West Virginia Independence Hall
Description
West Virginia Independence Hall in Wheeling, WV. The birthplace for the state of West Virginia, West Virginia Independence Hall is now a museum dedicated to the history of statehood and the Civil War.
Construction began in September 1856, and the building opened in April 1859. The three-story structure was built to be the federal Custom House for the Western District of Virginia. The building also housed the post office and federal district court.
On June 13, 1861 the Second Wheeling Convention began and declared the Confederate state government in Richmond illegal, and so created a Reorganized Government of Virginia loyal to the United States, elected Francis Harrison Pierpont, governor of Virginia, and called for the western counties to be formed into a new state.
The legislature of the Reorganized Government met in the court room on the third floor from July 1861 to June 1863, and the constitutional convention for the new state met there in late 1861 through early 1862. Governor Pierpont and other state officials used offices on the second floor of the Custom House from June 1861 through early 1864. Thus, the Wheeling Custom House served as the capitol building for Reorganized Virginia, although it was never the capitol of West Virginia.
In 1970, the National Parks Service placed Independence Hall on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1979, West Virginia Independence Hall was opened as a museum, administered by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History.
And in 1988, the birthplace of West Virginia, Independence Hall, gained recognition as a National Historic Landmark.
Visit this webpage by the West Virginia Independence Hall Foundation for more information:
http://www.wvindependencehallfoundation.org/wvihf/
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RECENT FACEBOOK POSTS
facebook.comSomething for everyone! Saturday the 28th at noon. Kids can wear their costumes and join us for a "Hall"oween party! Free admission, treat bags, crafts and refreshments will be available.
https://www.facebook.com/VintageWestVirginia/posts/1015712115259110
October 28th beginning at noon. Crafts, treat bags, refreshments and it's free! Join us!
Please plan on joining WV Independence Hall for a fun and enjoyable Halloween event! Children can make their own Halloween flag on the lower level while adults enjoy listening to Storyteller, Susanna "Granny Sue" Holstein, tell the stories of Appalachian ghosts tales and monsters in the historic courtroom. Children will recieve treat bags and refreshments will be served. Free admission!
This lecture will be in the courtroom on the 3rd floor.
This Thursday evening, October 26th at 7:00pm, following the Fort Henry lecture on 18th Century Firearms with Joe Forte at 5:30pm.
Join us THIS Thursday!
FREE LECTURE: Roger Micker will present “The Life of John Brown” at West Virginia Independence Hall in Wheeling on Thursday, Oct. 19. The program begins at 6:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public. "During a moonlit night in mid-October 1859, a volunteer army of 21 men ventured into western Virginia. Under the command of John Brown, their intent was to "go down into Africa" and liberate slaves throughout the South. After a two-day siege against local militia and the U.S. marines, commanded by Robert E. Lee, the attempt was short lived. Trapped inside the fire engine house at the federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Brown, suffering from several wounds, surrendered. On Dec. 2, John Brown was sent to the gallows at Charlestown, Va. A page in American history was about to be turned." Micker is a retired history teacher from Steubenville High School in Stuebenville, Ohio. He is one of two teachers who serves on the Ohio Governor’s Civil War Historical Committee. The lecture is sponsored by the Ohio Valley Civil War Roundtable and is an introduction to the John Brown Mock Trial, which will be held at West Virginia Independence Hall on Saturday, Nov. 4, at 12:30 p.m.
Exhibit Opening: West Virginia Independence Hall and the West Virginia Division of Culture and History invites you to attend the opening of "WV Photographers - Capturing The Mountain State". The exhibit headlined the 40th year Celebration of the Culture Center Building and will be on tour around the state. Join us as we open the tour on Thursday evening, October 26th at 7:00pm, following the Fort Henry Lecture.
#ThisWeekinHistory in 1859, John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia--now West Virginia. With financial support from other abolitionists, John Brown began a plan in 1857 to free slaves using a small army. He recruited supporters and established a refuge for fugitive slaves in the mountains of Virginia. Brown launched his venture on October 16, 1859 with a force of 18 men, including three of his sons. They seized the US arsenal located at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, and won control of the town. They retained control for only a short time, however, and were soon engaged in battle and forced to surrender to troops led by Col. Robert E. Lee on October 18. John Brown was arrested and charged with various crimes, including treason and murder. After being found guilty, John Brown was hanged in Charlestown, Virginia, in December 1859. John Brown was regarded by abolitionists as a martyr to the cause of human freedom. #WV #WVHistory #CivilWar #CivilWarHistory #Raid #TWiH #TMiH
As part of the 2017 Fort Henry Commemoration Speaker Series: Free Public Lecture-- "18th Century Firearms" Speaker Joe Forte Thursday, October 26th at West Virginia Independence Hall, Lecture will begin at 5:30pm
#ThisWeekinHistory in 1889, Wheeling's Custom House gets a 'wart!' Construction on the Custom House's wart began in the spring of 1889. The wart was built on the South end of the building, facing 16th Street, and was intended to house an elevator with a surrounding spiral staircase. The wart, or elevator bay, would span the building's three stories. In the attached letter of September 30, 1889, the acting superintendent of Custom House repairs, Edward J. Avery, wrote to the supervising architect in Washington D.C. that "the stone and brick work of the elevator bay extension, three stories in height,...is nearly complete, and will be entirely so by Oct 4th." By the time of the wart's completion in early October of 1889, it became evident that only the spiral staircase would fit; thus the plans for an elevator were then omitted, as reported in the attached article from November, 1889. The Custom House was sold by the federal government in the fall of 1907, and the wart was covered by an extension added on later to the building- sometime after 1913. #WVHistory #Architecture #Wheeling #HistoricBuilding #HistoricSite
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