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Brooke County celebrated its 200th Birthday

1797-1997

Wellsburg, the county seat of Brooke Co, WV.

River in Dual Role.....While Geo. Washington was still serving his first term as president of the United States, Wellsburg was incorporated as Charlestown on December 7, 1791, by the Virginia legislature after Charles Prather, its founder, had laid out the town in 1790.

But Wellsburg had started to blossom and had been host to the Northwest Territory expedition in 1788 when a band of hardy frontiersmen and women stopped for needed provisions before continuing their laborious trek down the river to settle at Marietta. (Ohio)

Thus Wellsburg was a teeming little village long before its incorporation. It was not by chance that the Northwest Territory pioneers sent John Matthews overland from West Newton, Pa. to the mouth of Buffalo Creek with horses, oxen and wagons to gather provisions and supplies.

It was because workers and toilers had built mills and shops in Wellsburg and were reaping what they had sown and were trading and marketing. Thus Wellsburg played a major role in the epoch making event from which the nation quickly expanded out of a vast wilderness.

"Hunter's Paradise" Found.....That vast unbroken and untrodden wilderness that enveloped Wellsburg and the vicinity was "conquered" in the fall of 1772 when the Cox brothers, intrigued by Indian tales of a "hunter's paradise on a big river away off westward" started for this fertile "land of promise".

The daring brothers - Jonathan, Israel and Friend - left the settlement of Brownsville, Pa, on a bright September day in 1772 and for many weary days kept their course westward for the "big river". They almost became discouraged but their adventurous daring pushed them onward until they came to the hill overlooking the present site of Wellsburg.

After their eyes had feasted on the panorama spread before them, they cautiously descended and after some exploring built a log cabin, the first ever built on the site of the town of Wellsburg. It stood about 200 yards above the mouth of Buffalo Creek.

The Cox brothers blazed the trees making the creek the south line, the hill the east and the river the west. This constituted the first claim to the land on which Wellsburg now stands.

Overjoyed and thrilled by their historic adventure, the Cox brothers returned to Brownsville, Pa. to spread the news of the "big river" and its fertile land which was crowned with everything that could contribute to the happiness and comfort of man.

In the spring of 1773 the trio of brothers returned to their claim on the "big river", this time with intention of making their home. They improved their cabin and more firmly defined the boundaries of their land.

With the Revolutionary War over, bringing an end to the first great epoch of American History, many soldiers were filled with the spirit of adventure and started westward to the fertile land of the "big river", being the vanguard of those who molded a great nation out of dense vegetation.

Among the first pioneers who settled in Wellsburg and vicinity between the years of 1773 and 1774 were Henry Hervey, Richard Wells, William and Samuel Strain, William Boner and George C. Cox, a cousin of the three brothers. (note by gh)

The first court was held May 23, 1797. This is the day that we celebrate as our "Birthdate".




Sixth and Commerce Street

Seventh and Main St.

