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January 24, 2005
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Images of America: Huntington’ Displays Glorious Architecture of West Virginia’s First Planned City
Reviewed by David M. Kinchen
Huntington News Network Book Critic
Hinton (HNN) — Don Daniel McMillian’s “Huntington” (Arcadia Publishing, 128 pages, $19.99) is a beautifully illustrated guide to the first fifty years (1871 to about 1915) of commercial, civic and residential architecture in Huntington.
Founded in 1871 by Collis P. Huntington and his brother-in-law, Delos W. Emmons, the city was planned from its inception with broad streets to provide a fitting setting for dozens of surviving buildings that are exceptional examples of architecture in a rapidly growing, confident era of the nation. Just five years after Huntington was founded, the nation celebrated its centennial.
Huntington native McMillian provides useful architectural details in his brief but comprehensive essays that accompany the photographs. He also includes photographs and biographical information about prominent Huntington clans, including the Ritter, Heiner, Emmons, McFadden, Caldwell, Pratt, Enslow, Vinson and Buffington families, to name just a few.
After completing the Transcontinental railroad with the Golden Spike ceremony in Utah in 1869, Collis Huntington became obsessed with the idea of creating a city where West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky met. Delos Emmons secured options on 5,000 acres of land between the Guyandotte River and Four Pole Creek, much as Walt Disney almost a century later bought land for Disney World in Florida. Emmons then sold Huntington on the idea to build the new city on the land, rather than at the mouth of the Big Sandy River to the west.
 [click image to enlarge] Post Office and Robson-Prichard Building, 9th St. and Fifth Avenue, Huntington |
 [click image to enlarge] Robson-Prichard Building, 1910-11, 9th Street between Fifth and Sixth Aves |
Part of Arcadia Publishing’s “Images of America” series, McMillian’s book – which took five years to research – conveys the opulence of the Gilded Age (1870-1915) in the stunning architecture and the graceful, elegant lifestyles of the time. In many ways, the book is a “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” of Huntington. Although many of the buildings pictured in the book have been demolished – including, sadly, the 2003 destruction of Pleasant View Manor, the former Thomas Buffington plantation that later became the Emmons residence – enough remain to show what a burst of creativity could do when people of affluence and power put their minds to it.
As a fan and student of architecture, I recommend “Huntington” to anyone interested in the city’s history and architecture.
See Also: CLARIFICATION: Chaffin Bldg. Was Originally Called Robson-Pritchard Building
Related:
Arcadia Publishing
Purchase: Images of America: Huntington, by Don Daniel McMillian
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More Book Reviews by David M. Kinchen
— 10/28/04 BOOK REVIEWS: Bill Kurtis on the Death Penalty; Ms. Moffett Becomes a Teacher
— 11/15/04 BOOK REVIEW: Roth Envisions a Frightening 'What If?' in 'The Plot Against America'
— 11/24/04 BOOK REVIEWS: Bush, Blair and Iraq; A Shrink at Nuremberg; Updike's Sexy Geek; Potomac Fever Smites an Academic
— 12/15/04 BOOK REVIEWS: 'Past Imperfect' Covers Complexities of History, Plagiarism Issues; 'His Excellency' Reveals George Washington's Accomplishments
— 12/29/04 BOOK REVIEWS: ‘de Kooning’ Chronicles Rise of American Art Supremacy; ‘Adams vs. Jefferson’ Shows That Controversial Presidential Elections are Nothing New
— 01/17/05 BOOK REVIEW: Max Hastings on Germany's 'Armageddon' as Allies from West,
East Conquer Third Reich
— 01/27/05 BOOK REVIEW: ‘Auschwitz’ Personalizes Horror That Should Never Be Forgotten
David M. Kinchen is the Editor of HuntingtonNews.Net, repsponses and article submissions can be made to .
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