A Romanesque Revival headquarters from 1891 that became a school, a post office, and finally Ranson’s City Hall.
At a glance
The Charles Town Mining, Manufacturing, and Improvement Company Building stands in Ranson, Jefferson County, West Virginia. Built in 1891 as a company headquarters, it now serves as Ranson’s City Hall. The three-and-a-half-story structure was designed by J.C. Holmes in the Romanesque Revival style.
History
The Charles Town Mining, Manufacturing and Improvement Company (CMM&I) formed in 1890 under president Roger Preston Chew. Its purpose was to develop industry in an area that would not become the City of Ranson until 1910. The company purchased 850 acres from the Ranson family.
D.G. Howell, a Washington, D.C. landscape architect and civil engineer, laid out a planned community on the land. In 1891 the company built its headquarters. By 1893 the CMM&I faced hard times, possibly due to the Panic of 1893. The building was sold to the Board of Education of Charles Town.
It then served as the white Charles Town High School from 1893 to 1912. Students knew it as the “Keyhole School” because of its distinctive entrance. It was also called the Wright Denny School. In 1917 the Board of Education sold it to former mayor Gerard D. Moore.
After Moore’s death, the property passed to H.C. Getzendanner for $4,500. Part of the building housed a confectionery. The north half became the Ranson Post Office. In 1936 the City of Ranson bought the building for $3,000 to use as its City Hall. Apartments occupied the upper floors until the 1970s.
What you see
The building rises three and a half stories in the Romanesque Revival style. Its most distinctive feature gave the building one of its school-era nicknames: the entrance is shaped like a keyhole.
Cultural significance
This building connects the industrial ambitions of late nineteenth-century West Virginia to the civic life of Ranson today. It was born from a planned community and never left public use, shifting from company headquarters to school to post office and city hall.
Key facts
- Country: United States
- City: Ranson, West Virginia
- Coordinates: 39.2944, -77.8606
Practical information & getting there
The building serves as Ranson’s City Hall. You can find it in Ranson, Jefferson County, West Virginia, at coordinates 39.2944, -77.8606.
Sources & resources
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