Bridge over Buffalo Creek into Wellsburg

Wellsburg's Mayors from 1856 to 1981

  1. 1856-1859 Samuel L. Marks
  2. 1859-1862 O.W. Langfitt
  3. 1862-1863 Samuel L. Marks
  4. 1863-1865 O.W. Langfitt
  5. 1865-1868 William Jones
  6. 1868-1869 James Hervey
  7. 1869-1870 J.R. McElroy
  8. 1870-1872 William Jones
  9. 1872-1873 G. M. White
  10. 1873-1877 William Jones
  11. 1877-1879 G.W. Caldwell
  12. 1879-1880 James Hervey
  13. 1880-1881 J.E. Montgomery
  14. 1881-1882 G.W. Caldwell
  15. 1882-1883 J.E. Montgomery
  16. 1883-1884 E.A. Frost
  17. 1884-1885 G.W, McCleary
  18. 1885-1886 D.W. McClelland
  19. 1886-1887 G.W. McCleary
  20. 1887-1889 D.W. McClelland
  21. 1889-1891 Geo. B. Crawford
  22. 1891-1895 G.W. McCleary
  23. 1895-1897 J.E. Montgomery
  24. 1897-1899 W.M. Simpson
  25. 1899-1901 M.A. Jones
  26. 1901-1903 W.M. Simpson
  27. 1903-1905 G.M. White (died in office)
  28. 1905-1907 S.H. Shedeker
  29. 1907-1909 C.H. Robinson
  30. 1909-1911 G.W. Rine
  31. 1911-1913 G.W. Caldwell
  32. 1913-1915 G.W. Rine
  33. 1915-1917 James W. Lauck
  34. 1917-1918 G.W. Rine (died 5 July 1918-in office)
  35. 1918-1919 C.K. Jacob
  36. 1919-1921 L.G. Roberts
  37. 1921-1923 George Kraft
  38. 1923-1925 W.T. McCreary
  39. 1925-1927 George C. Nichols
  40. 1927-1935 C. F. McGlumphy
  41. 1935-1937 M.D. Green
  42. 1937-1941 C.F. McGlumphy
  43. 1941-1942 Leonard B. Lauffer (resigned)
  44. 1942-1943 Henry Donley
  45. 1943-1947 Harry Fyer
  46. 1947-1949 Donald E. Lewis
  47. 1949-1951 H.R. Zimmerman
  48. 1951-1955 P.P. Cipoletti
  49. 1955-1961 Charles W. McDonald
  50. 1961-1964 Charles E. Williams (died in office)
  51. 1964-1973 J. Hubert McCracken
  52. 1973-1981 William E. Williams
  53. 1981-1988 Tony Cipriani
  54. 1988-2000 Ernest Jack
  55. 2000-2004 Stephen Mitchell
  56. 2004-2009 Wayne Campbell
  57. 2009-Present Sue Simonetti

THE WELLSBURG FERRY

Few residents of Brooke County during the first century and a half of its history did not have the pleasure or the necessity at one time or another to cross the Ohio River via the Wellsburg Ferry.

The Wellsburg Ferry was over 170 years old, or had been in existence for that period of time when it ceased operations in the early 1960's.

CHARLES PRATHER, the man who laid out the Town of Wellsburg or Charlestown, obtained a perpetual and exclusive charter for the ferry from the Commonwealth of Virginia in the year 1791. The charter included river front land of approximately one-half mile in both directions from the proposed Virginia ferry site.

Shortly after Prather's action, a Judge Ross of Pittsburgh received a patent from JOHN ADAMS, second President of the United States, for a similar grant of land on the Ohio side of the river opposite Wellsburg.

The land acquired by Ross was subsequently the Town of LAGRANGE which was later named BRILLIANT (Oh).

For many years the only means of conveyance was a flat bottomed boat propelled by oarsmen. Many westward moving settlers used this ferry at Wellsburg to move on to the Ohio lands.

Subsequently a two-way traffic developed on the ferry as the produce from Ohio consisting of livestock and grain moved eastward on the ferry to market.

Eventually the oared flat boat gave way to a horse propelled ferry.

This boat gave way in turn to a small steam propelled boat. Until the P.W. & K. Railroad was extended across the Ohio River in 1878 the Wellsburg Ferry continued to serve as one of the principal route of stages and other travel between the east and the west. An early "travel advertisement" circulated through the New England areas advertised Wellsburg as the shortest routs to the Ohio River stating, "that from Washington to Wheeling the distance is thirty-four miles, and as evidence that the road from Washington to Wellsburg is the nearest and best road to the river, it is generally used by the Road Waggoners." The distance from Washington to Wellsburg was only twenty-four miles.

This advertisement was circulated as early as 1818.

In its final years, the Wellsburg Ferry consisted of a diesel powered boat which handled the automobiles of people working on either side of the Ohio who had to travel from their homes to their places of work.

In the late 20th century there is still considerable agitation on the part of Brooke County citizens to obtain a bridge to provide the convenience of travel one enjoyed by means of the Wellsburg Ferry.