The Prindle-McCrory Building

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The W.M. Prindle & Co. furniture store operated on 3rd
Avenue from 1897 to 1922. Later, it was replaced
by a McCrory’s “five and dime” store.

Courtesy of Dr. Joseph B. Touma

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 HUNTINGTON — In 1887, brothers W.M. and R.S. Prindle
 moved to Huntington from their native Fairfield County, Ohio.

In 1889, the two brothers formed W.M. Prindle and Co.
and opened a furniture store at 905-07 3rd Ave. They
 built a large building with an ornate cornice that was
 removed long ago and an entrance along 9th
Street that featured Queen Anne
Regency Bay windows.

The business prospered to the point the firm claimed
to be the largest furniture dealer in West Virginia.
 The brothers also opened furniture stores in
 Charleston, W.Va., and Portsmouth, Ohio.

In 1911, W.M. Prindle sold his shares of the
furniture company to R.S. Prindle, who
continued to operate it until 1922.

John Graham McCrory opened his first “five and dime”
store in Scottsdale, Pennsylvania, in 1882. It’s said
that Huntington’s McCrory’s store, which replaced
the Prindle store on 3rd Avenue, was one of the
earliest opened as the company rapidly
 expanded, eventually growing to 1,300
 stores. The McCrory’s chain went
 bankrupt in the early 1990s.

In recent years, Dr. Joseph B. Touma has purchased
and painstakingly restored a number of downtown
Huntington buildings, including the
Prindle-McCrory building.

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Note:  This Article and picture appeared in the Herald-Dispatch Newspaper on June 5, 2022..

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