Brooke County, West Virginia

Brooke County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Wellsburg
Year Organized: 1796
Square Miles: 89
MSA: Weirton-Steubenville, WV-OH MSA

Court House:

632 Main Street
County Courthouse
Wellsburg, WV 26070-1743
Phone: (304) 737-4024
Fax: (304) 737-4023

Named: Brooke County was named in honor of Robert Brooke (1751-1799), who was educated at the University of Edinburgh, practiced law in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, served in the Virginia General Assembly in 1794 and, later that year, was elected the third Governor of Virginia (1794 to 1796) by the General Assembly. He later served as Attorney-General of Virginia (1798-1799)

State & County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

Early History of Brooke County, West Virginia

Brooke County was created by an act of the Virginia General Assembly on November 30, 1796 from parts of Ohio County. According to the national census of 1800, Brooke County had 4,706 residents, the 6th largest population of the 13 counties then in existence within the present state of West Virginia. Berkeley County had the largest population then (22,006) and Wood County had the smallest population (1,217).

Robert Cavelier de La Salle was probably the first European to set foot in present Brooke County. He sailed down the Ohio River in 1669. In 1749, Louis Bienville de Celeron sailed down the Ohio River and may have set foot on present day Brooke County. He claimed all of the lands drained by the Ohio River for King Louis XV of France. He met several English fur traders on his journey and ordered them off of French soil and wrote strong letters of reprimand to the colonial governors protesting the English's presence on French soil.

The first English settlers in the county were three brothers, Jonathan, Israel and Friend Cox, who claimed 1,200 acres in the area that is now Wellsburg around 1772. Soon afterwards, their cousin, George Cox, staked a claim to 400 acres just north of his cousins' claims. By 1788, the area, then known as Buffaloe Town, had become a trading center for settlers on their way to the Northwest Territory. On March 6, 1788, John Cox, heir of Friend Cox, sold 481 acres of land to Charles Prather for $3,000. In January 1791, Prather's land was incorporated as Charlestown, Virginia. Charles and Ruth Prather deeded four lots to the town on October 3, 1791 for the construction of a schoolhouse, meetinghouse, and a graveyard. The town was named the county seat when Brooke County was created in 1797.

The first session of the Brooke County court took place on May 23, 1797 in the home of William Sharpe in Charlestown. The town was originally named in honor of Charles Prather, who owned the land on which the town was built. The town was later renamed Wellsburg (in 1816) to avoid confusion with two other towns in the state that were also called Charlestown. The town was named in honor of Charles Prather's son-in-law, Alexander Wells. He is credited as the builder of the first large flour warehouse in the east. In its early years, Wellsburg was famous for its "Gin Weddings" and "Marrying Parsons" who reportedly would marry couples on a moments notice. The town was chartered by the Virginia General Assembly on February 21, 1887.
Bethany College, West Virginia's oldest degree granting college, was founded in Brooke County in 1840 by Alexander Campbell.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Hancock County
Northwest: Jefferson County, Ohio
South: Ohio County
Southeast: Washington County, Pa.

Cities:

Beech Bottom
Bethany
Colliers
Follansbee
Short Creek
Wellsburg (County Seat)
Windsor Heights

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

Penn Foster High School

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