Harrison County, WV
| Harrison County, West Virginia | ||
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Harrison County Courthouse
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 Location in the U.S. state of West Virginia |
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 West Virginia's location in the U.S. |
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| Founded | May 3, 1784 | |
| Named for | Benjamin Harrison V | |
| Seat | Clarksburg | |
| Largest city | Clarksburg | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 417 sq mi (1,080 km2) | |
| • Land | 416 sq mi (1,077 km2) | |
| • Water | 0.5 sq mi (1 km2), 0.1% | |
| Population (est.) | ||
| • (2015) | 68,714 | |
| • Density | 165/sq mi (64/km²) | |
| Congressional district | 1st | |
| Time zone | Eastern: UTC-5/-4 | |
| Website | www |
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Harrison County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 69,099. The county seat is Clarksburg. The county was founded in 1784.
Harrison County is part of the Clarksburg, WV Micropolitan Statistical Area.
White trappers visited the area that is now Harrison County as early as the 1760s. Some traded with the Native Americans of the area. The Virginia Colony claimed the area as part of its vast Augusta County. Settler Daniel Davisson (1748-1819), an immigrant from New Jersey, claimed the land upon which present-day Clarksburg, Harrison County, was formed in 1773; the area was re-designated as part of Monongalia County, Virginia three years later.
After the American Revolutionary War, Harrison County was organized in 1784, formed from Monongalia County and named for Benjamin Harrison V, who had recently retired as the Governor of Virginia. (He was the father of William Henry Harrison, 9th President of the United States and great-grandfather of Benjamin Harrison, 23rd president.) Over the next 72 years, all of eight present-day West Virginia counties and parts of ten others were formed from this original Harrison County.
The first meeting of the Harrison County court was held on July 20, 1784 at home of George Jackson. The group decided they needed to designate a permanent county seat. They moved the county seat to Clarksburg. The town, named in honor of the explorer General George Rogers Clark (1752–1818), was chartered by the Virginia General Assembly in October 1785, and it was incorporated in 1795.
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