April 15, 2023). "Want to escape D.C. without a car? Take a train to Harpers Ferry". Washington Post.
- Barry, Joseph (1903). The Strange Story of Harpers Ferry. Martinsburg, West Virginia. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) First published in 1869, as The annals of Harper's Ferry, from the establishment of the national armory in 1794 to the present time - Gilbert, Dave (1993). A walker's guide to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia (6th ed.). Harpers Ferry, West Virginia: Harpers Ferry Historical Association. ISBN 093312628X.
- Hoffsinger, James P. (November 1958). Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. contributions toward a Physical History (PDF). National Park Service. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
- Jefferson County Historic Landmarks Commission. John Brown's Trail. Following the Path of the Infamous Raid on Harpers Ferry (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on October 17, 2020. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
- Lee, Andrew S. (2003). Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Harpers Ferry Station (PDF). H[istoric]A[merican]E[ngineering]R[ecord] WV–86. Archeology Program, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
- Snell, Charles W. (April 9, 1973). The Business Enterprises and Commercial Development of Harper's Ferry Lower Town Area, 1803-1861 (PDF). Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved June 19, 2021.