Parkersburg and the Civil War

Parkersburg and the Civil War. Fort Boreman Historical Park. At the beginning of the Civil War, Parkersburg had a population of 2,500, having doubled in size during the 1850s. The completion of the southern branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1857 increased the size and importance of Parkersburg, then the largest Ohio River town between Wheeling and Cincinnati., It was the railroad that made Parkersburg strategically important during the Civil War. There was an inner and outer depot, a roadhouse, and repair shops that were vital to maintaining the railroad's rolling stock. The impressive system also included a telegraph office, two-story freight shed, a loading dock powered by two steam-operated elevators, a stockyard, and a wharf along the Little Kanawha River., Parkersburg in 1861 was mostly confined to the area that is now the downtown section. Several hotels such as the luxurious Swann House hosted travelers and military officers. The area near the Little Kanawha River was notoriously grimy and lawless, and was noted for its saloons, brothels, and seedy boarding houses., During the war there were at least five military hospitals as well as a supply depot and commissary in the city. Hundreds of thousands of Union soldiers passed through the city, staying temporarily while their trains were ferried across the Ohio River. The war brought great changes to Parkersburg, as it was transformed almost overnight from a sleepy courthouse town to a hub of industry and transportation., The Civil War unalterably shaped the character of the city. By 1870, the population had increased to over 5,500. The birth of the oil and gas industry soon transformed Parkersburg into an industrial center, where entrepreneurs fashioned a grand and glorious gaslit society. A building boom, including construction of fine homes north of the business district, changed the face of the city.