Taylor County History Photo Challenge

Taylor County has a rich and varied history from its importance during the American Civil War to the founding of Mother's Day to the railroad that allowed the county to prosper. The WVU Taylor County Extension Service invites you to celebrate this heritage by participating in the Taylor County History Photo Challenge. Throughout the month of May 2021, take photos of yourself with as many of these 12 sites as you can and post them to Facebook, making sure to tag the Taylor County Extension page. Employees of the Taylor County Extension Office and their immediate families are welcome to participate, but will not be eligible for prizes.

Prizes will be awarded to participants with the most photos in Adult (18 and up) and Youth (17 and under) categories. In the case of a tie, a drawing will be held to determine the winner. We reserve the right the substitute a prize of equal value if the listed prize is not available at the conclusion of the Challenge.

International Mother's Day Shrine

History

On May 10, 1908, the first Mother's Day service was held at what was then Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church. The date was chosen to correspond with the anniversary of the death Ann Reeves Jarvis, Mother's Day founder Anna Jarvis's late mother.  Mother’s Day was made a national holiday by a joint resolution of the United States Congress on May 8, 1914. President Woodrow Wilson signed the bill into law on May 9, 1914.

Andrews Church, which was built in 1873, was designated the International Mother’s Day Shrine on May 15, 1962. It was added to the list of National Historic Landmarks on October 5, 1992 and became a National United Methodist Historic Site in 2008.

Directions

The Mother's Day Shrine is located at 11 East Main Street, Grafton. This is also U.S. Route 119; the Shrine can be reached by following this road from either north or south as you enter Grafton. 

History

The B&O Train Depot was dedicated on August 22, 2011 in front of a large crowd who watched as Daniel Fisher drove the first train, the No. 55, into the yard. Over the next six decades, the depot would become a part of history. In 1915, John D. Rockefeller, then the richest man in America, stopped in Grafton on his way to inspect coal mines in Fairmont. During World War I, soldiers from all over the country bound for Europe came through Grafton and in 1922 President Warren G. Harding addressed a crowd of Grafton residents from the platform of his train car. Passenger rail to Grafton ended on April 13, 1971.   

Directions 

The Depot is located at 100 East Main St, Grafton, across the street from the Mother's Day Shrine. 

Taylor County Courthouse

History

Construction on the Courthouse began in 1878 when the county seat was moved from Pruntytown to Grafton. It was completed in 1880 with a jail on the first floor, the jailer’s residence as well as offices for county and circuit clerks on the second floor, and the courtroom on the third floor. The building originally included a turret on the east corner and a tall tower on the west corner as well as a statue of Justice atop the pedimented central dormer. A two story addition was added to the west side in the 1920s.

Directions

Caboose at Heritage Park 

History

This caboose was built in Keyser, WV and once provided a home away from home for railroad workers. To the right, you can also see one of the few remaining original brick streets in Grafton. 

Directions

The caboose is located across the street from the C ourthouse.

B&O Freight Station

History 

This Freight Station opened in 1884 to accommodate  the loads of  coal, timber, livestock, and fresh meat that came into town from across the Allegheny Mountains. After Grafton became a  major hub on the B&O rail lines connecting New York to Chicago and St. Louis in the 1900s, the  advantages of having freight picked up by high speed freight trains here was advertised as one of the city’s many assets. The station operated until 1911. 

Directions

The Freight Station is located on Latrobe Street behind the Grafton Post Office. The Post Office address is 260 West Main Street, Grafton. 

Grafton National Cemetery

History

The Grafton National Cemetery was established in 1867 following the American Civil War. Over 1,200 Union Soldiers and 654 unknown soldiers were initially buried there. Among them is Thornsbury Bailey Brown, a member of the Grafton Guards and the first Union soldier to be killed by a member of the Confederate Army. His grave is marked with a tall obelisk.

The tradition of holding a Memorial Day parade ending at the National Cemetery began in 1868 with Flower Strewing Day. The official date for Memorial Day was set for May 30th to commemorate the date in 1861 when West Virginia and Ohio soldiers occupied Grafton. It was held on this date until the passage of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act in 1971.

Children began marching in the parade in 1896 under the direction of Mrs. Maria Leeds who arranged for them to supplement the thinning ranks of Civil War Veterans. 

Directions

The National Cemetery is located at 431 Walnut Street, Grafton, up the hill from the Taylor County Public Library.

