Harpers Ferry Historic District

Historic district in West Virginia, United States

United States historic place


Harpers Ferry Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district



Location	Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
Coordinates	39°19′35″N 77°44′29″W / 39.32639°N 77.74139°W / 39.32639; -77.74139
Built	1800
Architect	Multiple
Architectural style	Late Victorian
NRHP reference No.	79002584
Added to NRHP	October 15, 1979

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 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 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 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 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 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.

References

"National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
Harpers Ferry Planning Commission (November 1, 1978). "National Register of Historic Places Nomination: Harpers Ferry Historic District" (PDF). National Park Service.
"National Registr of Historic Places Continuation Sheet: Harpers Ferry Historic District" (PDF). West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History. National Park Service. Retrieved October 3, 2024.

External links

Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. WV-224, "Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, General Views, Shenandoah Street, Harpers Ferry, Jefferson County, WV", with many other entries for individual buildings

v t e U.S. National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia
Topics	Contributing property Keeper of the Register Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places National Park Service Property types
Lists by county	Barbour Berkeley Boone Braxton Brooke Cabell Calhoun Clay Doddridge Fayette Gilmer Grant Greenbrier Hampshire Hancock Hardy Harrison Jackson Jefferson Kanawha Lewis Lincoln Logan Marion Marshall Mason McDowell Mercer Mineral Mingo Monongalia Monroe Morgan Nicholas Ohio Pendleton Pleasants Pocahontas Preston Putnam Raleigh Randolph Ritchie Roane Summers Taylor Tucker Tyler Upshur Wayne Webster Wetzel Wirt Wood Wyoming
Other lists	Bridges National Historic Landmarks
Category:National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia Portal:National Register of Historic Places

v t e John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry
John Brown's raiders	Osborne Perry Anderson John Brown body Oliver Brown Owen Brown (son) Watson Brown John Anthony Copeland Jr. Barclay Coppock Edwin Coppock Shields Green Albert Hazlett John Henry Kagi Lewis Sheridan Leary Francis Jackson Meriam Dangerfield Newby Aaron Dwight Stevens
Secret Six	Thomas Wentworth Higginson Samuel Gridley Howe Theodore Parker Franklin Benjamin Sanborn Gerrit Smith George Luther Stearns
Other individuals	John Wilkes Booth Mary Ann Day Brown (wife) Owen Brown (father) John Brown, Jr. James Buchanan Samuel Chilton John E.P. Daingerfield Israel Greene George Henry Hoyt Andrew Hunter Stonewall Jackson Robert E. Lee James M. Mason Richard Parker Wendell Phillips Richard Realf James Redpath George Sennott Heyward Shepherd Lysander Spooner George H. Steuart J. E. B. Stuart Lewis Washington Walt Whitman Henry A. Wise
Locations	Allstadt House and Ordinary B & O Railroad Potomac River Crossing Beall-Air Charles Town, West Virginia Gibson-Todd House Harpers Ferry Armory Harpers Ferry, West Virginia Historic District John Brown's Fort Kennedy Farm Sandy Hook, Maryland Winchester, Virginia
Afterwards	Battle Hymn of the Republic Burning of Winchester Medical College Harpers Ferry National Historical Park Heyward Shepherd monument John Brown (biography) John Brown Farm State Historic Site John Brown Farm, Tannery & Museum John Brown House (Akron, Ohio) John Brown Museum (Osawatomie, Kansas) John Brown's body John Brown's Body (poem) John Brown's Body (song) John Brown's last speech John Brown's Provisional Constitution The Last Days of John Brown The Last Moments of John Brown A Plea for Captain John Brown Remarks After the Hanging of John Brown Tragic Prelude Virginia v. John Brown
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