Built as a Federal customs house in 1859 and later known as West Virginia Independence Hall, this building is considered the birthplace of West Virginia because it was the site of events that led to the state's creation in 1863. In the spring and summer of 1861, it housed the Second Wheeling Convention, where fifty-seven delegates convened on June 11, 1861, formed a pro-Union government of Virginia, and on June 20, 1861, established the Restored Government of Virginia in Wheeling with Francis H. Pierpont elected governor. The custom house served as the capitol for this government until June 1863 and was also the meeting place of a constitutional convention for West Virginia in the fall of 1861. Union victories in the First Campaign in June and July 1861 drove Confederate forces back across the Allegheny Mountains, allowing the West Virginia statehood movement to continue in the relative safety of Wheeling. West Virginia's separation from Virginia was the only change in the map of the United States brought about by the Civil War, and the wartime events at the custom house raised constitutional and political issues that are still debated today.

Photo: Craig Doda

Photo: Allen C. Browne

Photo: Allen C. Browne

Photo: Allen C. Browne

Photo: Allen C. Browne

Photo: Allen C. Browne

Photo: Dale K. Benington

Photo: Dale K. Benington

Photo: Dale K. Benington

Photo: Dale K. Benington

Wheeling, West Virginia · USA