Editing Harpers Ferry, West Virginia (section)

==== Harpers Ferry National Monument and National Historical Park ====
{{main|Harpers Ferry National Historical Park}}
[[File:Harpers Ferry National Park map.svg|thumb|National Park Service map of Harper's Ferry showing the Appalachian Trail, with (1) being the scene of John Brown's raid<ref>{{cite web |title=Exploring the Park |publisher=National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior |url=http://www.nps.gov/hafe/planyourvisit/upload/HAFEmap1.pdf |access-date=July 20, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927174035/http://www.nps.gov/hafe/planyourvisit/upload/HAFEmap1.pdf |archive-date=September 27, 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref>]]
A 1936 flood left the lower town "shabby and almost uninhabited", with no bridge across the Shenandoah to Virginia and no highway bridge to Maryland. All remaining structures on [[Virginius Island]] were destroyed.<ref>{{cite news
|title=The Spring Flood at Harpers Ferry
|newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun|Evening Sun]] ([[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]]
|date=December 31, 1936
|page=10
|via=[[newspapers.com]]
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/77271801/collapse-of-bridge-over-potomac/
|access-date=May 9, 2021
|archive-date=May 10, 2021
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210510143944/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/77271801/collapse-of-bridge-over-potomac/
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

The backbone of the effort to preserve and commemorate Harpers Ferry was Henry T. MacDonald, President of Storer, an amateur historian appointed by West Virginia Governor [[Okey Patteson]] as head of the Harpers Ferry National Monument Commission.<ref name=Moyer/>{{rp|45}} He was assisted by the Representative from West Virginia's Second District, [[Jennings Randolph]], who in 1935 introduced a bill to establish Harpers Ferry National Military Park in "the area where the most important events of [John Brown's raid] took place.<ref name=Moyer/>{{rp|35–36}} Although this bill did not pass, the flood of 1936 made the project more feasible by destroying buildings not historically important and thus freeing land. After several other attempts, a bill creating Harpers Ferry National Monument was passed and signed by President Roosevelt in 1944, subject to the proviso that nothing would be done with it until the war ended.<ref name=Moyer/>{{rp|39}}

An urgent priority was the new highway, which is today [[U.S. Route 340]]. A new bridge connecting [[Sandy Hook, Maryland]] with [[Loudoun County, Virginia]] opened in October 1947, on which work had begun in 1941 but was interrupted by the war.<ref>{{cite news
|title=Heavy Traffic For New Btidge
|newspaper=[[Frederick News-Post|The News]] ([[Frederick, Maryland]])
|date=October 20, 1947
|page=9
|via=[[newspapers.com]]
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80223834/opening-of-new-sandy-hook/
|access-date=June 25, 2021
|archive-date=June 25, 2021
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625143518/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80223834/opening-of-new-sandy-hook/
|url-status=live
}}</ref> Another new bridge over the Shenandoah connecting Virginia to [[Bolivar, West Virginia|Bolivar Heights, West Virginia]], opened two years later. Federal highway traffic now bypassed Harpers Ferry entirely.<ref>{{cite news
|title=Traffic Moves Over New Bridge
|newspaper=Hinton Daily News ([[Hinton, West Virginia]])
|date=September 30, 1949
|page=1
|via=[[newspapers.com]]
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80225516/new-bridge-over-shenandoah-to-boluvar-wv/
|access-date=June 25, 2021
|archive-date=June 25, 2021
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625145025/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80225516/new-bridge-over-shenandoah-to-boluvar-wv/
|url-status=live
}}</ref>
Land acquisition started in lower Harpers Ferry; the project was supported both by Harpers Ferry mayor Gilbert Perry and Governor Patteson. Twenty-two eviction notices were served in the lower town, and two taverns closed.<ref name=Moyer/>{{rp|57}}Property acquisition, not all of which was unproblematic, was completed in 1952 and presented to the United States in January 1953.<ref name=Moyer/>{{rp|46}} The National Monument's first on-site employee, John T. Willett, began work in 1954.
[[File:Harpers Ferry WV aerial.jpg|thumb|Aerial view of Harpers Ferry from the west in October 1974]]
In 1957, ''[[The Baltimore Sun]]'' reported that the lower town was "a sagging and rotted ghost town."{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}} The idea of making Harpers Ferry into a National Monument was to prevent the further deterioration and to rebuild the tourist industry.<ref>{{cite news
|title=National Park Would Perpetuate Hardy Town Where Rivers Meet (part 1)
|newspaper=[[Daily Mail]] ([[Hagerstown, Maryland]])
|date=January 31, 1944
|page=1
|via=[[newspapers.com]]
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/77228565/harpers-harpers-ferry-national-park/
|access-date=May 7, 2021
|archive-date=May 10, 2021
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210510142426/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/77228565/harpers-harpers-ferry-national-park/
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref name=Park>{{cite news
|title=Park Would Save Riverside Town (part 2)
|newspaper=[[Daily Mail]] ([[Hagerstown, Maryland]])
|date=January 31, 1944
|page=7
|via=[[newspapers.com]]
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/77229159/harpers-ferry-park-pt-2/.
|access-date=May 8, 2021
|archive-date=May 8, 2021
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508094652/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/77229159/harpers-ferry-park-pt-2/
|url-status=live
}}</ref> The first task of the Park Service was to stabilize the buildings on Shenandoah Street, the main commercial street of lower Harpers Ferry. Roofs were covered, missing windows replaced, walls on the verge of collapse reinforced, and debris removed. Post-1859 buildings were not restored, and most were removed.<ref>{{cite news
|title=Harpers Ferry looks up
|newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]] ([[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]])
|date=September 18, 1957
|page=16
|via=[[newspapers.com]]
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74119576/national-parks-service-and-harpers/
|access-date=March 22, 2021
|archive-date=April 16, 2021
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416170410/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74119576/national-parks-service-and-harpers/
|url-status=live
}}</ref> The NPS built a Visitor Center and a John Brown Museum.<ref>{{cite news
|title=Harper's Ferry Relives John Brown's Raid
|newspaper=[[New York Times]]
|date=April 5, 1959
|page=X25
|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1959/04/05/issue.html
|access-date=June 15, 2021
|archive-date=June 15, 2021
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210615011925/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1959/04/05/issue.html
|url-status=live
}}</ref> Harpers Ferry National Monument became [[Harpers Ferry National Historical Park]] on May 29, 1963.<ref>{{cite web |title=Harpers Ferry NHP General Management Plan – Harpers Ferry National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/hafe/getinvolved/hafe-gmp.htm |website=www.nps.gov |access-date=August 17, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-date=August 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817174925/https://www.nps.gov/hafe/getinvolved/hafe-gmp.htm}}</ref>

"Recreationists" who wanted a park and did not care about the history were a problem. Local residents did not want to lose recreational opportunities, but swimming and fishing on the Shenandoah shore, formerly common, were prohibited. In order to keep recreationists out of the historic area, and especially Virginius Island, [[John Brown's Fort]] was moved to Arsenal Square from a now-inconvenient location on the former [[Storer College]] campus, parking in the lower town was prohibited, and a shuttle bus service begun.<ref name=Moyer/>{{rp|62}} Tensions between the NPS and town residents were ongoing. However, the NPS helped the town achieve [[Main Street Status]] from the [[National Trust for Historic Preservation]] in 2001.<ref name="Moyer" />{{rp|64}}

The population of Harpers Ferry continued to decline in the 20th century. The majority of the surviving homes in Harpers Ferry are historic, some of which are registered on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].