When this page was created for this gallery, I simply called it Black Bottom because that’s what my Dad called this area. I knew parts of it were called Ellis Addition and Deskins Addition, but I’ve never understood exactly where one stopped and the other one began. When I was a kid, I assumed Black Bottom got its name for the black mud that would accumulate there after a flood. However, according to Paul Gaylock (see his comment below) Black Bottom got its name from the black ash and cinders dumped there by the power plant.
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Ellis Addition and Deskins Addition (a.k.a. Black Bottom) Photo Gallery
1952 Centennial Program Booklet, Page 100. When this photo was taken, it wasn't just called Back Bottom and Mt. Gay. Each section was named. (1) Deskins Addition, (2) Ellis Addition (1 and 2) aka Black Bottom, (3) Billy Goat Junction, (4) Mt. Gay, (5) Monitor Junction, (6) Fisher Bottom, (7) Cherry Tree Bottom. Image 1697.
1952 Centennial Program Booklet, Page 100. When this photo was taken, it wasn't just called Back Bottom and Mt. Gay. Each section was named. (1) Deskins Addition, (2) Ellis Addition (1 and 2) aka Black Bottom, (3) Billy Goat Junction, (4) Mt. Gay, (5) Monitor Junction, (6) Fisher Bottom, (7) Cherry Tree Bottom. Image 1697.
c1965 Logan Motors at Deskins Addition. Pecks Plumbing and Samson Maytag are on the left. Courtesy of Dwight Williamson. Image 16979.
c1965 Logan Motors at Deskins Addition. Pecks Plumbing and Samson Maytag are on the left. Courtesy of Dwight Williamson. Image 16979.
Pinkerton on a 60 foot pole at Deskins Addition courtesy of Dewey Stepp. Image 1648.
Pinkerton on a 60 foot pole at Deskins Addition courtesy of Dewey Stepp. Image 1648.
1920s Mount Gay, W Va. looking toward Cherry Tree. Photo from the collection of Julia and Walter Shelton, courtesy Ralph Mcneely and the Museum in the Park.
1920s Mount Gay, W Va. looking toward Cherry Tree. Photo from the collection of Julia and Walter Shelton, courtesy Ralph Mcneely and the Museum in the Park.
Logan, WV Power Plant trestle. Photo from the collection of Julia and Walter Shelton, courtesy of Ralph Mcneely and the Museum in the Park. The inscription on the photo reads: C“oal was brought out of hill in mountain at Coal Branch Mine coal track was built around what's called the Back Bone a trestle was built from the Back Bone near A & P Store and went to the Appalachian Power Plant. So motor and cars could haul coal direct from the mountain to the Power Plant yard.” Ref. image 1462.
Logan, WV Power Plant trestle. Photo from the collection of Julia and Walter Shelton, courtesy of Ralph Mcneely and the Museum in the Park. The inscription on the photo reads: C“oal was brought out of hill in mountain at Coal Branch Mine coal track was built around what's called the Back Bone a trestle was built from the Back Bone near A & P Store and went to the Appalachian Power Plant. So motor and cars could haul coal direct from the mountain to the Power Plant yard.” Ref. image 1462.
1930 Power Plant Employee Dwellings, Logan, WV. Photo from the collection of Julia and Walter Shelton, courtesy of Ralph Mcneely and the Museum in the Park.
1930 Power Plant Employee Dwellings, Logan, WV. Photo from the collection of Julia and Walter Shelton, courtesy of Ralph Mcneely and the Museum in the Park.
Feb 21, 1940 Logan County, WV. In the background is the Pontiac Sales Building at Deskins Addition. Photo from the collection of Julia and Walter Shelton, courtesy Ralph Mcneely and the Museum in the Park.
Feb 21, 1940 Logan County, WV. In the background is the Pontiac Sales Building at Deskins Addition. Photo from the collection of Julia and Walter Shelton, courtesy Ralph Mcneely and the Museum in the Park.
1963 flooding at Black Bottom courtesy of Robert McCormack.
1963 flooding at Black Bottom courtesy of Robert McCormack.
