Maryland Heights historical hike is located in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.&nbsp; The hike takes approximately three and a half hours to do.&nbsp; The final outlook raises all the way up to 1600 feet elevation.&nbsp; Much of the path is uphill and it is a rather strenuous hike.&nbsp; The endpoint for the uphill path is a beautiful outlook which allows you to see all of the area and the Potomac River.&nbsp; Along the way, you pass through tons of Civil War history.&nbsp;&nbsp; The beginning point for the Maryland Heights hiking past begins across the street from the historical Harpers Ferry area.&nbsp; Once you begin the uphill hike, you will immediately be emerged in Civil War history.&nbsp; You begin to pass by Union side forts that were a safe area for the Union soldiers to camp.&nbsp; The ruins of these forts allow you to see just where history stood.&nbsp; There are also several trenches and gunpowder magazines from the Union soldiers during the war. Along the way up Maryland Heights you also have the privilege of seeing the main fort for the Union Soldiers.&nbsp; These ruins date back to 1863.&nbsp; There are stairs and a stone wall that are still intact.&nbsp; This wall allowed for Union soldiers to be protected from northern attacks.&nbsp; This fort and its history is located on the Stone Fort Trail.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Maryland Heights allowed for the Union soldiers to be able to have the high ground during the war.&nbsp; From this point, they could see all the area around them and they were not subject to the enemy’s surprise.&nbsp; During historic battles at this time, holding the high ground was one of the most beneficial things you could do to win the fight.&nbsp;&nbsp;

View of Harpers Ferry from Maryland Heights. 

View of Harpers Ferry with Maryland Heights in the background before the war. Circa 1860. 

Overview of the Civil War in Harpers Ferry. 

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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.   


Maryland Heights

The land that became Harpers Ferry was originally part of the Thomas Fairfax holdings. Millwright Robert Harper purchased 125 acres of land from Fairfax on April 5, 1751. Harper established a water powered sawmill, ferry, and a stone tavern. Robert Harper died in 1782 and his holdings were inherited by his niece, Sarah Harper, and her husband John Wager, Sr. The Wagers lived in Philadelphia and controlled the development of Harpers Ferry from afar until 1836.During the early nineteenth century, Harpers Ferry was a center for industry and transportation. In August 1785 George Washington visited Harpers Ferry and selected it as the location for a new Federal musket producing armory due to the potential for waterpower. The United States purchased 118.25 acres of land from the Wagers, with the family keeping the two Wager tracts (the Six Acre Wager Reservation and ¾-acre Ferry Lot Reservation). The U. S. began construction on the power canal, dams, and factory buildings in 1798 and arms production began in 1802. The presence of the armory spurred the exponential growth in the town and the factory produced more than 500,000 firearms for the United States by 1860.In addition to the federal presence at Harpers Ferry, the area was a center of private industrial growth, particularly along the Shenandoah River at Virginius and Hall Islands. The potential for waterpower was being used as early as the 1820s and in the 1850s Abraham Kerr 39 industrial or related structures on Virginius Island. Hall’s Island just to the west was the site of the Lower Hall Rifle Factory in the 1820s. While new interchangeable technology was already being adapted by the U.S. government, John Harris Hall developed a system to mass produce truly interchangeable parts for a breechloading flintlock rifle. Hall was contracted by the United States to set up the machinery needed for this process on Hall Island and produce his rifles for the government.Transportation and Industry were both prominent themes in early Harpers Ferry. The Baltimore &amp; Ohio Railroad meets the Winchester &amp; Potomac Railroad in Harpers Ferry, along with the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. The canal was a way to transport goods from Cumberland, Maryland to Washington DC. With it’s ideal location for water powered factories, Harpers Ferry was home to cotton mills, paper mills, rifle works, and the Federal Armory and Arsenal. However, when you visit the park today all that remains are the ruins of the once industrial town due to the flooding that occurred.Harpers Ferry is perhaps most famous for John Brown’s Raid in October 1859. John Brown was an avid abolitionist and became known as “Osawatomie Brown” for his actions in “Bleeding Kansas,” and became a wanted man for killing five pro-slavery individuals. In Harpers Ferry, Brown devised a plan to lead a raid on the federal armory and arsenal. Brown’s plan was to obtain weapons from the armory and free all of the slaves in the south by providing them with weapons to rebel. Brown and his 18 raiders hid out at the nearby Kennedy Farm house in Maryland. On the eve of October 16th, 1859 Brown and his raiders entered the silent town of Harpers Ferry, it was a drizzly Sunday night. Brown’s men took several local citizens as prisoners, and once the local militia began to exchange fire, Brown took coverage in the armory’s fire engine house, now referred to as John Brown’s Fort. The U.S. Marines from Washington D.C., under the command of Colonel Robert E. Lee offered Brown terms of surrender. Brown refused and after a short three-minute struggle Brown was captured and put under arrest. Brown was tried and found guilty of three crimes: murder, treason, and conspiring and inciting a slave rebellion, and was sent to the gallows on December 2, 1859. John Brown is quoted with his last words being “I John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land, will never be purged away with blood.” Brown was envisioning a Civil War to occur and it did.During the Civil War, Harpers Ferry was constantly in the path of the opposing armies. In 1861, at the very beginning of the conflict the Federal soldiers at the arsenal were forced to leave Harpers Ferry with the approach of Virginia’s state troops (once Virginia seceded and joined the Confederate States). The Federal force set fire to several of the buildings before the Confederates occupied the town. The other large wartime event was the Battle of Harpers Ferry in September 1862 when Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson approached the town during the Antietam Campaign and forced the surrender of the entire Union force there. Harpers Ferry was occupied by both forces several times over the course of the Civil War and much of the industrial sector was destroyed during the conflict. The damage from the war plus a series of major floods after 1870 largely caused Harpers Ferry to go into decline in the late nineteenth century.Harpers Ferry also holds a history of African Americans in West Virginia. After the American Civil War a school to educate newly freed African Americans was formed by missionaries. The school later turned into Storer College. In 1906, on the campus of Storer College, the second meeting of the Niagara Movement took place, and was led by W.E.B DuBois. The Niagara Movement was the forerunner of the NAACP. Storer College ended in 1954, when the Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education was passed making segregated schools illegal. Today, Storer College is a training center for the National Park Service.In 1944 the U. S. Congress recognized the historical significance of Harpers Ferry with legislation that allowed up to 1,500 acres to be designated as a national monument. It was officially declared a National Historical Park in 1963 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in October 1966.

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.

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.

Loudoun Heights

During Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s 1862 Maryland Campaign, he divided his army into four sections to secure strategic points at Harpers Ferry, Martinsburg, and Boonsboro before reuniting his force to invade Maryland. Lee needed to remove the Federal presence from along the supply and communication lines needed to pursue his campaign north. This campaign ultimately resulted in the battles at South Mountain and Antietam, and Jackson’s capture of Harpers Ferry. General Lee ordered General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson to capture the garrison at Martinsburg, VA and then take Harpers Ferry. After securing these two locations, Jackson’s force was to reunite with Lee’s main force in Maryland. His force of 14,000 troops left Lee at Frederick, MD on September 10th.The Union had reoccupied Harpers Ferry in February 1862 to secure the communication and supply lines and protect the Shenandoah Valley. Union Colonel Dixon S. Miles with a force of 14,000 soldiers held the town. Harpers Ferry is a difficult location to defend. While the confluence of the rivers (and then the railroad lines) made it a good spot for an armory, the town was located on low ground surrounded by heights on three sides. A defense of Harpers Ferry relied on defending Bolivar Heights, Maryland Heights, and Loudoun Heights to prevent an enemy taking the high ground and firing down into the town. To defend against Jackson’s movement, Dixon divided his force into four brigades. His main force held Bolivar Heights with a section of militia holding Camp Hill, right outside the town proper. Miles sent a force of largely green troops to defend Maryland Heights and left Loudoun Heights undefended, believing that the Confederates would not be able to get artillery up to the top.Jackson’s force converged on Harpers Ferry September 12-13, 1862. The wing under General Lafayette McLaws reached Maryland Heights first, on the 12th, and on the morning of September 13th pushed the Union force back. McLaws took Maryland Heights and placed heavy artillery there. Also on the 13th, a second force under General John G. Walker made it to the top of Loudoun Heights, where Miles had posted no Union force. This allowed the Confederates to take Loudoun Heights and place artillery there as well. The third wing, under Jackson, successfully cleared Martinsburg and made their way within miles of Bolivar Heights. General Miles and the Union force within Harpers Ferry were quickly being surrounded.On the morning of September 14, artillery fire from Maryland Heights supported Jackson sending the division of A. P. Hill forward to Bolivar Heights. Miles had placed his main force there and Hill’s advance met strong resistance; however, by the end of the day the Confederates were poised on Schoolhouse Ridge, parallel to the Union position on Bolivar Heights. During the night of September 14 Jackson had the Confederate troops under A. P. Hill move south towards the Shenandoah River to perform a flanking maneuver against Bolivar Heights in the morning hours of September 15. To mask the movement of Hill’s troops, Jackson had his old brigade, the Stonewall Bridge, make an attack from Schoolhouse Ridge towards the Union lines as a diversion. This attack advanced over Daniel Moler’s farm towards the Union skirmish line at the base of Bolivar Heights.September 15th was the Confederate’s final push. Jackson’s artillery fired into Harpers Ferry and then Hill’s infantry charged the Union position. Completely surrounded by Jackson’s force, Miles called together his officers to discuss surrender, during which Miles was mortally wounded by an artillery shell.The Union surrender of Harpers Ferry on September 15, 1862 was the largest capture of Union forces during the Civil War, around 12,000 soldiers. Jackson did not stay long after his victory, however. Union General George B. McClellan had found a copy of General Lee’s plan for the invasion into Maryland and had followed him to Sharpsburg. As the stage was set for the battle of Antietam Lee needed Jackson’s force to return to the main army. Jackson left one division at Harpers Ferry, that of A. P. Hill, to handle the parole of prisoners and gathering up captured supplies and took the rest of his force towards Sharpsburg. Once that process was done, Hill’s division also headed towards Sharpsburg, arriving late on September 17th in the final stages of the battle.After the Civil War the Moler farm changed hands several times. Samuel Howell Brown bought the land in 1868 and Rudolph Rau purchased it in 1876. In 1897, after Rau’s death, the “Prospect Hill Farm” was divided into pieces with 92 acres on the east side of the road going to Rau’s children as “The Vineyard Farm.” By this time at least this portion of the farm was dedicated to orchards, which was a common trend among Jefferson County farmers in the late nineteenth and early twenties centuries. The two-story house had also been constructed on the property by this point. The “Vineyard Farm” was sold to Thomas Rutherford in 1904, reduced to 81 acres and sold to W. A. Higgs in 1912, and then sold to Fannie Hockensmith in 1925. The Hockensmith family named their orchard and farm “Hillside Fruit Farm” and operated for about six decades. In the 1980s the orchard operation had slowed and the property was deeded by the Hockensmith heirs to Charles and Janice Neidinger with stipulations that the property would remain undeveloped.Prior to the 1990s most of Schoolhouse Ridge was privately owned and not preserved as part of the National Park. Due to threats of development, the area was a high priority for preservation between 1988 and 2004. In September 1992 the Neidingers sold the property to Jefferson Security Bank from which the Civil War Trust purchased the property as part of their mission to preserve Civil War battlefields (they are now renamed the American Battlefield Trust). The Civil War Trust was then able to deed the property, now labeled the Bolivar Heights/School House Ridge Skirmish Site, to the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Other portions of Schoolhouse Ridge were preserved through the efforts of the Civil War (American Battlefield) Trust, the Trust for Public Lands, the National Park Service, and Federal Government. In 2004 Congress, led by the late Senator Robert C. Byrd, expanded the park boundary of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park guaranteeing the future preservation of this property.When the National Park Service acquired the Moler tract the 1890 house and farm buildings were still standing but in poor condition. The house was two-stories on a limestone foundation. The front portion, facing Bloomery Road, was three bays across (window/door/window pattern) and one bay deep. There was a bay window on the southern side of the house and a full-length porch along the front supported by square columns. The two-story rear ell of the house also sat on the limestone foundation and there was a two-story recessed porch along the southern side of the ell. The house was originally sided with weatherboard siding, but that had been covered over by stucco. There were also outbuildings that appeared newer than the house, including a one-story frame shed, a one-story frame garage, and a large storage building for the orchard operations that occurred on the property starting in the late nineteenth century. These structures were standing in 2001 when the property was added to the National Register of Historic Places under Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, but no longer stand.

