Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1902-07-05
H~ARPER'SFERRY'S HISTORY
Most Widely Known Small Town
in Country.


in Country.
HOW 1T WAS FIRST SETTLE[
Although Living Only a Few Niles From tn,
Town, Many Citizens Are Not Familiar
With its History.
Acknowledging only nineteen miles
away, many Martinsburgers are not
familiar with the history of HARPER Z
Fsrrv, the best known snail town In
the United States.
(. Harper's Ferry was first settled in
1919 when it was called Shenandoah
Falls. One Hite, a German settler
from Pennsylvania. with so families.
was on his route up the valley to take
up land on the Lord Fairfax grant
and came by way of the gap when
Peter STEPHENS. one of his number,
parted COMPANY and squatted there.
A few years later came Robert Har-
per, for whom the town was named.
an architect and mill builder, born In
Oxford, Eng he came to America
in 1875 WITH his brother Joseph and
located in Philadelphia, where for a
time he prospered. but failing later,
he concluded to join the Friends of
Loudoun county. Va. En- route to
his new home he came uDon the gap
in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where
he found Peter Stevens and Gutter
man Tom, a half-breed indian, his
companion, holding swav Being at
tracted by the place. he decided to
set up quarters and purchased the pre-
tended claims of these squatters. be-
sides a large tract of land from the
Lord Fairfax grant, then in the coun-
ty of Berkeley. Va, for go
in gold, for which he received a pa
tent deed.
Robert HARPER died in 1882 without
issue, but wllled his property to his
sister, Sarah, and her husband. John
Wager, of Philadelphia. in trust for
her eldest son. John Wager. Jr. He
moved to Harper's Ferry in 1856 and
took up his residence in the old Har-
per house, a stone dwelling erected
by the deceased in 1880 at the head
OF the stone steps carved out of the
natural rock. Here unintermittingiy
his heirs have lived to the present
time. Two maiden sisters. the pres
ent proprietresses of the house. are
the Misses Wager. his great grand
nieces. nieces of the late j ustice
Swain. of the Supreme Court. Miss
Laura is the conserver of all the his
tory of the town from its earliest date
has also PICTURES she has collected
showing the different stages Of its de-
velcpment.
June Is. 1896. General Washington
purchased of the family I25 acres of
laid for 81, 600 for an armorv. the
family retaining SIX acres known as
the Wager Reservation, bordering on
Shenandoah and Potomac rivers.
Washington made the survey and
draft himself. having as early as 1852
surveyed these waterpoweTs for Lord
Fairfax. Later the government pur-
chased some 300 acres, consisting of
Bolivar Heights and wooded land of
Loudonn Heights.
On December /, 1884, tre Baltimore
end Ohio railroad approached the Wa
ger bridge oyer the ferry and agreed
to paw so cents a ton for crossing till
thew could purchase the ferry, which
they did, and the remaining property
of the family save the home, in 1899,
when they improved their road at this
point.
The Wager bridge was destroyed
nine times during che war. first bv
Confederates, June IA, 1861. who at
the same time seized the armory and
shipped its machinery to North Caro-
lima. The place also changed hands
eight times during the war.