The General Assembly of West Virginia granted a charter and designated the name of this town in the last month of 1832. The name was given in honor of a minister who was drowned in Mill Creek. When the town's post office was established at the beginning of 1832 it was given the name Jackson Courthouse.; however shortly before the end of the century it was changed to be the same as the town. The first grist mill in this city was built around 1824. It produced flour, feed, meal, and buckwheat. After surviving looting and damage by both sides during the Civil war and reconstruction; although remaining in the same ownership throughout, the mill finally closed around 1930. A marker with the mill's history is now located at the edge of its site and you can still see some of the foundation stones of the grist mill. The Union Soldier Monument honoring the soldiers of the GAR stands in Courthouse square.