1940s Ellis Addition. Logan Banner clipping courtesy of Connie Woods.
1940s Ellis Addition. Logan Banner clipping courtesy of Connie Woods.
Edward and Ray Preston with Sidney E. Ferrell in the center at the back of the old Consolidated Bus Lines garage. A few City View houses are shown on the hill above the garage.
Edward and Ray Preston with Sidney E. Ferrell in the center at the back of the old Consolidated Bus Lines garage. A few City View houses are shown on the hill above the garage.
Sidney E. Ferrell and another driver at the Consolidated Bus Lines garage at Deskins Addition.
Sidney E. Ferrell and another driver at the Consolidated Bus Lines garage at Deskins Addition.
Black Bottom showing the carnival grounds, the old Consolidated Bus Lines Garage and City View. Photo courtesy of Angie J. Hernandez.
Black Bottom showing the carnival grounds, the old Consolidated Bus Lines Garage and City View. Photo courtesy of Angie J. Hernandez.
In the center is what is called the Backbone. On the right is Triangle Addition and Hatfield Island. Photo courtesy of Angie J. Hernandez.
In the center is what is called the Backbone. On the right is Triangle Addition and Hatfield Island. Photo courtesy of Angie J. Hernandez.
1947 photo of Joe Piros Sr. pumping gas at his Gulf Station at Deskins Addition in Black Bottom. Photo courtesy of Bob Piros.
1947 photo of Joe Piros Sr. pumping gas at his Gulf Station at Deskins Addition in Black Bottom. Photo courtesy of Bob Piros.
Deskins Addition 1947 vs 2011. Looks to be the same utility pole in both photos.
Deskins Addition 1947 vs 2011. Looks to be the same utility pole in both photos.
Shanty Town at Black Bottom was comprised of three rows of mostly one and two room shacks belonging to “Doggie White” and occupied by black people. They had a small community with stores, beer joints, and a barber shop. Logan Banner clipping courtesy of John Rollins.
Shanty Town at Black Bottom was comprised of three rows of mostly one and two room shacks belonging to “Doggie White” and occupied by black people. They had a small community with stores, beer joints, and a barber shop. Logan Banner clipping courtesy of John Rollins.
Paul Cooke Ford, Deskins Addition courtesy of Mark and Rachel Jones.
Paul Cooke Ford, Deskins Addition courtesy of Mark and Rachel Jones.
Black Bottom
Black Bottom
The Super 8 that was at Deskins Addition, 316 Riverview Ave. 115689
The Super 8 that was at Deskins Addition, 316 Riverview Ave. 115689
Photo taken 11-14-11.
Photo taken 11-14-11.
The old State Police Headquarters demolished March 2018.
The old State Police Headquarters demolished March 2018.
Black Bottom
Black Bottom
Photo taken 11-14-11.
Photo taken 11-14-11.
Black Bottom
Black Bottom
Black Bottom from City View
Black Bottom from City View
Black Bottom
Black Bottom
Black Bottom
Black Bottom
Photo taken 11-14-11.
Photo taken 11-14-11.
Black Bottom
Black Bottom
Photo taken 11-14-11.
Photo taken 11-14-11.
Black Bottom
Black Bottom
These huge blocks are intriguing. They appear too big to be street light posts supports. Also, their spacing is strange. Coal tipples used large support blocks like this but I don’t recall any history of a tipple here.
These huge blocks are intriguing. They appear too big to be street light posts supports. Also, their spacing is strange. Coal tipples used large support blocks like this but I don’t recall any history of a tipple here.
Black Bottom
Black Bottom
Black Bottom
Black Bottom
Black Bottom taken 11-14-11.
Black Bottom taken 11-14-11.
Photo taken 11-14-11.
Photo taken 11-14-11.
Black Bottom
Black Bottom
Ellis Addition at Black Bottom
Ellis Addition at Black Bottom
Black Bottom
Black Bottom
The old Kroger Lot at Black Bottom
The old Kroger Lot at Black Bottom
The old Kroger Lot at Black Bottom
The old Kroger Lot at Black Bottom
The old Fortuna's Produce Market taken 11-11-11.
