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<div>John Brown was born in Connecticut in 1800 and&nbsp;raised in Ohio. For much of his life, he was considered a failure owing to&nbsp;multiple business failures. In&nbsp;the year of 1837, however, John Brown’s life was forever changed when he attended an abolition meeting in Cleveland. In 1855,&nbsp;Brown traveled to Kansas with five of his sons with the expressed purpose of joining the fight against the expansion of slavery.&nbsp;On May 21, 1856, proslavery men raided the town of Lawrence. Brown responded by killing proslavery men and launching&nbsp;guerilla warfare against proslavery partisans.&nbsp;</div><div> In 1857, John Brown began raising money and campaigning in support of a plan to foster a&nbsp;massive slave uprising and secure a place where former slaves and others could live in peace.&nbsp;Brown was able to secure the backing of six prominent abolitionists, today known as the Secret Six. He recruited a small army of&nbsp;twenty-two men and&nbsp;rented a farm in Sharpsburg, Maryland in order to prepare for a raid on the arsenal that would provide arms for any slave who would join Brown's force.&nbsp;&nbsp; </div><div> On October 16, 1859, John Brown and his men crossed the Potomac River into Virginia ( which is now known as Harper's Ferry) in an attempt to start an armed revolt against slavery. Brown's men easily&nbsp;overpowered the watchmen at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Bridge, United States Armory and Arsenal, and the Rifle Factory. However, Brown allowed a train to pass through the area, leading to news of the attack and the quick deployment of nearby Marines.&nbsp; By the morning of October 17th, Brown and his men were surrounded by Marines under the command of&nbsp;Colonel Robert E. Lee and Lieutenant J. E. B.&nbsp;Stuart. On the&nbsp;morning of October 19, 1859, the marines accepted the surrender of&nbsp;Brown and his men.&nbsp;John Brown was tried for murder and treason in the state of Virginia and was found guilty on November 2, 1859. Brown was sent to the gallows on December 2, 1859.&nbsp;</div>

In addition to the many displays at Harper's Ferry NPS, visitors can tour this wax museum. 

Official website of the John Brown Wax Museum 

Website

More information on the raid from WV History and Culture

Other

Video

Located in the heart of historic Harpers Ferry, this popular museum opened in 1961, shortly after the area was designated as a National Park. The John Brown Wax Museum tells the history of radical abolitionist John Brown, the architect of a raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry on October 16,1859 through the use of eighty-seven life-size wax figures. 

John Brown Wax Museum

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This tour takes you around the Lower Town portion of Harpers Ferry, highlighting some of its most prominent sites. Harpers Ferry has a rich history encompassing firearm manufacturing, the Civil War, African American education, and the Niagara Movement.

During the first half
of the nineteenth century, a significant amount of land at Harpers Ferry was
government-owned property, primarily for the armory. In 1825, a local merchant
named John G. Wilson began constructing a two-and-a-half-story commercial
building at Shenandoah Street on government land. While he had requested
permission for the construction, he began building before receiving any form of
approval. Space was made for the building by blasting away a rocky portion of
the hill; some of this rock was then used to make the foundation. Construction
was completed in 1826 and Wilson made the second-floor his residence; the first
floor was rented out to Maslin &amp; Co., a dry goods and grocery store. At
some point, Major James Stephenson and his wife Ann C. Stephenson acquired the
building and began operating a hotel on the upper floors in April 1830.

Major Stephenson died
in 1833, and in 1837 Ann Stephenson transferred the Wilson Building to the U.S.
government. The government used the upper floors to house workers from the
armory, while continuing to rent out the first floor to businesses. Among the
occupants was the Superintendent’s Clerk Henry Ward, who lived there from 1844
to 1846. John G. Wilson also returned to the building during the 1840s to
operate a post office on the first floor. It is believed that Ann McGraw ran a
boarding house from the building in the late 1850s. It has also been claimed
that soldiers inhabited the Wilson Building during the Civil War. 