Clair Bee Field House

History

The Grafton High School Field House was built in 1935, four years prior to the school beside which it sits. In 1976, it was renamed after Clair Bee, who graduated from GHS in 1920 after serving in World War I. After graduating from Waynesburg College, Bee coached basketball and football at Long Island University. Under his direction, the LIU basketball team won the National Championship in 1939 and 1941. He also briefly coached the Baltimore Bullets NBA team  and still holds the NCAA Division I record for the highest percentage of wins at 83%.

In 1940, Bee published his first book on coaching, The Science of Coaching - Book I, and dedicated it to his coaches at Grafton High School. From 1948 to 1966 he published twenty-four books in the Chip Hilton book series about a high school athlete who excels at football, basketball, and baseball. His first published work, however, was a short story in the 1914 GHS yearbook. Bee was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1968.

Directions

The Clair Bee Field House is located beside Grafton High School at 400 Yates Avenue, Grafton, otherwise known as Riverside Drive. 

Thornsbury Bailey Brown Historical Marker

History 

Private Thornsbury Bailey Brown was the first Union soldier to be killed by a member of the Confederate Army. On May 22, 1861, he and a fellow Grafton Guards member were returning from a recruitment rally in Pruntytown when they met three members of the Virginia militia in Fetterman. Brown fired his pistol, injuring one militiaman, but was subsequently shot in the heart. 

Directions

The Historical Marker is located on U.S. Route 50, on the right side of the road when travelling east. It's in a grassy patch, right behind the Welcome to Historic Grafton sign and before the Fetterman Bridge where Brown was killed. 

Tygart Dam 

History

Construction on the Tygart Dam began in January 1935. The last bucket of cement was poured on September 19, 1937 and the dam was dedicated in October 1938. At the time, it was the largest pure concrete structure east of the Mississippi River. The dam was sponsored by the Public Works Administration to provide flood control and created much needed jobs during the Great Depression. However, several small communities had to be partially or fully evacuated as they now lie beneath Tygart Lake.

A scale replica of the dam, built around 1934, can be found at the Grafton City Park.

Directions

A great place for pictures is Grafton City Park at 1318 Parkview Rd, Grafton. The dam itself is just a little further down the road; follow Parkview Rd. until you reach a dead end/parking lot.

Anna Jarvis Birthplace Museum

History

Mother's Day founder Anna Jarvis was born in this house, built in 1854, on May 1, 1864. At the time, her new home of West Virginia was less than a year old. During the American Civil War, General B. McClellan used the house as his headquarters; his troops were camped across the road. The Jarvis family lived here for 11 years before moving to downtown Grafton.

The house has been turned into a museum with one room dedicated to General McClellan. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 am - 2 pm. They will be holding their annual Mother's Day program at 2 pm on Mother's Day (May 9th) across the street at Ocean Pearl Felton Historic Park.

Directions

The Anna Jarvis Museum is at 3576 Webster Pike, Grafton four miles south of Grafton on U.S. Route 119/250.

Lincoln School

History

This two room building was the school for Black children in Taylor County from 1920-1953. The donation of the land was originally anonymous because the donors didn't want it to be known that they were donating to a Black school. Lincoln School closed in 1953 when the public school system was integrated.

Directions

Lincoln School sits in the woods behind Bailey Memorial United Methodist Church. The church's address is 63 Bailey Church Rd, Rosemont, WV.

Old Flemington Jail

The jail is behind the Flemington Community Building whose address is 47 Veterans Memorial Highway, Flemington, WV.

Bonus:

Grave of Judge Marmaduke H. Dent

History

In 1870, Marmaduke H. Dent was the first person to graduate from West Virginia University and three years later he became the first person to receive a Master's Degree from WVU. He moved to Grafton to teach and in 1875 was admitted to the Taylor County Bar. Dent served a single 12-year term on the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals and became known for his crusade against abuse of special privileges by the railroad companies. In 1898, he wrote the majority opinion in the case Carrie Williams v. Board of Education which determined that black students should have the same school year length as white students and that Ms. Williams deserved the same pay as a white teacher. Dent lost his bid for reelection in 1904 and retired to Grafton where he died in 1909. 

Directions 

Judge Dent is buried in Bluemont Cemetery in Grafton, but we're not sure where exactly. Get a leg up on the competition by finding this bonus site!