West Virginia Explorer

Harrisville, West Virginia


In Harrisville, historic buildings line the Main Street.

In Harrisville, historic buildings line the Main Street.

Harrisville, WV (West Virginia), the county seat of Ritchie County, was established in 1822 and chartered in 1869. The town was named in honor of Thomas Harris, who owned the land on which it was established. Though the city is rural, it was once a thriving center for commerce associated with the regional oil boom in the late 1800s.

Harrisville is a popular tourist destination renowned for its idyllic setting and well-tended properties. It is located only four miles east of the lodge at North Bend State Park and five miles south and southwest of the North Bend Rail Trail. The north fork of the Hughes River skirts the town to the north, where it has been impounded as a North Bend Lake.

The Harrisville Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.

History of Harrisville

The town was laid out in 1822 by Thomas Harris, who had moved his family there in 1807. The city was chartered in 1832, and the first post office opened in 1833, under the name Solus, which was later changed to Ritchie Court House, and then, in 1895, to Harrisville, named for Gen. Thomas Harris, nephew of the founder.

Ritchie County was formed in 1843, and the first courthouse, at Harrisville, was built in 1844. It was replaced by a brick structure in 1874, and the present courthouse was completed in late 1923.

The Ritchie County Courthouse at Harrisville, West Virginia, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Ritchie County Courthouse at Harrisville is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Pennsboro & Harrisville Railroad was built in 1875 and operated between the two communities of its name. The broad-gauge Harrisville Southern Railroad ran to Cornwallis between about 1909 and 1929.

General Harris, Harrisville’s most distinguished citizen, died there in 1906. A medical doctor, Union officer, and state adjutant general (1869–1871), he served on the military commission that tried the conspirators responsible for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. His son, John T. Harris, long-time clerk of the state Senate, founded the West Virginia Blue Book in 1916.

Lodging near Harrisville, West Virginia

Harrisville (WV) Hotels

Parks & Public Recreation

The following parks and public recreation facilities are located within 20 miles of Harrisville.

  • North Bend State Park
  • North Bend Rail Trail
  • Hughes Wildlife Management Area
  • Sand Hill Wildlife Management Area
  • Ritchie Mines Wildlife Management Area

Location

Harrisville is located at the junction of highways WV-31 and WV-16, approximately five miles south of the US-50 expressway at Ellenboro, West Virginia, and 15 miles north of the south fork of the Hughes River at Smithville, West Virginia.

Map of Harrisville, West Virginia

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Regional Information

Harrisville is located in the Heartland Region in northwestern West Virginia.


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