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.

Bolivar Heights/School House Ridge Skirmish Site (Harpers Ferry National Historical Park)

Like most of Harpers Ferry, the Nash property was initially part of the government property purchased to support the federal armory in the early 1800s. The government organized their tract into blocks and lots along a grid of streets and prior to the Civil War they sold of some pieces of their property to private buyers. The town of Harpers Ferry was incorporated in 1851 and the government began selling lots the next year. What ultimately became the Nash Farm was originally labeled Block 3, it was the northwest-most government lot and Thomas Jenkins purchased it in 1852. Jenkins owned the property through the Civil War but did not develop it. It is likely that the wooded lot and spring on the tract were used by Union soldiers during the 1862 occupation. It is also likely that Union artillery was positioned on or near the Jenkins property during the September 1862 attack on Harpers Ferry by Confederate Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s Corps. Between September 13-15, 1862 a portion of Captain John H. Graham’s Company A, 5th New York Heavy Artillery was stationed at the far right of the Union line on Bolivar Heights in a position that may have extended onto the Jenkins tract.After the Civil War Thomas Jenkins sold the lot to Christian Nichol for $621 in 1866. Nichol began making improvements on the property by constructing a house and brewery and took out a mortgage with Frances Zoll under two deeds of trust to fund the construction. Three years later, Nichol was unable to pay the debts and the lot was sold at public sale to Francis Zoll for $1200 ($1100 of which was applied to Nichol’s debt). The Zoll family owned the land until 1885. It is unclear what happened to the brewery business because while the lot continued to be called the “brewery lot” the property value decreased sharply and the brewery was not operating by 1885. That year John Zoll sold the property (now two plots—the “brewery lot” and an additional 2-acre plot (lot 7 of Block 2)) to J. Garland Hurst for $500.J. G. Hurst later declared bankruptcy and the two parcels were sold in 1902 and 1903 to separate owners. After a series of different owners, Mary Blaine Barker purchased both tracts from Richard Rutherford in 1928 (Barker also owned several other nearby plots of land). It was Barker that developed the property into a farm and constructed the existing buildings in the 1920s and 1930s. Mary Barker sold the larger 7-acre tract to Bradley D. Nash in 1951 and the Lot 7 parcel to Nash in 1954.In 1951, Bradley and Ruth Nash settled on the Barker farm and that same year Congress approved appropriations to fund Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Bradley D. Nash was a WWII veteran and had worked in several federal departments in Washington, D.C. during his career. Ruth was a war correspondent and journalist for the Associated Press and had served in a position in the Eisenhower administration. Bradley Nash used his network of contacts from his federal career, particularly with West Virginia Congressman Jennings Randolph, to garner support for the park. Nash also served as a trustee of Storer College in the years before it closed. As a consequence, after the National Park Service acquired the Storer campus they hired Nash as a Historian to research the history of the college for two years in 1963. The impact of Nash’s support on Harpers Ferry NHP was so great that the park dedicated a flagstaff to him in Arsenal Square of downtown Harpers Ferry in 1973. Nash also served as Mayor of Harpers Ferry twice, 1971-1977 and 1981-1987.In the 1980s, Ruth and Bradley Nash donated a portion of their property to the National Park Service as a wildlife sanctuary and in 1990-1991 they donated the remainder of their land to the National Park Service with the agreement that they could live the remainder of their lives there. Ruth Nash died in 1993 at age 91 and Bradley Nash died in 1997 at age 96.

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.

Nash Farm (Harpers Ferry National Historical Park)

Prior to the Civil War, there were no educational services for African Americans in Jefferson County as it was then part of slaveholding Virginia. The first school for African American children in Harpers Ferry was an informal one offered by the Freewill Baptist Home Mission Society in the Lockwood House during the winter of 1864-65.With the end of the Civil War, the new state of West Virginia’s State Legislature required separate schools for African American students in districts with at least thirty eligible students (ages 6 through 21). In Jefferson County, however, the Harpers Ferry Education District did not open the necessary school. For at least a period of time after 1865 the Freewill Baptist Church and Storer College provided for elementary education in the area. Complaints by 1887 about the lack of educational resources for Black students in the county led the Board of Education to finally construct an elementary school in Harpers Ferry in 1888. This was a one-story frame school on Ridge Street near the A.M.E. and Zion Baptist Churches. The original school provided elementary education while Storer College continued to provide post-elementary classes in their “Prep” courses (this was the only high school option for Black students in Harpers Ferry until 1942).The small frame school quickly outgrew its space. In 1892 the Board of Education constructed an addition onto the building and by the 1920s there were more than 150 African American students listed in the District. For a time the Board of Education rented a basement room in the Zion Baptist Church for additional classroom space but by 1926 the Board could no longer deny that the need had outgrown the space of the original school. In November 1926 the Board of Education purchased 8 lots on Putnam Street from M. M. Arter for $1000, but construction did not start until several years later.In 1929 the District put forward a bond proposal to fund three new schools, the new African American elementary school, a new white high school, and a new white elementary school. The initial funding proposal included $15,000 for the Black elementary school. $60,000 for the white high school, and $22,000 for the white elementary school; when Harpers Ferry residents voted to approve the bond in June 1929 the actual funding was only $10,000 for the Black elementary school while $85,000 was approved for the white high school. The original plan for the new elementary school included an auditorium and bathrooms, but these elements were not approved in the final design. Meanwhile, the new white high school had an auditorium, gymnasium, and indoor bathrooms.Construction of all three new schools occurred in 1930 with the total cost of the Grand View Elementary School at around $11,000. Designed by Frampton &amp; Bowers, the one-story brick school contained four classrooms off a central corridor, which was a very typical layout for public schools. While the inside design was very standard, the exterior represented a new trend in education architecture. While earlier schools used traditional architecture to create unique facades, Grand View was designed in the Art-Deco style in a new trend that created a more standard, brick box design that became standard for schools across the United States.The lack of bathroom facilities for the school very quickly became an issue and by 1931 Grand View’s principal was already asking the Board for restrooms and an auditorium (both of which had been cut from the original funding proposal). In 1932 the Board of Education approved the construction of two outdoor outhouses at Grand View. Modern toilet facilities were not added to the school until after 1940 when a concrete block addition was added to the rear of the school with restrooms, a janitor closet, and an additional classroom space. The addition of bathroom facilities was in response to concerns over hygiene, but also part of larger questions over maintaining “separate but equal” schools for students under segregation.The Grand View School remained closely tied with Storer College during its years of operation. Storer offered a degree in Elementary Education and the elementary school provided a “teaching laboratory” for students to gain experience while pursuing their degree. In addition, many teachers at Grand View were graduates of Storer and often Grand View teachers acted as “Critic Teachers” for the degree program at Storer College.After the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case in 1954, all school were supposed to be desegregated. In Jefferson County, the “freedom of choice” plan allowed all students to choose their schools, technically allowing for integration. However, between 1954 and 1965 schools including Grand View remained all-Black schools because no white students chose to enroll there, thus segregated education continued unofficially in Harpers Ferry. In 1965 the Federal Government stepped in to ensure full integration of schools in Jefferson County, causing Grand View Elementary and Page-Jackson High School to close for students to be formally integrated into the other schools. For a few years prior to 1971 Grand View was used as an integrated school for 5th and 6th grades until the new C. W. Shipley Elementary opened in 1971 and Grand View was permanently closed.

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.

Grand View School

Harpers Ferry was one of the five school districts within Jefferson County. Prior to 1900 there were two graded schools, one in Camp Hill and one in Bolivar, but Harpers Ferry experienced rapid economic growth in the late nineteenth century and the number of students soon exceeded the space in the original schools. In 1909 parents petitioned the school board for a new consolidated, centralized school to replace the two smaller schools. Centralization of schools was a nationwide trend in the early 20th century, and in 1910 West Virginia issued recommendations for consolidating students into centralized schools. In 1910, the district raised funds for a new school through a tax levy on property that was approved by voters in November 1910. This was added to funds from a Congressional program providing compensation to communities for schoolhouses destroyed during the Civil War.The school district purchased six lots on Washington Street for the construction of the new school, lots 1-3 and 12-14 on Block JJ. Like most of Harpers Ferry, these lots were originally laid out by the U.S. Government when they operated the Federal Arsenal. Block JJ was not sold into private ownership until 1880 and remained largely undeveloped into the 1900s.--Lots 1 and 14 were purchased by James Conway and Edward Tearney in 1880 and stayed in those families until 1912 when W. O. Rau (guardian of Conway and Tearney’s heirs) sold the lots to the Board of Education.--Lots 2-3 were purchased in 1884 by James Butts during a public auction of government property. Butts sold the lots to the Board of Education in 1911.--Lot 12 was purchased by Edward Colgate during the 1884 public auction. Colgate sold the lot to William Arter in 1887 and Arter’s heirs sold it to the Board of Education in 1912.--Lot 13 was purchased by T. A. Kirwan and James Watson during the 1884 public sale and they sold it to Alvernon Cross in 1887. The lot was sold to Scott W. Lightner in 1889, then to Robert McDaniel in 1908, and then to James H. Robinson in 1909. Lightner and McDaniel were both Trustees of Storer College and Robinson was a graduate, so the property became connected to Storer during this period. Within a year of purchasing lot 13, Robinson sold it and his property in Block GG (where he had a livery stable) to Storer College. Storer College did not hold the property for long, selling both the JJ and GG lots back to Robinson in 1911. Shortly after, Robinson sold the lots of Charles Young and Grayson Staley who took over the livery stable but did not develop lot 13. Young and Grayson did not want to sell lot 13 to the Board of Education, but the Board put a lot of pressure on them, including threatening to begin condemnation proceedings against the property. The owners signed the lot over to the Board in January 1912.--Lots 10-11 were not part of the initial six lots purchased by the Board of Education, but were acquired later. Alvernon Cross purchased lots 4-5 and 10-11 in 1880. Cross retained lots 4-5, but sold lots 10-11 to Laura B. Lightner in 1887. Lightner sold the two lots to the Board of Education in 1920 for additional outdoor space for the school.Holmboe &amp; Lafferty, an architectural firm out of Clarksburg, WV, was selected to design the new school building in a similar style to schools they had done in Elkhorn, Morgantown, and Buckhannon. The firm designed the school based on many recommendations from the Superintendent of Schools with eight classrooms, each with banks of windows, a central entrance and auditorium, and interior bathrooms. The initial estimate of cost was $26,993, but the firm soon realized that the cost would be higher. As a result, in the fall of 1912, residents of Harpers Ferry again voted on raising funds, this time as a $35,000 bond issue that was combined with the previous $7,000 tax levy.When completed Harpers Ferry High School was the centralized high school for the entire district, with students bused in from the outlying areas. It also served as the elementary school for Harpers Ferry and Bolivar. However, the school was only open to white students due to segregation. There was no high school for Black students and schooling to 8th grade was provided at separate schools. High school students had to attend “prep” courses provided by Storer College, which the school district was then supposed to reimburse the college for. In 1933, the five sub-districts combined into a single Jefferson County School District, but even then there was no high school constructed for Black students. Not until 1942, with the opening of Page-Jackson High School, was there a high school facility to serve older African American students.The student population quickly outgrew Harpers Ferry High School and the building was too small by 1928. In 1930, a new Harpers Ferry District High School opened in Bolivar, so the Camp Hill building transitioned into use as a Graded School (later Harpers Ferry Elementary School). Harpers Ferry Elementary was renamed C. W. Shipley Elementary in 1968 in honor of teacher and principal Charles Waldron Shipley who had passed away suddenly the year before. Three years later, in 1971, a new C. W. Shipley Elementary was opened on Route 340 and the original building closed as a school.Starting in 1971 the Harpers Ferry High School/C. W. Shipley Elementary School building was leased to the National Park Service as a conservation laboratory with some interior alterations made to suit that new purpose. There were no exterior changes made, although the rear portion of the lot (what was the playground) was paved over as a parking area. In 1993 the National Park Service purchased the building.The building is now vacant, likely due to problems with asbestos, and the NPS is discussing whether to rehabilitate the structure or demolish it.

