The Milner Hotel
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Courtesy of James E. Casto
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Huntington's Milner was originally named the Park Tower Hotel.
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HUNTINGTON -- Erected in the late 1920s, the high-rise Park Tower Hotel
stood on the northeast corner
of 4th Avenue and 7th Street, across from the Cabell County Courthouse in
downtown Huntington.
The sender of this vintage postcard, mailed in 1939, wanted everyone back at the
office in Columbus, Ohio,
to know she was "having a swell time," would be traveling on to Cincinnati
the following day and would
"see you soon." Beneath her handwritten note, the hotel included its own printed
message
on the card: "P.S. Forgot to mention. Park Tower Hotel is a good place to
stop."
Designed by well-known Huntington architect Levi Dean, the Park Tower offered
70 guestrooms with private baths and 53 rooms without baths. When the
hotel first opened, you could book a room for $2 a night.
In 1943, the Park Tower was acquired by the Milner hotel chain and so was given
that name.
The Milner chain was once one of the nation's largest, with more than 170
locations.
But the death of founder Earle Milner and growing competition from new
roadside motels doomed the company. By the time its Huntington hotel
closed, the chain had dwindled to little more than a dozen locations.
Once a respectable hotel, the Huntington Milner steadily declined over the
years.
Police long complained that it was a haven for petty crime and
prostitution.
In the 1970s, the Huntington Urban Renewal Authority marked the Milner for
demolition
as part of the city's downtown urban renewal project and, after a court battle
with the
Milner chain, acquired and demolished the hotel in 1980. A small office
building was built on the corner site. Today, the building is
home to a stockbroker, RBC Wealth Management.
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Note: This Article and picture appeared in the Herald-Dispatch Newspaper on Apr. 21, 2014.
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