Huntington, West Virginia, focus of latest Century Cities book
Stephen H. Provost
A few weeks ago, I took a trip up to Charleston, West Virginia, to do some research and take photographs for my next Century Cities book.
Except it didn’t wind up being my next book in the series.
(Never fear, Charleston fans, I’m working on that one next, I promise.)
As is often the case, I needed a second trip to get all the photos I needed. I often neglect to include some things on my initial itinerary for such trips, so I wind up doing some more research and heading back up for another go-round. But this time, a thought occurred to me: Huntington, West Virginia, was just an hour up the road. So, I thought, “Why not take a trip over there and snap some photos?” (You don’t actually “snap” photos anymore, I realize.) I thought I could use them down the road as the basis for a book about Huntington.
Like Charleston, Huntington fits perfectly into my vision for Century Cities: a series about midsized and smaller cities and towns during the 20th century. There aren’t any truly big cities in West Virginia, but these two are the two biggest. They’ve both seen their populations decline in the past 70 years or so, but that doesn’t mean they’ve gotten any less interesting.
But a funny thing happened on my way to writing Charleston Century: I started writing Huntington Century at the same time. Then I became so involved in my research about Huntington that I actually completed that book first. In Huntington, I found a city rich in history and filled with interesting sights, all of which quickly crystallized into the material for the book.
Like the rest of my Century Cities books, Huntington Century takes readers on a chronological journey from 1900 to 1999, through 10 chapters (one for each decade), each of which is subdivided by year. The city’s businesses, athletics, retail shops, culture, government, and other facets of its history unfold across the pages of the book, illustrated by contemporary and vintage photos. The evolution of Huntington over the course of the century is a fascinating process to see unfold.
Like many American cities, Huntington started off as a railroad town on a river. In this case, the railroad was the C&O, short for Chesapeake and Ohio, and the waterway was the Ohio River.
Huntington wound up being built where it is because Collis P. Huntington, chose it as the place for the C&O’s western terminus. He also gave the city its name.
Huntington is notable for many reasons. It was the site of the easternmost bank robbed by the James-Younger Gang, and it’s home to the state’s largest mall, the Huntington Mall. Marshall University, located near the center of town, has drawn headlines for winning national championships and for a tragic plane crash that took the lives of the football team and everyone else on board in 1970.
NASCAR greats raced at a track just west of town on the Grand National circuit, and Camden Park — the state’s largest amusement park — has drawn families from around the Tri-State area (where West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky meet) for more than a century.
Huntington is a city with contemporary achievements to brag about as well as tales to tell from its pioneer days. But I wrote Huntington Century to tell the story of what happened in between.
Like all my books, it’s available for purchase on Amazon. And as always, if you enjoy it, please consider leaving a review on Amazon and Goodreads.