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.

Former C. W. Shipley Elementary/Former Harpers Ferry High School (Harpers Ferry National Historical Park)

Storer College developed out of movements in the nineteenth century to provide freed slaves with basic skills and further teacher education. Prior to the Civil War, free and enslaved Blacks faced a range of legal and social obstacles to gain basic skills such as such as reading, writing, and arithmetic. With the Thirteenth Amendment ending slavery in 1865, millions of freedpeople sought access to training, skills, and a new sense of self-worth after slavery. Furthermore, education was an important tool for navigating the complex world of Jim Crow, which continued to restrict and suppress African American activities. Missionary organizations established schools across the country so that former slaves could gain skills they were previously denied. In 1865, Rev. Nathan Brackett of the Freewill Baptist Home Mission Society of New England opened one such school in the Lockwood House, previously the Armory Paymaster’s House, on Camp Hill in Harpers Ferry. The town of Harpers Ferry had been devastated by numerous Union and Confederate occupations during the Civil War. Still, its convenient location, transportation systems, and history of slave insurrection made it an attractive place for freedpeople to settle. In the postwar era, Blacks comprised 25% of the population in Harpers Ferry. The school was soon overwhelmed, with only sixteen teachers to educate some 2,500 students. To alleviate this problem, Brackett sought to establish a school to train African American teachers. This action is part of the broader "normal school" movement, named for the "norms" that primary teachers instilled in their young students, flourished in the mid to late nineteenth century.In 1867, a philanthropist from Maine named John Storer offered to provide the Freewill Baptists with $10,000 to establish a teaching school provided that three conditions were met: that the Baptists match the $10,000; that the school eventually develop into a four-year college; and that the school had to be open to all applicants regardless of race or gender. The Freewill Baptists accepted the offer, raised $10,000 and opened the Storer Normal School on October 2, 1867, with nineteen students. At the time, it was the only teacher school for African Americans in West Virginia. The school was initially very unpopular among the white residents of Harpers Ferry, with incidents of slander, vandalism, and harassment of teachers.  In 1881, Frederick Douglass, who was on the Board of Trustees, delivered a speech on John Brown in front of the college's Anthony Memorial Hall. Also in attendance was Andrew Hunter, the Charles Town District Attorney who had prosecuted and convicted John Brown.In August of 1906, the second conference of the Niagara Movement, led by W.E.B. DuBois to end racial discrimination, was held at Storer.  By meeting at Harpers Ferry, the Niagara Movement acknowledged the symbolic importance of John Brown's slave insurrection and the continued fight for Black freedom. At the meeting, DuBois appealed for the right to vote, the end of public discrimination, justice, the "right to walk, talk and be" with others without interference, and the "federal government to step in and white out illiteracy."1 The Niagara Movement countered Booker T. Washington's calls for assimilation while advocating for civil rights without aggression or militant actions. The National Park Service calls this meeting at Storer "cornerstone of the modern civil rights era."2 In 1909, the group would develop into the NAACP.In 1909, Storer College bought the armory engine house, also known as John Brown’s Fort, which had been moved around several times. It was placed on the college campus and used as a museum. In 1968, the National Park Service moved the fort back near to its original location in the Lower Town.While Storer remained primarily a teaching school, it began offering additional courses, industrial training, and academic degrees. Storer was officially designated a four-year college in 1938. It was never accredited, however, and was forced to turn away some graduate applicants due to a lack of funds. Around this time, enrollment peaked at about 400 students.During its final years Storer College experienced financial troubles and a dwindling enrollment. In 1954, following the ruling desegregating schools in Brown v. Board of Education, the state of West Virginia withdrew financial support for the school. With no other available options, Storer was forced to close in 1956. Physical assets of the college were transferred to the Baptist (and historically white) Alderson-Broaddus College along with scholarship endowments for Black students. Storer's endowment was transferred to the all-Black Virginia Union University and maintained by VUU and Howard University, another historic Black university. In 1960, the campus of Storer College became part of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Because Harpers Ferry is also home to the National Park Service's interpretive center, some of Storer College's buildings are used for tours or educational training. The most prominent building is Anthony Memorial Hall, built in 1881 on a scenic hill overlooking campus. A fire in 1927 left only the brick walls standing and it was restored shortly after. Today, Anthony Memorial Hall is an education center that bears the name of Stephen T. Mather, a businessman and conservationist who became the first director of the National Park Service. Over the years, a number of Storer College structures, such as dorms, a basketball court, and a science building, have been razed to make space for private homes or National Park Service facilities. The former college football field and horticultural lands, located west of Anthony Memorial Hall, are now forested.Annual reunions for Storer alumni are also still held on the campus. Prominent alumni include J. R. Clifford, the first Black lawyer in West Virginia and owner of the state’s first Black newspaper; Coralie Franklin Cook, a professor at Howard University and descendant of the Monticello slaves; Joseph Jeffrey Walters, author of the first African novel published in English, Guyana Pau; jazz musician Don Redman; and Nnamdi Azikiwe, president of the short-lived First Nigerian Republic.

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.

Storer College 

In the 1790s, Harpers Ferry was selected as the site for a
United States armory and arsenal because of the Potomac River and the
waterpower it could provide. A dam and a canal were constructed around 1800 to
harness water for the new armory’s machinery. In 1834, the armory began
constructing a Tilt-Hammer and Barrel-Welding Shop on the site of the present
plant; the shop contained eight water-powered tilt hammers that were used to
help manufacture gun barrels. In 1853, the shop was demolished and a new
rolling mill was built on the foundation. Rolling mills were used to flatten
pieces of metal to reduce their thickness. The rolling mill, along with the
rest of the armory, was destroyed during the Civil War.In 1884, a Delaware
businessman named Thomas Savery purchased the site of the mill at an auction in
1884, along with the water rights and more property on Virginius Island.&nbsp;
On these properties he constructed two pulp mills: the Shenandoah Pulp Company
on Virginius Island in 1887, and the Harpers Ferry Paper Company (also known as
the Potomac Pulp Mill) at the former site of the rolling mill in 1889.
Waterpower was used extensively in the pulp and papermaking processes. The
waterpower and timber resources at Harpers Ferry, as well as the low cost of
building and operating pulp mills made it an ideal location for the industry.
Savery’s mills were used to manufacture wood pulp, which were sold to produce
paper. Pulp mills were a dangerous workplace; during its existence there were
several instances of workers losing fingers or even arms at the Potomac Pulp
Mill.Small pulp mills, such as the one at Harpers Ferry, found it
hard to compete with larger mills, especially as forests were depleted and the
market for pulp became oversaturated. For many years the mill made only a small
annual profit. To make more money from the mill, Savery began to convert part
of the mill to produce electricity. Electric streetlights had been introduced
to Harpers Ferry by 1899, the same year Savery established the Harpers Ferry
Electric Light and Power Company (HFEL&amp;P). The company leased a portion of
the pulp mill to produce electricity (although Savery owned both companies, he
continued to operate them as separate entities) and soon began providing power
to both Harpers Ferry and Brunswick, Maryland. On January 25, 1925 the pulp
mill was destroyed by fire. Savery took the opportunity and used the fire
insurance money to build a hydroelectric power plant on the site.





While it supplied electricity to Harpers Ferry and several
surrounding communities, the Potomac Power Plant produced only a small amount
and faced competition from other nearby plants such as the Potomac Edison power
company. In 1928, Savery sold the plant to the National Electric Power Company.
From there, the plant was sold or leased to several different companies before
finally being purchased by Allegheny Power. The Potomac Power Plant would
produce electricity for many years from two turbine-generators. In 1969, one of
the turbine-generators was shut down and retired. In 1991, the second generator
was shut down, as the small plant was no longer cost-effective. The generator
was the last functioning piece of water-powered machinery in Harpers Ferry.
Today the Potomac Power Plant is currently owned by the National Park Service
as part of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. The plant remains standing
as an example of early American industry and waterpower technology, however it
is not open to the public.

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.

Potomac Power Plant

Description from the 1980 National Register of Historic Places Nomination:“The site of this church, at the east end of Camp Hill overlooking Shenandoah Street, was the site of the earlier Harpers Ferry Free Church from 1825 until its destruction by fire in 1845. The U.S. Government, which owned the lot, next leased the site to the congregation of St. John’s Protestant Episcopal Church. In 1851-52 this congregation constructed a one-story stone church, 17’ high to the eaves, over an elevated basement. The walls of the 37-1/2’-by-60’ building were covered with a concrete facing. A small annex at the rear probably contained the altar. The gable roof was covered with wood shingles. There was no belfry. The Union Army used the church as a barracks and hospital during the Civil War, at the end of which only the stone walls and roof remained. The congregation spent $1,200 to rebuild the church in 1882, then sold it and moved to a new location in 1895. (The Government paid the congregation $1,700 for the wartime damage in 1915.) The church buildings began to deteriorate to ruins at some date after 1907. In 1961 the national park Service stabilized the open ruin by consolidating the bearing under the walls, reducing them to a safe level, and capping them.”

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.

Ruins of St. John's Episcopal Church

Thomas Jefferson stood on the rock on October 25th, 1783, enjoying the view so much that he waxed eloquent about its beauty in his famous work, Notes on the State of Virginia. According to Jefferson, the view alone was “worth a voyage across the Atlantic."Jefferson's Rock is a shale formation that overlooks the area where the Potomac meets the Shenandoah River. The area has changed some since 1783, as the natural foundation holding the part of the rock where Jefferson stood began to erode over time it became so unsteady that one could sway the rock back and forth with a simple push. Since the natural foundation had become unsafe, four stone pillars were placed under each corner of the top slab in sometime between 1855 and 1860."The passage of the Patowmac through the Blue Ridge is perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes in Nature. ...The first glance of this scene hurries our senses into the opinion that this earth has been created in time, that the mountains were formed first, that the rivers began to flow afterwards, that in this place particularly they have been so dammed up by the Blue Ridge of mountains as to have formed an ocean which filled the whole valley; that, continuing to rise, they have at last broken over at this spot and have torn the mountain down from its summit to its base. The piles of rock on each hand, but particularly on the Shenandoah, the evident marks of their disruptions and avulsions from their beds by the most powerful agents in nature, corroborate the impression. But the distant finishing which nature has given the picture is of a very different character. It is a true contrast to the former. It is as placid and delightful as that is wild and tremendous. For the mountains being cloven asunder, she presents to your eye, through the cleft, a small catch of smooth blue horizon, at an infinite distance in that plain country, inviting you, as it were, from the riot and tumult roaring around to pass through the breach and participate in the calm below. ...This scene is worth a voyage across the Atlantic." -Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, 1785Jefferson's Rock continues to captivate visitors today with its scenic views of the rivers and mountainous landscape. The steeple of St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church is visible through the trees. Nearby are ruins of St. John's Episcopal Church, used as a hospital and barracks during the Civil War, and the Harper Cemetery. Visitors also can walk part of the Appalachian Trail, which runs from Georgia to Maine.

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.

