USA > West Virginia > Lewis County > A history of Lewis County, West Virginia > Part 25
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THE WESTON STATE HOSPITAL
Courtesy of Mrs. C. E. White.
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THE WESTON STATE HOSPITAL
secure precise information concerning the needs of the institution, sent a committee of inspection consisting of Senator D. D. Farnsworth and Delegates Lewis Ballard and L. E. Davidson to report progress. The committee came to Weston about the first of September, 1863, and reported that the plan of the buildings had rarely been excelled, and that for quality of materials and execution, the work already done was entirely satisfactory. They recommended that an appropriation of $100,000 to com- plete the work should be made without delay.
Governor Boreman appointed as directors for the hospital Minter Bailey, Elias Fisher, H. Daugherty, John P. Peterson and E. M. Tunstill.
One of the first acts of the state legislature of West Virginia was to change the name of the institution to the West Virginia Hospital for the Insane. On account of the military needs of the state it was impossible at once to appropriate the amount recommended, but a sufficient sum was set aside to make the building fit for occupancy. Dr. James A. Hall was appointed superin- tendent in October 1863. His duties were principally in connection with supervising the construction of the buildings. It was impossible to make much progress on account of the disturbed conditions then existing, and Dr. Hall was not ready to admit patients to the insti- tution. He was superseded in October, 1864, by Dr. R. Hills, formerly of the hospital at Columbus, Ohio. The new superintendent immediately opened the institu- tion for the reception of patients, nine being admitted from the jails of nearby counties on the day designated.
The capacity of the institution was not more than twenty until after the close of the war; and the needs of the state for the creation of other institutions and for the extraordinary expenses of reconstruction were so great that the capacity could not be increased much be- yond forty until 1868. The insane people of the state were meanwhile confined in jails at state expense until the main building could be finished. Even in Lewis
330
A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
County the court directed in 1866 that the the jailer fit up a comfortable room in the jail for the retention of a lunatic until a place could be found in the hospital. The unfortunates from the western counties who had been committed to the asylums at Williamsburg and Staunton before the war were retained there until 1866, when, in response to appeals from the officials of Virginia, Gov- ernor Boreman sent an agent to investigate the number and condition of the patients, and to superintend their removal to Weston. The state paid Virginia $23,700 for maintenance of these patients from June 20, 1863, to January 1, 1866. They of course had the preference in being admitted to the institution over those confined in jails.
Besides the appropriations for maintenance, the Leg- islature of West Virginia appropriated for the comple- tion of the buildings $228,000 before the close of 1868. In that year 162 patients were admitted bringing the population to nearly 200 as compared with forty-five the year before. In September, 1869, it was reported that there were still seventy-five insane persons in jails of different counties and there was loud complaint that the money appropriated for the buildings was being used for walks and fish ponds and that no progress was being made toward the completion of the structures.
The Legislature in 1870 appropriated $110,000 for buildings, and a new board appointed by Governor Stevenson began work with great energy in the spring of that year. Over fifty men were employed in the con- struction of the central building. Instead of hauling stone at great expense from quarries ranging in distance from one-half mile to a mile from the buildings, a new quarry was opened in the river bank immediately in front of the main building. A tramway was constructed from the quarry past the cutting shop and the brick kiln to the main building, which reduced the labor of hauling to the minimum. The power house was so connected that the saw mill, the brick machine, the planing mill
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THE WESTON STATE HOSPITAL
and the lath mill were all run from the same source. O. H. P. Washburn was in charge of the stone quarry ; W. J. Kitson supervised the stone cutting ; Thomas Brad- bury, the brick laying, and Weeden Smith, the carpen- ter work. The result of the reorganization was that the central building and the east wing were finished in the fall of 1871. The formal opening of the main building was celebrated by a visit from the governor of West Vir- ginia and the directors of the institution. There was a banquet and later a grand ball in the spacious ballroom.
