bramwell – Seeing how an historic hotel could be preserved was one part of a tour Monday when one of West Virginia’s congressional representatives visited a town many coal millionaires once called home. U.S.
Rep Carol Miller, R-WV, came to the town of Bramwell to see the historic Pence Hotel, the neighboring Bramwell Theater and see the changes going on downtown. The Bramwell Foundation, which owns the hotel and theater, is seeking funding to help stabilize and preserve both structures. “The Bramwell Foundation was organized in 1997,” said Howard Troutner, the foundation’s president.
“It’s purpose was to buy up abandoned or vacant properties in Bramwell that were on the federal list of historic places. Our purpose was to restore them back to functioning businesses or functioning whatever they were originally built for. For example, we own the Masonic Building and we restored the Masonic Building with a grant of $110,000.
We still own the Pence Hotel and we also own the Bramwell Theater. Both of those buildings have been vacant for over 20 years.” A structural engineer who inspected the Pence Hotel said it was “in imminent danger of collapse,” Troutner said.
The three-story hotel’s first floor has slipped off its supports, causing it to start collapsing on both sides and causing the other floors to move out of alignment, he said. U.S.
Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.Va, looks at the view Monday morning during the town of Bramwell’s Foundation’s Revitalization Project tour on main street.
“The engineers said that the only thing holding those floors together were the flooring nails in the joists,” Troutner said. “That explains why the engineer said it was in imminent danger of collapse.” Another complicating factor is the fact that the hotel and the theater are joined together.
If the hotel collapsed, it would damage the theater or bring it down, too. “And if that were to happen, we would lose one third of the buildings in downtown Bramwell in the business district,” Troutner said. The Bramwell Foundation raised $96,000 with a grant from the West Virginia State Historic Preservation Office and matches from the Skewes Family Foundation, Preservation Alliance of West Virginia, Community Foundation of the Virginias, the Mercer County Commission and individual donors.
Work started in October 2022. With the money, DCI Construction has worked to stabilize the hotel. “Here’s the deal.
We have stabilized the first floor. Under the floor now are three concrete block walls that run the full length of the building and that’s what the first floor is sitting on. At that point, the money ran out,” Troutner said.
“We need the other floors linked to the first floor so they’re supported all the way up to the roof by sitting on the first floor.” Another $260,000 is needed to finish stabilizing the hotel, he said. Miller was asked to come to Bramwell to see the hotel and see if there is any way she can help find funding.
Miller was given the opportunity to visit the historic hotel and the adjoining historic theater, and look at the nearby Corner Store and condos in hopes of getting a better understanding of the current position the town is in. ”I’ve stayed in old hotels. I remember being in Beckley 50, 60 years ago, but to share the same types of room with the transits over the top, the shared bathroom down the hall.
It’s history, we should preserve it,” Miller said. “You have to see it and to go back in time like this, it’s an incredible journey. To have the three places to eat right here in one block; and I read the menu, the food here is wonderful.
We want everybody to come and we want the people on four wheelers, we want people maybe walking on the trails, from the rails to the trail. There’s got to be a way to make everything come together and to help it the best we can.” Miller was accompanied by the Mayor Grant Bennett and other officials.
Bennett said later that he spoke with Miller about the aging water and sewer infrastructure in and around Bramwell. During the tour, Miller said she was looking forward to visiting Bramwell. “I’ve been meaning to come for several years.
It’s just a matter of timing,” she said. “To be able to see this incredible town and what it must of been like and the vision of where they’d like it to be.” Miller said that she looks forward to returning to the town and visiting its over historic structures.
“I wish we had more time,” she said. “I’d love to go through some of the old houses, It’s beautiful. The architecture, the churches; I’d love to spend a day doing it.
” Contact Greg Jordan at [email protected].
