John Brown's Fort (Harpers Ferry, West Virginia)

USA / West Virginia / Harpers Ferry / Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
This was the building, originally a fire-engine house, in which, in 1859, the U.S. Army captured the terrorist, John Brown. The Army cornered Brown in the building while he was leading an insurrection and attempting to incite a slave rebellion. Robert E. Lee commanded the Army contingent. Brown was subsequently tried and hanged.

After Brown's raid, the fire engine house became known as "John Brown's Fort" and attracted tourist attention. In 1891, the building was sold to a buyer who wished to use it as an attraction close to the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The building only had 11 visitors and was dismantled and left on a vacant lot after the exhibition. In 1894, a movement arose to preserve the building and move it back to Harper's Ferry. Land on a farm outside the town was donated to the effort, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad provided free shipping. The fort was reconstructed in Harper's Ferry in 1895. In 1909, Storer College in Harper's Ferry bought John Brown's Fort and moved it to the college's campus. In 1960, the National Park Service acquired the building and, in 1968, moved it once more to a location close to its original site. The original site of the fort was covered by a railroad embankment in 1894.

The Fort is now part of the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.
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Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown's_Fort
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Coordinates:   39°19'22"N   77°43'46"W

Comments

  • Not very big I been in it and very surprised.
This article was last modified 14 years ago