Following the Civil War,
the U.S. government opted not to rebuild the armory, and instead began selling
off their land in Harpers Ferry. Joseph D. Holmes purchased the Wilson Building
in an 1869 auction, but would later relinquish ownership back to the government
in 1879. It was then purchased by Joshua Cavalier in 1880. The Wilson building
was reported to house a general store in 1894, and in the early 1900s it
functioned as apartments. In 1913, the Cavalier family sold the building to
William and Mary Ellen Doran, who would use the building as a pool hall, lunch
room, and tailor shop. In 1952, the State of West Virginia acquired the Wilson
Building from the Doran family and transferred it to the National Park Service
the following year. Following this the building underwent extensive renovations
in the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1971, the Harpers
Ferry Historical Association was formed, now renamed the Harpers Ferry Park
Association. It is a National Park Service cooperating association and provides
money to support educational programs such as reenactments, curriculum,
publications, and visitor services. It has contributed over $1 million to the
Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Today the John G. Wilson Building
houses the Association’s offices as well as their Park Bookshop. Proceeds from
the bookshop go to fund programs in Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. It
offers over 3,000 books and educational materials, including many published by
the Association itself. They cover all topics related to Harpers Ferry
including the armory, John Brown, the Civil War, and Storer College.

The Harpers Ferry Park Association and National Park Bookshop are housed in the historic John G. Wilson Building, also known as the Stagecoach Inn, on Shenandoah Street. Constructed in 1826, the Wilson Building originally housed stores and residences. During the 1830s, it was used as a hotel, and then later housed workers from the Harpers Ferry U.S. Armory. It underwent a restoration in the 1960s and was included in the creation of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Today the John G. Wilson building houses a bookshop and offices for the Harpers Ferry Park Association, a non-profit organization that supports the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park and the National Park Service. Their bookshop sells a variety of products, with the proceeds going to support educational and interpretive programs in the park. 

Harpers Ferry Park Association & Bookshop

In 1812, Joseph Annin, son of armory paymaster Samuel Annin,
built a two-story brick building on a plot of government land. For several
years he and his father operated an apothecary shop there, and left Harpers
Ferry in 1818. In 1821, the government purchased the apothecary and renovated
it to serve as the residence for the armory’s Master Armorer. Over the years it
housed Master Armorers Armstead Beckham, Benjamin Moor, James H. Burton, and
Samuel Byington. In 1859, the New Master Armorer’s Quarters was erected nearby.
After John Brown’s raid, a company of U.S. troops were stationed to guard the
armory, and used the old quarters as a recruiting office. The building was left
vacant during much of the Civil War; around 1864, a Mrs. Cornelia Stipes
operated a boarding house from it. One of her boarders was James E. Taylor, a
sketch artist for&nbsp;Frank Leslie’s
Illustrated Newspaper&nbsp;who stayed in Harpers Ferry for several months.After the Civil War, the government decided not to rebuild the
armory, and instead began selling off the property. The Old Master Armorer’s
Quarters was purchased in a public auction by James McGraw. A notable
businessman, McGraw had enterprises in selling hardware, coal, and operating a
beer bottling plant. In 1882, he built two new structures, known today as the
James McGraw Building and the Provost Marshal Office, next to the Old Master
Armorer’s Quarters. In 1891, McGraw enlarged both the quarters and the Provost
Marshal Office, adding a third floor and converting them into a boarding house.
A post office and a store were also located there. In 1897 the McGraw family
went bankrupt and relinquished ownership of their buildings.In 1899, William Doran purchased the building and ran a store
from it with his sister. The business shut down upon William’s death in 1926.
Afterwards a bakery operated there until around 1929. Little is known about the
building from the 1930s-1950s but it is believed that the Dorans rented it out
to tenants. In 1952, the Doran family transferred ownership of the property to
the West Virginia state government, who the following year transferred it to
the National Park Service.





