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87-725: The Harpers Ferry Historic District comprises about one hundred historic structures in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia . The historic district includes the portions of the central town not included in Harpers Ferry National Historical Park , including large numbers of early 19th-century houses built by the United States Government for the workers at the Harpers Ferry Armory . Significant buildings and sites include

174-481: A Monument for Freedom , painting by Richard Fitzhugh. As a direct result, the Fort was moved again (the 3rd move), in 1909, from this "somewhat inaccessible" site to Storer College , where it remained until 1969, longer (as of 2021) than it has been at any other location since 1859. The college, which closed in 1955, bought John Brown's Fort from Alexander Murphy for $ 900—Murphy (~$ 10,237 in 2023) wanted compensation for

261-475: A Visitor Center and a John Brown Museum. Harpers Ferry National Monument became Harpers Ferry National Historical Park on May 29, 1963. "Recreationists" who wanted a park and did not care about the history were a problem. Local residents did not want to lose recreational opportunities, but swimming and fishing on the Shenandoah shore, formerly common, were prohibited. In order to keep recreationists out of

348-437: A bill to establish Harpers Ferry National Military Park in "the area where the most important events of [John Brown's raid] took place. Although this bill did not pass, the flood of 1936 made the project more feasible by destroying buildings not historically important and thus freeing land. After several other attempts, a bill creating Harpers Ferry National Monument was passed and signed by President Roosevelt in 1944, subject to

435-501: A blacksmith and abolitionist sympathizer, Charles Blair; however, the pikes, a weapon that does not require training, were never used as Brown failed to rally the slaves to revolt. The first shot of the raid mortally wounded Heyward Shepherd , a free black man who was a baggage porter for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad . The noise from that shot alerted Dr. John Starry shortly after 1 am. He walked from his nearby home to investigate

522-467: A gloomy picture. The best buildings have been shelled to the ground, and nothing now remains but their foundations to mark the spot where they once stood. The old Arsenal has been burnt to the ground; that part of the building where old John Brown made such a fatal stand, still stands as a monument to his memory. Before the destruction of the town, it contained near 3000 inhabitants, but at the present time there are not more than 300 or 400 families there. In

609-533: A great-great-grandson of the Murphys. 39°19′24.42″N 77°43′47.59″W  /  39.3234500°N 77.7298861°W  / 39.3234500; -77.7298861 After the National Park Service's move of the building, it acquired the original site and portions of the former Armory grounds through land swaps with CSX , the operator of the former Baltimore and Ohio route as of 2021. As of 2021,

696-576: A ladder as a battering ram, the Marines broke down the door and stormed the fire engine house. One Marine and several of Brown's men were mortally wounded in the attack. Some of Brown's men managed to escape, but most were captured, including Brown, who was stabbed by the Marine commander, Lt. Green. The hostages were freed. The engine house was the only part of the Harper's Ferry Armory still standing after

783-532: A pivotal role in the American Civil War , and later as a transportation center. Thousands of tourists visit the town every year, however, parking in town is scarce. In order to better manage traffic in the small streets and enhance the feel of this historic town visitors are asked to park at the nearby Visitors Center and take the Park Service bus into the town itself. Taking the bus gives visitors

870-590: A plaque attached to the west wall of the firehouse (picture at right). The plaque reads: THAT THIS NATION MIGHT HAVE A NEW BIRTH OF FREEDOM THAT SLAVERY SHOULD BE REMOVED FOREVER FROM AMERICAN SOIL John Brown AND HIS 21 MEN GAVE THEIR LIVES. TO COMMEMORATE THEIR HEROISM THIS TABLET IS PLACED ON THIS BUILDING WHICH HAS SINCE BEEN KNOWN AS John Brown's Fort BY THE ALUMNI OF STORER COLLEGE 1918 The National Park Service , through its Historic American Buildings Survey , has made public numerous photographs, plans, and descriptions of

957-557: A view of the traditional infrastructure that made Harpers Ferry so important prior to the 20th century. A commuter train line stops at Harpers Ferry's historic train station and links the town with Washington, D.C., with many intermediate stops. The town was severely damaged during the Civil War , and the Armory, the only large employer, was destroyed; the only surviving building is the fire engine house, called John Brown's Fort , which