The old Fortuna's Produce Market taken 11-11-11.
The old Busy Bee Beer Garden at Mt. Gay taken 11-11-11.
The old Busy Bee Beer Garden at Mt. Gay taken 11-11-11.
Logan Banner ad for Brownie Brothers Circus at Elis Park. Clipping courtesy of Dwight Williamson.
Logan Banner ad for Brownie Brothers Circus at Elis Park. Clipping courtesy of Dwight Williamson.
I have old phiotos of Kinnis and his inventions,also his role in Anse Hatfields funeral.1920 vacation pics from Florida. He was my great grand father, also pics of his wifw Rachael Dempsey Deskins. His dau. Brook was my grandmother. Ruby Tomblin (Enock) was my great aunt
Hi Mike, Kennis is my great-grandfather as well. Can you post your photos? Would love to hear from you and share info on the Deskins and Dempseys. Rose Deskins is my grandmother. I remember meeting Ben, Ed and your grandmother Brook. my email is nevadarose9@gmail.com. Hope to hear from you.
In the last several days I’ve been looking at some of the on-line Sanford fire-insurance maps held by the Library of Congress, a few of which cover Logan and nearby communities like Mt. Gay, West Logan, Stollings, etc. One such map of 1918 shows a little of a “trolley line” that was coming from the vicinity of the Gay coal mine at Mt. Gay and stopping right at the power plant, which was identified as the Logan County Power & Light Co.
As someone noted earlier in this forum, Gay got rid of their slate and other refuse and laid the foundation for Black Bottom. My guess is that much of it got there by way of this “trolley line.”
I
Robert,
The trestle structure (and “trolley wire”) shown in Image 2 of the 1918 Sanford Fire maps and the trestle structure shown as Image 2 of the 1922 Sanford Fire maps represent facilities of the Aracoma Coal Company (not Gay Coal Co.).
The structure is a 25-foot high, 950-foot long wooden trestle that carried coal directly from Aracoma Coal’s mines at Coal Branch to the power plant.
In the Main Photo Gallery of this website are pictures of the trestle at various stages of its existence. Those photos are numbers 205, 210 and 316 (numbering as of this date). Photo 316 is a good overall view of the trestle dated 1925.
Undated Photo 205 shows the trestle track system in detail. Oddly, it appears that there is a bucket-line conveyor system alongside the track system. This suggests to me that at some point, the rail system was replaced by a bucket-line conveyor.
Photo 210 dated early-1930’s shows the remnants of the trestle track structure.
Although the power plant was not built until 1915, it appears that as early as 1911, Aracoma Coal Company hauled its coal in mine cars across the river to the railroad by a steel trestle bridge at Aracoma. Photo 625 in the gallery shows that facility. Likewise, Image 8 of the 1922 Sanford map shows that arrangement.
In the WV Geological Survey of 1915, at page 642 thereof, it states:
“…. In the vicinity of Logan, several prospects have been made in the Campbell Creek Coal. The best thickness obtained was at the Aracoma Coal Company Opening (No. 739 on Map II), 0.6 miles northwest of Logan, where this Company has driven a tunnel through this seam to reach its incline to the Cedar Grove Coal above……”
I always look forward to your comments and observations.
The following info was sent to me on November 13, 2017 in an e-mail from Eddie Atkins,1928 to 2020. I delivered newspapers until the second year of WWII to the Sidebottom Hotel in Black Bottom. I got to know the family really well. Warren Sidebottom, 1930 to 1987 graduated with my class of 1947. I best remember the one they called ” Fats ” for good reason as they claimed he weighed about 300 lbs. and this was at a time everyone else was skinny. Fats ordered a 1946 big four door Chrysler from L.B. Smith at Aracoma Motors and he had special overload springs installed along with two trumpet horns mounted outside on the hood. At that time it was the classiest car around. Any time Fats would give you a toot on what we called his ” Trombones ” ” you was a star “. Hopefully someone from the present day Sidebottom family can add more to their history. Maybe they have family photos that they can post to this Logan site.
