 Founded in 1819 , the Romney Literary Society was the first literary organization of its kind in the present @-@ day state of West Virginia , and one of the first in the United States . In 1846 , the society constructed a building which housed the Romney Classical Institute and its library . The Romney Literary Society and the Romney Classical Institute both flourished and continued to grow in importance and influence until the onset of the American Civil War in 1861 . During the war , the contents of the society 's library were plundered by Union Army forces , and many of its 3 @,@ 000 volumes were either scattered or destroyed . After a reorganization in 1869 , the society commenced construction of the present Literary Hall in downtown Romney . It transferred ownership of its Romney Classical Institute campus to the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind in 1870 and in that year completed Literary Hall , where the society reconstituted its library collection and revived its literary activities . 