The main building was constructed for two hundred and fifty persons besides the chapel and the offices of ad- ministration. At the time of its completion it was re- garded as one of the best buildings of its kind in the United States. It was now possible, for the first time in the history of the state, for the jails to be cleared of in- sane persons.
In consequence of the election of Governor Jacob in 1872, Dr. Hills was forced to tender his resignation after serving as superintendent from the opening of the in- stitution in 1864. His time had been occupied for prac- tically the whole of his term in attending to the details of administration and in supervising the construction of new buildings. His assistant, at first Dr. N. B. Barnes and later Dr. A. H. Kunst, cared for the inmates of the institution, visiting every ward every day and adminis- tering medical attention. In addition to these duties, the first assistant physician was also his own druggist. A second assistant physician was not added to the staff until 1880.
The work of making additions and improvements to the plant was continued under Dr. T. B. Camden, who succeeded Dr. Hills. In 1872 the waterworks were completed, and the hospital cemetery laid off. The con- struction of new buildings by convict labor was urged by Governor Jacob in his first message to the Legisla- ture, but the suggestion was not acted upon. Work continued with paid labor. In 1873 a new brick building
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A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
was constructed, and room was soon thereafter provided for colored patients.
The new buildings were sufficient for the needs of the state for only a few years. By 1879, it was seen that the jails would soon again have to be used as a place of detention for insane persons. In that year a contract was let for the construction of the west wing, which was completed two years later. In 1887, another new building was completed, and messengers were sent out from the hospital to bring to the institution all insane persons who were then confined in jails. When all the unfortunates had been admitted the capacity of the build- ing was taxed. In 1890 work of construction was begun on the Spencer hospital. At that time the capacity of the Weston institution was about seven hundred. It has been increased by later additions to about twelve hundred.
The effects of the hospital at Weston upon the later development of Weston and Lewis County have been tremendous-too great to be estimated more than ap- proximately. The great boom in building on the west side of the river just before the Civil war was due largely to the demand for houses by the workmen engaged in constructing the insane asylum. A great deal of the prosperity of the town in the same period came from the fact that there were thousands of dollars in cash being distributed among the people every month. After the war Lewis County recovered more quickly from the de- pression caused by the war than surrounding counties. The re-establishment of normal business conditions in the county was almost a matter of weeks, instead of months and years.
The construction of the buildings furnished work for a great number of persons for several years. Young men who would otherwise have gone West found jobs at Weston. A large number of new citizens, most of whom were skilled artisans-the best possible addition to the population-were attracted to the town, and prac-
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THE WESTON STATE HOSPITAL
tically all of them have chosen to stay. The infant in- dustry of manufacturing lumber, which had just begun before the war, received a tremendous stimulus from the ready market afforded by the construction of the build- ings. Thousands of feet of oak and poplar boards were sold to the state. Farmers were no longer dependent upon ginseng for cash with which to pay their taxes. In- stead it was only necessary to cut logs which would have been burned otherwise, hitch an ox team to them and haul them to Weston to be sold to the state. Thousands of feet of lumber were sawed by the mill on the hospital grounds.
The large payroll of the hospital and the payments to business men for supplies caused a large amount of money to be placed in circulation. The National Ex- change bank benefited from the growth of trade. Busi- ness men followed the laborers to Weston and set up stores in order to share in the prosperity. Lawyers came in order to represent the business men when they brought suit for non-payment of debt. New doctors came to help treat the laborers and the merchants and the lawyers when they were ill; and every one was prosperous.
The institution furnished employment for many persons as administrative officers, attendants and others after it was opened. New inhabitants-and again a most desirable class of people-were attracted to Weston. The large payroll has made it posible to bring other in- dustries to Weston and thus to increase the volume of business. The added prosperity had caused better churches and better schools to be built in the town.