Jefferson's Rock

When Robert Harper received a patent for the Harpers Ferry land in 1751 he constructed a grist mill and saw mill on Hall’s Island. The mills were located just above the “staircase” rapids on a site that Harper chose for the availability of waterpower from the Shenandoah. This was the beginning of industrial development at Harpers Ferry. Harper’s mills were early merchant mills where Harper brought in grain from area farmers and sent the processed flour to urban markets on the east coast, such as Baltimore.Robert Harper died in September 1782 and he divided his land between a niece, Sarah Harper Wager, and a nephew, Robert Griffith. Sarah Harper Wager and her husband, John Wager, Sr., received the eastern half of the property (near the confluence of the rivers) and Robert Griffith received Hall’s Island, the two mills, and Harper’s residence. Griffith sold his portion of the land to speculators Thomas Rutherford, William Dark Van Rutherford, and Mary Rutherford on January 9, 1797. The Rutherfords quickly sold 310 acres of land to the United States government on February 20, 1797 for $10,000.Hall’s Island was part of George Washington and the Potowmack Company’s plans for improving transportation from the Shenandoah Valley to the east coast. Starting in 1785 the Company wanted to improve the river channels and create a canal system along the Potomac River and the federal government gave the Potowmack Company a right of way on Hall’s Island in 1806. The Shenandoah Canal with locks at both ends of the island was constructed in 1807, destroying Harper’s original sawmill (they build a new sawmill in a different location). The second portion of the canal, which would have extended to connect to the Armory Canal on the Potomac, was planned but never constructed. Nevertheless, the Shenandoah canal provided a way around the “staircase” rapids on the Shenandoah River. The Potowmack Company succeeded in completing four other canals further upstream, opening the Shenandoah to transportation down to Harpers Ferry.George Washington was also instrumental in bringing the federal armory to Harpers Ferry. In the early national period, with the new United States needing to build their own infrastructure and reduce dependence on foreign manufacturing, Washington pushed through legislation to establish up to four arsenals and during his term Springfield, MA and Harpers Ferry, VA were chosen as locations. The main Musket Factory was constructed along the Potomac River closer to the confluence of the rivers, but in 1808 the government decided to further expand the armory and construct two shops on Lower Halls Island, the Grinding Mill and Tilt Hammer Shop. At some point between 1807 and 1834 eleven houses were also constructed on Upper Halls Island and a canal toll house in 1807.The largest period of industrial production on Halls Island occurred with the Hall Rifle Works between the 1820s and 1840s. John H. Hall of Portland, ME worked in woodworking as a young man and then moved to making firearms. In 1811 Hall designed a breechloading rifle which he patented that same year. The government was interested in Hall’s design after testing it in 1813, but Hall did not have the capability to mass produce the guns at the time. After a few more years improving his design and vying for government support, Hall was able to go to Harpers Ferry in 1818 to work with the armorers to construct several sample weapons. Another round of testing in Washington, D.C. yielded a government contract for 1,000 rifles in 1819. In order to produce the rifles, the Hall Rifle Works was constructed at Harpers Ferry. The rifle works included two workshops, the sawmill that was converted into a machine shop, and a Blacksmith shop. There were also likely some residences for workers constructed on Upper Halls Island. Between 1822 and the end of 1824 Hall produced the first batch of rifles and perfected his system of creating interchangeable parts.With the success of the first set of interchangeable rifle parts, the federal government invested more into expanding the rifle works and ordered 1000 more Hall rifles. Improvements included workshops, furnaces, a kiln, more residences, and several other structures. After a Congressional review of Hall’s works, the government put in a third contract for his rifles. This initiated a third expansion of the rifle works between 1827 and 1829 that included a Smith Shop, a store house, changes to the grinding mill, and new residences. During the 1830s there were transportation improvements on Halls Island with work on a new canal and dam on the Shenandoah, the B &amp; O Railroad, the C &amp; O Canal, and nearby turnpikes. There was another round of repairs and expansions at Halls Rifle Works in 1836-1837, but then John H. Hall became ill and had to decrease his involvement in the rifle works. After Hall died in 1841 the government decided to stop production of the Hall Rifle and the final orders were completed in 1844.Initially the island was considered one, known as Halls Island. With the creation of the canal and sluiceway channels for the rifle works, the island was split into two (Upper Halls and Lower Halls Islands) by 1833. In the period between 1844 and 1860 both islands were used for various purposes, but the industry of the rifle works ended and many of the buildings were demolished in the 1850s. The remaining workshops and storehouses on Halls Island were burned in summer 1861 near the beginning of the Civil War. While Harpers Ferry was constantly in between the Confederate and Union armies during the Civil War, Halls Island was not heavily used 1861-1864. In 1864 when Union General Phillip H. Sheridan was conducting the Shenandoah Campaign from Harpers Ferry, buildings on Halls Islands were repaired to support the military supply operations. The W &amp; P Railroad, which had been destroyed earlier by Confederate forces was rebuilt in 1864 with several new buildings constructed on both Upper and Lower Halls Islands to support the rail line. By the end of the Civil War Harpers Ferry was largely destroyed and the new railroad structures that remained on Halls Islands were demolished by the government in 1866. With so much destruction of the federal armory, the government decided to sell off their land through public auction in 1869.The absence of the federal government coupled with flooding in the 1870s reduced the amount of industry at Harpers Ferry, but in October 1884 new industry arrived at Harpers Ferry. Thomas Savery who worked for Pusey, Jones &amp; Company, who manufactured papermaking machinery, began to develop his own machinery and process for producing wood pulp and paper, obtaining 32 patents for his work. Savery and investors purchased property to construct the Harpers Ferry Paper Mill. They purchased land from the Musket Factory on the Potomac River, including the John Brown fort, and purchased around 13 acres on the Rifle Factory property on Halls Island. At both sites Savery constructed ground wood pulp mills under the new Shenandoah Pulp Company and operations began in 1889. As demand for Savery’s pulp manufacturing decreased in the 1890s, he formed the Harpers Ferry Electric Lights &amp; Power Co. and gradually converted some of the machinery to energy production.After the flour mill on Virginius Island stopped production in the late 1880s, the Shenandoah Pulp Company purchased the island and used it primarily for residences. While the pulp mill on Halls Island continued to run, much of Virginius Island became a tourist and natural spot. In the 1920s, Savery saw back-to-back disasters with a fire at the Harpers Ferry Paper Mill and a destructive flood at the Shenandoah Pulp Company. In 1928 operations for the Pulp Company ceased and the National Electric Power Company purchased the entire operation (the Shenandoah Pulp Company, the Harpers Ferry Paper Company, and the Harpers Ferry Electric Light &amp; Power Company). After winding down production, the company ceased operations in 1935. By the 1940s many of the buildings were already in demolition and more flooding further altered the landscape. In 1944, the National Park Service began administering the area, first as the Harpers Ferry National Monument and then Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Descriptions of some of the historic buildings, from the National Register of Historic Places Nomination:Upper Hall Island:Armory Dwelling No. 6—“erected between 1807 and 1834, was a two-story brick building with approximate dimensions of 22’ by 16’. It was probably rented by Francis Knap, an Armory Machinist.”Armory Dwelling No. 7—“erected between 1807 and 1834, was a two-story stone building with approximate dimensions of 28’ by 28’. It was probably rented by John Mason, an Armory machine oiler.”Armory Dwelling No. 8—“erected between 1807 and 1834, was a two-story brick building measuring approximately 36’ by 18’. It was probably occupied by John P. Fouke, an Armory employee, in 1859.”Shenandoah Canal—traces of the canal are still visible. There was a wooden one-story toll house on the western end of the island that is now gone.Lower Hall IslandBuilding No. 3—Finishing and Machine Shop: “had two brick stories atop stone foundations and measured 35-1/2’ by 128’. On each end of the rear of this main structure was a one-story wing measuring 24’ by 24’. The door and window frames were cast iron; the water table, cornice, and sills were of cut stone. The gutters and spouting were copper and the roof was sheet iron. Designed by Major John Symington, the building was erected in 1847-48 for about $29, 740.”Building No. 1—Filing Shop: “had two brick stories on a stone foundation measuring 74’ by 25-1/2’. The roof covering was slate. The shop was designed by Maj. Symington and erected in 1844-45 at a cost of some $5,000.”Building No. 6—Machine Shop: “had a stone basement and first story, a brick second story, and a sheet iron roof. On the center rear of the 87-3/4’ by 35’ shop was a 14’ by 36’ projection designed for use as an office. Designed by Maj. Symington, the building was erected in 1852-53 at a cost of $19,030.”Building No. 9—Barrel Drilling and Finishing Shop: “had a stone foundation and first story and two brick stories with a sheet iron roof topped by a 70’ high bell tower. Measuring 57-1/2’ by 49-1/2”, this shop connected Buildings No. 6 and 4. Designed by Superintendent Alfred M. Barbour, it was erected in 1859-60 at a cost of $15,820.”Building No. 4—Tilt Hammer and Forging Shop: “had a stone basement and first story, a brick second story, cur stone water table, steps, sills, and coping, cast iron door and window frames, and a slate roof. On the center rear of the 110’ by 25-1/2’ shop was a 14-1/2’ by 35’ projection serving as an office. Designed by Maj. Symington, the shop was built in 1849-50 for $22,130.”Building No. 5—Annealing Furnace and Proof House: “a one-story brick building over a one-story stone foundation measuring 60’ by 36’. Two brick partition walls divided it into three separate compartments. It was designed by Maj. Symington and erected in 1851-52 at a cost of $5,000.”Building No. 7—Coal House: “a one-story building of brick, 25’ by 21’ and 15’ high, with a sheet iron roof, used for the storage of coal and charcoal. Designed by Colonel Benjamin Huger, it was erected in 1853-54 for $650.”Building No. 8—Stock House: “probably had two stories with a slate roof. Exact dimensions are unknown. Erected prior to 1835, it was converted in 1853-54 for the storage of rifle barrels. It was erected by Maj. Symington in 1844-45.”Building No. 2—Proof House: “one-story frame building, 19-1/2’ by 15’, with a back wall of stone masonry 2-1/2’ thick, used for the proving of rifle barrels. It was erected by Maj. Symington in 1844-45.”

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.

