page_title: Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
section_title: 20th century
hierarchical_section_title: Harpers Ferry, West Virginia / History / 20th century
caption_attribution_description: English: Harpers Ferry and the bridge overlooking sides of Maryland and West Virginia. (Taken from West Virginia)
context_page_description: Harpers Ferry, population 286 at the 2010 census, is a historic town in Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States, in the lower Shenandoah Valley. It is situated at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, where the U.S. states of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia meet. It is the easternmost town in West Virginia and during the Civil War was the northernmost point of Confederate-controlled territory.
  The town's original, lower section is on a flood plain created by the two rivers and surrounded by higher ground and is within Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Most of the remainder, which includes the more highly populated area, is included in the separate Harpers Ferry Historic District. Two other National Register of Historic Places properties adjoin the town: the B & O Railroad Potomac River Crossing and St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church.
  The town was formerly spelled Harper's Ferry with an apostrophe—in the 18th century, it was the ferry owned and operated by Robert Harper—and that form continues to appear in some references.
context_section_description: On August 15, 1906, author and scholar W. E. B. Du Bois led the first meeting on American soil of the newly founded Niagara Movement. The conference was held at the campus of Storer College, a historically black college that operated until 1955. (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 of the 1906 meeting walked from Storer College to the nearby farm of the Murphy family. It was the site of the historic fort and armory where John Brown's quest to free four million enslaved African Americans reached its climax.
  The population of Harpers Ferry declined significantly in the 20th century. In 1944 Congress authorized the establishment of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, to take in most of the town and have it administered by the National Park Service. The majority of the existing homes in Harpers Ferry are historic. Some are registered in the National Register of Historic Places.
caption: Harpers Ferry and the bridge overlooking sides of Maryland and West Virginia (taken from West Virginia)
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