The results for the country districts have not been less important than those for the town. The hospital farm, sometimes under the care of a competent farmer, has been somewhat a source from which farmers of the county secured pure bred stock, and better agricultural methods have been introduced as a result. But the farm has never produced all the grain, vegetables and dairy products necessary for the inmates of the institution. A
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A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
home market has been furnished for the cattle raised in Lewis County. Before the railroad came to Weston, when the hauling of flour from Clarksburg by wagon was unprofitable, the raising of wheat on the hillside farms of Lewis County was stimulated. Corn and vegetables were also required as well as dairy and poultry products, and farmers and farmers' wives who had never thought of any sources of income other than the live stock and grain raised in their fields, the timber cut from the for- ests, the wild herbs found in the woods, or the skins of wild beasts, now found a profitable side line in making butter, in picking berries, and in growing garden truck. Many farmers of the better sort have been attracted from other counties by the opportunities presented by the hos- pital market, and their methods have been copied by the native farmers of the neighborhood. One of the old set- tlers in the early seventies remarked to a new comer : "So-and-so said that you are selling ten pounds of but- ter a week to the asylum, but I said if you are, you don't eat much yourself." The new comer replied, "You were misinformed. I'm selling twenty-five pounds a week and have plenty to eat besides." The native was selling a large amount of butter soon afterwards.
CHAPTER XXVI.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AFTER THE WAR
The position of L ws County remote from the theater of active campaigns of the war, and the small number and weak condition of the partisan bands oper ating within the county resulted in little damage being done. The problem of restoring conditions as they ex- isted immediately before the opening of hostilities was an easy one. It was necessary only to replace goods stolen from the stores, and horses and cattle which had been taken from the farms, maul out rails to repair the fences which had fallen down and clear the briars and sprouts from the neglected fields. So far as the fortunes of private individuals were concerned the scars of the war would then be effaced. Few residents of the county were ruined, and few became discouraged and moved to the west as was the case with thousands of citizens in other counties of the new state. The emigration from Lewis County was confined for the most part to young men who had been in the armies, and who craved new excitement and further experiences. In the decade from 1860 to 1870 the population of the county rose from 7,999 to 10,175-an increase of 27.2 per cent as com- pared with an increase of 17.3 per cent in the state at large. The restoration of normal business conditions, the building of the state hospital and the comparative free- dom from ruinous taxation-for after all the taxes levied by the reconstruction board of supervisors of Lewis did not compare with those of adjoining counties-are large- ly responsible for the increase.
The means of transportation with the outside world which had ushered in the period of prosperity from 1845
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A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
to 1860 were greatly interrupted after the close of hos- tilities. The heavy hauling of supplies at unfavorable seasons and other military uses to which the roads were put resulted in their becoming almost impassable.
The turnpike companies, unable to keep up the roads with the lessened receipts and the destructive traffic, soon ceased to function, and the board of supervisors was compelled to take over the turnpikes and operate them, leaving the lesser roads to the tender mercies of the township authorities. The tollgates which had been de- stroyed were replaced and keepers were appointed to collect the tolls. In order to place the turnpikes in oper- ation as soon as possible without waiting for the tolls to pay for the cost of repairs, a loan of $1,200 was authorized in 1866. The amount of tolls was fixed by legislative enactment. Believing that private individuals would be able to secure labor at a smaller price per day, the board of supervisors, in 1870, adopted the scheme, of leasing out some of the turnpikes for three-year periods. The new plan, though it relieved the board of much detail work, 1 as not altogether for the best interests ot the people,. for most contractors operated the roads in order to obtain a profit for themselves rather than for the public- good, and often failed to make necessary improvements. The tollgates were defended on the ground that only the people who used the roads were required to support. them; but the additional expense of collecting the tolls, together with the impossibility of securing an account- ing with the collectors, the nuisance to the public and other features led gradually to dismantling the gates. Tollgates were, however, maintained on some of the" roads until the early nineties.
Several of the bridges of the county had been de- stroyed in the course of the war, or were so badly dam- aged that it was necessary for the court to go to great expense in rebuilding them. The bridge at Jacksonville had been completely destroyed, and there was only a tem- porary structure there in 1865. The Walkersville bridge.
