CHARLESTON – Two hotels, built to service the once bustling coal-hub communities of Mullens and Bramwell, but now facing an uncertain future, have received grants from the Preservation Alliance in West Virginia for Saving Historical Places.
The grants, which are earmarked to fund emergency stabilization as well as start-up conservation and reuse projects, will help stabilize the walls of the Pence Hotel in Bramwell and protect the Wyoming Hotel in Mullens from the threat of an impending collapse by adding a Emergency exit is eliminated.
Both hotels are featured as contributing structures in historic neighborhoods recognized by the National Register of Historic Places, and both share the common history that they were built in the footsteps of their original namesake shortly after being destroyed by fire.
The first incarnation of the Pence Hotel was only operational for a short time before it was destroyed in a fire in January 1910 that devastated much of downtown Mercer County. The owner, Mrs. Jenny Pence, rebuilt the three-story red-brick building in its original location on Main Street by the end of the following year and reopened it as the town’s fortunes continued to grow.
Connected by rail to cities on the east coast and lit by what may have been the first street lamps in the country, the community was aimed at coal entrepreneurs who preferred not to live in the coal dumps they built for their workers. As a result, Bramwell has a disproportionately large number of elegant mansions and once had one of the highest per capita income levels in the country.
The Preservation Alliance grant will help fund the first part of a four-phase restoration plan for the Pence Hotel.
After the restoration, the hotel will house a replica coal company shop on the ground floor, as well as guest rooms for visitors to the city, including riders of the Hatfield-McCoy Trail. Gene Buckner, president of the Mercer County Commission, said the restored hotel will “give the city and region an economic boost”.
The Wyoming Hotel was built in 1920 in the town of Mullens, Wyoming County, a trading center for coal fields along the Wyoming-Raleigh County’s border, after its original 1918 version was destroyed by fire in the same location the following summer.
The hotel was designed by Bluefield architect Alex Mahood, who also designed the Mercer County Courthouse, the US Post Office in Beckley, and numerous dormitories, libraries and classroom buildings from Bluefield to Morgantown, including the Fine Arts Center at West Virginia University and the Concord Student union.
The five-story hotel has 68 rooms, a dining room with 250 seats and a mezzanine floor overlooking the lobby. It was built by coal entrepreneur and banker JC Sullivan. Guests over the years have included John F. Kennedy during his 1960 presidential campaign, as well as reported visits from United Mine Workers President John L. Lewis, baseball legend Babe Ruth, boxer Jack Dempsey, and humorist Will Rogers.
“The Wyoming Hotel has been a source of community pride and history,” said the building’s owner, Samuel E. Webster. “Saving would raise the mood in the community again and possibly be a key element in the economic rehabilitation of rural areas.”
The development plans for the hotel include a mix of commercial and residential aimed at outdoor recreational tourists.
The Preservation Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving historic properties across the state, is accepting donations for its Saving Historical Places program. Donations of $ 500 or more may be eligible for neighborhood investment program tax credits.
Preservation Alliance director Danielle Parker said that each of the two hotels received $ 6,000 in grants. There were grant applications totaling more than $ 40,000. “That is why we will continue to collect donations in the future to support other projects.”
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