Posted December 13, 201014 yr I love old industrial towns, particularly river towns. I've posted threads of Bellaire, Marietta, Parkersburg, Portsmouth and Maysville over the last few years. Here is a small sampling of five more Ohio River towns I've passed through in the past month or so. Just a sampling. I may do separate posts for these towns. Huntington, West (By God) Virginia From across the river From balcony at Pullman Square, a mini-Easton that is downtown, and from which activity spills into other parts of downtown. Huntington Arcade, a glass-roofed arcade that is mostly empty and needs work, but could be a great showcase. (Possible arcade post to follow.) A nice downtown Tallest Can you find three downtown theaters in this picture? Hotel and tower Ashland, Kentucky Streetscape Holiday streetscape The town's tallest Camayo Arcade entrance Arcade from second floor. Alas, no glass roof, but it is a unique arcade. The second floor runs the length of the block and connects two buildings. But the first floors are separate -- you have to go out the door, cross the alley, then enter the rest of the arcade in the next building. More downtown Industrial Ashland Ironton, Ohio Ironton skyscrapers Handsome former hotel Bridge framed by towers Compressed streetscape Mix of buildings Courthouse in obligatory alley shot Lawrence County courthouse -- my 86th. Two more to go. Steubenville, Ohio Compressed streetscape Steubenville towers Steel mural Less-commercial streetscape Another obligatory alley shot Jefferson County courthouse East Liverpool, Ohio Ceramic museum Townscape Downtown tower Curious subway station Great angles Cool building Obligatory alley shot Cool streetscape Hills and vistas
December 13, 201014 yr The Ohio River towns have the state's most in depth history and magnificent architecture. Marietta and Portsmouth alone have many treasures to satisfy anyone. Great stuff! "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
December 14, 201014 yr Pleasantly surprising. Huntington looks far larger than I had imagined. There is so much history in those cities and so much untapped potential.
December 14, 201014 yr Anyone got any good shots of Gallipolis? I love that little town. http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,15890.0.html
December 14, 201014 yr Well, Huntington had over 90,000 in population not all that long ago. Now, it's under 50,000 -- like Charleston. There was a time when the two cities battled it out on who had the most. ^Looks like there is work progressing in the former Stone & Thomas department store (I remember that store vividly... not all that long ago.). It was interesting that Stone & Thomas maintained their downtown and Huntington Mall stores -- like they did with their downtown Wheeling and Steubenville Mall stores. ^The building on the left was the Henry Clay Hotel, which was abandoned and now converted into apartments. The center gravel lot was JC Penny's and was a collection of crap buildings. Senior apartments were to replace it, but they lost their funding. The tall building was the Fields Building, later becoming Sear's (over five levels). It had a horrendous "tiled" facade that was removed. The building is being restored. ^The building on the left is owned by the city of Ironton and they are seeking funding to convert it into lofts. They are working one street up on another abandoned property, and are converting that into a transit center and lofts. Down the street is the Ro-Na Theatre, which is being restored.
December 14, 201014 yr I have always loved the Ohio River towns. Some of these small industrial cities have cores rivaling places two to three times their size. And for people into older industry, these places are gold.
December 14, 201014 yr Well, remember that many of these towns used to be a lot larger. Portsmouth had over 40,000 by 1930, and is dangerously close to going under 20,000 now. It has the infrastructure to match a city much larger than what it is right now -- a gorgeous courthouse and all. Huntington had 90,000 in the 1950s, and is under 50,000 now. Ashland had over 31,000 50 years ago, and now has over 21,000 today. Much of the same can be said of pretty much every major Ohio River community.
December 29, 201014 yr It's the historic Frederick Hotel. It's being restored at the moment. Step inside... you'll be amazed :)
January 17, 201114 yr Private residence, top floor of the one of the old bank buildings in Huntington.
January 18, 201114 yr Oh! I've always wanted to go up there and see that. It looks gorgeous... That is the top of the Guaranty Bank Building. The residence is also built on the roof, not part of the regular top floor. The owner invited me up to his "penthouse", good guy. June of 09' I toured a bunch of buildings, for a client, in Huntington. There was some decent activity related to newer restaurant/bars, newer renovations. Maybe Marshall U students drive some of that?
January 18, 201114 yr It helped when the former mayor began driving discussions on a revamped 4th Avenue corridor from downtown to Marshall. Part of that plan has been realized, with the new 4th Avenue streetscaping in downtown, and the addition of the bike lanes, that compliment the streetscaping work along the former 9th Street pedestrian plaza and along 3rd Avenue with Pullman Square. Pullman was the bit that pulled off the recent redevelopments. The opening of the 12-screen theater led to the Keith-Albee's restoration, and the conversion of one old theater into a dance studio. And so forth. It's been quite nice. Do you travel down there much?
January 18, 201114 yr It helped when the former mayor began driving discussions on a revamped 4th Avenue corridor from downtown to Marshall. Part of that plan has been realized, with the new 4th Avenue streetscaping in downtown, and the addition of the bike lanes, that compliment the streetscaping work along the former 9th Street pedestrian plaza and along 3rd Avenue with Pullman Square. Pullman was the bit that pulled off the recent redevelopments. The opening of the 12-screen theater led to the Keith-Albee's restoration, and the conversion of one old theater into a dance studio. And so forth. It's been quite nice. Do you travel down there much? Only made it to Huntington twice, for the same project. I liked Downtown and the proximity of Marshall to Downtown. Kind of funny that I am Huntington looking at office buildings one day (most are older) and then touring space at BofA One Bryant Park, LEED Platinum in NYC, or multiple properties in the LOOP, Nashville, Louisville, Cincy etc. Pretty lucky in that regard. I am a little bit of a sucker for River Cities though.
January 18, 201114 yr Why would anyone want to live in a Penthouse apartment in Hunnington, West Virginia?
January 18, 201114 yr If you already live in Huntington, it'd be a pretty good spot. Besides, Huntington has more to it than you'd expect. What's more, if you live in a penthouse apartment in Huntington, you can see all the way to Ohio.
January 18, 201114 yr The guy also owns the Bank Building. Might as well live there. He probably got tired of his house, yard work, shoveling snow, etc.
January 19, 201114 yr I was impressed by Steubenvilles little skyscraper cluster downtown. @@@ Hutington/Ashland are or where pretty industrial, but Huntington also used to function as service center of entreport to the coal country to the south. This function was usurped by Lexington. Huntington does seem like a larger city in some ways. One interesting aspect is how "narrow" it is, squeezed into the Ohio river floodplain. Along the base of the hills just south of downtown (just a few blocks) is a very nice in-town residential area (like the Cherokee Park area in Louisville a bit) built along an Olmsteadian-style parkway, that connects up into a larger park in the hills. Very nice city living there. Another interesting area is the east side of town, which is actually older houses built on hills, from what i recall..the town climbs a bit out of the floodplain. Ashland also has "hill" neighborhoods when you get out of the river bottoms (and also has a big park in the middle of their older part of town).
January 19, 201114 yr I'd love to see a photo of Maysville from the river, Kentucky, a nearby hill or the bridge.
January 19, 201114 yr Here's a link to my Maysville post from a couple years ago. Toward the end is a photo of downtown from the bridge. http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,13038.0.html
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