Halls Island

Virginius Island was one of the only plots of land in Harpers Ferry that was not owned by either the federal government or the Wager family in the early nineteenth century. In 1806, the Patowmack Company built a 580-yard canal through the land to create a bypass around the Shenandoah River’s rapids. In 1816, Virginius Island was claimed by a surveyor named Daniel McPherson; the property switched hands two more times before being purchased by a group of entrepreneurs in 1824. The group consisted of locals Townsend Beckham, Fontaine Beckham, Edward Wager, and Lewis Wernwag. In 1826, they petitioned the Virginia General Assembly to incorporate the island as the Town of Virginius, which was approved in January of 1827.Virginius quickly developed into a small industrial village. The Winchester and Potomac Railroad was built through the island by the 1830s. Houses were constructed, as well as a variety of businesses which harnessed the water power provided by the Shenandoah River. There was a tannery, a machine shop, a cooper’s shop, a Blacksmith shop, a foundry, cotton mills, flour mills, grist mills, and sawmills. One of the most prominent enterprises was the Harpers Ferry &amp; Shenandoah Manufacturing Company, established in 1846. The company built cotton mills and constructed new waterworks to provide more waterpower. However, the company went bankrupt in 1852, and many of its assets were destroyed by flooding the same year. The Harpers Ferry &amp; Shenandoah Manufacturing Company, like several other businesses in Virginius, had accumulated too much debt. The town of Virginius was absorbed into the faster-growing Harpers Ferry when it was incorporated in 1851.By 1854, the entire island had been acquired by Abraham Herr, and was referred to afterwards as Herr’s Island. Herr continued operating the island’s industries through partnerships or by leasing them to individuals. Virginius Island was hit particularly hard by the Civil War. In 1861, Confederate forces torched Herr’s mill after he had provided Union troops with wheat. Later on, all the remaining structures were commandeered by Union forces for the remainder of the war. Many residents of the island left, including Herr himself. Finally in 1867, he sold Virginius to Jonathan C. Child and John A. McCreight.Child and McCreight refurbished one of the island’s cotton mills into a new flour mill. Of all the industries on Virginius Island, flour milling was the most successful and longest-lasting. Child and McCreight’s mill would produce up to 80,000 barrels of flour annually. Gradually the flour industry tapered off as steam power began displacing waterpower. In 1887, Thomas H. Savery created the Shenandoah Pulp Company and opened a pulp mill on Virginius. The pulp mill was very successful, and generated small amounts of electricity in its later years before closing in 1935.One of the biggest hindrances to permanent development on Virginius Island was its tendency to flood frequently. Catastrophic floods in 1852, 1870, 1924, and 1936 destroyed or damaged many of the island’s structures. By 1936, there were no more residents or businesses remaining on Virginius. Today, the ruins and foundations of many buildings survive, including factories, mills, water tunnels, and houses. Virginius Island is open to the public, and visitors are advised not to touch or disturb the ruins as they are very fragile.The historic structures as listed in the National Register of Historic Places--Harpers Ferry National Historical Park:Building No. 1—the Iron Foundry: “a one-story stone structure erected over a power canal in 1824 by Townsend Beckham as an oil mill. It was converted to an iron foundry by Hugh Gilleece in 1835.”Building No. 2—the “Island” Flour Mill: “a 3-1/2-story stone structure measuring approximately 96’ by 48’ erected over another power canal by Luther I. Cox in 1840. It replaced and earlier flour mill erected by Fontaine Beckham in 1824 and destroyed by fire in 1839. James S. Welch and A.H. Herr operated the mill in partnership in 1859. Confederate troops burned it in 1861.”Building No. 3—the Saw Mill: “a 1-1/2-story frame structure measuring 100’ by 36’ with an iron water wheel. The mill and the canal or race over which it was erected were constructed by Lewis Wernwag in 1824.”Building No. 4—the Machine Shop: “a three-story stone building measuring 50’ by 30’ constructed by Lewis Wernwag before 1834. It was operated in 1859 by John Wernwag.”Building No. 5—the Cotton Factory: “a four-story brick building, 68’ by 49’, with tin roof. Built in 1849, it was apparently destroyed in the 1852 floor leaving only the foundations.”Building No. 6—the Cotton Mill: “a four-story brick building on stone foundations, 104’ by 48’, with tin roof. It was steam heated and gas lighted. It was erected by the Harpers Ferry &amp; Shenandoah Manufacturing Company in 1847 and was being operated by A.H. Herr in 1859.”Building No. 7—the Blacksmith Shop: “a 1-1/2-story frame building probably dating from 1834.”Building No. 8—a Dwelling House: “a one-story building, probably frame and dating from 1834.”Building No. 9—an Office: “probably a one-story frame office for the sawmill. It is known to have been standing in 1844.”Building No. 10—a Dwelling House: “probably a frame structure of 1-1/2 stories.”Building No. 11—a Carriage House: “a one-story frame structure known to have been standing in 1844.”Building No. 12—a Dwelling House: “a 3-1/2-story frame structure, brick filled, enlarged from a two-story house between 1844 and 1857.”Building No. 13—a Dwelling House: “a 2-1/2-story frame structure, brick filled and rough cast, enlarged from a one-story house between 1844 and 1857.”Building No. 14—a Dwelling House: “a one-story frame structure, brick filled and rough cast, probably standing in 1834.”Building No. 15—a Dwelling House: “a 2-1/2-story stuccoed stone two-family residence, approximately 48’ by 24’, erected by Edward Wager and standing in 1834.”Building No. 16—a Dwelling House: “a two-story stuccoed stone one-family residence, approximately 28’ by 20’, erected by Edward Wager and standing in 1834.”Building No. 17—a Dwelling House: “a two-story brick residence probably standing in 1834.”Building No. 18—a Dwelling House: “a two-story brick house probably standing in 1834.”Building No. 19—a Dwelling House: “a two-story two-family brick residence probably standing in 1834.”Building No. 20—a Dwelling House: “a two-story brick residence probably standing in 1834.”Building No. 21—a Dwelling House: “a two-story brick residence standing in 1848.”Building No. 22—a Dwelling House: “a two-story stone residence, approximately 18’ by 48’, standing in 1834.Building No. 23—a Dwelling House: “a small frame structure standing in 1834.”Building No. 24—a Dwelling House: “a 1-1/2-story frame structure standing in 1834.”Building No. 25—a Dwelling House: “probably a 1-1/2-story frame structure standing in 1834.”Building No. 26—the Chopping Mill: “a 1-1/2-story frame building erected by High Gilleece in 1840.”Building No. 27—a Dwelling House: “a two-story residence, probably brick, standing in 1834.”Building No. 28—a Carriage House: “a one-story building, probably a frame carriage house, standing in 1834.”Building No. 29—a Dwelling House: “a two-story residence, probably brick, erected between 1848 and 1857.”Building No. 30—“a one-story frame structure, was probably a barn or storage shed.”Building No. 31—“erected between 1848 and 1857, was a one-story frame building, probably a carriage house.”Building No. 32—“a two-story brick dwelling house, approximately 32’ by 15’, erected between 1848 and 1857.”Building No. 33—“a two-story brick dwelling house erected between 1846 and 1857.”Building No. 34—“a two-story brick dwelling house erected between 1848 and 1857.”Building No. 35—“a two-story brick dwelling house erected between 1848 and 1857.”Building No. 36—“a two-story brick dwelling house, approximately 44’ by 24’ by 13’, erected between 1848 and 1857.”Building No. 37—“a one-story frame building, probably a dwelling, erected between 1848 and 1857.”Building No. 38—“probably the schoolhouse for Free School District No. 22, which included the Island of Virginius and Hall’s and Throp’s Islands. The 1-1/2-story frame building with gingerbread trim, built between 1848 and 1857, was used as a Federal hospital during the Civil War and was heavily damaged by 1865.”Building No. 39—“a brick carriage making shop built in 1857 for the carriage business of John and George Rohr. Its exact location is unknown.”Dams and bridges: “The stone and timber dame across the Shenandoah and the stone river walls and lock gates, with the inner and outer basins thus formed, were constructed by the Harpers Ferry and Shenandoah Manufacturing Company in 1850. A wooden bridge approximately 75’ long, with two stone abutments and one stone pier, crossed the Shenandoah Canal from the mainland to the Island of Virginius. It was reconstructed in 1974.”

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.

Virginius Island

Descriptions of historic structures from the 1980 National Register of Historic Places Nomination:U.S. Lot No. 1, Shenandoah StreetArmory Dwelling No. 3—“It was built by John G. Wilson in 1825-26 as a store and enlarged by Mrs. Ann C. Stephenson as an inn or hotel in 1833-34. The 2-1/2-story stone gable-roofed structure measures 66’3” by 35’9”. A two-story frame porch runs the length of the front evaluation. During the 1840s and 50s two small shops were located on the first floor and the upper floors were also divided to house two families. In 1859 saddlemaker, tailor, or grocery shops probably occupied the ground floor. During the Civil War the building was a Union Army warehouse, being listed as Ordnance Department Warehouse No. 3 in July 1865 and then needing repair. The U.S. Government sold the property in 1869. Again in Government ownership, the building has been restored to its 1859 appearance and is now used as a National Park Service visitor center. Block C, Shenandoah Street—these buildings were all destroyed in flooding but some remains are present under the parking lot the National Park Service installed in 1957-58.Lot 1: Houses No. 3 and 4—“Lot 1, on the corner of Shenandoah and Market streets, contained Houses No. 3 and 4, constructed by William Graham about 1818-20. House No. 4 was a 2-1/2-story stone building with a slate roof designed for use as a store and dwelling. It fronted approximately 43’ on Shenandoah Street and went back about 33’ along Market Street. The white-painted building contained a dry goods and grocery store in 1850. House No. 3, once known as the Globe Inn, was a 2-1/2-story brick structure with slate roof located to the rear of House No. 4. A two-story covered frame porch extended the length of the 50’ Market Street façade. The building was about 20’ deep, not including the 9’-wide porch. In 1859 the lot and both houses were owned by the heirs of Edward Lucas, Jr., the late Paymaster of the Armory.”Lot 2: House No. 5—“erected by the United States between 1818 and 1834. The two-story brick structure with wood shingle roof fronted approximately 25’ on Shenandoah Street and was about 28’ deep. It was owned and occupied by Ralph Cleveland, an armorer, in 1859.”Lot 3: House No. 6—“erected by the United States between 1811 and 1834. The two-story brick structure with wood shingle roof fronted approximately 24’ on Shenandoah Street and was about 17’ deep. The house was occupied by the Henry Stripes family, armorers, in 1859.”Lot No. 4: House No. 8—“erected by the United States between 1811 and 1834. The 1-1/2-story brick building with wood shingle roof fronted approximately 24’ on Shenandoah Street and was about 32’ in depth. In 1859 it was owned by John B. Johnson, an armorer, and was apparently rented as a dwelling by Francis M. Pine, a clerk.”Lot No. 5: House No. 9—“erected by the United States between 1811 and 1834. The 1-1/2-story brick dwelling with wood shingle roof fronted approximately 20’ on Shenandoah Street and was about 32’ deep. It was owned and occupied by the George P. Marquett family in 1859.”Lot 6A: House No. 10—“erected by the United States between 1811 and 1834. The two-story stone dwelling with wood shingle roof fronted approximately 30’ on Shenandoah Street and was about 32’ in depth. In 1859 it was owned by Andrew J. Wright, an armorer, and was probably rented by Benjamin Hobbs, an armorer.”Lot 6B—“the site of a two-story brick house built and occupied by Jesse Grimes (or Graham), and armorer, between 1857 and 1859. The house measured approximately 17’ by 24’.”Lot 7: House No. 49—“erected by the United States between 1811 and 1834. The one-story brick dwelling adjoined the house on Lot No. 8; the two houses together measured approximately 54’ by 18’. In 1859 House No. 49 was the residence of Joseph Manuel, a Blacksmith, and Joseph Davis, Blacksmith’s apprentice.”Lot 8: House No. 48—“erected by the United States between 1811 and 1834. The two-story brick dwelling was owned and occupied by Bernard McCabe, a coal breaker, in 1859.”Lot 9: House No. 47—“erected by the United States between 1811 and 1834. The two-story stone dwelling measured approximately 28’ by 18’. In 1859 it was owned by the heirs of Francis McCabe and was apparently rented by Daniel Potterfield, a butcher, and Thomas Gallaher, a liquor dealer.”Lot No. 10: House No. 46—“erected by the United States between 1811 and 1834. The two-story stone dwelling measuring 40’ by 22’ was owned and occupied by Samuel Trail, a carpenter, in 1859.”Lot No. 11—“owned by the United States, was under contract of sale to the late Edward Lucas, Jr., in 1859 but not paid for. It was then vacant.”Block D, Shenandoah Street—Floods destroyed the structures along this stretch until the flood of 1936 removed the final traces. Foundations of these structures exist under the NPS parking lot which was added in 1957-58.Lot No. 1: House No. 11—“erected by the United States between 1811 and 1834. The brick dwelling had 1-1/2 stories and a wood shingle roof and measured 22’ by 18’. A second house was erected on the lot between 1852 and 1857 by Master Armorer Armistead M. Ball, who was residing in one of the houses in 1859.”Lot No. 2—“was leased by the Catholic Church from the Government prior to the Civil War as the site for a parsonage. The lot was vacant in 1859. (Michael A. Costello, the priest, was then residing at the house of William J. Stephens on Wager Lot No. 5).”Lot No. 3—“was leased by the Presbyterian Church from the Government prior to the Civil War as the site for a parsonage. The church then had a visiting pastor from Berryville, and no parsonage was erected. The lot was instead occupied by a frame carriage house with shake roof serving the church, which was directly across the street.”Lot No. 4: House No. 16—“erected by the United States between 1811 and 1834. The brick dwelling had 2-1/2 stories and a slate roof and measured about 39’ by 19’. Between 1853 and 1859 Philip Hoffman, the resident, built a 2-1/2-story brick addition measuring approximately 29’ by 17’. Two small frame barns or sheds fronted on Hamilton Street at the rear of this lot.”Lot No. 5: House No. 17—“erected by the United States between 1811 and 1834. The brick dwelling had 1-1/2 or two stories and a slate roof and fronted about 21’ on Shenandoah Street. It was approximately 42’ deep, including a 15’ by 15’ addition at the rear. In 1859 the house was owned by Joseph Mathews, an armorer, and was probably rented by Thomas B. Moore, a merchant.”Lot No. 6—“owned in 1859 by the heirs of Edward Lucas, Jr., former Paymaster of the Armory, was then vacant.”Lot No. 7: House No. 52—“erected by Philip Coons in 1825-26. The two-story stone dwelling measured 39’ by 28’. To the southwest was a small one-story barn or shed. In 1859 the house was the residence of Samuel L. Williams, an Armory watchman, and a portion was rented to James Pagate, a mill agent.”Presbyterian Church Lot, Shenandoah Street“This lot was owned by the United States prior to the Civil War and leased to the Presbyterian Church. The church building, with a one-story stone basement and one brick story above, was erected in 1843. It measured 36’ by 49’ and had a wooden cupola mounted on the roof. During the war the upper floor was used as a guard house and the basement as a stable by the Union Army. The badly damaged structure was repaired after the war, but today only the ruined first story remains.”Block E, Shenandoah Street: residences were largely destroyed in the 1936 flood, foundations are in place.Lot No. 1: House No. 19—“erected by the United States between 1811 and 1834. The house was a two-story brick dwelling with a wood shingle roof and measured approximately 30’ by 19’. William H. Martin, and Armory inspector, was its tenant in 1859.”Lot No. 2: Free School for School District No. 24—“leased by the Government to the County School Board prior to the Civil War, was the site of a one-story brick school building of unknown dimensions—the Free School for School District No. 24. Erected in 1855, the school was demolished by Union soldiers during the war.”Lot No. 3—“owned by Michael Doran, a merchant, prior to the Civil War. He may have constructed a new house on the lot between 1852 and 1861, but not definite evidence of it has been found.”Lot No. 4: House No. 22—“erected by the United States between 1811 and 1834. The stone dwelling had 2-1/2 stories and a wood shingle roof. It fronted approximately 18’ on Shenandoah Street and was about 22’ deep. In 1859 it housed the Nunnamaker family, who were employed at the Armory. A town pump was then located on the lot.”Lot No. 5: Houses No. 23 and 24—“erected by the United States between 1811 and 1834. Each of these 2-1/2-story brick and frame dwellings with wood shingle roofs fronted on Shenandoah Street about 21’ and was 22’ deep. In 1859 House No. 23 was rented to John Koonce, a polisher of gun barrels, and House No. 24 was the residence of William Snook, an inspector of gun barrels.”U.S. Lot 1, Block F, Shenandoah StreetArmory Dwelling No. 4—“a two-story brick building with wood shingle roof approximately 38’ by 21’, was erected between 1811 and 1834. In 1859 it was probably rented by two families of Armory workmen. In July 1865 it was in bad condition and vacant. There are no visible remains.”U.S. Lot 2, Shenandoah StreetArmory Dwelling House No. 5—“a 2-1/2-story stone house 18’ by 32-1/2’ in plan, was erected on this lot north of Shenandoah Street between 1821 and 1834. It was rented by the family of an armorer prior to the Civil War, at the close of which it was vacant and in fair condition. The exterior was restored to its 1859 appearance in 1968 and the original interior stairway has been reconstructed. It is presently used as a residence.”Armory Stable—“designed by Maj. John Symington, was erected on Block F of this lot south of Shenandoah Street in 1847-48. It was a one-story brick building with cut stone water table and coping and a slate roof. The structure was similar in design to Building No. 1, the Engine and Guard House, in the Musket Factory yard. It contained stalls for at least six horses. In 1856 stone walls were erected on two sides of the stable to enlarge the grounds. In July 1865 the stable was in good condition and being used by the Union Army.”Block G, Shenandoah Street—this was the Armory Lumber Yard until it was destroyed in a flood in 1852 after which the lot was vacant.U.S. Ferry Lot, Shenandoah Street: Shenandoah Toll Bridge and Bridge Toll House.Shenandoah Toll bridge—“The Shenandoah Toll Bridge crossed from the southern extremity of Bridge Street adjacent to the U.S. Ferry Lot. The United States owned the ferry rights across the Shenandoah from 1818 until after the Civil War. A rope ferry crossed the river from 1810 until 1844. In 1843-44 the Shenandoah Bridge Company constructed its toll bridge. In return for not exercising its ferry rights, the United States received free passage of all Armory personnel and property across the bridge. The bridge was composed of two stone abutments, two stone piers, and a wooden superstructure 375’ long. The piers were 28’ high, 30’ long, 10’ thick at the base and 6’ thick at the top. The arched superstructure had a double wagon track, each being 10’ wide and 12’ high in the clear. It was weatherboarded and covered with cypress shingles. The original superstructure was destroyed by a hurricane in June 1859 and rebuilt by September, but was not covered at the time of John Brown’s raid. Confederate troops burned the bridge on June 28, 1861. There are no evident remains.”Shenandoah Bridge Toll House—“a small 1-1/2-story frame building erected by the Shanandoah Bridge Company in 1844, stood at the northern end of the bridge on the U.S. Ferry Lot. The lot, owned by the United States and leased to the company, was otherwise vacant.” Like the other structures along this stretch of Shenandoah Street, floods destroyed the toll house by 1936.

