The United States Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, often called the Harpers Ferry Armory, was a series of facilities used for the manufacture and storage of firearms for the United States government from around 1802 to the start of the Civil War in 1861. Chosen by George Washington as one of two locations for a federal armory, it produced a variety of guns and became the primary driving force of Harpers Ferry’s economy. In 1859, the armory was seized by John Brown and his followers as part of their attempt to instigate a slave uprising. When the Civil War began in 1861, the facilities were destroyed as both Union troops and Confederates fought for control of the town. Never rebuilt, the site of the armory is today mostly covered by railroad tracks.
The land known as the Point was part of Robert Harper's land in the 1700s. When the U.S. Government purchased the surrounding acreage for the Federal Armory, Sarah and John Wager retained ownership of this piece of land and the ferry crossing. Between 1815 and 1860, this was a bustling residential and commercial area, but all of the structures were destroyed during the Civil War. After the war, the Point was the crossroads for railroad and highway bridges until the 1936 flood destroyed the two vehicle bridges.
The 1836 Wernwag (or Latrobe) bridge was a wooden covered railroad and highway bridge spanning the Potomac River from Maryland Heights to the Point at Harpers Ferry. Used by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, the bridge was destroyed and rebuilt several times during the Civil War. Afterwards, the B&O rebuilt the bridge as the Bollman Iron Truss Bridge. The B&O crossing was known for its sharp turns at either end of the bridge, which ultimately led to the railroad realigning their tracks and constructing a new bridge adjacent to this one. The Bollman bridge served as a highway bridge until it was destroyed in the 1936 flood.
John Brown's Fort was a U.S. Armory engine and guard-house constructed for the Musket Factory in 1847-8. It's original location was across the street where the John Brown monument now stands. In 1859, John Brown and his men used this fort to attempt to free the slaves of the area, his attempt was unsuccessful but brought national attention to the area of Harpers Ferry and raised tensions around the topic of slavery. The Engine House was repositioned here in 1968 and restored in 1976-7,
Part of the United States Federal Armory at Harpers Ferry, Block A on Shenandoah Street (now known as Old Arsenal Square) included the two federal arsenal buildings that stored and distributed weapons. The arsenal buildings and their stores of firearms were the target of John Brown's Raid in 1859 and then the buildings were burned in April 1861 at the beginning of the Civil War. Block B of Shenandoah Street includes two of the only surviving buildings on the southern side of Shenandoah Street, including the Master Armorer's Quarters.
This part of Lower Town is known as the Wager Reservation Lot because it was part of the private land retained by the Wager family when the U.S. government purchased the surrounding land for the armory. This has been the residential and commercial center of Harpers Ferry for much of the town's history.
Built between 1775 and 1782, the Robert Harper House is the oldest surviving structure in the Lower Town of Harpers Ferry. It bears the name of Robert Harper, who established the town of Harpers Ferry and died before the house was completed. After Harper's death in 1782, the property was divided between his niece, Sarah Harper Wager, and his wife's relative, Robert Griffith. In 1832, a wedding took place at the house between Sarah's daughter, Sarah Ann, and Noah H. Swayne, who would later be one of Abraham Lincoln's Supreme Court Justices. The house remained it the Swayne family for generations. Today, the Robert Harper House is now part of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park and Harpers Ferry Historical District.
James McGraw opened his beer bottling business in 1885 and built a bottling plant behind his business on Block B, along Market Street. His son, James C. McGraw, expanded the business by constructing a new brewery and ice plant behind Block C by 1897, naming it the Harpers Ferry Brewing Company. The brewery was operated under several owners in the twentieth century and a fire in 1909 destroyed the main brewery. Between 1916 and 1942, the bottling plant continued operations as the Harpers Ferry Bottling Company.
This stretch of Shenandoah was once populated with residences, commercial buildings, and other structures related to the United States Armory. Prior to the Civil War this was a bustling street due to the industry and transportation routes present in Harpers Ferry. Almost nothing remains from this section of town due to floods prior to 1936 that destroyed most of the structures.
Virginius Island is a small island located in the southern portion of Harpers Ferry on the Shenandoah River. Virginius was once an independent town and was home to various businesses, with the primary industry being water mills. Financial problems, destruction caused by the Civil War, and repeated flooding caused the island to be completely abandoned by 1936. Today, Virginius Island is accessible to the public and has many ruins of structures such as factories and mills.
Like neighboring Virginius Island, Halls Island was one of Harpers Ferry’s industrial centers. Robert Harper constructed his sawmill here in the 1750s and after the U.S. government purchased the land in 1797 it was part of plans to expand travel on the Shenandoah River. The height of industry on Halls Island was during the 1820s-1840s when John Hall produced his patented Hall breechloading rifles at the Hall Rifle Works. After the destruction of the Civil War, Halls Island saw one more period of industry with the Shenandoah Pulp Mill from 1889 to 1935. Afterward, Halls Island largely returned to nature as the National Park Service began administering the property.