Today the building is part of the Harpers Ferry National
Historical Park and acts as the park’s Dry Goods Store Exhibit. The first floor
displays typical nineteenth-century merchandise and the second floor houses two
more exhibits: the Officer’s Quarters and the James Taylor Room. The Officer’s
Quarters is furnished to depict the usual accommodations of a Civil War
officer, while the James Taylor Room depicts the average accommodations of a
boarding house.

The Dry Goods Store, also known as the Old Master Armorer’s Quarters, the Samuel Annin House, or more simply Building 35, is a historic building in the Lower Town of Harpers Ferry. Constructed in 1812, it has been used for many different purposes including as an apothecary, recruiting office, stores, and boarding houses. Perhaps the structure is most well-known for being the home of the U.S. Armory’s Master Armorer from around 1821 to 1859. Today owned by the National Park Service, the Old Master Armorer’s Quarters is depicted as a dry goods store exhibit to interpret Harpers Ferry’s commercial history. The second floor houses an Officer’s Quarters and the James Taylor Room to showcase Civil War-era accommodations.

Dry Goods Store

During the first half of the 19th-century the United States&nbsp;government
constructed many homes in Harpers Ferry to supply lodging for the national
armory’s employees. In 1822, a lot on the south side of Shenandoah Street became the site of&nbsp;a one-story brick office for the armory’s Paymaster. At this
time, the Master Armorer lived in a house located next to the Paymaster’s
office in 1812 (the Old Master Armorer’s Quarters; today a Dry Goods Store
exhibit). In 1848, the paymaster left his office and the building was leased
out for the next ten years. The space briefly served as a clothing store for
tailor T. J. W. Sullivan, then a law office for Isaac Fouke. From 1851 to 1858 the
mayor’s office and the council chamber for the Harpers Ferry town council was
housed here. In 1858, the building was moved to a location on the grounds of
the Musket Factory to make room for the erection of a new house for the Master
Armorer.Construction for the New Master Armorer’s Quarters began in 1858
and was completed by July 1859. The first residence of the house from July 1859
to August 1860 was the Paymaster’s Clerk John E. Daingerfield, as current
Master Armorer Benjamin Mills did not wish to live so close to the river.
Instead, they swapped homes with each other until Mills was replaced. In
September 1860, the new Master Armorer Armstead M. Ball moved into the
residence. He would be the only Master Armorer to live in the home, leaving
when the Civil War began in 1861.The house’s strategic location in Harpers Ferry made it a temporary
headquarters for Union officers traveling through the area. In September 1862,
Col. Dixon S. Miles utilized the space and died there on September 16th after
being wounded at the Battle of Harpers Ferry. In 1864, the house was the
headquarters for Brig. Gen. John D. Stevenson, commander of the Military
District of Harpers Ferry. Stevenson notably displayed the corpse of
Confederate guerilla John Mobberly at the house. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant
spent the night of September 16, 1864 at the house on his way back from a
meeting with Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan.





In 1963, the Master Armorer’s Quarters was included in the
establishment of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Soon afterwards the
National Park Service restored the building. Today it serves as the park’s
information and orientation center. Additionally, the building contains a few
exhibits such as a scale model of Harpers Ferry and firearm displays.

The Master Armorer’s Quarters, also known as the New Master Armorer’s Quarters, the Daingerfield House, and Building 36, is a historic residence in the Lower Town area of Harpers Ferry. The structure was built in 1859 to house the U.S. Armory’s Master Armorer, replacing the Old Master Armorer’s Quarters beside it. During the Civil War the building was used as a headquarters for several Union officers including Ulysses S. Grant. The Master Armorer’s House came under the possession of the National Park Service as part of the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Today it has been restored and serves as an information center for the park.

Master Armorer's Quarters

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.

