John G. Wilson Building, Shenandoah Street, Harpers Ferry, Jefferson County, WV

Significance: The John G. Wilson Building is one of several two-and-a-half or three-story masonry buildings which were constructed in Harpers Ferry in the 1810s-30s. Combining both commercial and residential tenants, the Wilson Building and others like it attempted to maximize the income-producing potential of the town's available land. Erected on government-owned land in 1825-26, the site on which it was constructed was created in part by blasting into the rock face of the adjacent hill; the resulting stone rubble was used in its foundations and exterior walls. The Wilson Building is particularly noteworthy for its role in the contentious struggle between the Armory and the Wager family for commercial control of Harpers Ferry in the early nineteenth century. It may be the only extant commercial and residential building in Harpers Ferry which was privately constructed on land owned by the United States Armory.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: FN-77
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: FN-29
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N242
Survey number: HABS WV-229