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Romney Academy

1752 establishments in Virginia1814 establishments in Virginia1846 disestablishments in VirginiaBuildings and structures completed in 1752Buildings and structures completed in 1762
Buildings and structures in Romney, West VirginiaDefunct schools in VirginiaDefunct schools in West VirginiaDemolished buildings and structures in West VirginiaEducational institutions disestablished in 1846Educational institutions established in 1752Educational institutions established in 1814Romney Literary SocietySchools in Hampshire County, West VirginiaStone buildings in the United StatesStone school buildingsUse mdy dates from November 2017

Romney Academy was an educational institution for higher learning in Romney, Virginia (now West Virginia). Romney Academy was first incorporated by the Virginia General Assembly on January 11, 1814, and was active until 1846 when it was reorganized as the Romney Classical Institute. In addition to the Romney Classical Institute, Romney Academy was also a forerunner institution to Potomac Seminary. Romney Academy was one of the earliest institutions for higher learning within the present boundaries of the state of West Virginia. With the growth of settlement in Pearsall's Flats, which was later the location of Romney, the need for educational facilities became apparent and the community began plans for the establishment of schools and churches. A log structure, which served as both a school and a church, was built at Pearsall's Flats around 1752 near Fort Pearsall. To provide for a teacher's payment, a form was circulated around Romney and each parent indicated on the paper how many of their children would attend the school and the type of payment the teacher would expect. By the time Romney was surveyed by Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron laid out the town of Romney in 1762, the log school was still in existence. That year, a stone school building was erected on the site to the immediate north of the old Hampshire County Courthouse and became known as Romney Academy. Local education, including Romney Academy, continued to depend exclusively upon subscriptions until 1810 when the Virginia General Assembly passed what was known as the "Literary Fund". The assembly first incorporated Romney Academy on January 11, 1814. In 1817, the assembly passed a bill for the incorporating the trustees of Romney Academy. The Virginia General Assembly reincorporated Romney Academy on February 11, 1818, and on March 25, 1820. In 1820, as a result of a movement and debate for higher education by the Romney Literary Society, Romney Academy incorporated classical studies into its curriculum, thus making it the first institution of higher education in the region. By 1831, Romney Academy had outgrown its facilities, and the Romney Literary Society was given authorization to raise monies from a lottery to build a new school building. The society successfully raised the funds, and in 1845 bids were called for the construction of a new school building. On December 12, 1846, the Virginia General Assembly empowered the Romney Literary Society to establish a seminary for learning at the academy. That same year, a new brick building was constructed for the academy and for the library of the society; the building now serves as the central unit of the administration building of the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind. Romney Academy was administered under the leadership of scholarly Englishman Dr. Henry Johnston, who was succeeded by Presbyterian Reverend and historian Dr. William Henry Foote. Foote introduced courses in theology into the school's curriculum. As the school's popularity grew and knowledge of its curriculum under Dr. Foote spread, Romney Academy began to attract students from beyond the South Branch Potomac River valley region. Other educators at Romney Academy during its early years were E. W. Newton, Silas C. Walker, Thomas Mulledy, and Samuel Mulledy. Thomas and Samuel Mulledy each later served as presidents of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Romney Academy (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Romney Academy
North High Street,

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N 39.342421 ° E -78.755951 °
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Walter C. Davis Memorial Building

North High Street 90
26757
West Virginia, United States
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Literary Hall
Literary Hall

Literary Hall is a mid-19th-century brick library, building and museum located in Romney, a city in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is located at the intersection of North High Street (West Virginia Route 28) and West Main Street (U.S. Route 50). Literary Hall was constructed between 1869 and 1870 by the Romney Literary Society. Founded in 1819, the Romney Literary Society was the first literary organization of its kind in the present-day state of West Virginia, and one of the first in the United States. In 1846, the society constructed a building which housed the Romney Classical Institute and its library. The Romney Literary Society and the Romney Classical Institute both flourished and continued to grow in importance and influence until the onset of the American Civil War in 1861. During the war, the contents of the society's library were plundered by Union Army forces, and many of its 3,000 volumes were either scattered or destroyed. After a reorganization in 1869, the society commenced construction of the present Literary Hall in downtown Romney. It transferred ownership of its Romney Classical Institute campus to the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind in 1870 and in that year completed Literary Hall, where the society reconstituted its library collection and revived its literary activities. The Romney Literary Society's last meeting was held at Literary Hall in 1886. From that point to 1973 the building was used as a meeting space by the Clinton Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Order of the Eastern Star. In 1973, the building was purchased by prominent Romney lawyer Ralph Haines, who used it as a law office and museum. From 1937 to the early 1940s the building also housed a community library. Literary Hall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 29, 1979.