United States Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry

John Brown (1800-1859)
was an exceptionally vocal abolitionist who believed that slavery in the United
States could only be brought to an end by&nbsp;the use of force. He gained notoriety
for his actions in the 1856 Bleeding Kansas crisis, including the Pottawatomie
Massacre during which five pro-slavery settlers were murdered. After Bleeding Kansas, Brown began
formulating a plan to raid the federal arsenal and armory at Harpers Ferry. His
aim was to use the seized weapons to arm local slaves, and begin a nationwide
insurrection to eradicate slavery. In July of 1859, John Brown rented the nearby
Kennedy Farm under an alias and began preparations for his attack.

On the night of October
16, 1859, John Brown and a group of twenty-one supporters stylizing themselves as
the “Provisional Army of the United States” swiftly succeeded in capturing the
armory and taking several hostages. The plan soon began to unravel when the
anticipated slave uprising failed to materialize; local slaves were not even initially
aware of the raid and feared severe retribution to contribute. Local townspeople and militiamen trapped Brown’s men in the
armory, inflicting several casualties. Brown and his surviving men were forced
to barricade themselves and their remaining hostages in the armory’s engine house. On October 18, Col. Robert E. Lee arrived with a
hastily-summoned company of U.S. Marines who then proceeded to storm the engine
house. The hostages were freed; Brown and the other surviving raiders were
captured. John Brown was later&nbsp;tried for treason&nbsp;and executed in Charles Town on December 2,
1859; his captured conspirators would all be executed as well. John Brown’s
raid and his subsequent trial sent shockwaves through the nation and heavily
divided public opinion. Some saw him as a hero; to others a terrorist. Brown’s
belief that slavery could only be ended by violence would be realized two years
later when the Civil War erupted in 1861.

The town of Harpers
Ferry would be fought over several times during the Civil War and was severely
damaged during the war. The federal armory, burned to the ground, would never be rebuilt; its
only surviving structure was the engine house, by now known as John Brown’s
Fort. In 1891, the fort was purchased and moved to Chicago for the World
Columbian Exposition. Failing to attract many visitors, the fort was dismantled
and sidelined. Around this time the Baltimore &amp; Ohio Railroad was
undergoing a project to reroute their railroad tracks over the old armory
grounds. In 1895, the B&amp;O erected an obelisk monument over the spot where
John Brown’s Fort had originally stood. In 1897, the U.S. government added five
tablets next to the monument honoring the capture of Harpers Ferry during the
Civil War. Meanwhile John Brown’s Fort had been repurchased and moved from
Chicago back to Harpers Ferry where it was placed on the Murphy farm. On August
17, 1906, members of the Niagara Movement held a memorial service at the fort in
honor of John Brown. In 1909, the fort was purchased by Storer College and was
relocated to its campus, where it remained for many years. In 1968, the National
Park Service moved the fort a final time to Arsenal Square, about 150 feet south
of the where it had first stood. The John Brown Monument remains at that
original location today; the five tablets have since been replaced with a sign
noting the original location of the fort.

The John Brown Monument is a stone obelisk marking the original site of the engine house where John Brown made his last stand during his historic raid in 1859. John Brown and his supporters failed in their goal of starting a slave uprising, instead exacerbating national tensions that would culminate in the Civil War two years later, and largely destroying Harpers Ferry in the process. During the 1890s, the armory engine house was moved and the B&O Railroad began realigning its tracks through much of the original armory grounds. In 1895, the railroad erected an obelisk on the site where the engine house had stood in honor of the raid. The engine house, popularly known as John Brown’s Fort, would be brought back in 1968 and today stands 150 feet away from its original location. 

