Charles Lloyd Ritter
( 1865 - 1945 )

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Lumberman Charles Lloyd Ritter (1865-1945 was born in Pennsylvania. In 1889, he came to West Virginia and entered the lumber business at Oakvale in Mercer County. Two years later he moved to Welch, where he organized the Tug River Lumber Co. Its offices later moved to Bluefield and then to Bristol, Virginia, before Ritter brought the company to Huntington in 1901. Ritter settled permanently in Huntington, purchasing many important commerciak properties in the downtown business district and investing in lumber, coal, gas and mineral developments in West Virginia and nearby ststes. He built an impressive mansion atop Eighth Street Hill, south of the city, which later became a convent for the nuns working at St. Mary's Hospital. In 1908 the city bought 55 acres of land along Four Pole Creek, Proposing to build an incinerator there. Not surprisingly, Ritter Didn't welcome the idea of an incinerator just downhill from his estate. So he offered to donate 17 additional acres to the city if all the land was designated as a park. The city not only took him up on his offer but proceeded to name the park in his honor. That marked the beginning of Huntington park system.

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