CORNER OF SEVENTH & MARKET STREETS (intro page)

By 1900 the corner of 7th Street (Route 50) and Market Street was Parkersburg's most important intersection. The 1907-08 photo (left), looking south on Market, shows the Union Trust Building (left), the Chancellor Hotel, and (beyond 6th Street) Saint Francis Xavier's Church with its tower's original roof. The city's inner-loop trolley line split in the middle of the intersection: the green trolleys went either north on Market or east on 7th, passed each other at a switch line at Lynn & 19th Streets, and arrived back at 7th & Market after a 20-minute loop. The track ran up Market to 13th Street, north on Spring Street to 19th Street, east to Lynn Street, south to 7th Street and back to the corner of Market Street. The city's two streetcar lines were discontinued in 1947.

The Methodist Episcopal Church, South stood on the southeast corner from 1858 to 1900. The Chancellor Hotel was later built on this site.

The Chancellor Hotel, seen here circa 1910, was built in 1901 on the southeast corner of 7th & Market, replacing a Methodist church that had stood there since 1858. For many years the 220-room Chancellor was Parkersburg's premier hotel. It was torn down in 1977.

The Union Trust Building was built at the same time as the Chancellor Hotel, in 1901, by Johnson N. Camden and Colonel William N. Chancellor. Chancellor had also built the Blennerhassett Hotel a dozen years earlier. Both men died in 1908. Chancellor's home is still standing at 904 Juliana at the corner of Eighth Street.

The Parkersburg City Band and what appears to be the volunteer fire department pose on Market Street, in front of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in the late 1890s. (Photo courtesy of Roger Mackey.)

Looking south from the corner of Seventh & Market, in front of the Chancellor Hotel, in the 1940s. (Courtesy of Artcraft Studio, 519-521 Market Street, Parkersburg, WV 26101; 304 485-5771)

A young woman stands at the northeast corner of Seventh and Market in 1919.
The Camden Theater on Market Street can be seen on the left.
(Courtesy of Roger Mackey and the estate of Bob and Betty Reynolds)

Looking north at the corner in 1946. On the left is the Hiehle Theater. In Old Sacramento was a Wild Bill Elliott B-western. (Courtesy of Artcraft Studio, 519-521 Market Street, Parkersburg, WV 26101; 304 485-5771)

The corner was busy in this 1950s photo. (Courtesy of Bill Cox)

A bar of Cashmere Bouquet hand soap from the Chancellor.

The First National Bank

This 1920s student ticket was good for one fare on
Parkersburg's streetcars, which were run by the
Monongahela West Penn Public Service Company.

People line up for the annual Shriners Parade in 1950.

The Gordon and Fuller Toggery Shop was located inside the Chancellor Hotel. This photo, taken before 1911,
shows a clothing store aimed at casual buyers. Toggery, or togs, is an informal term for clothes.

Looking down Market Street from the Union Trust building in 1959.
The Chancellor Hotel is in the foreground.

BACK TO PARKERSBURG HOMEPAGE