Wilson-Wodrow-Mytinger House
Wilson-Wodrow-Mytinger House

The Wilson-Wodrow-Mytinger House is a complex of three structures, built between the 1740s and 1780s, in Romney, West Virginia. The clerk's office, dating from the 1780s, is the oldest surviving public office building in West Virginia. The kitchen building (c. 1750) is the oldest remaining component of the Wilson-Wodrow-Mytinger House and the oldest building in Romney. Throughout its history, the Wilson-Wodrow-Mytinger House has been known as the Andrew Wodrow House, the Mytinger Family Home, and the Mytinger House.The earliest person recorded residing on Lot Number 48 in Romney was Hugh Murphy. In 1763, Colonel George William Wilson received a patent to Lot Number 48 from Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, to purchase the lot from Murphy. Wilson served in the Hampshire County militia as a major during the French and Indian War. He relocated to Pennsylvania, and in 1770, George Washington spent the night in a log cabin on the northeastern corner of Lot Number 48. Andrew Wodrow arrived in Hampshire County near or after the end of the American Revolutionary War. In 1782, Wodrow became clerk of court for Hampshire County. He completed the clerk's office building in the 1780s, and the complex assumed its current configuration by 1790. Wodrow served as Clerk of Court for Hampshire County until his death in 1814, after which ownership passed to Wodrow's son-in-law, John McDowell; a Dr. McClinoch; and the Mytinger family, who retained the property for about 100 years. Manning H. Williams purchased the house and restored it in 1962. Dr. Herbert P. Stelling purchased the Wilson-Wodrow-Mytinger House in 1973, and it opened as a museum and an arts and handicrafts shop known as Colonial Craftsmen. While under the Stelling family's ownership, the house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. Its current owners, Old Hampshire Ltd., purchased the Wilson-Wodrow-Mytinger House in 1985.

Romney Classical Institute

Romney Classical Institute was a 19th-century coeducational collegiate preparatory school in Romney, Virginia (present-day West Virginia), between 1846 and shortly after 1866. Romney had previously been served by Romney Academy, but by 1831 the school had outgrown its facilities. The Virginia General Assembly permitted the Romney Literary Society to raise funds for a new school through a lottery. On December 12, 1846, the assembly established the school and empowered the society with its operation. From 1846 to 1849, the institute was directed by Presbyterian Reverend William Henry Foote, who had been a teacher and principal at Romney Academy. In 1849, when the Romney Literary Society revamped the operating code and bylaws for the institute, Foote took offense; he established a rival school, Potomac Seminary, the next year. Professor E. J. Meany succeeded Foote, and was followed by eventual West Virginia governor John Jeremiah Jacob in 1851. Presbyterian Reverend Joseph Nelson replaced Jacob in 1853 and purchased the institute in 1861. The Romney Literary Society and the Romney Classical Institute went on hiatus during the American Civil War. Nelson revived the school and was succeeded in 1866 by William C. Clayton, who later served in the West Virginia Senate; the institute was disestablished shortly thereafter. In 1870, the reorganized Romney Literary Society transferred the institute's building and grounds to the state of West Virginia for the approved West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind. The schools opened on September 29, 1870, and are still in operation today. However, the former institute building was destroyed by fire on February 26, 2022. In addition to Jacob and Clayton, Robert White, Attorney General of West Virginia, was an alumnus of the institute.

Confederate Memorial (Romney, West Virginia)
Confederate Memorial (Romney, West Virginia)

The Confederate Memorial (also referred to as the First Confederate Memorial) at Indian Mound Cemetery in Romney, West Virginia, commemorates residents of Hampshire County who died during the American Civil War while fighting for the Confederate States of America. It was sponsored by the Confederate Memorial Association, which formally dedicated the monument on September 26, 1867. The town of Romney has claimed that this is the first memorial structure erected to memorialize the Confederate dead in the United States and that the town performed the nation's first public decoration of Confederate graves on June 1, 1866. The idea to memorialize the Confederate war dead of Hampshire County was first discussed in the spring of 1866. Following the decoration of the graves that summer, the Confederate Memorial Association engaged in fundraising for construction of the memorial, and by 1867 the necessary funds were raised. The inscription The Daughters of Old Hampshire Erect This Tribute of Affection to Her Heroic Sons Who Fell in Defence of Southern Rights was selected, and the contract for the memorial's construction was awarded to the Gaddes Brothers firm of Baltimore. The memorial's components were delivered to Indian Mound Cemetery on September 14, 1867, and the memorial was dedicated on September 26 of that year. The construction of the Confederate Memorial marked the beginning of an era of post-war revitalization for Hampshire County following the American Civil War. The memorial comprises a base with obelisk and capstone, standing on a raised mound. The list of 125 names engraved on the monument includes four captains, seven lieutenants (one of which was a chaplain), three sergeants, and 119 privates. The memorial underwent a restoration in 1984, and is decorated annually with a handmade evergreen garland and wreath on Hampshire County Confederate Memorial Day.