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.

Harpers Ferry Historic Blocks C, D, E, F, & G

James McGraw first opened a beer bottling business in 1885 and advertised Milwaukee Lager Beer. In 1888, he built a bottling plant directly behind his main business on Block B of Shenandoah Street. Two years later, McGraw transferred part of the business over to his son, James C. McGraw, and advertisements indicate that the business had expanded to selling Sachs Puden ginger ale, Pilsner beer, and Pabst Milwaukee beer.James McGraw died in 1893, and his son, James C. McGraw, inherited the entire business. The younger McGraw was ambitious and quickly expanded the business, constructing a new brewery behind Block C. The brewery building was located separate from the bottling plant, between the Shenandoah River and B&amp;O railroad tracks. McGraw spent $30,000 to expand his operations into the newly named Harpers Ferry Brewing Company and by 1897 he was brewing beer and bottling it in the steam-powered bottling plant, as well as manufacturing and bottling soft drinks and manufacturing ice. The entire industry was worth $50,000, but McGraw had taken on loans to expand and in the summer of 1897 a fire at the brewery caused $6,000 of damages. Three months after the fire, McGraw declared bankruptcy and the brewery was put up for sale.McGraw’s bankruptcy lawyer, James M. Mason, continued to operate the brewery between October and January while he searched for a buyer, but he struggled to find someone to purchase the brewery property. In February 1898, Mason sold the brewery to August Krueger of Cincinnati, OH; however, Krueger turned out to be a less than credible buyer and the brewery failed by that June. After changing ownership a few times, the brewery operation was purchased by the Leder-Weideman Brewing Company in 1903. The Jefferson Brewing Company purchased the brewery in 1905 but suffered a devastating fire in January 1909 that destroyed the main brew house and ice plant (the bottling plant survived). Unable to rebuild, the owners sold the property to the German Brewing Company in 1909 who used it as part of their distribution operations.Charles T. Smith purchased the brewery in 1916 and established the Harpers Ferry Bottling Works. Prohibition was in effect in West Virginia starting in 1914, so between 1914 and 1933 (during state and then national prohibition) there was no beer production at the plant, but the Bottling Works continued to produce soft drinks. The Harpers Ferry Bottling Works operated until 1942 when it was destroyed in a flood.

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.

Harpers Ferry Brewing Company/Harpers Ferry Bottling Company

As the oldest structure in Harpers Ferry, the Harper House is a touchstone to the town's earliest history.&nbsp;In what was then western Virginia,&nbsp;the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers&nbsp;were significant highways for transporting people and goods within the colonies. The confluence of these rivers, known&nbsp;as "the Point," was a strategic place for settlement, transportation,&nbsp;and industry.&nbsp;In&nbsp;1733, Peter Stephens established a&nbsp;ferry across the Potomac to connect&nbsp;Virginia and Maryland. In 1751, Robert&nbsp;Harper, a&nbsp;millwright and builder from Philadelphia, was traveling through a gap in the Maryland mountains, known as "the Hole," to&nbsp;construct a&nbsp;Quaker meeting house in the Shenandoah Valley. When he came upon the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, he recognized its potential. He purchased Stephens's property, including his log cabin and&nbsp;ferry business,&nbsp;and sought additional patents from Lord Thomas&nbsp;Fairfax that gave him access to land on both sides of the Potomac River, totaling 125 acres. In 1763, the state of Virginia designated the town of "Shenandoah Falls at Mr. Harper's Ferry."1 In 1775, Harper began building a stone structure to serve as his home and tavern on a hilltop overlooking the Lower Town. Harper operated a successful&nbsp;ferry business on the Potomac and&nbsp;a sawmill on the Shenandoah. These early industries laid the foundation for larger operations in the nineteenth century, including factories,&nbsp;a <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=31681">federal&nbsp;armory</a>, a <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=32542">railroad</a>, a canal system, and a number of mills&nbsp;on <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=38471">Virginius Island</a>. After Harper's&nbsp;death in 1782,&nbsp;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&nbsp;Sarah's daughter, Sarah Ann, and&nbsp;Noah H. Swayne, who would later be one of Abraham Lincoln's Supreme Court Justices. The house&nbsp;remained it the Swayne family for generations.2 Harpers Ferry prospered until the Civil War, which devastated the local economy and dispersed its population. Yet events of the Civil War, particularly John Brown's raid, solidified the town's&nbsp;historical significance. Harpers Ferry rebuilt itself as a tourist destination with convenient connections on the B&amp;O Railroad and C&amp;O Canal.3 By the twentieth century, Harpers Ferry had been flooded numerous times and fell into disrepair. &nbsp;Harpers Ferry National Historical Park was established in 1944. When conducting inventory of local monuments, the National Park Service marked the Harper House as "1A," acknowledging it as the "first" structure in the park. The Harper House was also the Park's first major restoration effort, done in coordination with the&nbsp;Shenandoah-Potomac Garden Club.&nbsp;Women's clubs, motivated by postwar patriotism, advocated for the restoration of places important to America's past. Both the National Park Service and the Garden Club recognized the Harper House's dire physical conditions. Their&nbsp;collaboration is an example of federal and local organizations working together to save historic places.&nbsp;The Harper House, restored to the 1850s appearance,&nbsp;opened to the public in 1965 and&nbsp;was a stop on the Garden Club's&nbsp;Historic House and Garden Tour. A living history program was added in the 1970s. Today, the Harper House remains a destination for visitors to Harpers Ferry.4

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. 

Robert Harper House

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.