John Brown Monument

By the late 1800s, the B&amp;O railroad was experiencing
problems at Harpers Ferry; the Potomac bridge was too weak to support newer,
heavier trains, and the curved shape of the railroad tracks limited how fast
they could travel. To alleviate the problem in 1892, the B&amp;O developed a
plan to improve the lines at Harpers Ferry which included the creation of a
tunnel through the Maryland Heights, construction of a new bridge, rerouting
the tracks to go over the old armory grounds, and building a new company
passenger station. Ephraim Francis Baldwin (1837-1916) was hired to design the
new station. Baldwin was the head architect for the B&amp;O Railroad, and designed
hundreds of buildings over the course of his career including many train
stations and Catholic churches.During the 1890s, the B&amp;O had been experiencing financial
troubles, limiting its ability to build elaborate stone stations as it had in
the past. Instead, Baldwin created a standard pattern of affordable,
single-story frame stations. The Harpers Ferry station was constructed in this
pattern, and was completed in 1894. The station included a ticket office,
freight office, agents’ office, separate waiting rooms for men and women,
bathrooms, and a two-story signal tower. In 1898, a waiting shelter was built on
the opposite side of the tracks for westbound passengers. This caused safety
concerns as some passengers had to cross over the tracks to get from the main
station to the westbound waiting shelter. In 1913, an underground passageway
was dug linking the two buildings, and an iron fence was installed between the
buildings and the tracks. Around this time electric lights were also added to
the station.From the 1880s to the 1930s, Harpers Ferry became a popular
tourist destination for railroad passengers. From Harpers Ferry the B&amp;O ran
excursion trains to Martinsburg and Frederick, but also to far-away places such
as New York, Niagara Falls, Atlanta, and even San Francisco. Many passengers
traveled to Harpers Ferry for retreats, conventions, reunions, and celebrations.By the 1920s, the increasing weights and speeds of trains once
again made the bridge and the curve of the tracks at Harpers Ferry inefficient.
In 1930, the B&amp;O began a new series of improvements, building another
bridge and realigning the tracks. In 1931, the train station was moved several
hundred yards to its current location. The floor plan was also altered closer
to its current state. Soon after these renovations rail passenger traffic
quickly began to decline, mainly due to the Great Depression, the rise of
automobiles, and later the development of passenger airlines. In 1951, advances
in technology rendered the station’s signal tower redundant, and it was
removed. By 1972, the Baltimore &amp; Ohio Railroad had merged with the
Chesapeake &amp; Ohio Railroad and the Western Maryland Railroad to form the
Chessie System, which itself would later merge to form the CSX Corporation.
While many stations were demolished, the Harpers Ferry Station was spared.







The Harpers Ferry train station was included in the Harpers
Ferry Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historical
Places in 1979. Despite this, the condition of the station began to
deteriorate. In 1999, it was named as one of the Top 10 Most Endangered
Stations in America. In 2001, ownership of the station was transferred to the
National Park Service. The station underwent a $2.2 million restoration which
included the reconstruction of the two-story tower. Most of the money for the
renovation was federal funding secured by Senator Robert C. Byrd. In 2007,
restorations were completed and the station was rededicated. Today the Harpers
Ferry station remains in operation and services two daily Amtrak trains as well
as several MARC (Maryland Area Regional Commuter) trains.

The train station at Harpers Ferry was built in 1894 by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Designed by architect E. Francis Baldwin, it came during a time of increased tourism for Harpers Ferry and a golden age of railroad passenger travel. Originally overlooking the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers, it was moved to its present spot in 1931. In 2007, the station was restored after a $2.2 million renovation. Today the Harpers Ferry station continues its original role as a transportation center, servicing Amtrak and MARC trains, and is a part of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park listed on the National Register of Historical Places.