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1044-625: Is a historic town in Jefferson County , West Virginia , in the lower Shenandoah Valley . The town's population was 269 at the 2020 United States census . Situated at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, where Maryland , Virginia , and West Virginia meet, it is the easternmost town in West Virginia as well as its lowest point above sea level. Originally named Harper's Ferry after an 18th-century ferry owner,

1131-643: Is buried in the Harper Cemetery. On October 25, 1783, Thomas Jefferson visited Harpers Ferry as he was traveling to Philadelphia . Viewing "the passage of the Potomac through the Blue Ridge " from a rock that is now named for him as Jefferson's Rock, he called the site "perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes in nature" and stated, "This scene is worth a voyage across the Atlantic." The town

1218-481: Is covered by a Baltimore and Ohio Railroad embankment, so it was moved to a location close to the original, the most central location in Harpers Ferry. The Fort is now part of the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park and sits 150 feet (46 m) east of its original location, at 39°19′22.95″N 77°43′46.43″W  /  39.3230417°N 77.7295639°W  / 39.3230417; -77.7295639 . It

1305-520: Is not at its original location (it traveled to Chicago and back). In addition, there was repetitive flooding in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. in the inadvertent preservation of much of the original town fabric. Two National Register properties adjoin the Harpers Ferry Historic District—the B & O Railroad Potomac River Crossing and St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church . Harpers Ferry, West Virginia Harpers Ferry

1392-627: Is now part of the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park . The move of the Fort back to Harpers Ferry attracted African-American visitors, as the railroad hoped. The first national convention of the National League of Colored Women met in Washington, D.C., and took an excursion to Harpers Ferry to see John Brown's Fort. Visitors reached a peak in 1906 when the first American meeting of the Niagara Movement —a predecessor of

1479-469: Is the most visited tourist attraction in the state of West Virginia. From the point of view of crowd management, the Fort was placed in Arsenal Square to discourage parking in lower Harpers Ferry. Satellite parking and shuttle buses were set up. The structure is not fully authentic due to the number of times it has been dismantled, moved, and reassembled. The doors are not original; the building

1566-503: The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad had covered it with an embankment in 1894, raising the rail line several feet to reduce the threat from flooding. The original location was marked in 1895 by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad with a white stone obelisk. It stands 150 feet (46 m) from the present-day location of the fort and is also part of Harpers Ferry National Historic Park. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad offered free shipping of

1653-459: The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal reached Harpers Ferry from Washington, D.C. ; a planned western expansion to Ohio was never completed. A year later, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad began service from Harpers Ferry via Wager Bridge, named for a family that later built the town's Wager Hotel. The bridge connected the town across the Potomac with Sandy Hook, Maryland , which for a few years in

1740-538: The Civil War . There was much combat in and around Harpers Ferry, which changed hands several times during the war. To attract tourists, who were primarily Black, the words "John Brown's Fort" were painted on the engine house. It "was a tourist destination—almost a shrine—for African Americans in the late nineteenth century." However, by 1882, it had fallen into a state of disrepair; the roof and windows were gone. Many bricks were taken and/or sold as souvenirs; Frederick Douglass had one at his home in Washington. In

1827-597: The Harpers Ferry National Historical Park . The fort is featured on West Virginia's America the Beautiful quarter . John Brown planned to capture the armory and the associated arsenal and use them to supply an army of abolitionists and run-away slave guerrillas . Beginning their raid the night of October 16, Brown and his small army of 21 men (16 white and 5 black) captured the armory and arsenal and succeeded in taking 60 citizens of Harpers Ferry hostage. The local militia and armed townspeople killed several members of

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1914-654: The NAACP , whose first meeting was held in Fort Erie, Ontario , Canada—was held in Harpers Ferry, at Storer College . Attendees held an on-site memorial for Brown called "John Brown Day" (August 17). Over one hundred prominent African-American men and women walked from Storer to the Fort's location, among them W.E.B. DuBois , Lewis Douglas, and W. T. Greener. The leader of the procession, a physician from Brooklyn named Owen Waller, "took off his shoes and socks and walked barefoot as if he were treading on holy ground ". Marching to

