Recollections of rising up within the Wetzel County city of Hundred are included within the newest challenge of Goldenseal journal, now on sale. Writer Bob Masters, a retired library director and native of Hundred, shares his reminiscences, together with these of a number of childhood pals, in an article titled, “As It Was in Hundred: Recalling Life in a Wetzel County City.”
“It was a time when this small West Virginia city was the middle of our universe,” Masters writes of the comfy, but bustling, neighborhood in the course of the Forties and ’50s. Classmates Maxine (Bartrug) Straight, Johnny Oliver, Katy (McNeely) Watson, Ethel Riddle, Joan (Masters) Myers, Bob Haines, and Sonny Masters contribute colourful tales and private recollections about early years spent on this memorable place.
Among the many now-defunct companies recalled are Fred Berdine’s Lumber, the Hundred Milling Firm, the New Industrial Resort, Drummond’s Dry Cleansing, Hinerman Brothers’ clothes and dry items, Snyder’s 5-and-Ten Cents Retailer, Taylor’s Barbershop, and Dick Arnett’s Clothes Retailer.
The group additionally relates fond reminiscences of the Hundred Airport, the downtown B&O prepare depot, He-Boy Hennan and his make-shift taxi, and the “Liar’s Bench” alongside Pennsylvania Avenue. All of those are gone now, the article states, however they stay on within the hearts of those that cherish their reminiscence.
Additionally on this challenge of Goldenseal are articles about Upshur County glass artist Ron Hinkle; Charleston businessman, magician, and raconteur Noble F. Conner; the disastrous 1972 Buffalo Creek flood; and a Boone County barbeque sauce derived from an previous household recipe.
Goldenseal is West Virginia’s journal of conventional life and is revealed quarterly by the West Virginia Division of Tradition and Historical past in Charleston. The journal sells for $4.95 and is out there at Hundred Farm Provide in Hundred or by calling (304)558-0220, ext. 153; on-line at www.wvculture.org/goldenseal.