Wager Six Acre Reservation Lot

Descriptions of historic structures from the 1980 National Register of Historic Places Nomination:Old Arsenal Square, Block A, Shenandoah StreetBuilding No. 1: Superintendent’s Old Office—“stood in the northeast corner of Old Arsenal Square. The one-story brick structure with slate roof, 28’ by 21’, was erected prior to 1832 as a dwelling house. It was converted to an office for the Armory superintendent in 1832 and served this function until 1848. In 1859 the building was being used by the Town of Harpers Ferry, under lease from the United States, as a town hall with offices for the mayor and town council. At the end of the Civil War it was in good condition and serving as a U.S. post office. Only portions of the foundation now remain.”Building No. 2: Small Arsenal—“stood in the northwest corner of the square. Erected in 1806-1807, it was a two-story brick building measuring 68’ by 36’ with cellar, two-foot-thick walls, floors supported by stone columns, a slate roof, and no chimneys. It was used for the storage of arms. Federal troops burned the building on the night of April 18, 1861, to keep its 15,000 stands of arms out of Confederate hands. Only the ruined brick walls stood in 1865, and only portions of the foundations now remain.”Building No. 3: Large Arsenal—“stood at the center of the square. Erected in 1799-1800, it was a two-story brick building measuring 125’ by 32’ with arched windows, no cellar, and no chimneys. It was used for the storage of arms, but because of its poor condition by 1859, only miscellaneous supplies were stored on the second floor. The first floor served to quarter the U.S. troops sent to guard the Armory as a result of the John Brown raid. Federal troops burned the building on the night of April 18, 1861, to deny it to the Confederates. After reroofing, the first floor was used by the Union Army in 1864-65 as a bakery supplying Sheridan’s forces. Only portions of the foundations are now extant.”During the 1864-65 occupation of Harpers Ferry by the Union Army, three frame building were erected in Arsenal Square by the U.S. Military Railroad Corps: a mess house (61’ by 21’) with a wing; a 16’ by 166 building, and 18’ by 16’ building.After the Civil War civilians bought plots on Arsenal Square and pulled down the ruins of the arsenal structures. Between 1869 and 1890 five brick and frame structures were constructed on Block A, largely with shops on the bottom floor and living quarters on top. These buildings were demolished by the National Park Service in the 1950s when they were removing post-Civil War structures. Block B, Shenandoah StreetMarket House—“designed by Maj. John Symington and erected in 1846-47 by the Armory, was located south of the Winchester and Potomac Railroad tracks in the southwestern sector of the block. The two-story brick building with slate roof and no cellar measured approximately 66’ by 40’. On the south side facing the Shenandoah River were six arched windows over six arched doorways. By 1859 a one-story covered frame porch had probably been added to the west (Market Street) end and across the Shenandoah River front to afford more space and protection for goods. The first floor then served as the public town market where vegetables, meat, poultry, cheese, tallow, eggs, and fish sold. The second floor was used as the lodge room of the Sons of Temperance, which funded its construction. The property was owned by the United States and leased to the Town of Harpers Ferry. The brick walls of the abandoned structure were felled by the 1936 flood. Foundation remnants are present under the existing parking lot.”Lot No. 2: Armory Dwelling No. 1—“designed by Superintendent Henry W. Clowe and erected in 1858-59 as quarters for the Master Armorer. The two-story brick house has a slate roof and measures 42’ 8” by 38’6”. A two-story brick wing with slate roof at the rear measures 28’6” by 25’7”. A two-story wooden porch runs along the east side of the wing and the exposed rear of the main block. The building, which cost $7,000 to construct, contains 14 rooms. During the periods of Union occupation of Harpers Ferry during the Civil War, Union commanders probably used the house as a headquarters. The building has been restored to its 1859-65 appearance. A wood picket fence enclosed Lot No. 2 and the adjoining Lot No. 1. Park Bldg. No. 36A, located at the southwest corner of Lot No. 2, was a one-story brick privy, 9’ by 6’ with slate roof, erected previously in connection with Armory Dwelling No. 2. It is not extant.”Lot No. 3: Armory Dwelling No. 2—“The earliest part ([Park Bldg] No. 35), erected in 1812 by Joseph S. Annin, was a 2-1/2-story brick house with cellar and slate roof measuring 33’ by 23’. It was the residence of the master Armorer from 1818 to 1838. The second part ([Park] Bldg. 34) was a one-story 22’-by20’ brick kitchen with slate roof erected in 1827 on the southwest corner of the original structure. Armory Dwelling No. 2 was vacant at the time of the John Brown raid and was used soon afterward as a recruiting office by the detachment of regulars sent to guard the Armory. It apparently served as quarters for Union officers during the Civil War. A third story was added to the building after 1878, and the structure has been stabilized in this form.To the rear of this building was a one-story brick smokehouse with slate roof measuring about 16’ by 14’. This structure (Park Bldg. 34A) was raised to two stories after 1878 and remains in that form.”Lot No. 5: House No. 43—“erected about 1800. This first quarters of the early paymasters was a two-story brick building measuring approximately 28’ by 30’ with a two-story frame porch across the north front, a cellar, and a slate roof. A two-story brick wing about 15’ by 15’ was located in the rear. The house was owned and occupied by George W. Gomf, an armorer, in 1859. It was destroyed by the 1936 flood, and only foundation ruins remain.”

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.

Historic Blocks A (Old Arsenal Square) & B

John Brown's Raid:Born in Torrington, Connecticut to an abolitionist family, John Brown married twice and had a large family. He became an Underground Railroad conductor and founded the League of Gileadites, which was an organization that helped slaves escape to Canada. When he was 55 he moved to what is now Kansas and on May 24, 1856 he led a small group of men to Pottawatomie Creek and dragged five unarmed men and boys that were thought to be supporters of slavery from their homes and brutally murdered them, he then freed eleven slaves and killed slave owners in Missouri. After raiding Kansas and Missouri, Brown raised money throughout New England so he could take his efforts to the south. Brown then rented a farmhouse property just a few miles from Harpers Ferry under the alias Isaac Smith and used it to train an army of 21 men to capture the Federal Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, along with providing the local slaves with weapons under the impression that they would join him and free more slaves. However on October 16, 1859, Brown went through with the raid and was unsuccessful, the slaves of the area did not join and the raid was defeated by U.S. Marines and local militia under the instruction of Robert E. Lee, with most of Brown’s men being killed or captured.After the raid Brown was tried quickly and found guilty for murder, inciting a slave insurrection, and treason against the state of Virginia. upon his sentence Brown made this statement: “…if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments--I submit; so let it be done!” Brown also stated that he wished his plans had gone “without the snapping of a gun on either side.” However, there were many guns shot and many people killed due to his actions at Harpers Ferry and Kansas. Brown left the country split, some called him a hero and some called him a villain but both sides did not support his use of violence to get the point across, Brown was hung on December 2, 1859, in what is now Charleston, WV. A few years after Brown’s raid and execution on June 20, 1863, West Virginia voted to secede from Virginia and join the Union to fight slavery, and the first capital of West Virginia was established in Harpers Ferry. The split was a very controversial move that even President Lincoln himself had trouble deciding on if it should be a state or not but ended up approving because that gave the Union control of a lot of the railroads in the area, which played a large part in how the Union won the Civil War. Description of the Musket Factory Engine House from the 1980 National Register of Historic Places Nomination:Musket Factory Fire Engine House—“popularly known as ‘John Brown’s Fort’ (Musket Factory Bldg. No. 1, Park Bldg. No. 63), was moved to the east side of Arsenal Square in 1968. It is a one-story brick building, 35-1/2’ by 24’, with slate roof, copper gutters and downspouts, and a wooden cupola for a fire bell. Designed by Maj. John Symington, Armory Superintendent, it was first erected across Shenandoah Street in the Musket Factory yard in 1847-48. It contained one room for two fire engines and a guard room for the night watchmen. John Brown seized and held this building during his raid of October 16-18, 1859. In 1865 the building was in good condition and used as a Union gunpowder magazine. In 1892 it was dismantled and reassembled for exhibit as “John Brown’s Fort” at the Columbian Exhibition in Chicago. In 1895 it was retuned to Harpers Ferry where, because its original site was unavailable, it was reassembled on Alexander Murphy’s farm overlooking the Shenandoah River near Bolivar Heights. It remained there as a museum until 1910, when the trustees of Storer College acquired it and moved it to the campus on Camp Hill. It continued as a museum on that site until 1960, when the college closed and its property was acquired by the National Park Service. By now somewhat diminished in integrity, the structure arrived at its present location in 1968, was restored in 1976-77, and awaits ultimate return to its original site when that land is publicly acquired and regraded.”

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,

John Brown's Fort/Musket Factory Fire Engine House

Almost immediately after Robert Harper settled what became the town of Harpers Ferry, he started a ferry between the Point and Maryland Heights to facilitate transportation across the Potomac River. Later, in 1824, a highway bridge was constructed around the same location.In 1836, the Baltimore &amp; Ohio Railroad came to Harpers Ferry, first connecting to the Winchester &amp; Potomac Line and then constructing a new line to connect to Cumberland, MD. The arrival of the B&amp;O led to the construction of the Wernwag, or Latrobe, Bridge. The wooden bridge was designed by the Chief Engineer for the B&amp;O Railroad, Benjamin H. Latrobe, and served as a combination railroad and highway/toll bridge between Maryland Heights and Harpers Ferry. Construction was overseen by a local builder, Lewis Wernwag, and the bridge was most commonly known as the Wernwag Bridge. The original B&amp;O crossing was infamous for the tight curves at both ends of the bridge. The steep rise of Maryland Heights on the one side and the layout of the town and armory at Harpers Ferry meant that on both sides of the river the railroad tracks were practically parallel to the Potomac and then had to turn to cross at the railroad bridge. Economically, the B&amp;O wanted to construct the shortest possibly bridge, which led to its placement at the Point with almost right-angled turns at either end. The Wernwag Bridge was a wooden covered bridge that was repaired several times between 1836 and 1851. Because the Wager family of Harpers Ferry still owned the land at the Point, they were able to collect tolls from vehicle traffic across the bridge (although they had an agreement with the B&amp;O not to collect tolls on railroad traffic).In 1851, the B&amp;O replaced one section of the span with a new iron design by Wendel Bollman. The rest of the bridge remained in the original covered wooden design until the Civil War. In June 1861 the B&amp;O Railroad Bridge was destroyed by Confederate forces leaving Harpers Ferry. Since Harpers Ferry was such an important strategic point for the movement of both armies (and the civilian population of the surrounding areas) the bridge was rebuilt and destroyed several times between 1861 and 1865. After the Civil War the B&amp;O had to rebuild a permanent bridge and they decided to keep the same alignment due to the costs of realigning the tracks. Instead of rebuilding a wooden bridge, the railroad decided to do an entire iron span of the Bollman design. Like the Wernwag Bridge, the Bollman Iron Truss Bridge was also a combination railroad and toll bridge until the 1890s.Eventually the B&amp;O Railroad had to address the tight turns on both sides of the Harpers Ferry Bridge and the neighboring steel truss bridge was constructed in 1894 to adjust the alignment of the tracks (this was in combination with the new tunnel through Maryland Heights and moving the tracks through the original armory grounds). The Bollman Bridge continued in use as a pedestrian and vehicle bridge under the administration of the Harpers Ferry and Potomac Bridge Co. In the twentieth century, with the growth of automobile traffic, State Route 340 used the Bollman Bridge (Harpers Ferry Bridge) to cross the Potomac.The Bollman Bridge was destroyed in the flood of 1936 that also destroyed the neighboring Shenandoah Bridge and caused considerable damage in Harpers Ferry. After that the bridge was never rebuilt, leaving only the six stone piers and two stone abutments. As of 1999 pieces of the iron Bollman Bridge could be seen in periods of extremely low water.The piers were originally included in the National Register listing “Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Crossing of the Potomac River between Maryland Heights, Maryland and Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.” In 1992 the piers were acquired by the National Park Service and are now listed under the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park on the National Register of Historic Places.

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 &amp; Ohio Railroad, the bridge was destroyed and rebuilt several times during the Civil War. Afterwards, the B&amp;O rebuilt the bridge as the Bollman Iron Truss Bridge. The B&amp;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.