2001-426: The Niagara Movement , the predecessor of the NAACP , after its organizational meeting in Fort Erie, Ontario . In the late 1890s, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad wanted the land where the fort was located to make its line less vulnerable to flooding. Some white townspeople were eager to get rid of the fort. It was dismantled and moved to Chicago for display at the 1893 Columbian Exposition . Abandoned there, it

2088-663: The Secret Six who assisted John Brown , chose Harpers Ferry for his honeymoon. The park was large enough that parades could be held. There were a steam-powered ferris wheel and carousel , a midway , a pavilion for dancing or roller skating , swings, a merry-go-round , and a bandstand. Visitors could also play croquet , tennis, rent boats, fish, or wade in the river. Later there were baseball games. Blacks and whites attended on different days. In 1883, there were an estimated 100,000 visitors. There were six special trains to Harpers Ferry from various points. The amusement park

2175-649: The Shenandoah River to the lower part of Harpers Ferry, was created by happenstance in the early 1800s after debris floated down from upstream mills during the construction of the Shenandoah Canal. Cotton, flour mills, and other water-powered companies were developed on Virginius Island, taking advantage of the Shenandoah River's water power and good routes to markets. The island came to house all of Harpers Ferry's manufacturing, except for

2262-630: The United States Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry in 1799. It is referred to locally as both "the armory" and "the arsenal," but it is the same facility. This was the second of only two such facilities in the United States, the first being in Springfield, Massachusetts . Together they produced most of the small arms for the U.S. Army. The town was transformed into a water-powered industrial center. Between 1801 and 1861, when

2349-512: The abolitionist John Brown led a group of 22 men (counting himself) in a raid on the armory. Five of the men were black: three free black men, one freed slave, and one fugitive slave. Brown attacked and captured several buildings, hoping to secure the weapons depot and arm the slaves, starting a revolt across the South. Brown also brought 1,000 steel pikes, which were forged in Connecticut by

2436-534: The 'Brown Fort' with Chicago." The building was dismantled and abandoned on a vacant lot after the exhibition. Another report says it was used to store delivery wagons. In 1894, a movement was spearheaded by Washington D.C. journalist Kate Field , who also helped save the John Brown Farm State Historic Site , to preserve the building and move it back to Harpers Ferry. It could not be moved back to its original location because

2523-480: The 1830s was the railroad's western terminus. In 1837, the railroad crossed the Potomac into Harpers Ferry with the opening of the B & O Railroad Potomac River Crossing . The first railroad junction in the country began service in 1836 when the Winchester and Potomac Railroad opened its line from Harpers Ferry southwest to Charles Town and then to Winchester, Virginia . Virginius Island , which connected

2610-487: The American Civil War. The town and the armory, with the exception of John Brown's Fort , were destroyed during the war. "The larger portion of the houses all lie in ruins and the whole place is not actually worth $ 10," wrote a Massachusetts soldier to his mother in 1863. A visitor in 1878 found the town "antiquated, dingy, and rather squalid"; another, in 1879, described it as "shabby and ruined." Since

2697-628: The Arsenal, Harpers Ferry's largest employer before the war, was never rebuilt, the town's population never recovered to antebellum levels. Storer College , devoted to training teachers for freedmen, opened in 1868, much to the displeasure of many residents of Harpers Ferry who petitioned the Legislature to revoke its charter. The War Department gave the Freedmen's Bureau its remaining assets in Harpers Ferry, principally four sturdy residences for

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2784-504: The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad purchased the Fort and the land beneath it, intending to move or tear down the building. In 1891, the building was sold for $ 1,000 (equivalent to $ 33,911 in 2023) to a buyer who wished to use it as an attraction at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago (1st move), "but the venture proved a failure, simply because there was nothing which could connect

