National Register: Harpers Ferry National Historical Park Boundary Increase

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park (HAFE) was administratively listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. In 1974 the original 1944 enabling legislation establishing the Harpers Ferry National Monument was amended to facilitate the expansion of the official park boundary to an unspecified limit not to exceed 2,000 acres. The legislation successfully expanded the park boundaries beyond West Virginia to include additional nearby lands in both Maryland and Virginia. In 1980 legislation increased the acreage within the official park boundary with additional land to the east, on the Virginia side of the Shenandoah River. Following the expansion, a formal National Register Nomination Form for HAFE was prepared and accepted in 1980-1981? After further property acquisitions, a Multiple Property Documentation Form (MPD) was completed in 1999 and expanded the historic context to include "Black Education in the Harpers Ferry/Bolivar area from 1864-1955" and "Patterns of Community Development in the post-Civil War Harpers Ferry Area, 1865-1955."3 As part of the MPD, National Register forms were prepared for nine properties that had recently been acquired by HAFE. The MPD and National Register forms were accepted by the National Register as additional documentation. In 2004 a boundary adjustment to HAFE was approved by Congress and signed into law, at which time acreage managed by the National Park Service (NPS) was officially included within the boundaries of the park. Newly acquired NPS lands that are part of a historical park are automatically listed in the National Register, but formal inventory and evaluation is required to determine which resources and areas contribute to the park's eligibility and how. The purpose of this National Register addendum is to provide information on five additional properties that have been added to the boundaries of HAFE since 1999: the United States Armory Musket Factory, Armory Woodland, School House Ridge, Murphy-Chambers Farm, and Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, Harpers Ferry Station.