I lived in Shamrock. We used to walk from Shamrock to Logan via Black Bottom. My grandmother worked at an upholstery shop near there, I believed call Sites? I remember the big dollar store there. We were poor, if we were lucky enough to find a coin on the road we would go there to spend it 🙂
My father used to drop me off at my aunt’s place in Black Bottom sometimes in the late ’50’s. I remember them having an apartment over some business. I would play outside with her boys. I don’t recall any black children playing with us. The story that the family likes to tell is that one time when my dad came to get me, I was covered in so much black soot that he gave me a bath before he would put me in the car!
Anita, maybe your Aunt didn’t allow it.
I recall black boys walking from Black Bottom
to Cherry Tree to shoot basketball in our yard.
I love the history and all the pictures. I was not born when most of these pics were taken. I was born in 75 but i can recall all the early 80’s/late 70’s in a way. I recall kcity getting flooded, luckys lounge, Fatunas, Baisden Bros. I was in jr high at east when shoneys was built. My jr high demoed now and i managed a section of brick wall sitting in my office, i also worked from 12yrs old till i got out of high school at logan at Chiraco’s for Frank and flash at the car wash. I have great memories of my childhood. Work was booming then, i loved the park pool, i was in the shows at the park, i remember before mcds was built and when the Zodiac was there. IGA, the car wash next to IGA. The logan movie theater and capitol movies. I would see one on fri and go to the other on Sat cause they showed diff movies, morrisons, mecca, janets, i lived at McConnel and sumbeam and lastly on 3mile curve when we bought a place there. Went to Dehue chambers. Morrisons walk in, Gus had the movie rental store. Logan bowling alley. Back then town was where all the teens hung out and cruised town. Walmart and all that didn’t exist. Ames was at Rita and monitor. It seemed bussiness did great. I don’t recall a lot of crime back then. We was able to leave doors unlocked. Where Tops is that was Cassidy’s and Phils was in town. Bill sheridan was on the local radio station which he also was a great actor on stage. I was lucky to work on stage witn him once before the heat ended his park theatre work during Fidler on the roof but seen him do a amazing job as Dracula when i was 12yrs old. Im 44yrs old now. The Christmas season back then looked beautiful. I love Logan and although i work in TN Logan will always be home. I am
In to visit family every so often.. logan is home to me always.
Does anyone remember a baby left at the bus station in 1942?
In the fall of 1942, 1943 and 1944 I and other members of the Logan High School band put several hours a week in Black Bottom, rehearsing for band maneuvers to be done at football games. As I remember it, Black Bottom was one of the few large flat areas anywhere around. Transportation to and from the school was by school bus.
K.F. DESKINS SOUNDS DOOM OF NOTORIOUS “BLACK BOTTOM” (Logan Banner, 24 July 1928)
“‘Bye, bye, Black Bottom!’ That is the lament of a new parody that is becoming popular in Deskins addition. It means that Black Bottom, notorious for its crime and squalor, and an eye-sore on a much-traveled highway, is to undergo a drastic change. This announcement is made on the authority of K.F. Deskins, the Duke of Deskins addition. And he adds that henceforth Black Bottom is to be known as White Bottom and a sign proclaiming this change of name will be erected this week. All this comes about following the sale of 72-foot frontage on the main highway beyond the turn into Coal Branch by C.T. Robbins to Mr. Deskins. There will be some razing and repairing and some marked improving, the purchaser told The Banner on Saturday. ‘I have notified all tenants to leave and it is my purpose to improve greatly the appearance and raise the moral tone thereabouts,’ was the gist of his revealment of his plans. ‘Already, other property owners and residents have thanked me for the step I have taken to wipe out this obnoxious quarter,’ he said.”
Hi, is there anyway I can copy this information Kennis is my great-grandfather. I am on Ancestry and always looking for stories about family.
Hi, Rosa. Yes. Glad to meet you here on WordPress.
Thank you Brandon. It’s nice to meet you and I must say, you have an amazing Blog. It is truly a gift.