2871-602: The Civil War. Harpers Ferry is home to John Brown's Fort , West Virginia's most visited tourist site; the headquarters of the Appalachian Trail , whose midpoint is nearby; the former campus of Storer College , a historically black college established during Reconstruction ; and one of four national training centers of the National Park Service . Much of the lower town, which was in ruins by

2958-513: The Commonwealth of Virginia, murder, and fomenting a slave insurrection. Convicted of all charges, with Starry's testimony integral to the conviction, he was hanged on December 2. (See Virginia v. John Brown .) John Brown's words, both from his interview by Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise and his famous last speech , "captured the attention of the nation like no other abolitionist or slave owner before or since." The American Civil War

3045-526: The Murphy family, the location at the time of John Brown's historic "fort," the armory's firehouse. As a result, the fort was soon moved to the Storer campus, where it became the college's central icon. After the college closed in 1955, the National Park Service moved it back to as close as possible to its original location. A 1936 flood left the lower town "shabby and almost uninhabited", with no bridge across

3132-481: The Murphy farm was completed by November 1895 and included the gates that surrounded the fort. Eight thousand bricks were required to replace those that had been lost. While it was in that location, Murphy used it as a "barracks" and "to house a wheat crop". The Murphy farm, originally established on September 1, 1869, was purchased by the National Park Service through the Trust for Public Land on December 31, 2002; it

3219-477: The NPS had no immediate plans to use it. During a U.S. Army occupation of Harpers Ferry, a contingent of soldiers from Marlborough, Massachusetts , removed a bell hanging in the Harpers Ferry arsenal firehouse. Thirty years later, it was taken to Marlborough, where it has remained. Harpers Ferry has attempted to retrieve the bell without success. In July 2011, Howard Swint, of Charleston, West Virginia , stated that

3306-456: The Park Service. The Park Service was accused of using "white paternalism" to oppose Black wishes and detract from the significance of the Raid for African Americans. In 1960 the National Park Service acquired the building, which remained the main tourist attraction in Harpers Ferry. In the early 1960s, local concessionaires operated a private gift shop in it. Many visitors came to visit it at

3393-462: The Potomac to capture Loudoun Heights south of town. After a Confederate artillery bombardment on September 14 and 15, the federal garrison surrendered. With Jackson's capture of 12,419 federal troops, the surrender at Harpers Ferry was the largest surrender of U.S. military personnel until the Battle of Bataan in 1942. Because of the delay in capturing the town and the movement of federal forces to

3480-507: The Potomac, which the railroad bought and built a footbridge to reach it. One had to pay 5¢ ($ 5 in 2021 value) to cross and enter, after which rides and other activities were free. Access to the park was also a benefit for B&O employees, as it had done in Relay, Maryland . Among the many events held there were a reunion of 4,000 Odd Fellows in 1880 and a "Grand Tri-State Democratic Mass Meeting" 1892. Thomas Wentworth Higginson , one of

3567-660: The Shenandoah to Virginia and no highway bridge to Maryland. All remaining structures on Virginius Island were destroyed. The backbone of the effort to preserve and commemorate Harpers Ferry was Henry T. MacDonald, President of Storer, an amateur historian appointed by West Virginia Governor Okey Patteson as head of the Harpers Ferry National Monument Commission. He was assisted by the Representative from West Virginia's Second District, Jennings Randolph , who in 1935 introduced

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3654-542: The Valley. The town was "easy to seize, and hard to hold", because of its topography: surrounded on three sides by high ground ( Bolivar Heights to the west, Loudoun Heights to the south, and Maryland Heights to the east) and the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, anyone who controlled the heights controlled the city. The war's effect on the town was devastating. It was described in March 1862: Harper's Ferry presents quite

3741-583: The World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, in 1895 to the Murphey Farm near Harpers Ferry, in 1909 to the campus of historically black Storer College in the upper town of Harpers Ferry, and in 1968 by the National Park Service to its present location in lower Harpers Ferry, near its original site. An obelisk stands where it was initially located. The building, obelisk, and Storer campus are all now part of

