PARKERSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA: A VINTAGE PORTRAIT

UPDATED: 3-17-2025

PARKERSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA: A VINTAGE PORTRAIT Welcome to a collection of old photos taken on the streets of Parkersburg, West Virginia.

Photo above was taken from Fort Boreman Hill, looking north, in the 1920s. Market Street runs straight up the center. Marked locations are (1) the Wood County Courthouse, (2) the City Building at 5th Street & Market, (3) St. Francis Xavier's Catholic Church between 5th & 6th Streets, (4) First Baptist Church at 9th & Market, (5) First Methodist Episcopal on Juliana Street, (6) Parkersburg High School, (7) West Virginia Route 2 heading north out of town, (8) the city reservoir, and (9) Washington Junior High School (formerly Parkersburg High). As of this writing in 2001, these sites still survive except for the City Building, which was torn down in the 1970s, and Washington Junior High, razed in the mid-'60s.

INDEX

* = UPDATED RECENTLY

*NOTABLE SITES:* 1886 Map Aerial Photos (1952) B&O Railroad Station Billboards Blennerhassett Hotel Blennerhassett Island Churches The City Park The Country Club DeSales Heights Academy A. P. Donaghho Stoneware * Elementary Schools The Elks Club & Parkersburg Sentinel Factories The Floods Funeral Homes The Masonic Home Mountain State Business College Ohio River Railroad (Ann St.) Station Park Place Parkersburg Ads & Matchbook Covers Parkersburg Branch, WVU Parkersburg Catholic High School Parkersburg City Hospital Parkersburg Community Bank Parkersburg High School (old) and the old Carnegie Library Parkersburg High School (new) The Parkersburg News Parkersburg Oil and Gas Museum Parkersburg Panoramas (1861-1977) The Parkersburg Sentinel Paving Quincy Hill Water Tank Disaster (1909) Rivers & Bridges St. Xavier Catholic Church St. Joseph's Hospital Streetcars Sumner School Terrapin Park Theaters View From Fort Boreman Wood County Courthouses * WPAR WTAP-TV Y.M.C.A.		*MARKET STREET:* First Street Looking up Market from Second Street Looking up Market from Third Street Third Street Looking up Market from Fourth Street The City Building and Fifth Street Corner of Fifth and Juliana Streets Market Between Fifth and Sixth Market Between Sixth and Seventh Corner of Seventh & Market Streets Market Between Seventh and Eighth Market and Ninth Street Upper Market Street Market Street Businesses (1907) *OTHER STREETS:* Ann Street Avery Street Camden Avenue Dawson Alley Green Street Seventh Street Corner of Eighth Street, Ann Street and Murdoch Avenue Murdoch Avenue Twelfth Street (400 Block) Thirteenth Street Juliana Street Quincy Street (1200 Block) St. Mary's/Dudley Avenue Washington Avenue Williams Court Alley *MORE PHOTOS* (not yet classified)

*WVU* *CAIRO* *MARRTOWN* *MARIETTA, OHIO* *BELPRE, OHIO* *PARKERSBURG, IOWA*

*CAN YOU IDENTIFY THIS?*

The postcard at the top of this page is ultra scarce if it was mailed and has an 1899 postmark. It's probably worth $200 -$300 today...maybe more. Smith Jewelry on Market Street ordered those cards from Germany in 1899 (three different cards, possibly) and the German company sent them to Parkersburg with printed postcard backs, even though they were supposed to be trade cards with no postcard markings. A few of them got out and were mailed before the Post Office Department forced Smith to counterstamp them with a design that obliterated the "Post Card" markings. Probably several were never counterstamped and also never mailed. Picture postcards in 1899 were not legal. (Thanks to Patrick Cummings)

Greetings from the turn of the last century.

RELATED LINKS:

The Parkersburg, West Virginia Nostalgic Gazette: Business Storefronts

Wood County Historical and Preservation Society

Early Parkersburg WV & surrounding area [Facebook group]

Parkersburg by Robert Anderson and Aaron Crites (Arcadia Publishing)

1907 Parkersburg Directory (Full Text)

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Parkersburg, Wood County, West Virginia [click on map to enlarge]

The Parkersburg News & The Parkersburg Sentinel

WTAP-TV Facebook Page

Parkersburg Radio History: WCEF/WADC and WCEF-FM/WIBZ/WMGP

Parkersburg Radio History: WPAR/WIKS/WLTP

Blackwood Associates, Inc. - West Virginia Postcards: PARKERSBURG [archived copy of defunct site]

Parkerburg Viscose Plant

Cemeteries of Wood County [archived copy of defunct site]

Parkersburg's Top 20 One-Hit Wonder

Parkersburg WV History & Industrial & Commercial Businesses

Famous West Virginians [archived copy of defunct site]

Jewish Parkersburg [archived copy of defunct site]

The Jackson Family of Parkersburg

The Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike

Oil and Gas Museum [archived copy of defunct site]

A View of Washington Bottom (A Glance at Blennerhassett Island) [archived copy of defunct site]

Marietta Flood of 2004 [archived copy of defunct site]

Most of the early 1900s houses in Parkersburg were ordered from companies like Sears, Roebuck,
and delivered by train cars in sections, which were then assembled at the destination lots.

If you have an old postcard or photo of a Parkersburg street
you'd like to see in these pages, please scan it and send to
jimddddd@aol.com