Two Hundred Years in the Making

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LEWISBURG — The Village of Lewisburg will be celebrating 200 years of existence in 2018 — which is something we all are fortunate enough to experience. Decades of history, growth and development have been changing the community we live within, as well as shaping our perception of the future.

It’s not every day that you get to celebrate your 200th birthday, but in September 2018, the Village of Lewisburg will reach this milestone and plans are already underway to commemorate the occasion. In the months leading up to the Bicentennial we will be sharing some of that history with you through little snippets of the past in The Register-Herald.

Henry Horn from Lewisburgh, Virginia, now West Virginia, was an early and successful land speculator and business promoter in our area. He made several business trips here at an early date and on one of them established a distillery where the Old Sawmill apartments now stand, placing his son, George, in charge. Mrs. Horn refused to accompany Henry on his trips because of ill health and fear of Indians.

After her death, he immigrated here with five of his children; three older ones with their families already having preceded him. His first real estate deal on record was the purchase of 118 plus acres in the S.E. ¼ of Section 28 from Zachariah Hole, July 14, 1816, for approximately $15.255 per acre. Hole had acquired the title from Nicholas Buck, who had purchased it from the Land office Sept. 9, 1805.

Other ventures followed and in 1818, Horn took an option on Martin Rice’s S. W. ¼ of Section 27 for $10 per acre, closing the deal on March 18, 1819. With Alexander McNutt as his surveyor, he platted a village of twenty-eight lots named it Lewisburgh for his former Virginia home and had the plat recorded Sept. 7, 1818 six months before he owned the ground.

On Dec. 31, at 10 p.m. the Village of Lewisburg will hold a Bicentennial Kick-off Celebration to celebrate its 200th birthday. We invite you and your family to join us as we begin this Commemorative Year of Events at the TCN Community building at 261 E. Clay Street.

This is a family event for our community, a social gathering to reminisce and celebrate the history of Lewisburg and its upcoming 200th Birthday Celebration. We will be serving cake and snacks; many historic items will be on display; some of the merchandise will be available to purchase.

We will have a video playing of all the old and current photos from Lewisburg. The History Book Committee will be unveiling the Historic Booklet, which can be purchased at this celebration. A small pyrotechnics show will begin at midnight.

By Margee McClain

For The Register-Herald

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