3828-529: The account of Joseph George Rosengarten , Harpers Ferry and nearby Bolivar , in 1859 "a blooming garden-spot, full of thrift and industry and comfort," had been reduced to "waste and desolation" by 1862. The town's garrison of federal troops attracted 1,500 contrabands by the summer of 1862. They were returned to slavery, however, when Confederate General Stonewall Jackson took Harpers Ferry in September 1862. Lee needed to control Harpers Ferry because it

3915-429: The anti-slavery advocate John Brown 's refuge during his 1859 raid on Harper's Ferry , in which he hoped to launch the overthrow of slavery. It is the only surviving building of the Armory; the others were destroyed during the Civil War . The building quickly became a tourist attraction; the words John Brown's Fort—a new name—were painted over the three doors to attract tourists. It has been moved four times: in 1891 to

4002-495: The armory was destroyed to prevent capture during the American Civil War , it produced more than 600,000 muskets, rifles, and pistols. Inventor Captain John H. Hall pioneered the use of interchangeable parts in firearms manufactured at his rifle works at the armory between 1820 and 1840. His M1819 Hall rifle was the first breech-loading weapon adopted by the U.S. Army. Harpers Ferry's first man-made transportation facility

4089-517: The armory, which used the Potomac River for power, and its rifle plant, some distance upstream using the Shenandoah's power. At its antebellum peak, some 180 people lived on Virginius Island, including workers who lived in a boarding house and in row houses . Floods in the 20th century destroyed all structures on the island. Today, visitors can view Virginius Island's historic ruins and walk National Park Service trails. On October 16, 1859,

4176-525: The bell was taken without authorization. In legal terms, according to Swint, it was stolen and still belongs to the federal government. Swint filed a lawsuit in Boston's US District Court, but since the bell's original Federal records proving ownership were apparently lost in a fire, the judge dismissed the case without prejudice. Swint's legal actions generated controversy in the Marlborough area, but

4263-495: The building as it was at Storer College. When the college closed, the museum collection was auctioned off to pay debts, and borrowed items were returned to their owners. When Harpers Ferry National Monument was created, it did not include John Brown's Fort or its original location. The local Black community opposed having it moved away from the College grounds, and the College trustees were "squeamish" about turning it over to

4350-408: The campus of Storer College , a primarily Black college that operated until 1955. (After it closed, the campus became part of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.) The three-day gathering, which was held to work for civil rights for African Americans , was later described by DuBois as "one of the greatest meetings that American Negroes ever held". Attendees walked from Storer College to the farm of

4437-501: The college, to the point that they made it difficult to carry out the Park Service's plans for the former college. Park Superintendent Joseph Prentice wanted to "drastically eliminate the hordes of visitors and their automobiles from this location". To accomplish this goal, removing "the only important attraction from the Storer College campus", in 1968, the Park Service moved it once more (the 4th move). The original location

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4524-513: The disassembled Fort back to Harpers Ferry (2nd move); they had lost ridership when the Fort was moved to Chicago. As a new site, Alexander and Mary Murphy offered 5 acres (20,000 m ) of their farm about 2 miles (3 km) above Harpers Ferry; Storer College offered only 2 acres. Among the contributors to the funds raised for its disassembly and reconstruction were William McKinley , at that time Governor of Ohio, and Roswell P. Flower , Governor of New York. Reconstruction of John Brown's Fort on

4611-541: The end of the Civil War and ravaged by subsequent floods, has been rebuilt and preserved by the National Park Service. In 1733, squatter Peter Stephens settled on land near the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers and established a ferry across the Potomac from Virginia (now West Virginia ) to Maryland . Robert Harper, from whom the town takes its name, was born in 1718 in Oxford Township , Pennsylvania , now part of Philadelphia . Since he

4698-659: The entrance to the armory. The Secretary of War asked the Navy Department for a unit of United States Marines from the Washington Navy Yard , the nearest troops. Lieutenant Israel Greene was ordered to take a force of 86 Marines to the town. U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee was found on leave at his home not far away in Arlington, Virginia , and was assigned as commander, along with Lt. J. E. B. Stuart as his aide-de-camp . Lee led

