The first time I visited Clarksburg WV was on August 1, 2012. My purpose was to photograph the Civil War historical markers in that area. One of them was located on the patio of the Harrison County Court House. At the time the Court House patio was being cleaned so I had a hard time taking a decent photo. I came back again on April 13, 2014 and then took photos of the Stonewall Jackson monument, the Civil War markers and a sign on a building near the courthouse that indicated that Stonewall Jackson was born in that building.
From the website below:
"How the Stonewall Jackson Statue Came to Clarksburg
Although most of the following narrative is fully documented in the archived S. Joseph Birshtein Papers at the Clarksburg-Harrison Public Library, the early part of the story relies almost entirely on the recollections of Berkeley W. Moore, a Jefferson County native and the son of an officer in the Stonewall Brigade.
Mr. Moore was a friend of the sculptor Charles Keck in New York City in the years leading up to our entry into the First World War, when Keck had accepted a commission to
create an equestrian statue of Stonewall Jackson. Moore, having heard firsthand testimony from his father, contributed some design suggestions. Keck first made a scaled-down version of the
proposed monument, and at some point he cast it in bronze. The model thus preserved is the statue that came to us after having remained in Keck’s studio for decades.
In the mid-1930s Berkeley Moore was living in Somerville, New Jersey and advocating for the Jackson statue to go to West Virginia “where it belonged.” He escorted former governor John J. Cornwell to Keck’s studio to see it and Cornwell took up the cause, beginning a
campaign to acquire the statue and bring it to Jackson’s Mill. But these were the years of the Great Depression and funding was hard to find.
Plans set aside entirely during the Second World War were revived immediately afterward.
Cornwell’s intention had been to fund the project through the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the usual procedure when Confederate memorials were proposed, but by the 1950s the national organization played no active part in such efforts. When in 1950 it was first
proposed to bring the Jackson statue to Clarksburg, and meetings for the purpose were held, it fell to the Stonewall Jackson Chapter and to individual donors to pledge the necessary funds.
Joseph Z. Terrell, a transplanted East Virginian, chaired the committee and pushed the project through to completion.
In April of 1951 Terrell went to New York to Keck’s studio, saw the statue, spoke with the sculptor and learned that a commitment had been made to send the statue to the Virginia Military Institute if the purchase price of $15,000 could be raised. Within days of Terrell’s visit Charles Keck died, leaving all his affairs in the hands of his
widow and executrix, Anne, who proposed to honor the agreement with V.M.I. But in Lexington the money could not be had, and in early December the Institute surrendered its option. On
December 31st Terrell met with Anne Keck and obtained a six-month option for an offer of $10,000. On January 25th, 1952, the Weston Democrat published Terrell’s account of the progress to date. A day later Anne Keck wrote in a letter to Terrell: “After you get organized and see how things are going, I would be glad to discuss this matter with you if you are planning to come to New York. With all good wishes for your project, and believe me that I will do all I can
to further your purpose.” Terrell glosses this assurance as follows: “Means we can get it for much less than $10,000.”
A suitable base for the statue was expected to cost as much as $5,000, but local architect William H. Grant agreed to do the design pro bono and the final cost proved to be $1,500 in all. The local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy had pledged $2,000 to the project, five hundred dollars of which would now be paid into the general fund and fifteen hundred retained for the base. This left approximately $2,500 that the committee could offer for the statue
itself. Mr. Terrell went to New York to negotiate.
In Clarksburg meanwhile a controversy had arisen over the statue’s proposed location on the courthouse square. This was opposed by architect Carlton Wood, who had been one of the designers of the courthouse Three alternative sites were proposed: on the library lawn, on a traffic island in the West End, and on the West End bridge itself. The conflict wasn’t resolved
speedily. In New York the widow Keck agreed not only to extend the option deadline into October but—as anticipated—to surrender the statue for far less than the asking price, fundraising having
fallen far short of expectations. A bill of sale for $2,500 was executed on October 9th. The statue shipped immediately and went into storage in a Hope Gas warehouse to await developments.
Terrell on the 20th of November: “To the Members of the County Court of Harrison County, Gentlemen: Now that the location of the Stonewall Jackson statue on the Court House plaza has been settled once and for all (and wisely settled in my opinion) I wish to thank each
member of the Court for the very fine attitude they have shown in this matter from the beginning along with my deep regret that there has been any controversy or argument over the location, in neither of which have I taken any part. I feel sure that I can assure you gentlemen that your final decision will meet with the hearty approval of the Steering Committee as now constituted. I also wish to congratulate each of you on the prominent part you are playing in making history for this community by making it possible to erect a bronze image of a great man at the place of his
birth.”`
David Houchin
Special Collections
Clarksburg-Harrison Public Library"
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