CHARLESTON, W.Va. - When John Brisben Walker bought the rich bottomland along the west bank of the Elk River that was to become Elk City, the West Side was still largely farmland.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - When John Brisben Walker bought the rich bottomland along the west bank of the Elk River that was to become Elk City, the West Side was still largely farmland.
Although Walker lost his West Side property along with most of his money in the Panic of 1873, his vision remains today in the gridwork of streets he laid out - broad avenues named after states (Ohio, Tennessee) crossed by streets named after West Virginia counties (Roane, Randolph).
Billy Joe Peyton, a history professor at West Virginia State University, traces the development of the West Side - from its farming roots through its bustling prime - in an application to the National Park Service for its National Register of Historic Places. City leaders learned last week the Park Service officially recognized the Elk City Historic District.
The district covers about 13 acres - two city blocks on the south side of West Washington Street from Pennsylvania to Ohio Avenue plus properties along the north side of Washington Street and on Bigley Avenue.
Of the 50 buildings in the district, 34 are considered "contributing," in that they're at least 50 years old.
Elk City is now the city's fifth historic district, joining the East End, Edgewood, Grosscup Road and downtown, which was approved in early 2006.
"We're just really pleased this particular part of the West Side has been designated," said Pat McGill, director of West Side Main Street. "We see that as a first step in preservation of some of the buildings in the neighborhood."
Although the designation offers no special protection to historic buildings whose owners might want to modernize or demolish them, it provides a major carrot: Owners who follow federal guidelines for historic preservation can earn state and federal tax credits of up to 30 percent for the money they spend on improvements.
"The tax credits I think will be a big incentive to owners to redevelop their buildings," McGill said, "and that's something Main Street emphasizes - re-utilizing your assets.
"We have a couple of owners who have started renovations. There are other buildings that desperately need repairs. I can see out my window a couple I'd like to get my hands on."
A man of many talents
The man who historians say turned the West Side into a bustling neighborhood was just 23 years old when he came to Charleston in 1870. In addition to his development plan he reportedly amassed a half-million-dollar iron-making fortune and founded the weekly Charleston Herald, hiring his father-in-law, David Hunter Strother, as editor. Strother is better known by his pen name, Porte Crayon.
Walker and his partner, William Playford, bought a 110-acre parcel from the Carr family, Peyton wrote. For $33,000, they gained a roughly rectangular tract stretching from the Elk to Delaware Avenue, and from Washington Street to the Kanawha.
The Carrs' estate, Edgewood, was the first of five pre-Civil War farms that fronted the Parkersburg Pike and Point Pleasant Road (West Washington Street) between the Elk River and Kanawha Two Mile.
To spur development of his property, Walker built a second bridge over the Elk at Virginia Street, which opened in 1873. The area was rapidly developing as an industrial center, with a tobacco factory, machine shop, foundry, furniture and stove factories, and at least two sawmills.
Growth of the J.B. Walker Addition, also called the West End Extension, really took off after the Kanawha & Ohio Railway built the Whipple Truss, the first rail bridge over the Elk. It still stands today near Spring Street.
Walker had convinced another partner, Nicholas J. Bigley, to develop another tract up the Elk River that became known as Glen Elk, and other sections were added.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - When John Brisben Walker bought the rich bottomland along the west bank of the Elk River that was to become Elk City, the West Side was still largely farmland.
Although Walker lost his West Side property along with most of his money in the Panic of 1873, his vision remains today in the gridwork of streets he laid out - broad avenues named after states (Ohio, Tennessee) crossed by streets named after West Virginia counties (Roane, Randolph).
Billy Joe Peyton, a history professor at West Virginia State University, traces the development of the West Side - from its farming roots through its bustling prime - in an application to the National Park Service for its National Register of Historic Places. City leaders learned last week the Park Service officially recognized the Elk City Historic District.
The district covers about 13 acres - two city blocks on the south side of West Washington Street from Pennsylvania to Ohio Avenue plus properties along the north side of Washington Street and on Bigley Avenue.
Of the 50 buildings in the district, 34 are considered "contributing," in that they're at least 50 years old.
Elk City is now the city's fifth historic district, joining the East End, Edgewood, Grosscup Road and downtown, which was approved in early 2006.
