The Hotel Huntington
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Courtesy of James E. Casto
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The Hotel Huntington was built in
1910 and demolished in 1976.
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HUNTINGTON -- In 1893, a new hotel, the Adelphia, was built on the
southeast corner
of 6th Avenue and 9th Street. In his "Cabell County Annals and Families,"
local historian
George S. Wallace writes that the Adelphia "was regarded as an up-to-date hotel
and was extensively patronized until it was destroyed by fire on July 2, 1901."
After the fire, the Adelphia moved a block north and built a new building on the
northwest corner
of 5th Avenue and 9th Street. Its original location remained vacant for a while
but in 1910
the new Hotel Huntington was built on the site. In its early days, the
Huntington was an
elegant place with a first-class restaurant, ballroom and barbershop. Later a
fancy glass-enclosed balcony was constructed over the front entrance.
A.E. Kelly was the hotel's long-time manager. Kelly, described by Wallace as a
"genial Irishman," made much of his Irish heritage, using a shamrock as
the
hotel's logo and placing it on the hotel's letterhead and china. When the
Hotel Prichard opened just across 9th Street from the
Huntington in 1925, he would manage it as well.
Over the years, the Huntington would be popular with business travelers, often
hosted visiting ball teams and during World War II provided overnight
housing
for 200,000 inductees who came to town to take their draft physicals.
When John F. Kennedy brought his 1960 presidential campaign to West Virginia,
the campaign was headquartered at the Prichard, where he and Jackie had a
comfortable suite. But Kennedy also had his staff keep a room for him
across the street at the Huntington. The future president explained
he sometimes needed a place where he could just
get away from everybody and think for a while.
By the 1970s, the old hotel was struggling. It was closed and demolished
in 1976. Today, its former site is home to the Huntington C&O Credit Union.
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Note: This Article and picture appeared in the Herald-Dispatch Newspaper on June 16, 2014.
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