Harpers Ferry Train Station

After the Civil War, both Northerners and Southerners built monuments to remember and commemorate the fallen. From the start of the Jim Crow era and into the 20th century, heritage groups in the South such as the United Daughters of Confederacy and the Sons of Confederate Veterans worked to support their ideology that slavery was a benign system by building monuments in honor of "loyal slaves" who allegedly stood by their masters in times of trouble.1&nbsp;Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Southern heritage groups worked to celebrate the image of the faithful slave by creating memorials to individuals and representations of idealized "faithful slaves" who, according to these groups, accepted bondage as their natural condition. As deplorable as these monuments may seem to modern Americans, Southerners were quick to point out the complete absence of any monuments to African Americans in the Northern states despite the fact that 200,000 Black men served the Union army and navy. As monuments to faithful slaves and the Confederate cause&nbsp;appeared across the United States,&nbsp;African Americans faced&nbsp;disenfranchisement,&nbsp;segregation, and violence of the Jim Crow era.2In 1920, the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Sons of Confederate Veterans decided to dedicate a memorial to Heyward&nbsp;Shepherd. Opponents were concerned over the intent of the monument, originally known as the&nbsp;Faithful Slave Memorial, arguing it remembered idealized&nbsp;myths rather than the traumatic&nbsp;reality of slavery.&nbsp;These opponents attempted to prevent the erection of the monument but merely&nbsp;delayed its placement at Harpers Ferry for a decade. The Heyward Shepherd Memorial was placed&nbsp;near the scene of Shepherd’s fatal wounding and dedicated by a celebratory crowd on October 10, 1931. The event drew a sharp reaction from W.E.B. DuBois and the NAACP.&nbsp;African American&nbsp;leaders and students and faculty at Storer College&nbsp;condemned the event, while members of the&nbsp;administration participated in the dedication, reflecting the&nbsp;conflicting local perspectives over the memorial.3The inscription on the Heyward Shepherd memorial reads:<blockquote>On the night of October 16, 1859, Heyward Shepherd, an industrious and respected colored freeman, was mortally wounded by John Brown’s raiders, in pursuance of his durites as an employee of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, he became the first victim of this attempted insurrection. This boulder is erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Sons of Confederate Veterans as a memorial to Heyward Shepherd, exemplifying the character and faithfulness of thousands of Negros who under many temptations throughout subsequent years of war. So conducted themselves that no stain was left upon a record which is the peculiar heritage of the American people, and an everlasting tribute to the best in both races.</blockquote>Since 1931, the&nbsp;Heyward Shepherd memorial has sparked contentious debates over Civil War memory and the history of race in America.&nbsp;In 1995, the National Park Service erected an accompanying plaque to provide another perspective.4 It includes civil rights leader&nbsp;W.E.B. DuBois's original response to the monument, words that are also on the <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=33482">NAACP Tablet</a> in Harpers Ferry:&nbsp; <blockquote>Here John Brown aimed at human slavery a blow that woke a guilty nation. With him fought seven slaves and sons of slaves. Over his crucified corpse marched 200,000 Black soldiers and 4,000,000 freedmen singing 'John Brown's body lies a moldering in the grave but his soul goes marching on!'&nbsp;</blockquote>In the mid 19th-century,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=32908" title="Link: https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=32908">John Brown</a> gained a national reputation as an abolitionist and had planned to capture the <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=31681" title="Link: https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=31681">United States Armory and Arsenal</a>&nbsp;at Harpers Ferry. Brown believed that his actions would encourage an uprising of enslaved African Americans who would join him, and together they would create a well-armed&nbsp;community&nbsp;of free people in the hills of Appalachia whose presence&nbsp;would serve as a beacon of freedom for&nbsp;enslaved African Americans. Brown chose Appalachia for tactical reasons, believing that slaves&nbsp;who would abandon their masters and join them in defending their hidden and easily defended&nbsp;mountain community from would be&nbsp;slave-catchers and white militiamen, who would face a gauntlet of fire from entrenched mountain defenders should they ever challenge Brown's community.5 On October 16, 1859, Brown and his men easily captured the federal arsenal. However, his men were soon trapped at the arsenal by federal troops and Brown surrendered. Brown was executed on&nbsp;December 2, 1859. Heyward Shepherd, a free African American working for B&amp;O Railroad, was the first to be killed during the raid but was not actively engaged in supporting or attempting to thwart Brown's rebellion. In the following decades, Shepherd's death was used to perpetuate the faithful slave myth and counter Northern interpretations of slavery, sentiments which culminated in the Heyward Shepherd Memorial in Harpers Ferry.6&nbsp;In the words of anthropologist Paul Shackel:&nbsp;"Public memory is more a reflection of present political and social relations than a true reconstruction of the past."7

