Delos W. Emmons

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Delos W. Emmons and his wife Mary are shown enjoying
 the river view from the porch of their Huntington home.

File photo | The Herald-Dispatch

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People in Huntington sometimes are surprised to learn that town founder
 Collis P. Huntington never lived in his namesake city. The famed
 rail tycoon’s complex business dealings required that he spend
 months at a time in California, New York, Washington, D.C.,
 and other places. This meant he needed somebody he
 could leave in charge in the new town he had
 founded as the western terminus of the
 Chesapeake & Ohio Railway.

Huntington found that man in his brother-in-law,
 Delos W. Emmons, who had married his sister
 Mary. Knowing that he could spend little
 time in the new town, he placed
 Emmons in charge

Emmons, his wife and their five children briefly settled in Guyandotte
 while the new town just downriver took shape. In 1871, in his role
 as general manager of the Central Land Co., he oversaw
 the first sale of building lots in the new community.
 Elected to the town’s first City Council,
 he became a director of the newly
 organized Bank of Huntington.

He bought the old Thomas Buffington home on the Ohio River,
 just below the mouth of the Guyandotte, remodeling it and
 naming it Pleasant View. There he and his wife
 entertained friends and business associates.
 And it was there, too, that C.P. Huntington
 made his headquarters during
 his infrequent visits.

If Emmons exhibited any reluctance to accept his brother-in-law’s
 invitation to be his personal representative in the new town of
 Huntington, local history doesn’t record it. In any event,
 Emmons put down deep roots in Huntington and
 would be one of the community’s leading
 citizens until his death
 on April 19, 1905.

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Note:  This Article and picture appeared in the Herald-Dispatch Newspaper on Feb. 11, 2025.

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