Major renovations are planned for West Virginia Independence Hall, courtesy of $1 million directed to the facility from the state budget.
State officials gathered at Independence Hall on Monday to officially announce the restoration project.
Work will be done to replace the roof, restore or replace all windows and restore interior plaster, West Virginia Division of Culture and History Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith said. Murals above the arched doorways in the courtroom will be restored, and there will be upgrades to the elevators and the plumbing within the building.
In addition, the exterior bricks of the building will be repointed, and several rooms will be refurbished to accommodate new and expanded exhibits.
“The place is a jewel,” Smith said. “It’s our most historic artifact in the state.”
He pointed out that the facility actually has received $2.25 million in recent months. Independence Hall already has received $500,000 for its flag program, as well as another $750,000 to upgrade the heating and air conditioning there.
Designed by architect Ammi B. Young, Independence Hall was built in 1859 at a cost of $96,918 and was to serve as a federal building for the western counties of what was then Virginia. It would later serve as a state capitol building for the new state of West Virginia, but it was no longer needed in that capacity after state government officially settled in Charleston.
David B. McKinley, a former president of the West Virginia Independence Hall Foundation, said he remembered a time in the early 1960s when the historic building was actually home to a liquor store and a barber shop. In 1964, the West Virginia Independence Hall Foundation was formed to protect the building, and the foundation later turned the building over to the state.
Gov. Joe Manchin, also in Wheeling Monday, said he was inspired to set aside the $1 million in the state budget for Independence Hall when he went there last year to present the flag program money. He said he was “ashamed” to find the building in disrepair.
Manchin was surprised that “not one group” protested the allocation, nor did any of the state Legislature’s 134 lawmakers. Often representatives from one area of the state oppose spending in other districts.
And Manchin added that Independence Hall isn’t alone in needing restoration.
Engineers have estimated that the State Capitol in Charleston and the buildings surrounding it should have at least $1.65 million in renovations.
Because of what Manchin termed “decades of neglect” of state-owned facilities, all state departments now are required to maintain two separate budgets — a capitol budget and a separate account for maintenance.
Manchin made numerous stops in the Northern Panhandle on Monday, including stops at Central Elementary School in Moundsville and Bridge Street Middle School in Wheeling.
He also attended the opening of the Grave Creek Mound Archeological Complex in Moundsville, then went across the street to the former West Virginia Penitentiary for the 12th Annual Mock Prison Riot.
Following his appearance at Independence Hall, Manchin was to go on to Fairmont, W.Va., to host the Democratic party’s election eve rally, which was to be attended by presidential candidate and current U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.
Article Photos
Photo by Scott McCloskey
West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin speaks at Independence Hall in Wheeling, Monday.