Bakerton, West Virginia

Bakerton is an unincorporated town in Jefferson County, West Virginia, USA. It is located along Bakerton Road between Shepherdstown and Harpers Ferry. The founders of Bakerton were the descendants of a German who immigrated to America in the mid-eighteenth century. Daniel Baker's three sons Joseph, William and Daniel II were responsible for the establishment of Bakerton.

By 1888, they had established the Standard Lime & Stone Company and acquired the 39 acre tract of high-calcium limestone associated with the Engle Quarry. This place, previously known as Oak Grove, became the heart of the Bakers' quarry. The following year, the Bakers built a railroad spur to connect their quarry with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at Engle and by 1890, the town they helped establish was known as Bakerton. For decades, baseball teams from Bakerton were in fierce competition with other industrial teams in the area. In the 1920s and '30s, Bakerton could be characterized as a mining or company town and during the depression of the '30s, it was hard pressed. Prosperity returned in the 1940s with the demands of World War II increasing quarry production to very high level. Bakerton was the site of the Bakerton Colored School which was in operation from 1917 to 1928. The Board of Education selected the Black Methodist Church in Bakerton for the school.

Bakerton is now a small, quiet community. The general store and the post office are the only businesses still in operation.

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