Harrisville Town

Ritchie County, West Virginia

   

Harrisville Town Hall is located at 303 Water Street, Harrisville, WV 26362.
Phone: 304‑643‑4368.

Neighborhoods

Harrisville as described in 1941 [1]

Harrisville is a residential town with time to dream of its brief period of activity when speculators and drillers crowded into the surrounding gas and oil fields between 1860 and 1863. Its maple-shaded brick streets, lined with comfortable houses and spacious lawns, bustle with life three times a year when the circuit court is in session. Above the foliage loom the courthouse cupola and three church steeples.

Platted in 1822 on land of Thomas Harris, the community grew slowly until 1843 when, on becoming the seat of Ritchie County, it was named Ritchie Court House. In 1892 it was renamed in honor of General Thomas M. Harris, nephew of the founder and a commissioner in the trial of those accused of plotting President Lincoln's assassination.

South of Harrisville the highway penetrates a section that was a favorite hunting ground of the Indians, but is now almost deforested and boasts of no game larger than a rabbit. Numerous derricks pump out the "liquid gold" of the region, while the fertile soil grows large crops of grain and provides bluegrass pastures; cattle-raising is one of the chief occupations of the section.

  1. Federal Works Agency, Works Progress Administration, West Virginia: A Guide to the Mountain State, American Guide Series, The Conservation Commission of West Virginia, 1941.

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