A 1937 newspaper article at this address (https://loganwv.us/bits-of-history/#-1/42/the-logan-banner-nov-12-1937-early-life-in-logan-county-described-by-k-f-deskins.jpg) in the Bits of History and Nostalgia link on this site, details that Deskins Addition was named after John Wesley Deskins who was the father of K.F. Deskins, a successful Logan County businessman (and inventor) who owned much of the area known as Deskins Addition. The article describes that the Deskins family owned some 600 acres of land. A 600-acre block of land would measure about 5,000 feet on each side, larger than what is now Deskins Addition, Black Bottom, Ellis Addition, City View, Mt. Gay, Coal Branch combined. It is likely that the Deskins family owned land in areas of Logan County other than Deskins Addition.
K.F. Deskins’ birth records show him as Kennis Farro Deskins. The 1900 Logan County census shows him as Kennesse Deskins. He lived there in the 1920’s.
K.F. Deskins married Rachel Hulda Dempsey, the sister of my grandfather, Sherman Peter (Uncle Pete) Dempsey. K.F. Deskins and Rachel were aunt and uncle to my father, Homer Dempsey.
Deskins and some of his family moved to Barboursville where he had real estate holdings and operated a commercial berry farm in the early 1930’s. Some of the Deskins family continued to live in Logan until around 1950 or so, in a house located adjacent to where the State Police headquarters building was at the Triangle area. As a child in the 1940’s, I visited the Deskins family in Logan and Barbourville with my parents several times. I think one of his sons continued to live for many more years in a large two-story brick house across from the Shoney’s site at Logan. I think that house is no longer there.
My grandfather’s wife died when my father, Homer Dempsey, was very young. During his early youth and teenage years, my father came to spend a lot of time with the K.F. Deskins family for extended periods, both in Logan and at Barboursville. I recall my father telling me that Deskins “rented” the carnival site at Black Bottom to the carnival people and my father “kept check” on them for Mr. Deskins.
Likewise, as a high school teenager while at Barboursville in the early 1930’s, my father managed the berry farm for Mr. Deskins and also collected rents and did other real estate work for him. My father told me that K.F. Deskins absolutely would not loan any tool to anybody, but instead, he would readily offer to loan that person money to buy a tool. My father said that Deskins insisted that every farm tool be returned to a tool room at the end of the day and he even went so far as to paint the outline of the shapes of the tools on the wall so that each was placed in the proper location.
My father went to Garrett, KY for his last year of high school in 1933 where he lived with my grandfather’s brother, Dr. Mark Dempsey. After a brief stint at Alice Lloyd College in Kentucky, my father returned to live on Crawley Creek and became a well known “moonshiner” delivering moonshine to the coal mine camps on Mud Fork and to clients in Logan and to the juke joints in the community of Negroes at “Black Bottom” for a few years.
In the mid-1930’s, my father began his coal mining career working in coal mines at Merrill Coal Company (Chief Logan Park area). While there, he was given the task of installing the company’s first unit of mechanized loading mining equipment. Over the next 40+ years he worked in supervisory and management positions for various Logan County companies including Logan County Coal at Lundale, Island Creek Coal at #28 Mud Fork, #22 Holden, Guyan #? at Stowe (and briefly at Island Creek’s mine in Evanston, KY.). He retired from Chafin Coal Company after a severe injury.
On several occasions, when I was in my early teens in the 1950’s and walking through Logan with my father, we would happen to meet up on the street with various older Negro men who would recall and reminisce about the times when they had bought moonshine from my father many years earlier.
One night around 1958 when I was about 16yrs old, my brother-in-law who played drums and I walked about a mile and a half or so from Thompson Town on Mud Fork to one of the juke joints in Black Bottom where he made a deal with a guy for a big brass cymbal about 2 feet in diameter. The only way to carry the cymbal was to hold it like a serving tray in both hands. Imagine how that looked to passersby!
Douglas, wonderful family history.
Do you have any family photos
that you can share with this
Logan website?
My grandfather lived in the Mt Gay area and in 1942 he was hit with a car and died. His name was Ace Browning. My dad’s name was Clell Browning.
