This marker is located near the center of the city of Ripley and points out some of the earliest settlement history.
It has the same text on both sides, reading "Established in 1832 on land which was settled by William John and Lewis Rogers in 1768 and later acquired by Jacob and Ann (Staats) Starcher. Near here lived Capt. William Parsons who was active in the early life of Jackson County." There is no number or erection date on the marker, but it was erected by the West Virginia Archives & History.
Ripley grew from a quiet Mill Creek settlement into a true county hub once the Starchers laid out the town and donated land for the courthouse, which helped secure its selection as the county seat despite fierce competition from Ravenswood. The town's name honors Harry Ripley, a young Methodist minister who drowned on the eve of his wedding, a story that lingered in local memory long after the town was chartered. By the late 1800s Ripley had become a lively commercial center with hotels, mills, tailors, blacksmiths, and one of the region's earliest newspapers, the Jackson Democrat. Ripley also hosted West Virginia's last public execution in 1897, an event so notorious that it pushed the legislature to end public hangings statewide. Today the town is known for its long‑running county fair and its claim to the biggest small‑town Fourth of July celebration in America.
There is street parking nearby.
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