A Century of Service to Roanoke

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

These medallions were prepared in 1952 to commemorate the arrival of 
the first train in what would become Roanoke in 1852.

They were given to all attendees at a banquet held November 1, 1952 at 
Hotel Roanoke for the celebration. 500 people attended the banquet that 
evening, probably a few of them did not bother to pocket the heavy 
piece. I have yet to see one in any kind of presentation box. They were 
depicted on the cover of the banquet menu as well.

If they were given out to employees, it was only to higher executives 
as I know my father never got one. The medallions are certainly not 
very common items on the market. I am not certain how many were 
actually made, but my guess would be 1,000 or less.

Ken Miller

On Mar 10, 2005, at 10:41 PM, nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org wrote:

> The photo attached is of a bronze medallion which I inherited from my
> Grandfather, D.P.Hylton. Mr. Hylton was a bank officer in Roanoke. The
> medallion obviously commemorates the N&W's first century in Roanoke.
> According to the stamping on the edge, it was cast by the Medallic Art 
> Co.
> of New York. My question is simply, do any listers know the history of 
> these
> medallions? Were they common hand outs or something given to higher 
> ranking
> employees, businessmen and acquaintances?
>
> The locomotive on the front appears to be the "Roanoke" from the 
> Virginia
> and Tennessee RR. And even seems to be cast from the photo of said 
> loco on
> page 11 of the book "Images of Rail - Norfolk and Western Railway".
>
> Also, does anyone have an "archival" method of cleaning bronze without
> damaging the raised lettering or engraving?
>
>
>
> Don Trettel