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337
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AFTER THE WAR
was in such shape that extensive repairs were necessary. The bridge across the river at Weston was in a very un- safe condition in 1868 due to constant use both in the war and in hauling materials for the hospital. The side- walks were torn up, and the planks and sills of that part of the bridge used for vehicles were decayed. Repairs were made which extended the period of usefulness of the bridge for another twenty years. The demands of the people for better outlets for their farms led to the establishment of many new roads. The false economy forced upon the board of supervisors and, at a later period, the county court by the campaign arguments of the re- construction period resulted in the adoption of a hand to mouth system in the construction and repairs of roads and bridges. The building of permanent roads which had received a tremendous impetus in the decade before the outbreak of the Civil war was postponed from year to year and not taken up in earnest until 1916.
As before the Civil war, agriculture continued to be the principal industry of the county. The tendency to- wards sheep raising, which has been noted in a pre- ceding chapter, was greatly increased by the habit of Confederate raiding parties of running off all the cattle they could find. The raiders could not drive sheep across the mountains, and partly for that reason, farmers whose herds of cattle had been bought with Confederate cur- rency restocked their farms with them. The demand for woolen clothing for the armies also caused an in- crease in the price of wool and many found it more prof- itable to raise sheep than cattle. The merino was the
first improved breed introduced. A great deal of atten- tion was paid to breeding up flocks of sheep, with the re- sult that Lewis County soon acquired a reputation for the production of fine wool. In 1870 there were nearly 11,000 sheep in Lewis County, which ranked thirteenth in the state in number of sheep and tenth in the produc- tion of wool. The introduction of the mutton breeds of sheep came years later after the creation of a market for
338
A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
lambs. The West Virginia Sheep Herders' association was organized in 1879 with many members from Lewis County.
Improvements began to be made on farms as a re- sult of the cutting of timber. Beginning in 1870 when only three-tenths of the total area of the county was im- proved, the clearings were rapidly extended. The pro- duction of the farms was increased also by the rapid in- troduction of improved machinery. Hillside plows which turned the sod took the place of shovel plows which merely tore it up. Mowing machines were introduced almost immediately following the civil war. The first machine to be introduced was the Champion. In 1869 Wood's mower and reaper entered the field, and its local agents set out to disprove the assertion that the machines were useless on the hilly farms of Lewis County. The Champion machine was challenged to a contest on the farm of J. G. Vandervort with the result that Mr. Van- dervort, R. P. Camden and Noah Flesher purchased Wood machines. They then cost $125.
Wheat growing continued to rank as one of the prin- cipal industries of the county, the production in 1870 being more than 50,000 bushels. The restoration of the market at Richmond after the war stimulated the grow- ing of tobacco, in which industry Lewis County ranked tenth in the state, according to the census report.
As a means of stimulating agricultural production in the county, the Lewis County Agricultural Society was formed by Weston people, who subscribed $4,000 toward a fair. A. W. Woodford was elected president ; F. M. Chalfant, vice president ; and J. W. Woffendin, re- cording secretary of the association, which succeeded in interesting a sufficient number of people from the coun- try to hold the first fair in 1871. The Lewis County fair continued to be an annual event for many years until the fair ground on the Minnich place was divided into lots and sold.
Interest in cattle increased during the 'seventies.
339
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AFTER THE WAR
Many progressive farmers believed that there was a fu- ture for cattle raising and continued breeding up their stock. Herefords, which were introduced into the county about 1875, have gradually proved their suitability to natural conditions until they are now the predominant breed.
Horses gradually displaced oxen as beasts of bur- den on the farms, but no efforts were made to introduce pure-bred animals. In 1882 the significant announce- ment appeared in one of the county papers : "The Percheron Norman stallion, Quazzola, (owned by Clarks- burg people) will be in Weston early in March."
The movement for the organization of granges struck the county about 1875, and interest in the new farmers' organization rapidly increased. Organizations were formed in several of the more progressive communi- ties.
