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Overview
As was mentioned before, our story is set in Huntington, West Virginia, a somewhat smallish, town with a population of less than 50 thousand people. Huntington is the second-largest city in the state, behind only Charleston, the state capitol, which is less than an hour's-drive away. The town has a rich history, intimately tied-in with the railroad industry. So, lets take some time to learn more about the real city behind our little tale.
The beginings of Huntington can be traced back to 1775 when Guyandotte was christened by surveyors. That area was settled in 1806, and a small trading post was established there. In 1809 Cabell County was created, and one year later Guyandotte officially became a town. In 1821, James Holderby purchased a farm on the eastern edge of what would become Huntington. This area would come to be known as Holderby's Landing and was located between what is now 14th and 17th Streets. Marshall Academy was founded by John Laidley in 1837 in honor of his friend, US Supreme Court Chief Justice, John Marshall. It was officially incorporated as an Academy a year later, and would grow in size over the next 20 years As a result, the Virginia General Assembly made Marshall Academy a college in 1858 and changed the name to Marshall College. In June of 1861, in what would become an important development, Guyandotte became the site of a landmark Civil War battle. This skirmish would eventually lead up to West Virginia separating from Virginia, and becoming a seperate state in 1863. In another important development, Collis P. Huntington would purchase the ailing C&O Railroad in 1869 for the sum of $850,000 and would also survey Holderby's Landing and the area just west of Guyandotte as the base for the C&O Railroad. Over the next few years, the plans were laid out for the city, and on Feb. 27th of 1871 the West Virginia Legislature approved an act incorporating the City of Huntington. In that same year, the city's first weekly paper, The Indepenent, began publication. And, on Dec. 31st, Peter Cline Buffington became Huntington's first mayor. The first locomotive, however, wouldn't come through the area until 1873. The Cabell County seat was moved to Huntington in 1887. Over the next few years, the city would develop quickly, getting phone service, a Public Library, City Park, St. Mary's Hospital, and its own theater. However, the 1930's brought on the Great Depression, and Huntington suffered like the rest of the Nation. To add to the troubles, the "Great Flood of 1937" hit the city hard, and being the 3rd serious flood to hit the city since its incorporation, plans were made to construct what would become Huntington's current flood wall. In 1949, Huntington would get its first TV-Station, WSAZ, and a second station, WHTN, (now WOWK) would follow in 1955. Cabell-Huntington Hospital would be opened the following year, giving area residents a second option for medical care. On May 6th of 1960, John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign would come into Huntington, by train. While in the city, the future president would visit Jim's Spaghetti House for a meal, and, showing that he'd done his homework, would also make mention of Marshall College's application for University status. The very next year, Marshall College would officially be designated a university and renamed Marshall University. On November 14th 1970, however, tragedy struck. A plane carrying most of the Marshall football team, staff, and several supporters, crashed just minutes away from its landing at Tri-State Airport. Everyone aboard was killed, and the entire region mourned. The echoes of this terrible event would be felt for many years to come, and this December, the event and its aftermath will be brought to the big-screen in the major motion-picture, We Are Marshall, much of which was filmed right here in Huntington in April of 2006.
