Ritchie County, West Virginia

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

County Seat: Harrisville
Year Organized: 1843
Square Miles: 454

Court House:

115 East Main Street, Room 201
County Courthouse
Harrisville, WV 26362-1271
Phone: (304) 643-2164
Fax:

Named: In honor of Thomas Ritchie, a distinguished journalist of Richmond, VA, whose uncle was Judge Spencer Roane, for whom Roane County was named

State & County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

Early History of Ritchie County, West Virginia

Ritchie County was created by an act of the Virginia General Assembly on February 18, 1843 from parts of Harrison, Lewis and Wood counties. It was named in honor of Thomas Ritchie (1778-1854).

Thomas Ritchie was born on November 5, 1778 in Tappahannock, Essex County, Virginia. His mother was the sister of Judge Spencer Roane, the namesake of Roane County (see Roane County history). He studied law for awhile, then, finding the law not to his liking, attended medical school in Philadelphia. He then decided he wanted to be a teacher and operated a school in Fredericksburg until 1803 when he opened a book store in Richmond. On May 9, 1804, he and his partner, W. W. Worsley, founded the Richmond Enquirer. A year later, he was the sole owner of the newspaper and slowly gained fame as one of Virginia's finest journalists. He continued as the editor and owner of the Richmond Enquirer until 1845 when he turned the paper over to his sons. He then moved to Washington and started the Washington Union. He edited the paper until his death in 1854. In addition to running a newspaper, he served with distinction in the War of 1812, served as the State Printer of Virginia from 1814 to 1834, and as the Congressional Printer in 1845.

A man named Bunnell was the first English settler in the county. He built a cabin near Pennsboro sometime during the 1790s. He was soon followed by Jacob Husher and Abraham and William Cline. In 1801, Lawrence Mealey built a cabin about eight miles from Bunnell and by 1810 there were about 20 families living in the county, then called Mealey's settlement. By 1830, the county's population had reached about 1,500. The only town of note at that time was Ritchie (now Harrisville) and it had fewer than a dozen homes.

Harrisville, the county seat, was settled by Thomas Harris and platted by him on January 3, 1822. The town was chartered by the Virginia General Assembly on January 3, 1832. The town was named the county seat by the act creating the county in 1843. The first session of the county court was held at John Harris' home. The town was then known as Ritchie or Ritchie Court House and was incorporated on February 26, 1869. In 1892, the town was renamed for General Thomas M. Harris, nephew of the town's founder and one of the commissioners in the trial of those accused of plotting the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

Neighboring Counties:

Northeast: Tyler County; Doddridge County
Northwest: Pleasants County
South: Calhoun County
Southeast: Gilmer County
Southwest: Wirt County
West: Wood County

Cities:

Auburn
Berea
Burnt House
Cairo
Ellenboro
Greenwood
Harrisville (County Seat)
Hazelgreen
Highland

Macfarlan
Mahone
Mountain
Newberne
Pennsboro
Petroleum
Pullman
Smithville
Toll Gate

County Resources:

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Ritchie County, West Virginia

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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