Nov. 22, 2010
Fire Ravages Top Story of “Aracoma Story’s” Downtown Logan Landmark Hotel
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Entertainment Editor
Logan, WV (HNN) – One of the best attended versions of “The Aracoma Story” adds “Spirits & Legends” to the outdoor drama featured annually in the Chief Logan State Park. Former cast members Bill France and Geoff Allen reimagined the drama resulting in a modern telling of the classic tale of Princess Aracoma and Boling Baker and their life leading the Shawnee Indians.
Until, Monday evening, November 16, downtown Logan’s Aracoma Hotel --- a landmark in its own right --- provided a downtown reminder of Logan County’s link to both the Shawnee and the outdoor drama. That’s when an apparent carelessly discarded cigarette caught the Hotel’s top story on fire. Due to so-called “dead air space” above the top floor, Logan Fire Chief Scott Beckett told the Logan Banner, “there was no stopping it.”
Left unstated the 1917 landmark had a construction style which allowed the openness of the attic to cause a ripple of air and fire that turned potentially a back corner Fifth Floor containment into a roof collapsing inferno.
Fortunately, no lives were lost in the Logan fire. However, the “dead air” description casts a reminder upon a “chimney effect” in the deadly brick, concrete, masonry Emmons Junior Apartment fire in Huntington. For that matter, the so-called bird nest in an attic like section of the Ratcliff Building spread that blaze beyond containment.
As for the Aracoma Hotel, early speculation looms doom for the remaining portion of the water soaked landmark, which contained political history and legend. Aside from its use as the command center for the 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain in which sheriff’s deputies and strike breakers collided, the hotel has a claim to Presidential history. The three Kennedy brothers, Ted, John, and Robert , all stayed there in 1960 during the presidential primary campaign.
Legend says that an Aracoma Hotel backroom deal resulted in JFK, not Hubert Humphrey, winning the 1960 presidential election.
Celebrities too had stayed at the Aracoma --- Roy Rogers , Gabby Hayes, and even “Bonanza’s” Lorne Greene spent a night at the Logan hotel.
Chief Beckett recalled fighting ten fires in the Aracoma. All but this one had been knocked down. He told the Banner: “We received a call right at 8 o'clock that there was a working structure fire at the Aracoma Hotel. Upon arrival, the first engine had heavy fire and smoke conditions on the fifth floor in this back corner facing Holland Lane," Beckett said. "Units made entry in two attack lines, to do interior attack operations while other units were evacuating the building. In the process of evacuations, we had one firefighter who was injured pretty seriously. He was treated and released with a dislocated elbow.”
(Check the Banner story at http://www.loganbanner.com/view/full_story/10334003/article-Aracoma-Hotel-Burns?instance=home_news_lead )
Ironically, reported the Banner, a lesson for preservationists --- the former Pioneer Hotel building stood for vacant for years across from the Aracoma before finally meeting the wrecker’s ball in favor of a new state office building. Cleveland, Ohio, for instance, avoided that “lesson” by preserving all four of the Playhouse Square theatres --- the State, Ohio, Allen and Palace. The decision turned the avenue into a mid-west version of Broadway.
The Aracoma building’s owner and insurer have visited the site. No decision has been announced however on whether the lower portion can be preserved.
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Fire Ravages Top Story of “Aracoma Story’s” Downtown Logan Landmark Hotel
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Entertainment Editor
Logan, WV (HNN) – One of the best attended versions of “The Aracoma Story” adds “Spirits & Legends” to the outdoor drama featured annually in the Chief Logan State Park. Former cast members Bill France and Geoff Allen reimagined the drama resulting in a modern telling of the classic tale of Princess Aracoma and Boling Baker and their life leading the Shawnee Indians.
Until, Monday evening, November 16, downtown Logan’s Aracoma Hotel --- a landmark in its own right --- provided a downtown reminder of Logan County’s link to both the Shawnee and the outdoor drama. That’s when an apparent carelessly discarded cigarette caught the Hotel’s top story on fire. Due to so-called “dead air space” above the top floor, Logan Fire Chief Scott Beckett told the Logan Banner, “there was no stopping it.”
Left unstated the 1917 landmark had a construction style which allowed the openness of the attic to cause a ripple of air and fire that turned potentially a back corner Fifth Floor containment into a roof collapsing inferno.
Fortunately, no lives were lost in the Logan fire. However, the “dead air” description casts a reminder upon a “chimney effect” in the deadly brick, concrete, masonry Emmons Junior Apartment fire in Huntington. For that matter, the so-called bird nest in an attic like section of the Ratcliff Building spread that blaze beyond containment.
As for the Aracoma Hotel, early speculation looms doom for the remaining portion of the water soaked landmark, which contained political history and legend. Aside from its use as the command center for the 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain in which sheriff’s deputies and strike breakers collided, the hotel has a claim to Presidential history. The three Kennedy brothers, Ted, John, and Robert , all stayed there in 1960 during the presidential primary campaign.
Legend says that an Aracoma Hotel backroom deal resulted in JFK, not Hubert Humphrey, winning the 1960 presidential election.
Celebrities too had stayed at the Aracoma --- Roy Rogers , Gabby Hayes, and even “Bonanza’s” Lorne Greene spent a night at the Logan hotel.
Chief Beckett recalled fighting ten fires in the Aracoma. All but this one had been knocked down. He told the Banner: “We received a call right at 8 o'clock that there was a working structure fire at the Aracoma Hotel. Upon arrival, the first engine had heavy fire and smoke conditions on the fifth floor in this back corner facing Holland Lane," Beckett said. "Units made entry in two attack lines, to do interior attack operations while other units were evacuating the building. In the process of evacuations, we had one firefighter who was injured pretty seriously. He was treated and released with a dislocated elbow.”
(Check the Banner story at http://www.loganbanner.com/view/full_story/10334003/article-Aracoma-Hotel-Burns?instance=home_news_lead )
Ironically, reported the Banner, a lesson for preservationists --- the former Pioneer Hotel building stood for vacant for years across from the Aracoma before finally meeting the wrecker’s ball in favor of a new state office building. Cleveland, Ohio, for instance, avoided that “lesson” by preserving all four of the Playhouse Square theatres --- the State, Ohio, Allen and Palace. The decision turned the avenue into a mid-west version of Broadway.
The Aracoma building’s owner and insurer have visited the site. No decision has been announced however on whether the lower portion can be preserved.
Share This Story:
Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
