Submitted by: Carla Haslam Herkner
I was born at Logan General Hospital in 1949. At that time and until about 1951, my parents and I lived in an apartment located in the Capital movie theater building. That is why you see pictures of me playing on a rooftop. That is the rooftop of the Capital theater building. I even had a swing up there. I could have the name of the movie theater incorrect, but my mother thinks that was the name. I know there were 2 movie theaters in Logan at the time. I’m pretty sure our building was just down the street from the Aracoma Masonic Lodge location today.
From 1949 to 1951, my parents, John and Thelma Haslam were co-owners of the Vogue Dress Shop. That business venture did not go well, and so after that we re-located to the suburbs of Washington, D.C. My parents lived for over 50 years in Vienna, VA.
Our neighbor who played with me was Toni McNeely.
![Monaville, WV Valentines Day Card](https://loganwv.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Monaville-Valentine-Day-Card.jpg "Courtesy of Carla Haslam Herkner She writes: "From a young man in Monaville, WV, 1917, sent to Aunt Emily."")
Courtesy of his daughter, Carla Haslam Herkner.
In memory of John James Haslam courtesy of the Haslam family.
Courtesy of Carla Haslam Herkner.
Courtesy of the John Haslam family.
Courtesy of the John Haslam family.
Courtesy of the John Haslam family.
Courtesy of the John Haslam family.
Courtesy of the John Haslam family.
Courtesy of the John Haslam family.
Courtesy of the John Haslam family.
Courtesy of the John Haslam family.
Courtesy of the John Haslam family.
Courtesy of Carla Haslam Herkner.
Monitor Road ~ a book by Carla Haslam Herkner
Courtesy of Carla Haslam Herkner.
Courtesy of Carla Haslam Herkner.
Monitor Road ~ a book by Carla Haslam Herkner
Courtesy of Carla Haslam Herkner.
Monitor Road ~ a book by Carla Haslam Herkner
Monitor Road ~ a book by Carla Haslam Herkner
Dear Carla, Yesterday I was thinking of you. How are you?
Hi Carla,
Thanks for this blog, learned a lot about Logan, WV. I’m a good friend, student & godson of the late Tom Defobio, son of Alex Defobio (owner of Capitol Theatre) & former congressman of West Virginia.
Warmest Regards,
Erich
Hi Carla,
It’s awesome to stumble upon this blog regarding Logan, WV. I’ve heard a lot about Logan during my university days in the Philippines. The late Tommy Defobio or Tom happens to be a good friend of mine & I consider a mentor, we had great conversations about politics, economy, US history & his beloved Logan, WV. He eventually became one of my godfathers (principal sponsors) in my wedding in 2004. It’s nice to see his photos with Toni on the rooftop of the Capitol Theatre.
Warmest Regards,
Erich
Hello Wanda and Carl,
I received your wonderful note and I am so grateful that you enjoyed the book. It was so nice of Ron to give me your address and I held on to it until the book was complete and ready to send on to you. I guess at it’s heart it is a story of “The Golden Rule” and I just wish so many of the issues covered in my book would have improved for us all by this point in time. I promise to stop by for a visit on our next trip to Logan!
Happy Easter! ~ Best Wishes, Carla and Dave
Hi Carla & David,
Just want to say thank you for the book, it is really interesting, and was a big surprise to find out that our house is one of the main concepts of your book. We did not know anything about the history of our home until Ronald Curry stopped here one day. By the way, he is a very nice man. Hope that if you are ever in Logan again, you will stop in and see us…
God Bless,
Carl & Wanda Shepard
Carla, I have a group on facebook, Dehue Group and Rum Creek, Have been adding a lot of old Logan Pic’s. While my son was going to college he helped restore the old theater that is now Coalfield Jamboree, I left here after Graduation, moved back after 6 years, love my roots, love ypur old pic’s God bless. Lil
Thank you, Lil! I appreciate hearing from you. I’ll be visiting there in May and I am so looking forward to it. When your son helped restore the old theater, can you tell me where that is located? So happy to hear you enjoyed the pictures. I should be able to post more news within 3 or 4 more months, so stay tuned.
Best Regards, Carla
Carla,
I have no reason to send this except that I grew up around Chapmanville, left at 17, and all these years later am searching for Logan-area type of history a lot.
Thank you for taking the time and trouble to post this.
SS
Dear Carla: so sorry to hear about your mother. hope she progresses quicky. I am just going to put my e-mail in this. you could probably erase it after you read it. tonijmc@sbcglobal.net. Saw on a website that Mac DeFobio died in March this year. She would have been 100 in September. You mom knew her. her husband, Alex, died in 2005 or 06 and he was nearly 100. Amazing. Would love to hear from you Love Toni
Hello, dear, dear Toni!!! I would love to be in touch with you. So happy that you’ve found these pictures on this wonderful website of Frank’s. Sadly, mother has suffered a stroke on April 8th. She is fighting her way back. Yesterday, she walked 48 feet! She will try her hardest.
So wonderful to read your message!!!
Love,
Carla Haslam Herkner
(hopefully through Frank, you can get my e-mail address, OK?)
Carla: Loved the pictures of you and me and of Tommy DeFobio and me. I also went into other website and saw pixs of your dad as I remember him. Alex Defobio was the owner and operator of Capitol Theatre for a long time and before that he managed the Middleburg theatre. My dad, Frank McNeely, managed the Logan Theatre. Daddy was born in WV 1911 and died in San Jose CA 1988.
I remember “babysitting” (short trips when you mom went shopping and of course,my mother was right down the hall) you when you were little. I was so thrilled when you were born because I was an only child and I loved babies. You were like a little sister.
Frank, I enjoyed your comment – very informative. I can remember as kid I could go to the movies for only 20 cents. An adult ticket was 65 cents. I pretended to be twelve until I was about 15 and couldn’t get away with it any more. It wasn’t that I was cheap but 20 cents was usually all I could scrape up. I usually got the money by collecting soda bottles. I’d take them to Kroger’s for the 2 cents a bottle deposit.
It was the Capitol theater. Alex Defobio was usually the ticket taker. I think that there were three movie theaters in the city, the Logan, Capitol, and Midleburg. The late Bob Harris opened one next to the Logan Funeral Home. It was noted for the use of flourescent paints that would glow under UV lights. It is no longer in business. The Midleburg theater was run down and the joke about town was to buy two boxes of popcorn, one for you and one to feed the rats. Next door to the Midleburg was a guy named Tony. He was of foreign extraction but had the best popcorn and made tremendous ham sandwiches. Saturday night in Logan was a big shopping night. The stores stayed open until 9:00. The mines in the area would issue script to the miners and there were businesses in Logan that would convert the script to cash for a fee. Usually 10%. The Logan General was owned by Dr. Brewer and Dr. Kruger was one of the mainstays. I think the doctor’s clinic next door was named after him. Elections were crooked in Logan. For a long time that State of WV would not sell half pints of liquor due to vote buying. It was known as the half pint vote. At the polls a common trick was to get one blank ballot out of the polling place. They could do this by having someone put a blank piece of paper that looked like a ballot in the ballot box. Once they got a blank form out, they could premark it and tell the voter to bring another blank ballot out. To win an election you had to be on a so called “slate”. There were lots of slates and you could never tell which one was legit. Spring floods were common but the R. D. Bailey dam has pretty much put a stop to the Guyandotte flooding the town.