TOWNS
The Tucker County Courthouse is located at 213 First Street, Parsons WV 26287; phone: 304-478-2866.
Beginnings
When Tucker county was established in 1856 (from Randolph County) St. George was selected as the county seat. Parsons (a lumber town south of St. George) was incorporated in 1893, named for Ward Parsons, a local landowner. Citizens from Parsons rode into St. George and seized all the county records, removing them to Parsons. An article in an area newspaper reported: "During the night of August 1, 1893, a group of prominent citizens and hoodlums from our neighboring town of Parsons zoomed into our thriving community with road wagons and on foot and literally stole our established county seat and moved it to Parsons."
St. George (the oldest community in the county, settled 1776) never regained its former prominence. By 1898 a new brick courthouse was being built from a design by architect Frank Pierce Milburn. Hopes of St. George to reclaim itself as county seat died with the completion of the courthouse in 1900.