V202:: Posted 1912, Bird’s-Eye View, Clifton Forge, VA, Virginia, Alleghany County, C&O Railroad, Railway Station, County Office Buildings, Gladys Inn, Published by The Leighton & Valentine Co (NYC),

SKU-V202::
Posted 1912, Bird’s-Eye View, Clifton Forge, VA, Virginia, Alleghany County, C&O Railroad, Railway Station, County Office Buildings, Gladys Inn,
Published by The Leighton & Valentine Co (NYC),

FYI: “CLIFTON FORGE — Although it was common for American railroads to build and operate hotels in connection with passenger stations at many locations, Chesapeake & Ohio had only one such facility. It was located at Clifton Forge and operated from 1893 until 1923. C&O first reached what is now Clifton Forge, at the base of the Alleghanies in Virginia in 1857. The station was first called Jackson’s River, but after the Civil War, it became known as Williamson, then Clifton Forge. By that time the location had become an important terminal area as the C&O had pushed its line to the Ohio River in 1873. The roundhouse and small yard were located near Smith Creek and the town around it was called Williamson, but the name was changed to Clifton Forge about 1881. At that time C&O was under the control of Collis P. Huntington and was part of his grand plan for a “true” transcontinental system of railroads controlled by one person—him. Its traffic was largely local, consisting of agricultural and forest products as principal commodities. However, coal was beginning to be mined along its mainline in southern West Virginia and began to become ever-more valuable traffic for the line. Huntington lost control of C&O in 1889 to Morgan and Vanderbilt interests and was replaced by Melville E. Ingalls as president. Ingalls was president of the Big Four, later NYC’s major Midwestern subsidiary. He supervised both roads starting in 1889. The infusion of new capital, combined with the growth of coal traffic allowed C&O to begin expanding. It completed a line along the Kentucky side of the Ohio River into Cincinnati that year. Part of C&O’s expansion was the development of an enlarged yard and large shop facility at Clifton Forge. Land was acquired, a yard built, and shops for the repair of equipment on the eastern end of the line installed over the years 1890-1893. The main shop was built west of the established town of Clifton Forge and a large frame station building was erected there. A C&O-owned hotel was constructed on the hill above the West Clifton Forge station and opened in 1893 under the name of “Gladys Inn.” Gladys was the name of President Ingalls’ daughter. A large YMCA building was opened in 1893 near the old Clifton Forge settlement, and for some reason, for which no documentation seems to exist, a new Gladys Inn hotel was erected beside it in 1896. The new building was much larger than the original one on the hill in West Clifton Forge and the ground floor was used as the passenger station. Shortly thereafter a division office building was erected next to the new Gladys Inn/station and YMCA structures. The original Gladys Inn at the west end of town was then converted for use by the C&O Hospital Association, a role it fulfilled until a new hospital was built on its site in 1917. Management must have felt that the Gladys Inn was no longer needed because the hotel and its rooms were switched for use by the Railroad YMCA in 1923 and the original YMCA structure of 1893 was then demolished. This arrangement continued with the
old Gladys Inn building serving as the YMCA and passenger station until a new bunkhouse was erected beside it in the late 1960s. No longer needed to house laying over employees and Amtrak operating only one train, the huge structure was no longer needed and was demolished in September 1975. Thus ended the only C&Oowned hotel on its original lines. The company did come into possession of a station/hotel building at Logan Ohio when the Hocking Valley Railway merged in 1930. It was closed in 1950.” (WIKIPEDIA)