Over the years, the town has developed between two sections of track that split off and encircled the city between 2nd and 24th streets, and, at their widest point around the main portion of town, are 6 blocks away from one another. Unfortunately, the entire town was designed around the placement of the railways, and as the railroad became less and less important, the placement of the tracks became something of a curse rather than a blessing. The tracks aong 7th Ave. split the city almost in half, and reduce the opportunities for development. White the section north of the tracks, towards the river, fared better, the section south of them didn't do nearly as well. Several underpasses were built in oder to move street-traffic under the tracks, but there are clearance issues, and large tractor-trailers often have to bypass the underpasses by detouring to the far east or west-ends of town. Worse still, during heavy rains, these underpasses often flood and become impassable until the water subsides. The tracks, however, aren't the city's only problem. In the past few decades, Huntington's economic growth has been severely hampered by city-leaders, both elected and otherwise. A pair of particularly questionable moves are the prime examples of a rather backward mindset. First, when Interstate-64 was built, many city-leaders and residents were against the idea of demolishing homes for the sake of the highway. In the end, this vocal contingent got its way. I-64 curves around Huntington to the south, rather than cutting through the city. As a result, the two Huntington exits, 5th St and 16th St, are an inconvenient distance from the city. Plus, both exits are on the south side of the tracks, which contributes to some of the problems mentioned above. Conversely, the city of Charleston sacrificed a little of the city for the placements of both I-64, I-79, and the turnpike, I-77. They fared much better than Huntington as a result. Another questionable move was made when the issue of a shopping-mall for the Huntington area came up as the 1970's came to a close. Fearing that it would harm the city in some fashion, city-leaders and many vocal residents opposed the construction of a shopping-mall in the downtown area. Ona, a town some miles east of Huntington, saw the potential such an outlet offered. As a result, the inapproprietly-named Huntington Mall was built there, alongside I-64, which hurt Huntington businesses. Again, Charleston took the opposite approach in the mid-1980's, building their shopping-mall, the Charleston Town Center, in the city itself, strengthening the local economy. More recently, and somewhat mysteriously, another opportunity to boost the local economy exists, but isn't used to its potential. In 1991, James F. Edwards Field, a tax supported college football stadium, was built for Marshall University at the cost of $30 million. Originally designed to seat 30,000 fans, recent renovations boosted the capacity to 40,000-plus. Located on Marshall's campus at 20th Street East in Huntington, the stadium has been home to some of the most exciting moments in college football. Since then, Marshall won several NCAA 1AA Championships while in the Southern Conference, and has since gone on to become a Nationally-ranked 1A powerhouse since moving to the Mid-American Conference, and in 1999 M.U ended the season ranked 10th in the nation. Its highest ranking ever. So, where's the problem? The problem is that this wonderful facility has been jealously guarded by the university ever since, and virtually no other events have been allowed to take place there. Similar stadiums around the country are frequently used to host many other events. Outdoor concerts and festivals of all sorts make good use of such stadiums, and bring money into the area. Yet, Marshall's stadium sets empty most of the year, with the exception of five M.U home-games, practices, one day of youth football and one weekend of high school bands. Thus, at a time when the city, which has been operating on the deficit-bubble for several years now, could use the revenue such events would generate, nobody seems willing to do anything.
Huntington, like the rest of the state, has suffered economically. As mentioned above, the city has operated in the red for several years, and various ideas have been put forth to help generate more revenue. Ideas like benefit concerts to be held in Big Sandy Arena, and a municipal fee for people who work in the city-limits, have helped somewhat, but not nearly enough. However, a pair of projects to help attract more businesses and thus boost the local economy, have developed. One, shows promise, the other, however, may never see its potential realized. In 2001ground was broken for Kinetic Park, an area designed to attract tech-oriented businesses. An area alongside I-64 was selected as the site, which would require the movement of a lot of earth in order to create a broad, flat surface upon which to build. Unfortunately, since then, the area has shown itself to be vulnerable to erosion, and the technology park may never see the light of day. Conversely, the Pullman Square project gave residents a cause for optmism. A huge section of land between 3rd avenue and Veteran's Memorial Blvd. was slated for development over 2 decades ago. Dubbed "the Superblock", the area became a source of great frustration over the years as one project after another designed to make use of the space failed to see the light of day. Finally, in 2002, ground was broken for Pullman Square, and the complex was opened in 2004. Pullman Square currently boasts a 60,100 sq ft, 16 screen cinema with stadium seating as the cornerstone of the complex. Current tennants also include the Funny Bone Comedy Club, Empire Books and News, Merle Norman, Starbucks, EB Games, Cold Stone Creamery, Max and Erma's, and Edible Arrangements. The complex has several more spaces to fill, and shows no signs of slowing down.
Jean Dean Building/HPD/Amazon.com Museum of Radio and Technology
 What came before The Council Reborn About Huntington
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This site is maintained by Randall Lilly
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and all of its related characters and concepts) is a copyright © of Fox Broadcasting. The Buffy RPG is a copyright © of EDEN games. All materials here are reproduced without their express permission
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Last Revised: March 22, 2007