Lumbering became an important industry after the war on account of the excellent transportation facilities furnished by the Baltimore and Ohio railroad through Clarksburg. Thousands of logs were cut in the valley of the West Fork and its larger tributaries and floated down the river. The principal operators were the Lowndes and Steele interests of Clarksburg. Within the next twenty years most of the virgin forests of the coun- ty had been cut over. Weston citizens in 1870 organized the West Fork Manufacturing and Booming Company for the purpose of cutting timber and marketing it either in logs or in lumber. The charter granted by the Legisla- ture conferred authority upon the incorporators to erect booms in the river from the mouth of Rush run to the mouth of the West Fork. The company was popularly supposed to have been organized for the purpose of gain- ing control of the market at the hospital and in Weston to the exclusion of citizens who lived farther up the river.
The manufacturing of lumber in 1870 was still in its infancy. There were a number of sawmills dotting the valleys of the small streams in the vicinity of Wes-
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A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
ton, but none of them were capable of sawing large logs with the exception of N. B. Barnes' sawmill located about two miles up the river from Weston. There was a saw- mill and planing mill on the Hospital grounds which were capable of manufacturing the largest logs. In 1874, George A. Jackson erected a steam planing mill in Wes- ton, which bore the same relation to many of the older houses now standing as Cummins Jackson's mill bore to the earlier generation of Weston homes. A handle factory employing ten or twelve men was established in Weston in 1881. A new tanyard was erected after the war on West Second street by a Mr. Burbridge of Phil- ippi. He later sold it to Leonidas Smith. Kitsonville was partly laid out and named in 1870.
The development of agriculture and lumbering was reflected in the growth of the county seat. The business activity occasioned by the construction of the hospital was further stimulated by expected improvements which did not materialize. It was thought that the town would be a point on two transcontinental railroads and thereby become the railroad center of the state, and also the seat of government. Notwithstanding the fact that the town was already the seat of the most important of the state institutions the citizens were hardly content. In 1869, (the year the capitol was moved to Charleston), Weston citizens offered $50,000 in money, ten acres of land front- ing on the West Fork river and material enough to put up the necessary buildings if the permanent seat of gov. ernment should be brought there. The town council enacted that all the streets should be paved on a regular grade, and they immediately proceeded to establish the grade but not the paving. Weston was out of debt in 1869 for the first time in its existence.
The superior grade of wool grown in Lewis County led to the establishment in Weston of a woolen mill in 1871 by the Cliftons. They had formerly been in busi- ness at Beaver Falls, Pa., but had determined to seek a better location near a good source of raw wool. The
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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AFTER THE WAR
exceptionally long staple produced in Lewis County was decided to be exactly the kind of raw material they de -. sired and they moved their woolen mill to West Weston. For the next fourteen years it was the most important manufacturing industry in the town. The factory was located in a building 32 by 80 feet and two and one-half stories high. The most modern machinery was installed, consisting of 240 spindles, one picker, one steam dresser, several power looms, etc. The management advertised their ability to manufacture all kinds of fabrics, but stat- ed that special attention was given to custom work. Goods were also exchanged for wool. The principal out- put of the factory was yarn, blankets and jeans cloth used by the farmers. A hat factory was established in Weston by P. M. Hale, which gave employment to sev- eral persons.
The press in Weston, which had languished during the war, started up immediately upon the cessation of hostilities. In 1865 Frederick Alfred began the publica- tion of the Weston Expositor. He soon sold it to R. Huckles, who disposed of it in 1868 to J. G. Woffinden and George Cozad. They changed the name to the Wes- ton Democrat. In 1871 Woffinden purchased the half interest of Cozad and continued the paper until 1876, when it was sold to Thomas A. Edwards. In January, `869, Ja:nes J. Pe.erson started the Weston Republican, which continued under his direction until 1881, when it was sold to Dr. M. S. Holt and Joseph Neff.
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