Posted December 25, 200816 yr Kanawha Hotel, Ice House, Russell Railyards YMCA, Ro-Na Theater Expanded blog post Authored by Sherman Cahal at Abandoned on December 24, 2008 It's always enjoyable to be able to sit around a computer during the evenings, enjoy hot chocolate and listen to classical music while typing out updates to Abandoned. Neglecting my holiday shopping as usual, I have completed major site upgrades and updates to Abandoned. The first is in regards to the now-demolished Kanawha Hotel. Constructed in 1903, the hotel served as Charleston's premier hotel until 1965. It once housed three sitting presidents, and was the headquarters of John F. Kennedy's 1960 primary campaign, later being used from the 1960s to 1997 as the site of West Virginia's Job Corps. Post-closure, the hotel was slated to be restored into a boutique hotel, however, after five years, funding for the plan failed and the former Kanawha Hotel was demolished. An extensive history of the hotel, along with some postcard images, have been added. Heading westward, the Russell Railyards YMCA once stood as a symbol of the Chesapeake and Ohio's once illustrious history in Russell, Kentucky. Adjacent to the then-largest railyard in the United States, the YMCA was once an important overnight stop for many railroad workers that included a restaurant and lounges, along with clean and affordable rooms. It was later shuttered as a result of modernization and the downsizing of the railroad industry, and was reopened for other uses before being abandoned in 1992. A brief history has been added to this location, which also contains numerous photographs of the interior. Across the river, in Ironton, Ohio, was the former art-deco Ro-Na Theater. Opened in 1949, the theater lasted only a few brief seasons before it was closed and converted into storefronts. Abandoned for over a decade, the theater is the focus of renewed attention and redevelopment efforts. Going even further west along the Ohio River is the former Portsmouth Brewing and Ice Company in Portsmouth, Ohio. I first stumbled upon this site when I was much younger, and was fascinated by a large, abandoned brick structure. It was seemingly impossible to get inside, and it appeared that it had no roof or much of an interior that remained, yet it was intriguing. I assumed that it was an ice house, and after a little research, my assumptions were proven to be true. This rather unusual structure is a remnant of the pre-refrigerator era, when ice blocks were carved from the Ohio River and stored in a structure. It just happens that this ice house served Portsmouth's first commercial brewery. In 1892, the brewery merged with a local ice company, and it was incorporated as The Portsmouth Brewing and Ice Company. During Prohibition, however, the company failed and it was reorganized into the Portsmouth Ice and Fuel Company, which also failed. Further attempts to revive the brewery in the decades ensued were also met with dismal results, and eventually, the ice house was abandoned. Some historical images and an expanded history has been added to the article. Lastly, I have completed major site upgrades to Abandoned, cumulating with the revamping of the photograph galleries. Sub-categories have been migrated to the left-hand navigation of the site within a dynamic, scroll box for less clutter, which lays on top of the thumbnails for the photographs that now load much quicker. Enjoy the holiday season! -- Check out the respective URL's above for more photographs and histories. Kanawha Hotel 1 Kanawha Hotel, photograph taken by Cornerstone Architects. 2 Being demolished... 3 It was once a very grand hotel. Russell Railyards YMCA 4 These are OLD photos... 5 6 Finally, some newer ones! 7 Contrast I: Same floor... 8 Contrast II: ...different hallways. 9 The Portsmouth Brewing and Ice Company 10 A very early view prior to the ice house. 11 The ice house, which so captured my imagination back when I was a young lad! I had no idea there was so much history behind this rather bland building. Enjoy these updates and have a safe and warm holiday season everyone!
December 25, 200816 yr Awesome. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
December 25, 200816 yr Yet sad :(. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
December 25, 200816 yr That's sad, but why was it demolished? Instead of waiting for another plan 7-10 years down the road?
December 25, 200816 yr It was a beyond ridiculous situation. Step 1: Announce project to restore building across the street into condos and offices. Step 2: Restore said building. Announce plans to restore the Kanawha Hotel. Step 3: Tear down adjacent Arcade (*sob*) for a parking garage complex and for a building. Step 4: Oops! Funding that we almost had secured was lost due to "September 11." (Generic excuse, it seems.) Step 5: Restored building across the street doesn't sell well. Let's turn it all into offices! Step 6: Sell the Kanawha Hotel because funding doesn't exist. Step 7: "Developer" purchases the hotel and demolishes it, and at least replaces it with a fairly nice downtown corner building.
December 25, 200816 yr Interesting. I used to volunteer with steam locomotive NKP 765, and traveled with it a few times to locations where we ran excursions for sponsoring organizations. I recall staying in the railroad YMCA at Bellevue, Ohio. Clean and cheap describes it pretty well; the room, maybe 6 x 9, was more like a cell except that the door wasn't bars and wasn't locked from the outside. Cement floor with a small throw rug, walls of the vitreous glazed block shown in your photos, the bed was an institutional steel-framed model with a thin stuffed mattress atop a stretched sprung lattice, like a military bunk. There was a bare lightbulb suspended from a cord in the center of the room and a small window high on the end wall with a roller blind. Community showers were down the hall. The cafeteria was open 'round the clock and served filling, satisfying comfort food of the kind that sticks to your ribs and arteries. I ordered a beef manhattan, and got an open-faced roast beef sandwich on white bread and home fries, all smothered in an abundance of thick, brown gravy. The roast beef was tender and juicy, the potatoes had been fried in a more-than-adequate quantity of grease, and the gravy was tasty. I was ravenously hungry, and wolfed it down before going upstairs, taking a shower, and going to bed. About two hours later I awoke thinking my guts were about to explode. It took two hours of walking around outside in the chilly late-autumn night air to get the inner seismic aftershocks to subside. Your photos bring back fond memories!
December 25, 200816 yr That's unfortunate, but you have me envying your hot chocolate, classical music scenario. Sounds like a great time.
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