Holy hotcakes and milk shakin’ mamma! Wow~I’ve been looking for information on my g-grandpa, Dr. Mark Dempsey–and found him mentioned in your posting. He had a brother?? I know nothing about him; my grandmother Oma Dempsey was 1 of his 2 daughters from his first marriage to Lena, I believe her name was. Grandma and Corby, her sis, apparently didn’t talk about him much, if at all. I know he sent her to a liberal arts college founded by abolitionists, and know nothing about her sister. If you have any info on him at ALL, I’d love it; everyone I know who could help has passed, and frankly, I’m not gettin’ any younger m’self. Douglas, if you–or anyone–knows anything about my family, could you please email me? bluezwmn@aol.com, and please use Dempsey in the subject line so I won’t delete it as spam.
Thanks in advance!
~Deb H.
Deb,
A week or so ago I talked to my sister about your request for info and she said she would Email you genealogical info about Doctor Mark Dempsey.
Since my father lived with Mark (and graduated from high school) in Garrett, KY he had many tales about Doc Dempsey which are part of my family’s lore. He was such a pertinent part that I named my son Mark after him.
I understand that you reside in Washington state. There is a woman there that is a foremost genealogical authority on the Dempsey clan. I met her at a Dempsey reunion in Logan around 1995. I don’t readily recall her name but I think I have info about her in my papers.
Stay in touch!
Hello, great information. Kennis and Rachel are my great-grandparents and I would love to copy this to my ancestry tree. I shared a story on Ancestry about Kennis having the first flush toilet in Logan. My aunt said he charged a penny for non-family members to use it. Not sure if that is true.
I put my comments in the wrong place, sorry. I would like to copy your comments regarding Kennis and Rachel to my Ancestry Tree with your permission. Will be glad to credited it to you. They are my great-grandparents.
Hi Douglas, great story and information. I heard great-grandpa Kennis was an inventor. Do you know what he invented? I’ve heard something to do with plumbing, window sashes and fence posts, but can’t confirm. His daughter Rose Deskins is my grandmother. Anything you want to share would be appreciated. Thank you
Rose,
The only invention I have heard of is a window sash latching device. My sister is into genealogy and I think she has found a copy of some document pertaining to the patent. I’ll ask her about it.
P.S. Where are you located?
That would be great. Thanks. I’m in NV.
Hi Douglas, if my info on Ancestry is correct, your uncle Sherman Peter is my 2nd great-uncle and Homer is my 1st cousin 2x removed, so we are related. I don’t have Mark Dempsey on my tree but it could be that the info on him is private. I try not to put anything private on Ancestry. Anyway, nice to meet a Dempsey relative.
My father Arthur Calvin Warren was born in Black Bottom in 1924.
The lot where K-City was did use to be a Kroger store.
I can remember the camps at the foot of city view where the black high school, Aracoma High School was during segregation in 1957. I was only 5 years old and there was a lack Family whose last name was Scruggs! Miss Kate was the lady who baby sit me on the hill overlooking the old school us garage! I remember those days like yesterday! The smell when they finally torn down the black camps that had no running water or toilets! If anyone remembers Charles Boatwright, Kate was his grandmother and his mother’s nickname was Miss Piggy!
Tony Chirico had Tony’s Big Dollar . Next to his store was a small beer garten that was owned by Ms. Enochs, maiden name was a Webb. She had a sister, a nurse at Guyan Valley by the name of Ruby. There was a TV Repair Shop across the street and Shorty Hartman owned a truck shop at the foot of City View! This was was 1950’s
I worked at the Big Dollar in 1961—I remember a Blackburn family that lived on City View—-send me an e-mail jstiver1@bellsouth.net —-
Folks, Blackbottom got it’s name because of the concentration of negroes there. Being PC at this time is BS. Challenge me if you want but I think if you talk to Dwight Williamson you will know more facts that you will believe.
A friend of mine did a lot research on Black Bottom. She concluded that there were never enough black families living there to support that theory.
Additionally, as you pointed out, black people were referred to as Negros back then. Consequently, it is doubtful they would have used the term Black Bottom to referred to the area because of the number of the Negros living there.
