The James Rumsey Monument overlooking the river at Shepherdstown, circa 1915
Congressman A R Boteler, an early Rumsey advocate, was the first to think of a Rumsey monument. Around 1890 he began corresponding with the Norfolk and Western Railroad for the present Shepherdstown site, where the railroad had a small quarry, and seems to have gotten from them an agreement to donate the land. But Boteler died in 1892, and real efforts only began in 1906, likely spurred by New York’s preparations to celebrate Robert Fulton’s centennial . The Rumseyan Society ( with updated spelling of the name) was re-created for the purpose. The Society was granted money by the WV Legislature, and raised local money as well. In 1913 the Forbes Granite Company of Chambersburg, who had not long before done some of the Civil War monuments at the Antietam battlefield, were hired to build the monument. It was completed in 1915.
The first Society President, George M Belzhoover, Jr, published a short history of Rumsey in 1900. He was the Jefferson county prosecutor, and his pamphlet featured quite lawyerly, though not scholarly, advocacy of the inventor. Judging from its very hopeful claim that Rumsey had a working steamboat as early as 1783, the inscription on the Monument’s bronze plaque was also written by him. Artistic license on the plaque can also be seen in the representation of Rumsey’s steamboat as being about the size of a small rowing skiff, with a steam engine uncomfortably close to the lone boatman’s knees.
The Rumseyan Societ
y donated the Monument and park to the town in 2007.
A.R. Boteler
June 30th, 2011 at 4:18 PM
My great grandfather, Harry Lambright Snyder, was a member of the Rumseyan Society and helped with the monument. He was the editor of the Shepherdstown Register and, like him, I’m a journalist. I’d love to come over sometime to talk about Rumsey and what you guys are up to these days for a possible story.