The big question has been "WHY" did they paint it white? IT being me... So I would like to tell you a story
My exterior walls haven't felt this good since 1936 when the New River Company began putting an entire coat of gray and white paint on my whole exterior.. My original 1890 colors where Justus Collins colors of white with a stunning coal black trim. My walls were neglected of fresh white paint until approx 1934 the New River Company decided to make a video of the company's coal fields, its people and its activities. This video was filmed over a course of several years. I became a beautiful shade of gray with a lovely trim of white. This is what most people today remember my colors being. The folks of today can't remember the white and black of course because of 100 years gone by. Once the preservationist were able to find remnants of white paint on my tower and realized this was original,it was decided to take the antique (that would be me) back to its original color . The New River Company Paint colors seem to coincide with the introduction of the miners union in 1934. Life and times were making changes during that era, so it seemed only fitting to change the colors. So gray and white I became. The paint color gray stayed on my exterior walls till 1954 at which time I was closed down and sold to Madge Cummings. She opened a trading post to service the retail new and used market. A lot of my visitors today remember Madge's Trading Post and still think it was the company store. That is another story for another day....
until next time..
See ya in the funny papers
Whipple
3 comments:
Love all the info! Thanks for sharing!!
Thank you for sharing the history. It is so important to get the truth ou there. The building is such a great treasure to the community. She is beautiful. I hope you have a great season!
I notice the store has been painted white. Was it white in its heyday?
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