Admin: I will agree with your friend’s research- “She concluded that there were never enough black families living there to support that theory”. I attended school at Aracoma Junior/High School on the campus where most Logan County School buses were garaged. During my six years of schooling I can count less than six black families that lived in the Black Bottom area. My recollection there were plenty used car lots ; hardware store, etc. My uncles and brother worked for the small grocery chain (Victory Grocery; etc) that was located directly off-campus as well as in the Cherry Tree addition.
My family is from their. With Slavery or white men wanting beautiful black girls or half breeds. Their Father’s names are missing because when black women marry they assume his name. The black bottom had several black families but those who could pass for a dirty shade of white passed. Horrible record keeping. It would be great to see the yearbooks to the only black school in town. The city didn’t supply clean water or a sewer system hence the smell. I’m looking for Reynolds Owen’s, Scott’s and William’s from this area.
I lived in Black Bottom as a child and do recall seeing a black man exiting a car. He stepped into a mud puddle and when he pulled his foot out, there was a snake coiled around his ankle. I remember screaming and running away.
Loren I lived in blacklisting when I was a kid and I do believe your right
That’s the reason this area was called Black Bottom , shacks where blacks had to live because whites didn’t want them around , also every shack had a juke box and a freezer full of beer . When I was high school we used to go there after hours and drink . Prostitution was also everywhere .
When I was a young man back in the day I had a great time in Blackbottom. I can not remember any derogatory comments about the area or slams against our neighbors.
Black Bottom got its name from the black ash & cinders dumped there by the power plant that was located where AEP is now…
My school bus driver was Anny Gaylock , she did Rum Creek all the way to Slagle
It is what it is. Logan past and present. I lived in St Petersburg Florida for 13 years. After retiring I returned to Logan. I have not regretted it. I really enjoyed living in paradise but it has its problems too. At least this is home. There are still good people living here. Still most are friendly. We have a lot of problems but none any worse than anywhere else.
I’m not sure we are talking about the same place, but I lived in the first building (blue now) apartments on top and a produce store on the bottom. I think a furniture store next. Straight across the road we could see carnivals and tent revivals when they came to town. This was in the fifties.
You are partially correct. Carnivals were generally held where across from where LA Liguor is. I worked in some of the carnivals with Margo the Snake Woman.
the pilars that you see in the pics are from a used carlot that was there it was mike ferrell’s used cars tha there used to be light post set on them . i thought i’d let you know . god bless
Frank, You take excellent pictures but I have tears in my eyes and believe me, they are not tears of joy. Those pictures are such a sad sad sight. I never would have recognized any of it. Are you sure you want to show the world what has happened to our home town? The only way I could get my bearings at all was to see where Shoney’s was located and go back towards Mt. Gay. I wish someone could find some copies of how it used to look- Anyone know which of these pictures would be where the carnival grounds were located? The carnival grounds were in the heart of “Black Bottom” but I can’t tell from the pictures where they were. I know the carnival grounds were at the foot of City View Hill where I grew up, but nothing in the pictures is the same. I couldn’t even find the foot of City View Hill. I did see one nice 2 story brick home still standing at Ellis Addition (near Baisden Brothers). That house is where my Girl Scout Leader lived in the 1940s. Thank you, Frank, for this website. The old pictures and our memories are the only parts of our childhood that are still beautiful and real.
It might have been the old Kroger parking lot before my time, but, I only knew that spot to be K-City being a discount store. Was it Kroger before that? Also, I believe Jeremy is correct, that that once was a car lot and those are light post anchors.
Earl, this website has a 1947 phone
book. On page 10 lists a Black Bottom
Garage in Deskins Addition. Also lists
lots of car dealerships in Deskins Addition.
Black Bottom was also known as
Deskins Addition.
Sorry Bob, I was referring to two different pics in reference to the Kroger Parking Lot. There is a pic in the bunch above called the old Kroger parking lot. That is the one I was pretty sure was a K-City discount store. On the car lot, well, I definitely agree with you both. Have a good one!
The “old Kroger parking lot” is where K-City used to be..it was a Kroger’s when it first began..Was the first store in Logan with automated doors that opened when you came up to them..
It was previously a Kroger store as my father was the butcher.