4785-618: The ferry, since the land actually belonged to Lord Fairfax . Harper then purchased 126 acres (0.51 km ) of land from Lord Fairfax in 1751. In 1761, the Virginia General Assembly granted him the right to establish and maintain a ferry across the Potomac. In 1763, the Virginia General Assembly established the town of "Shenandoah Falls at Mr. Harpers Ferry." Harper died in October 1782, and

4872-597: The great monument where the end of slavery began. There were so many tourists that they were a nuisance to the farmer on whose lands the fort sat, and so it was moved to Storer in 1909. There it would remain until several years after the college closed in 1955, functioning as the College Museum. Male students practiced their public-speaking skills by giving tours of it. To increase ridership, the B&;O in 1879 built Island Park Resort and Amusement Park on Byrne Island in

4959-619: The high ground and received guests who included Mark Twain , Alexander Graham Bell and Woodrow Wilson . "Stonewall" Jackson also made the town his base of command during part of the Civil War and Thomas Jefferson said of the ferry area that: "The passage of the Patowmac through the Blue Ridge is perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes in Nature." The historic district preserves what is essentially an intact 19th-century town that occupied

5046-630: The historic area, and especially Virginius Island, John Brown's Fort was moved to Arsenal Square from a now-inconvenient location on the former Storer College campus, parking in the lower town was prohibited, and a shuttle bus service begun. Tensions between the NPS and town residents were ongoing. However, the NPS helped the town achieve Main Street Status from the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2001. John Brown%27s Fort The building achieved fame when it became

5133-421: The insurrection. They forced Brown to take up a position in the sturdy fire engine house, where Brown's men had placed several hostages, and prepared to use the building for defense. On the night of October 17, U.S. Marines and then Brevet Colonel Robert E. Lee and his aide J.E.B. Stuart , at the instruction of President Buchanan , arrived in Harpers Ferry to put down Brown's insurrection. The next morning, using

5220-517: The lower town was "a sagging and rotted ghost town." The idea of making Harpers Ferry into a National Monument was to prevent the further deterioration and to rebuild the tourist industry. The first task of the Park Service was to stabilize the buildings on Shenandoah Street, the main commercial street of lower Harpers Ferry. Roofs were covered, missing windows replaced, walls on the verge of collapse reinforced, and debris removed. Post-1859 buildings were not restored, and most were removed. The NPS built

5307-455: The managers of the Armory, structurally sound but in need of repairs from damage during the war, and the Bureau gave them to Storer College. A one-room school for Blacks was already operating in one of them. As early as 1878, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad ran excursion trains to Harpers Ferry from Baltimore and Washington. As described in a newspaper in 1873: "One need only to alight from

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5394-515: The many tourists' damage to his crops—and moved it to the college's campus. It was disassembled. When on the Storer Campus, it was inadvertently reassembled backward, as the builders did not realize that the glass negative they were using as a guide had a reversed image. While there, it was used as the college museum. Glass cases of museum quality contained "a collection of old guns, helmets, money and other curiosities". An elevated gallery

5481-430: The need for bypass canals . Washington's familiarity with the area led him to propose the site in 1794 for a new armory. His brother, Charles Washington, who founded nearby Charles Town , and his great-great-nephew, Colonel Lewis Washington , both moved to the area. In 1796, the federal government purchased a 125-acre (0.5 km ) parcel of land from the heirs of Robert Harper. Construction began on what would become

5568-524: The nineteenth-century, silver engravings of the Fort were attached to souvenir bricks; one is in the Park museum (see picture at right). Another was painted and given to an unnamed museum. Some white townspeople, for whom Brown was a madman and traitor rather than a hero, were not happy having the structure in their town, nor the Black tourists it attracted. To move its tracks to a less flood-prone location,

5655-400: The only Black college at a location historically important to African-Americans, became a center of the civil rights movement and built the town's importance as a destination for Black tourists and excursionists. Douglass spoke there in 1881, as part of an unsuccessful campaign to fund a "John Brown professorship" to be held by an African-American. In 1906, Storer hosted the first U.S. meeting of

