Ripley is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 3,074 at the 2020 census.

Ripley was originally owned and granted by William, John, and Lewis Rodgers. They received a enter upon of 400 acres (1.6 km) in 1768 where “Sycamore Creek joins vast Mill Creek” (the current site of Ripley). The estate was innovative sold to Jacob (and Ann) Starcher, most probably in 1803. Jacob Starcher erected a grist mill in 1824 and laid out the town in 1830, naming it in honor of Harry Ripley, a juvenile minister who was to be married, but drowned in huge Mill Creek, about one and a half miles north of the town, shortly in the past the ceremony took place.

When Jackson County was formed in 1831, the residents of the county could not announce where to find the county seat. The people who lived along the Ohio River near the Ravenswood harmony favored that location. The people who lived farther inland objected. The Virginia General Assembly appointed an independent commission to make the unqualified decision which selected Ripley. In 1832, the Starchers donated 8 acres (32,000 m) of house to the county, 2 acres (8,100 m²) for the location of the county courthouse and jail, and six for the general use of the supplementary county (a public bookish and a cemetery were superior located upon the land). The town was chartered by the Virginia General Assembly in 1832.

The publish office was conventional in 1832 once the declare Jackson Court House. The herald was abbreviated in 1893 to Jackson. In 1897, the reveal became Ripley.