The Freedmen’s Bureau was the first U.S. social welfare agency, created to help formerly enslaved people and refugees after the Civil War. In West Virginia, it operated from 1866 to 1868, mainly in Jefferson and Berkeley counties, with a headquarters in Harpers Ferry. The bureau focused on building schools and supporting education for African Americans. It helped create 16 schools and supported the founding of Storer College, the first higher education school for Black students in the state.