5742-495: The project was supported both by Harpers Ferry mayor Gilbert Perry and Governor Patteson. Twenty-two eviction notices were served in the lower town, and two taverns closed. Property acquisition, not all of which was unproblematic, was completed in 1952 and presented to the United States in January 1953. The National Monument's first on-site employee, John T. Willett, began work in 1954. In 1957, The Baltimore Sun reported that

5829-543: The proviso that nothing would be done with it until the war ended. An urgent priority was the new highway, which is today U.S. Route 340 . A new bridge connecting Sandy Hook, Maryland with Loudoun County, Virginia opened in October 1947, on which work had begun in 1941 but was interrupted by the war. Another new bridge over the Shenandoah connecting Virginia to Bolivar Heights, West Virginia , opened two years later. Federal highway traffic now bypassed Harpers Ferry entirely. Land acquisition started in lower Harpers Ferry;

5916-430: The shooting and was confronted by Brown's men. Starry stated that he was a doctor but could do nothing more for Shepherd, and the men allowed him to leave. Starry then went to the livery and rode to neighboring towns and villages, alerting residents to the raid. John Brown's men were quickly pinned down by local citizens and militia , and forced to take refuge in the fire engine house (later called John Brown's Fort ), at

6003-548: The site of the Armory, the U.S Armory Potomac Canal , the Harpers Ferry Train Station , and Shenandoah Street, Potomac Street, and High or Washington Street. The National Historic Park essentially comprises the lower, flood-prone areas of the town, while the Historic District comprises the upper town. In the late 19th century a number of Victorian and Federalist-style houses were built on

6090-754: The state should secede had been called together. Because of the town's strategic location on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and at the northern end of the Shenandoah Valley , both Union and Confederate troops moved through Harpers Ferry frequently. It was said that "Jefferson County is where the North and South met." It was a natural conduit for Confederate invasions of the North, as in General Robert E. Lee 's Maryland campaign of 1862 and Gettysburg campaign of 1863, and for Union troops heading south in their attempts to thwart Rebel forces in

6177-445: The town and drive out the federal garrison. Inspired by John Brown's raid, both runaway and freed slaves came to Harpers Ferry during and after the American Civil War . This created social tensions between white and black residents of the community and generated a growing need for services for the increasing African-American population. Accordingly, a freedman's school was opened on Camp Hill by Freewill Baptist missionaries following

6264-465: The town into a real tourist center and return it to growth. "Harpers Ferry proved to be one of the most visited places of leisure for nineteenth-century African Americans." There was a Black-owned hotel, the Hill Top House , built and run by a Storer graduate, Thomas Lovett, but it catered only to white clientele. In the summer Storer rented rooms to Black vacationers until 1896. The fort was

6351-742: The town lost its apostrophe in 1891 in an update by the United States Board on Geographic Names . It gained fame in 1859 when abolitionist John Brown led a raid on the Harpers Ferry Armory in a doomed effort to start a slave rebellion in Virginia and across the South. During the American Civil War , the town became the northernmost point of Confederate -controlled territory, and changed hands several times due to its strategic importance. An antebellum manufacturing and transportation hub, Harpers Ferry has long since reoriented its economy around tourism after being largely destroyed during

6438-412: The train and look a little envious toward the old Engine House or the ruined walls of the old Arsenal in order to have a score of persons offering to become a kind of guide or to point out to your whatever you may desire to know about the great struggle which ended in the 'opening of the prison doors, the breaking of every yoke, the undoing of heavy burdens, and letting the oppressed go free." Storer,

6525-465: The unit in civilian clothes, as none of his uniforms were available. The contingent arrived by train on October 18, and after negotiations failed, they stormed the fire house and captured most of the raiders, killing a few and suffering a single casualty. Lee submitted a report on October 19. Brown was quickly tried in Charles Town , the county seat of Jefferson County , for treason against

6612-589: The various parts of the building cannot be authenticated", is the comment of the Historic American Buildings Survey . A Harpers Ferry Historical Association publication states that "the John Brown Museum" now houses the original armory gate. It had been taken by Alexander Murphy, who used it as an outer gate to his coal yard and had tried to sell it in 1927. It was donated in 1991 to the National Park Service by Jim Kuhn,

