Harpers Ferry is a historic town in West Virginia, situated at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers. It has a population of around 300 people and is home to Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, which covers nearly 4,000 acres across West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia. The town is known for its role in the American Civil War, as well as for being the site where abolitionist John Brown captured the armory in 1859. Storer College, one of the first integrated schools in the US, was also founded in Harpers Ferry in 1865.
Harpers Ferry is a small historic town in Jefferson County, West Virginia. Also called Harper’s Ferry, the historic city sits at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers and where Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia meet. The population of the city is about 300 people.
Parts of the city are in Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. The park includes land in West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia. In 1963, the United States Congress declared it a National Historic Park. Encompassing nearly 4,000 acres (1,618 hectares), the park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.
Most of the rest of the city is in the Harpers Ferry Historic District. The district includes about 100 historic buildings. Additionally, the B&O Railroad Potomac River Crossing and St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, both on the National Historic Register, border the Historic District.
The Appalachian Trail passes directly through town and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy is headquartered there. Amtrak provides service to Harpers Ferry twice a day. CSX freight trains also run daily.
The city is best known as the site where abolitionist John Brown captured the armory in 1859. Brown was captured in the armory and hanged. He predicted, in his last words, that a civil war was about to end slavery.
The city was on the border between Union and Confederate forces when war broke out two years later in 1861. The city passed between the two sides at least eight times during the four years of the American Civil War. During the Battle of Harpers Ferry in 1862, 12,500 Union soldiers were taken prisoner.
After the Civil War, the US government transferred parts of Berkley and Jefferson counties to Virginia. These counties became parts of West Virginia, which remained loyal to the Union throughout the war. Harpers Ferry was part of this relocation and became part of the area forming the West Virginia panhandle.
Storer College, one of the first integrated schools in the United States, was founded in Harpers Ferry in 1865 and operated until 1955. Originally a school for freed slaves, the school later became a college. It is also where Frederick Douglass delivered his 1881 speech on abolitionist John Brown.
One of the first meetings of the US civil rights movement was held at Storer College. WEB Du Bois held a three-day college meeting in 1906. The city also developed an amusement park known as Island Park in the early 20th century.
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