N&W in 1910--Office building

[NW Mailing List]

I initially thought the same, but age really isnt the only factor that creates nostalgia.  Hard work for a common cause can bind people, and the place where the work took place, together as well. It sounds like that's what took place in this building. 

If you were to ask any of those men who slept in the attic what they thought about the building at that time, I suspect there would have been no fond feelings expressed!    

Matt


On Jan 26, 2010, at 8:42 AM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:

"Consumption" was an old name for Tuburculosis, which seemed to "consume" its victims.

On another aspect of the story, It is kind of interesting to think of the sentimentality attached to a building that is all of 22 years old. Can any here imagine feeling nostalgia for a building built in 1988?

Ken Miller
 
On Jan 26, 2010, at 7:23 AM, NW Mailing List wrote:

Anyone know what a "home for consumptives" is?
 
Thanks,
Dave Willis
(blt 1962, c/n 4)
 
To: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Subject: N&W in 1910--Office building
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:34:48 -0500
From: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
August 13, 1910
 
BLUEFIELD IS LOSING ONE OF ITS LANDMARKS
------
Terminal Trainmaster Relates History of Old Division Office Now Being Torn Down
    Bluefield is losing one of its oldest landmarks, the old division office, which is being torn down.  A nice lawn will take its place.  The building has been standing since July, 1888, and is almost a part of the town.  Within its walls the preliminary plans of the great Pocahontas Division were carried out and each room has such a history connected with it that old railroad men stand and watch it coming apart without even daring to walk inside of it, so great is their respect for the old site of their former battles to make the road a success.
    J. M. MeIlhaney, terminal trainmaster, gave the Daily Telegraph a short history of the building last night.  He easily remembers it from the days when this most wealthy division of the Norfolk and Western was only the Pocahontas branch.
    Mr. McIlhaney says the first offices were maintained in the present freight depot.  This was in July, 1888.  About this time twenty-two years ago the offices were moved in the building that is now being torn down.  The division at that time was called the Radford and Pocahontas division and John A. Hardy was superintendent.  The road at that time went to Powhatan, while branches ran to Pocahontas, Goodwill and Simmons.  The Clinch Valley division was not in operation at that time.
    The official family at that time was John A. Hardy, superintendent, Captain D. H. Barger, trainmaster, R. E. Winters, chief dispatcher.
    The yard office was located in the northwest room on the first floor while the trainmaster's office was overhead on the second floor.  The dispatcher's office was in the north bay station.  The waiting room for trainmen was on the first floor in the northeast room, while the timekeeper occupied the room above.
    The supervisor, or roadmaster, as he is known occupied the southwest room on the second floor while the reading room for trainmen, out of which grew the Railroad Y. M. C. A., which now has a large building of its own, recently erected on Pulaski street, occupied the southeast room in the old building now being torn down.  The yard master, who was either a man named Wright or Joe Collins, occupied the other room on the south side.  The attic at that time was used as a bed room by the trainmaster and other men, the dispatchers many times turning in to sleep there at that time, which was long before the present regulations as to hours of work went into effect.
    It was hard at that time to get a house in this city and the first house completed by the railroad was the building on Princeton avenue, recently owned by Weslie Wilkes, which was first occupied by J. M. McIlhaney, who was at that time a train dispatcher.
    Since July, 1888, many changes have taken place in the Norfolk and Western but the old building was occupied as an office until about a year ago when the offices were moved to the old Bluefield Inn building, which was remodeled for office purposes.  This building is one of the most imposing structures in the city and at one time Thomas F. Ryan wanted to purchase it as a home for consumptives.  The Norfolk and Western, however, would not consent to the bringing to this city of a home for consumptives.
    The destruction of the building removes another of this city's landmarks and for years to come the few men who are left on the road who were here in 1888 will look to where the building now is and feel that something is lacking.
[I wonder if the wooden building in the attached picture from Neg. 21413 in the Virginia Tech image database isn't the division office described in the article.  It has a bay on the north side as described for the location of the dispatcher's office.  Also, the article states that the building will be replaced by a "nice lawn," and vintage photos show a lawn east of the passenger depot where the parking lot was in later years and about where the building in question is in this picture.]
------
Gordon Hamilton

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