6699-499: The west, Lee was forced to regroup at the town of Sharpsburg, Maryland . Two days later he commanded troops in the Battle of Antietam , which had the highest number of deaths among troops of any single day in United States military history. By July 1864, the Union again had control of Harpers Ferry. On July 4, 1864, Union general Franz Sigel withdrew his troops to Maryland Heights, from which he resisted Jubal Early 's attempt to enter

6786-500: Was a builder, Harper was asked by a group of Quakers in 1747 to build a meeting house in the Shenandoah Valley near the present site of Winchester, Virginia . Traveling through Maryland on his way to the Shenandoah Valley, Harper—who was also a millwright —realized the potential of the latent waterpower from the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers at their confluence. He paid Stephens 30 guineas for his squatting rights to

6873-477: Was added. The college published Captain John Brown and Harper's Ferry , a pamphlet about Brown and the Fort, written by Brown scholar Boyd Stutler . Students gave tours of the Fort. "They took great pride in that. That symbol of freedom meant a lot to those students." At the time, these student tours were required of many students, to give them practice in public speaking. In 1918, Storer alums paid for

6960-463: Was destroyed by flooding in 1896, as was a replacement bridge in 1924. The remaining structures on the island were destroyed in a 1942 flood. On August 15, 1906, Black author and scholar W. E. B. Du Bois led the first meeting on American soil of the new Niagara Movement . Named after the site of its initial meeting in Fort Erie, Ontario , Canada on the Niagara River , the movement met on

7047-530: Was disastrous for Harpers Ferry, where five battles took place; it changed hands eight times between 1861 and 1865. (Another article says it changed hands twelve times. ) One of the first military actions by secessionists in Virginia was taken on April 18, 1861, when they wrested control of the Federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry from the Union Army, even before the convention which would consider whether or not

7134-554: Was kept open despite periodic flooding and repairs until 1909. The B&O kept the site open after that for picnicking. The bandstand, the only surviving structure, has been moved twice. At the park's closing, it was moved to Arsenal Square (the current location of John Brown's Fort ), then later to the park at Washington and Gilmore Streets. It is referred to as The Bandstand or the Town Gazebo , and many civic, cultural, and recreational activities take place there. The bridge

7221-544: Was on his supply line and could cut off his possible routes of retreat if captured. Therefore. Lee divided his army of approximately 40,000 into four sections, sending three columns under Jackson to surround and capture the town. The Battle of Harpers Ferry started with light fighting September 13 as the Confederates tried to capture the Maryland Heights to the northeast, while John Walker moved back over

7308-615: Was one of his favorite retreats, and tradition holds that much of his Notes on the State of Virginia was written there. Jefferson County , in which Harpers Ferry is located, was named for him on its creation in 1801. George Washington , as president of the Potomac Company (which was formed to complete river improvements on the Potomac River and its tributaries), traveled to Harpers Ferry during summer 1785 to determine

7395-417: Was painted grey at the Armory. (See poster at right.) As stated above, 8,000 bricks replace the original ones taken as souvenirs. It is also not a replica, as portions of the building were "rebuilt backward" because builders were working from a negative and did not realize it needed to be turned over to see the building correctly. It was described in 2005 as "a bit smaller than its original size". "The age of

7482-407: Was rescued and moved back to Harpers Ferry by the Baltimore and Ohio without charge, motivated by their expectation that having the fort back in Harpers Ferry would be a tourist attraction and a way to build ridership on the railroad. But most whites were opposed to any commemoration of John Brown, and it was placed on a nearby farm. Visits by tourists, many of them Black, now began to slowly turn

7569-593: Was the Potomac Canal . The canal ceased transportation in 1828, but a portion of it in front of the town channeled river water to run machinery for the armory. The Potomac Canal ran on the Virginia side of the river. On the Maryland side, the later Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad competed for right-of-way on a very narrow patch of land downstream from Harpers Ferry. In 1833,

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