"We're just really pleased this particular part of the West Side has been designated," said Pat McGill, director of West Side Main Street. "We see that as a first step in preservation of some of the buildings in the neighborhood."
Although the designation offers no special protection to historic buildings whose owners might want to modernize or demolish them, it provides a major carrot: Owners who follow federal guidelines for historic preservation can earn state and federal tax credits of up to 30 percent for the money they spend on improvements.
"The tax credits I think will be a big incentive to owners to redevelop their buildings," McGill said, "and that's something Main Street emphasizes - re-utilizing your assets.
"We have a couple of owners who have started renovations. There are other buildings that desperately need repairs. I can see out my window a couple I'd like to get my hands on."
A man of many talents
The man who historians say turned the West Side into a bustling neighborhood was just 23 years old when he came to Charleston in 1870. In addition to his development plan he reportedly amassed a half-million-dollar iron-making fortune and founded the weekly Charleston Herald, hiring his father-in-law, David Hunter Strother, as editor. Strother is better known by his pen name, Porte Crayon.
Walker and his partner, William Playford, bought a 110-acre parcel from the Carr family, Peyton wrote. For $33,000, they gained a roughly rectangular tract stretching from the Elk to Delaware Avenue, and from Washington Street to the Kanawha.
The Carrs' estate, Edgewood, was the first of five pre-Civil War farms that fronted the Parkersburg Pike and Point Pleasant Road (West Washington Street) between the Elk River and Kanawha Two Mile.
To spur development of his property, Walker built a second bridge over the Elk at Virginia Street, which opened in 1873. The area was rapidly developing as an industrial center, with a tobacco factory, machine shop, foundry, furniture and stove factories, and at least two sawmills.
Growth of the J.B. Walker Addition, also called the West End Extension, really took off after the Kanawha & Ohio Railway built the Whipple Truss, the first rail bridge over the Elk. It still stands today near Spring Street.
Walker had convinced another partner, Nicholas J. Bigley, to develop another tract up the Elk River that became known as Glen Elk, and other sections were added.
Upper and Lower Glen Elk combined with the West End Extension in 1891, incorporating under the name Elk City. The town's population reached 2,000 a year later.
Its status as an independent city was short-lived though. The bigger neighbor across the Elk - now the state's capital - annexed it in 1895, and Elk City became Charleston's Sixth Ward.
Working-class neighborhood
Elk City was a blue-collar sort of place - filled with places to work and the folks who held those jobs.
"Because of its location, right on the river, there was a lot of industry," Peyton said. "And when the railroad came in, it really caused the West Side to take off."
The commercial district along Washington Street soon followed, because all those working people needed places to bank, shop and worship.
The Ort sisters' drygoods shop at the corner of Tennessee - recently restored by John Bullock of Gaddy Engineereing - was an early landmark, as was the Elk Banking Co., just across the street.
The hulking Staats Hospital Building just up the street started life as a theater, in 1922, and as an early home of Kelley's Mens' Shop, Peyton said. It was designed by John C. Norman, a black architect who built hundreds of houses in several states.
The top floor of the Staats building was a lodge hall for the Knights of Pythias, as an engraved plaque near the roof says. "A lot of the buildings, like the Ort building, the upper floors held lodge meetings," Peyton said. "That reflects the working-class neighborhood."
Elk City, and West Washington Street, continued to grow and flourish through World War II and into the 1970s, he said. "That whole corridor, from Greenbrier Street to Littlepage, was the main commercial line."
Restaurants, grocers, feed stores, funeral homes, movie theaters - a 1940 city directory listed 160 different businesses along West Washington Street from Elk River to Kanawha Two Mile.
Construction of the interstate- highway system altered traffic patterns, though. and other societal and marketing shifts combined to end the West Side's heyday. Now civic leaders, through Main Street and historic district efforts, are trying to restore some of the former energy.
Elk City might not be the last West Side neighborhood to gain historic district status, said McGill, the Main Street director.
"This is something we're going to continue to work on. We've had inquiries about getting the far end of Washington Street designated, as well. Those buildings are eligible, too."
No formal efforts are underway, she said. "We were waiting to get the Elk City designation first. We would probably talk to property owners to see if they'd be interested. That might be the third historic district on the West Side."
Reach Jim Balow at ba...@wvgazette.com or 348-5102.
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