Bollman Bridge (Wernwag Bridge)

Robert Harper first arrived at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers in 1747. He quickly purchased the land claim from its previous owner (Peter Stephens) and submitted a patent request to Lord Fairfax. Harper received a patent for 125 acres in 1751 and quickly built two mills, a tavern, and residential buildings. When Robert Harper died in September 1782 he willed the eastern portion of his land to his niece, Sarah Harper, and her husband, John Wager, Sr. (the western portion of his land, including Halls Island was granted to his nephew Robert Griffith).During George Washington’s administration, Congress authorized the establishment of three federal armories. When Washington chose Harpers Ferry as one of the locations the United States government purchased approximately 427 acres from the Harper/Griffith lands. Robert and Sarah Wager and their heirs retained ownership of two tracts of land within Lower Town. The Ferry Lot Reservation included the land now known as The Point, the landing, and the ferry rights across the Potomac. Prior to 1815, the Point was sparsely developed with the ferry landing, residence (ferry house) and a warehouse. Between 1815 and 1860 Harpers Ferry underwent a period of industrialization, with the growth of the U.S. Armory and Halls Rifle Factory as well as the construction of the B&amp;O Railroad and Winchester &amp; Potomac Railroad lines. As a result, the Ferry Reservation was filled in with residential and commercial buildings, largely catering to the railroad. At least eight of these structures were constructed in the 1830s. By the Civil War there were several shops and residences, the Potomac Restaurant, the Wager Hotel, the Gault House Saloon, W&amp;P RR depot, B&amp;O RR depot, B&amp;O office, and toll house all within the Wager Ferry Reservation.The Civil War brought incredible destruction to Harpers Ferry, including to this commercial/residential area at the Point. Confederate forces destroyed the B&amp;O Railroad bridge and trestle on June 14, 1861 (along with burning the Musket Factory buildings on the Potomac), but did not touch the buildings at the Point. On February 7, 1862, after a sniper killed a Union soldier, Federal troops burned fourteen buildings at the Point, leaving the area empty. In 1865 three buildings were constructed on the Ferry Lot, but the Point would never again see the level of development as it did prior to 1862.Instead of residential and commercial development, in the postwar period the Point was only central to transportation development. Between 1868 and 1870 the B&amp;O Railroad repaired the Bollman Bridge and in 1882 the Shenandoah Bridge for road traffic was constructed from the Point across the Shenandoah River. In the 1890s the B&amp;O Railroad significantly altered the alignment of the railroad tracks to improve safety and constructed a new bridge across the Potomac to match the new approach angles. In the realignment the tracks now cut across what used to be the bustling Ferry Lot as well as through part of the old armory grounds. New buildings supported railroad traffic through the point, including the new 1892 B&amp;O Depot. As automobile transportation increased in the early 1900s the Bollman Bridge was converted to vehicle traffic.The B&amp;O Depot and accompanying buildings were relocated to their current positions in 1931and the March 1936 flood destroyed both highway bridges—the Shenandoah Bridge and Bollman Bridge—leaving the stone pylons still visible from the Point. When the National Park Service took over administration of Harpers Ferry after 1944 they decided to restore the landscape to the period 1859-1865 to interpret the events of John Brown’s Raid and the Civil War. As part of the rehabilitation process all post-war buildings in Lower Town were removed, but the NPS typically does not reconstruct missing buildings, thus leaving a more open landscape. At the Point, the result was the open space to take in the converging Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers.A portion of the historic Wager Ferry Lot continues in private hands (primarily the area around the railroad tracks). The Ferry Lot structures that were located on what is now NPS land include (descriptions from 1980 National Register of Historic Places Nomination):Gault House Saloon: “was located between the Winchester and Potomac Railroad tracks and the Shenandoah River opposite the end of Potomac Street. It consisted of two frame two-story houses constructed by John A. Gibson between 1841 and 1843. Each house fronted some 30’ on the railroad and had its rear wall resting on the river wall about 20’ back. A central chimney served both houses. In 1859 the property was owned by the estate of Gerard B. Wagner, was leased to Carey Thompson, and was operated by George W. Chambers. The tavern was involved in the John Brown raid that October, as some of the Virginia militia did their best fighting and drinking from this building. The structure was burned by Federal troops on February 7, 1862, and there are no visible remains.”Wager Lot No. 2: “on the southwest side of Potomac Street just north of the railroad tracks, contained a three-story brick building constructed by Gerard B. Wager between 1837 and 1848. In 1859 the first floor contained the jewelry story of W. L. Wager and the upper two floors were residential. The structure was burned by Federal troops on February 7, 1862, and there are no visible remains.”Wager Lot No. 3: “vacant in 1836, contained a 1-1/2-story frame house erected between that date and 1844. In 1859 the property was owned by the estate of Gerard B. Wager and occupied by Joseph E. Brady, who operated a barber shop there. The building was burned by Union soldiers on February 7, 1862, and there are no visible remains.”Wager Lot No. 4: “Contained a stone building erected before 1830 that fronted on Potomac Street approximately 55’ and was about 20’ deep. Owned by the estate of Gerard B. Wager in 1859, the building then had its first floor rented by Solomon V. Yantis for his “Sign of the Indian Girl” tobacco shop and its second floor used for living quarters. Federal soldiers burned the building on February 7, 1862, and there are no visible remains.”Wager Lot No. 5: “on the corner of Potomac and Shenandoah streets, contained a large 3-1/2-story brick building erected by Samuel Gibson in 1834. The structure fronted approximately 60’ on Potomac Street and extended about 20’ on Shenandoah Street. Owned in 1859 by W. J. Stephens, the building then contained his clothing store and the hat, cap, boot, and shoe store of Moore and Boteler. Stephens resided on the upper floors. Union troops burned the building on February 7, 1862, and there are no visible remains.”

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 Point/Wager Ferry Lot Reservation

In the early years of the United States, all firearms issued to the military were either obtained from private manufacturers or imported from abroad. In 1794, Congress passed a bill mandating the establishment of national arsenals and armories. George Washington was given authority to determine how many to build and where. He ultimately chose two locations: Springfield, Massachusetts, and the rural town of Harpers Ferry in what is now West Virginia. Washington chose Springfield because it already had the infrastructure in place to support an armory; he chose Harpers Ferry because it was relatively close to Washington D.C., yet far enough inland to be secure from foreign invasion. The government was reluctant to accept Harpers Ferry due to its isolation and the high cost of building an armory there, but Washington insisted. The government purchased 125 acres of land from the descendants of Robert Harper in 1796 but construction of the armory did not begin until 1799. It originally consisted of several workshops, a canal, and a mill to harness waterpower for the machinery.Full-scale production of arms began in 1802 with a workforce of 25 men. The armory was plagued with problems from the start. While it manufactured a wider variety of muskets, rifles, and pistols than its counterpart in Springfield, it still made fewer firearms overall and at a higher cost; while Springfield could manufacture 15,000 a year, Harpers Ferry only managed an average of 10,000 annually. Mismanagement, lack of sufficient waterpower, neglect, and problems adapting to new advances in gun manufacturing took its toll on the facility. By 1844, inspections found the armory in a dilapidated condition and it was soon decided to completely renovate it. From 1845 to 1854 the armory underwent extensive reconstruction. Changes included the addition of twenty-five new structures and seven workshops: the installation of 121 new machines, the enlargement of the canal to utilize more water power, and a more functional integration of the facilities to boost efficiency. The number of workers grew to 400.In 1859, the armory became the target of John Brown’s raid, throwing Harpers Ferry into the national spotlight. Brown, a radical abolitionist and an instigator of the Bleeding Kansas conflict, planned on distributing weapons from the armory to local slaves with the intent on creating a widespread insurrection to end slavery. On the night of October 16, Brown and a small band of followers managed to capture the armory. However, the anticipated slave uprising did not materialize and the raiders were soon surrounded. On the morning of October 18, a company of U.S. Marines under the command of Col. Robert E. Lee stormed the engine house, where the raiders had barricaded themselves, and quickly captured the survivors. In all, seventeen people were killed, six of which being civilians. John Brown was later tried and executed in Charles Town. The armory was slightly damaged but soon resumed production.As the Civil War broke out in 1861, Harpers Ferry soon became a place of contention due to its strategic location and the presence of the federal armory. On April 17, 1861 Virginia voted to secede from the Union, and several companies of militiamen were immediately dispatched to seize the armory. At the time Harpers Ferry was only guarded by Lt. Roger Jones and a force of 65 men. Knowing he was badly outnumbered, Jones ordered the torching of the armory before retreating on April 18. Although 15,000 arms and a few buildings were destroyed, local citizens managed to extinguish the flames before further damage could be done. When the Confederates arrived they seized the surviving weapons and began shipping the machinery to the armory in Richmond. On June 14, Confederate forces under Col. Joseph E. Johnston, fearful that Union forces would retake the town, burned the armory and withdrew. Two weeks later a group of Confederate raiders returned and destroyed the surviving remains. Harpers Ferry would change hands numerous times over the course of the war.The armory was never rebuilt after the Civil War ended. The only structure to survive was the engine house that John Brown used as a fort during his raid, which stands 150 feet from its original location after being moved several times. Today, most of the site where the armory once stood is now covered by railroad embankments. The foundations of two arsenal buildings have been outlined and together with the engine house make up Arsenal Square.Descriptions of some of the Armory structures from the 1980 National Register of Historic Places Nomination for Harpers Ferry National Historical Park:Lumber House and Coal Bin (Historical Base Map Bldg. 10): “at the west end of the Musket Factory yard, was designed by Maj. John Symington and erected c. 1848. The two-story building measuring 55’8” by 78’ had a stone first story, a brick second story, and a slate roof. The first floor was used for coal storage and the second floor served for the storage of lumber. The second floor windows had wooden frames and blinds for air circulation. Confederate soldiers burned the structure on June 14, 1861, and the ruined walls were leveled after 1884. Subsurface foundation remains may be present.”Warehouse (Bldg. No. 12): “was designed by Maj. Henry K. Craig and erected in 1844-45 at the eastern end of the Musket Factory yard. The two-story brick building had stone foundations, a flagstone floor, and a slate roof and measured 93’6” by 30’10”. It was used for the storage of iron, steel, and other supplies. Confederate troops bring the building on June 14, 1861. After reroofing its walls in 1864, the Union Quartermaster and Commissary Departments used it as a warehouse through the rest of the war. The ruined walls were leveled between 1884 and 1886, but the stone foundations are still visible.”Smith and Forging Shop (Bldg. No. 13): “designed by Maj. John Symington, was a three-part building with overall dimensions of 280’ by 35-1/2’. The forging shop, the west wing, and the center offices were built in 1845-46; the smith shop, the east wing, was added in 1847-48 next to the warehouse described above. The shops were brick on stone foundations with brick and flagstone floors, cast iron door and window frames, and sheet iron roofs. The one-story forging shop measured 122’ by 35-1/2’, the one-story smith shop measured 121’ by 35-1/2’, and the two-story center measured 46’ by 37’. In the middle of the back (riverside) wall of the center building was the main chimney stack, 90’ high, 10 feet square at the base, and six feet square at the top. The stack was built upon a massive stone arch thrown across a tail race from the canal in the factory yard. In 1852 ventilators were installed along the lengths of the roofs of the wings. Confederate troops burned the buildings on June 14, 1861. The brick walls were reroofed so that the building could serve as a warehouse for the Quartermaster and Commissary Departments of the Union Army during 1864-65. The walls were leveled between 1889 and 1896, but the stone foundations of about three-quarters of the building are still visible. The remainder of the site is outside the authorized park boundary and its now occupied by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Station at Harpers Ferry.”Rolling Mill: (Bldg. No. 18): “designed by Maj. John Symington, was erected by Col Benjamin Huger and Maj. William H. Bell in 1852-55 over an outlet of the power canal at the west end of the Musket Factory yard. The 146’-by’45’ one-story brick building was 16-1/2’ high on stone foundations and had a flagstone floor, water wheels, cast iron door and window frames, and a slate roof. There were two stacks 45’ and 40’ high. The Confederates burned the structure on June 14, 1861, but most of the machinery was left intact. The building was reroofed and used as a pulp mill by the Savery Company after 1889. About three-fourths of the original length of the structure still stands, and it has most recently functioned as an electric power generating station.B &amp; O stone wall: “In 1840-43 the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company erected a massive stone wall along the Potomac River bank side of the Musket Factory yard. It was 1380’ long, 15’ high above the low water level, and 4-1/2’ thick. It contained eight culverts for the tail races from the Armory workshops. The wall was built 20’ out from a similar river wall built by the Armory in 1837-39, which had also been constructed some 20’ out from the previously existing shoreline and filled in behind. Portions of the second wall are still present. The railroad originally ran on an iron trestle above and behind this wall; it was moved inland to its present alignment in 1892-93.”Potomac Canal: “carried water from the Armory’s Potomac Dam inland parallel to the south bank of the river to supply power to the Musket Factory shops. It was reconstructed and enlarged between 1830 and 1837, and between 1854 and 1860 both sides from above the Rolling Mill down through the factory yard were lined with cut stone walls six feet high and 4-1/2’ thick. The lower portion of the canal from the Rolling Mill east was filled in and covered with a railroad siding along much of its course in 1892-92 (sic).” The upper portion from the dam to the Rolling Mill, a distance of about a mile, is intact and has functioned to power the electrical generators in the former mill. It is walled with dry-laid stone.”

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.

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park

Maryland Heights

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information