Editing Barbour County, West Virginia (section)

==History==
===Settlement and formation===
The first white settlement in present-day Barbour County was established in 1780 by Richard Talbott – along with his brother Cotteral and sister Charity – about {{convert|3|mi|km|spell=in}} downriver from the future site of Philippi.<ref>The Talbotts settled at the mouth of Hacker's Creek. [[Hu Maxwell|Maxwell, Hu]] (1899), ''The History of Barbour County, From its Earliest Exploration and Settlement to the Present Time'', [[The Acme Publishing Company]], [[Morgantown, West Virginia|Morgantown, W.Va.]] (Reprinted, [[McClain Printing Company]], [[Parsons, West Virginia|Parsons, W.Va.]], 1968.), pg 473.</ref> At this time the region was still a part of [[Monongalia County, West Virginia|Monongalia County]], Virginia. The region had had no permanent [[Native Americans in the United States|Indian]] settlements and so conflicts with Native Americans were relatively infrequent in the early days. Nevertheless, the Talbotts were obliged to leave their homestead several times for safety and twice found it necessary to retreat back east of the Alleghenies, returning each time. No member of this eventually large family was ever killed by Indian attacks.<ref>Maxwell, ''Op. cit.'', pg 474.</ref>

Over time, parts of the future Barbour County were included in the newly created Harrison (1784), Randolph (1787), and Lewis (1816) Counties. Barbour County itself was created in 1843 and named for the late Virginia politician and [[jurist]] [[Philip P. Barbour]] (1783–1841). (Barbour had served as a [[United States Congress|U.S. Congressman]] from Virginia, Speaker of the House, and Associate Justice of the [[United States Supreme Court]].) The settlement of [[Philippi, West Virginia|Philippi]]  – formerly "Anglin's Ford" and "Booth's Ferry" – was [[platted]], named, and made the [[county seat]] in the same year; it was chartered in 1844. By the 1850s, when a major [[Philippi Covered Bridge|covered bridge]] was constructed at Philippi to service travellers on the [[Beverly-Fairmont Turnpike]], the county's population was approaching 10,000 people.

The first newspaper in the county was the ''Barbour Jeffersonian'', published starting in August 1857 and running only to about June 1861. It was put out by Thompson Surghnor (1820-1864).<ref>Barbour County Historical Society (1979), ''Barbour County, West Virginia...Another Look''; Taylor Publishing Company, pg 30.</ref>

===Civil War===
In April 1861, an [[Ordinance of Secession|Ordinance of Secession from the United States of America]] was approved throughout the state of [[Virginia]] in a [[referendum]]. Delegates from 25 western counties, however, assembled at [[Wheeling, West Virginia|Wheeling]] on 13 May for the first of a two meetings (see [[Wheeling Convention]]) called to repeal the Ordinance. The delegates from Barbour County for the first convention were Spencer Dayton, John H. Shuttleworth, and E.H. Manafee. Barbour County had voted in favor of Virginia's secession, though, and a palmetto secession flag had been flying above the courthouse since January, 1861.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofbarbour00maxw|title=The history of Barbour County, West Virginia, from its earliest exploration and settlement to the present time|last=Maxwell|first=Hu|date=1899|publisher=Morgantown, W. Va. : Acme Publishing Company|others=West Virginia University Libraries}}</ref>

On 3 June 1861, Philippi was the scene of one of the [[Battle of Philippi (West Virginia)|first battles]] of the [[American Civil War]]. The battle was later lampooned as the "Philippi Races" because of the hurried retreat by the Confederate troops encamped in the town. (The skirmish is [[American Civil War reenactment|reenacted]] every June during the town's "Blue and Gray Reunion".) At daylight on June 3, two columns of Union forces under the command of Col. [[Benjamin Franklin Kelley]] and Col. [[Ebenezer Dumont]], with perhaps 3,000 men, arrived from [[Grafton, West Virginia|Grafton]] and attacked about 800 poorly armed [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] recruits under the command of Col. [[George A. Porterfield]]. The Union troops had marched all night through a heavy rain storm to arrive just before daylight. The surprise attack awakened the sleeping Confederates. After firing a few shots at the advancing Union troops, the Southerners broke lines and began running frantically to the south, some still in their bed clothes.

The Union victory in a relatively bloodless battle propelled the young [[Major General (United States)|Major General]] [[George B. McClellan]] into the national spotlight, and he would soon be given command of all Union armies. The battle also inspired more vocal protests in the Western part of Virginia against secession. On 11 June, the second [[Wheeling Convention]] met in that city and Barbour County was again represented by Dayton and Shuttleworth, who were this time joined by N.H. Taft. The Convention nullified the Virginia Ordinance of Secession and named [[Francis H. Pierpont]] governor. These events would eventually result in the separate statehood of West Virginia.

===Later history===
The economy and infrastructure in Barbour grew steadily, but slowly, through the late 19th century. Although the first railroad had reached nearby [[Grafton, West Virginia|Grafton]] in 1852, a narrow-gauge railroad was not laid through the county until the early 1880s; a standard gauge line followed in the 1890s.

In 1990, private developers offered Barbour County citizens $4M to $6M annually in host fees to accept out-of-state garbage into a County landfill over the following three decades. Up to 200,000 tons of garbage per month would be delivered.<ref>"Landfill Controversy Divides Barbour County" (1990), ''Charleston Gazette'' (Oct 28 issue).</ref> (At the time, the county's annual budget was only about $1M.) County voters rejected the offer.<ref>"Barbour Rejecting Landfill" (1990), ''[[Charleston Gazette]]'', (Nov 7 issue).</ref>

In 2023, Barbour County lost its major employer when [[Alderson-Broaddus University]]'s board of trustees voted to close the institution some 152 years after its founding.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/02/us/west-virginia-alderson-broaddus-university-closes-students/index.html |title= Financially struggling university in West Virginia closes down, leaving students scrambling |first= Mitchell |last= McCluskey |publisher= [[CNN]] |date= August 2, 2023 }}</ref>

===Registered Historic Places===
{{Main|List of Registered Historic Places in West Virginia}}
{{col-begin}}
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* '''Belington'''
** [[Bernard E. Wilmoth House]]
* '''Berryburg'''
** [[Adaland]], restored home of a 19th-century lawyer
* '''Carrollton'''
** [[Carrollton Covered Bridge]]
* '''Clemtown'''
** [[Ida L. Reed Homestead]]
{{col-break}}
* '''Elk City'''
** [[J. N. B. Crim House]]
* '''Philippi'''
** [[Barbour County Courthouse]]
** [[Peck-Crim-Chesser House]]
** [[Philippi B & O Railroad Station]]
** [[Philippi Covered Bridge]]
** [[Philippi Historic District]]
** [[Whitescarver Hall]]
{{col-end}}