File:Little building in Huntington, West Virginia, with a fascinating history LCCN2015631872.tif

English: Title: Little building in Huntington, West Virginia, with a fascinating history

Physical description: 1 photograph : digital, tiff file, color.

Notes: Purchase; Carol M. Highsmith Photography, Inc.; 2015; (DLC/PP-2015:055).; Credit line: West Virginia Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.; Forms part of: West Virginia Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive.; Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer.; This is a little building in Huntington, West Virginia, that has a fascinating history. First of all, the "1897" sign has nothing to do with that history. The building's current owner (in 2015), John Hankins, salvages architectural elements from buildings facing demolition, in addition to buying and owning properties. He found the "1897" sign on an old schoolhouse, liked the look of it, and put it on this little commericial building in downtown Huntington. But the building is not devoid of its own history. It seems that it was built by the owners of a heavy lunchwagon that used to rumble throughout Huntington in the first decades of the 20th Century. The wagon and its horses did enough damage to the streets that the city banished it from service. So the owners built a restaurant at this location, and Mr. Hankins now displays that lunchwagon inside. Parts of it can faintly be seen inside the window.