This memorial to Heyward Shepherd was erected in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia in 1931. Heyward Shepherd was an African American killed during John Brown's raid at Harper's Ferry on October 17, 1859. Shepherd was a porter at the local railroad station and a property owner in nearby Winchester, Virginia. Shepherd died as a free Black man who was killed by abolitionists during a raid intended to liberate African Americans from bondage. He became a symbol to white people who opposed John Brown’s mission to end slavery. Although relatively little is known about Shepherd, whites who supported the "Lost Cause" of the Confederacy came to imagine Shepherd as evidence that African Americans were victims of the work of abolitionists and loyal to the South. The monument has been the center of controversy from the time of its inception, and now appears with an interpretive marker that offers the perspective of African American leader W.E.B. DuBois. 

Heyward Shepherd Memorial

Construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and later the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, brought many Catholic Irish workers into the area, soon creating the need for a Catholic church. In the 1820s, a church was built on Shenandoah Street but it was soon destroyed in a flood before any services were held there. In 1830, construction began on a church on a four-acre piece of land conveyed to them by the Wager family, descendants of Robert Harper. Upon his passing in 1782, Harper had stipulated in his will that those four acres be set aside for the establishment of a church. St. Peter’s was finished and consecrated on May 5, 1833. The original building was a one-story brick structure over a stone foundation and had a wooden steeple. In 1896, the original church was torn down and the current one was built on the foundation. It was designed in the neo-Gothic style with red sandstone trim, granite walls, and a bell tower.Around 1854, St. Peter’s leased (and later acquired) an adjoining piece of property from the government. There the church built a two-story stone structure to serve as a school house. In 1886, the school closed and the church opened a new one on the north side of Shenandoah Street, which remained in operation until 1899. The original school building was converted into the church rectory in 1889. Around 1880, a wood frame bell tower was built near the northwest corner of the original school house, and was used for almost two decades until the construction of the new church in 1896.Harpers Ferry was devastated by the Civil War, having been fought over and switched hands numerous times. St. Peter’s was the only church not to be destroyed or severely damaged during the conflict. This was credited to the efforts of the church’s pastor, the Reverend Michael A. Costello, who chose to stay and protect his church during the war. Allegedly he flew the British Union Jack flag over the church as a sign of neutrality to discourage Confederate artillery from attacking it. The church and its school house were subsequently used as makeshift hospitals at several points during the war. Rumors that the amputated limbs of soldiers were buried on the property were discredited when excavations in 2000 found no such evidence.Due to declining attendance, St. Peter’s church ceased holding regular services in 1995 and in 1999 it was merged with the St. James’ parish in nearby Charles Town. St. James’ retains ownership of the church and has restored the building. In 2000, a group of volunteers excavated the grounds and uncovered thousands of artifacts, mostly everyday items. Today St. Peter’s is open to the public during the weekends from May to November, and offers Sunday Mass for tourists and locals. It continues to host community events as well, such as weddings and Christmas concerts.

St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church is a historic structure in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. Completed in 1833, it was the third church in Harpers Ferry as well as the first Catholic parish in Jefferson County. In 1896, the original building was demolished and replaced with a larger structure in the same location. The church sits on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Lower Town district, making it one of the area’s most visible landmarks. It is under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston. In 1999, the parish combined with the nearby St. James' parish and regular church services at St. Peter’s ended. Today the church has been designated as a historic chapel and hosts community events, weddings, and conducts a weekly mass for visiting tourists.

Harpers Ferry Lower Town Tour

John Brown Wax Museum

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Additional Information