Named in honor of the third President of the United States who stood here and declared it the finest view of the most beautiful section of Virginia he had ever seen, Jefferson's Rock is a highlight for those who visit what is now Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. This site is near the Appalachian Trail and is a popular destination for hikers. With the exception of the bridge a mile downstream and the steeple of St. Peter's Church, built in 1833, the view from this rock has changed little since the time of Thomas Jefferson’s visit.
Built in 1851-1852, St. John's Episcopal Church was one of five early churches in Harpers Ferry. During the Civil War the building was used by the Union Army as a barracks and hospital, and was heavily damaged during the conflict. The congregation rebuilt after 1865, but structural deterioration and fires caused them to built a new church on Washington Street. The original church was abandoned in 1895 and afterwards fell into ruins. It is now administered by the National Park Service as part of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.
The Potomac Power Plant is a historic hydroelectric facility at Harpers Ferry. Since the early nineteenth century, the site had been used as a source of water power for various projects, and the U.S. Armory operated a mill there to power their machinery. From the 1890s to 1925, the site was a pulp mill for the Harpers Ferry Paper Company. In 1925, a hydroelectric station was constructed, providing electricity to the local community until its closure in 1991. The Potomac Power Plant was added to the National Register of Historical Places around 2000. Today, the plant is part of the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, and is not open to the public.
Storer College was the first African American college in West Virginia. The institution was established by the Free Will Baptist church as a school for formerly enslaved person during the Civil War. In 1867, Storer was incorporated by the state as a school for African Americans under the leadership of the Rev. Nathan C. Brackett. Storer educated over 7,000 students in its nearly ninety-year history, including many prominent educators, lawyers, doctors, and politicians. The Storer College campus is now part of Harpers Ferry National Historic Park and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Anthony Memorial Hall is the most prominent building on campus and, like many of the Storer buildings that stand today, is used as an education center for the National Park Service.
Originally constructed in 1912 as Harpers Ferry High School and served that purpose until 1930 when it became Harpers Ferry Elementary School. The school was renamed C. W. Shipley Elementary in 1968 in honor of Charles Waldron Shipley, a teacher and principal of the school. Starting in 1971 the National Park Service used the building as a conservation laboratory and continues to own the structure today, although it is vacant.
Grand View School served as an elementary school for African American students between 1930 and 1965, and then as an integrated school until 1971 when the school was closed. Grand View was significant in early education for Black students in Harpers Ferry, but also serves as an example of local and national debates over segregation and equal education. The building is now used as offices for Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.
The Nash Farm was donated to Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in the 1990s by Bradley D. and Ruth Cowan Nash. Bradley Nash was a strong supporter of the development of Harpers Ferry NHP and served as mayor of Harpers Ferry. The current farm complex includes the main house (a 1.5 story frame house on a concrete block foundation), a dairy barn, milk house, tenant house, sheds, and a “chapel” that was likely originally a springhouse.
Included in Harpers Ferry National Historical Park is 56 acres of what used to be the 277-acre farm of Daniel Moler. The farm was named “Prospect Hill Farm” and Moler likely farmed wheat, rye, and corn like the surrounding farmers. Moler’s farm included a portion of Schoolhouse Ridge, named for a small stone schoolhouse that stood near the Turnpike, and extended across Bloomery Road to Bolivar Heights. On September 14-15, 1862, during Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s attack on Harpers Ferry, Moler’s farm was in the middle of fighting between the opposing battlelines along Schoolhouse Ridge and Bolivar Heights. The land was used for agricultural purposes until the 1990s when the Civil War Trust (now the American Battlefield Trust) was able to purchase the land and deed it to Harpers Ferry National Historical Park to preserve the battlefield land.
Harpers Ferry National Historical Park includes several hundred acres of land on Loudoun Heights. In addition to a history of private landownership, Loudoun Heights was used to support the Federal Armory at Harpers Ferry. During the Civil War Loudoun Heights was occupied by both Union and Confederate troops, and evidence of those occupations remains visible on the property. After the war, Loudoun Heights saw both agricultural and tourist development and was connected to transportation with the ferry and the Shenandoah Bridge crossing to Harpers Ferry. The Appalachian Trail cuts through a portion of the Loudoun Heights tract.
Maryland Heights allowed for the Union soldiers to be able to have the high ground during the war. From this point, they could see all the area around them and they were not subject to the enemy’s surprise. During historic battles at this time, holding the high ground was one of the most beneficial things you could do to win the fight.
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Harpers Ferry National Historical Park is nestled at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers in West Virginia with views of Maryland and Virginia. Visitors can cross the Potomac River and hike to the peak of Maryland Heights that overlooks Harpers Ferry. Harpers Ferry National Historical Park houses Storer College, buildings involved in John Brown's Raid, and a Civil War battleground.
