Harrison County Courthouse (Tour)

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This is the staff from the bow of the U.S.S. West Virginia, a battleship that was sunk during the Battle of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. This marker was placed in memory of those that served on the battleship which was destroyed in the attack.The commanding officer of the ship, Captain Mervyn S. Bennion, was mortally wounded in the early part of the attack. Like many others aboard the ship, he attempted to save the men aboard the ship despite his injuries. Bennion was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously. Seventy of the sailors aboard the vessel were trapped below deck when the ship sank and perished along with others who were wounded in the attack.

2. Clarksburg Union Meetings

In the leadup and early days of the Civil War, Clarksburg was buzzing with pro-Union activity. Most natives of the city strongly opposed the growing secessionist sentiment in southern Virginia. Several meetings were held to discuss how Clarksburg should respond in the case that Virginia did choose to secede from the Union. Following a Virginia Secession Convention vote that led to the state’s secession, politician John S. Carlile held the most important meeting at the Harrison County Courthouse. The Clarksburg public reiterated their opposition to the secession and called for a new meeting of pro-Union officials. With Carlile’s backing, this led to the First Wheeling Convention, which in turn led to the formation of West Virginia as a state.

3. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson Statue

Born in Clarksburg, (West) Virginia in 1824, Thomas Jonathan Jackson emerged as one of the most prominent Confederate generals of the American Civil War. A graduate of West Point, Jackson served in the Mexican and Seminole Wars. He accepted a professorship at the Virginia Military Institute, where he taught until the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. Accepting a commission in the Confederate army, Jackson rose through the ranks as an aggressive, confident military commander. He commanded a Confederate corps under Robert E. Lee in the Army of Northern Virginia. In 1863, he was wounded by his own men at the Battle of Chancellorsville and developed pneumonia, to which he succumbed on May 10, 1863. In 1953, amidst the Civil Rights movement, the United Daughters of the Confederacy erected a statue to Jackson on the courthouse square in Clarksburg. In recent years, there have been calls for the statue's removal, but the Harrison County Commission has refused to take any action.

4. Honoring the Immigrants

Clarksburg is a city of immigrants. Between 1910 and 1920, approximately five thousand to sixty-five hundred foreign-born people lived in Harrison county. As the population of the county was roughly fifty thousand people, immigrants composed a significant portion of the population. The immigrants hailed from Ireland, Eastern Europe, and Italy. They largely found work in coal mines and glass factories. Italian immigrants became particularly well-established in Harrison County. The West Virginia Italian Heritage Festival grew out of the Italian immigrant community and now attracts over one hundred thousand people to Clarksburg each Labor Day weekend. Honoring the Immigrants was installed in 1985, the bicentennial of Clarksburg’s official founding. The work depicts immigrants from a variety of backgrounds working together to build Clarksburg. The sculpture was created by W.D. Hopen, a West Virginia artist. A plaque at the base of the piece includes a quote from Theodore Roosevelt which reads, “So build your community that quickened conscience, larger vision, deeper devotion and equality of rights for all will resolve itself into an enthusiastic zeal for personal service in the community. All who give service are torch bearers.”

5. Harrison County War Memorials

The Harrison County Courthouse courtyard features two memorials to veterans. In the southeast corner is the Memorial to Those Who Served, an obelisk dedicated to West Virginia veterans from all conflicts. Situated diagonally from this memorial in the northwest corner is the Purple Heart Memorial, also known as the Combat Wounded Memorial. This granite stele was erected in 1999 in honor of veterans who were wounded in combat and received the Purple Heart for their actions. The monument was funded by the Military Order of the Purple Heart, the state of West Virginia, and donations by local individuals. An inscription on the piece reads “Dear friend, beware as you stand by. As you are now, so once was I. As I am now, so you will be. So get prepared to follow me. “To follow you I am not content. Until I know which way you went.” We are such things as dreams are made of and our little life is rounded with sleep.Green be the turf above thee. Friend of thy better day. None knew thee but to love thee. Nor name thee but to praise.”

This Tour is a Virtual Museum or Site Tour.

Harrison County Courthouse

Created by AmericanMilitaryHistory Fall 2015 (WVU Tech) on October 4th 2015, 4:23:31 pm.

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Description

The history of the Harrison County Courthouse stretches back to 1784, when a one-room building was erected for five hundred fifty dollars. Since then, the building has been replaced four times, culminating in the fifth courthouse that is visible today. The current Art Moderne building was constructed between 1931 and 1932 and is architecturally significant. It is also Harrison County’s longest serving courthouse building. A variety of historical plaques, monuments, and memorials are contained in the building’s courtyard. They commemorate the people and events that have shaped Harrison County.

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Harrison County Courthouse

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