ABNEY PARK

The most famous Park that never was

This map shows the plan for Abney Park in Kanawha City,  (which in fact WAS a park for many years, but mostly undeveloped) on what is now South Park Road and the site of the Union Mission Settlement.  See larger map HERE

I have superimposed some of the features from the top map onto this one, to show approximately where the planned features would be located.  The yellow line shows the approximate park boundary line, which consisted of over 800 acres.

The story of Abney Park is both interesting and sad.

The Union Mission ( a rescue Mission) was founded by Pat Withrow,  a self proclaimed sinner and preacher.  The purpose and cause of the Union Mission must have been very powerful, because look at the names of  it's benefactors and supporters, especially the Abney family, John Q Dickinson and Col Albert Humphreys. "GIVEN AN 800 ACRE PARK"? Lets look further...

                             



Yes, the road to the top (about where the Landfill is today)  was opened and traveled even in 1925.

But something happened that same year: What is was is not clear as of this writing, but I hope to discover why Col Humphreys decided not to spend what today would be the equivalent of $1,5 million dollars to improve the park.

The park continued as a small unimproved park for the next 20 years Many picnics and hundreds of community baseball games and events were held at the park for years, but only at the bottom of the valley.  The land on top was never improved.   Again, with all those wealthy backers, we dont know what happened as of this writing.  All we know is that the Union Mission tried to turn the property over to the city of Charleston by 1939. 1939 The city spent time and effort to lay out the park, but something happened; 1939 Charleston had a small city park up on the hill near the Spring Hill Cemetery which later became "City Park Village".  This might have figured-in to not supporting Abney Park.  But I have a feeling that there was more to the story.  Why did everyone drop out of the project and stay out?  Why wouldnt the city want close to 800 acres of free land?  The Daily Mail "back in the day" claimed that Charleston was "the largest Parkless City" in the nation.  Unlike Huntington and most others, Charleston has always come up short on a large municipal park.  We might have had one, but those days are long gone and land is now too scarce.

Who was Frank W. Abney?

Francis Worth Abney was regarded as one of the leading financiers of West Virginia. His business interests are very extensive, and he is or has been connected with almost every important enterprise in the city. Mr. Abney was born in Bossier parish, Louisiana, his father dying in comparatively early life. Mr. Abney was educated at Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia. For some years he was associated as partner with Colonel Morgan Jones, the well-known railroad man of the Southwest, now of Fort Worth, Texas, the business of the firm being that of railroad contractors.  He was the first president of the Charleston, Clendenin & Sutton Railway (later the Coal & Coke Railroad), which he organized and partly built.  In 1876 Mr. Abney settled in Charleston, West Virginia, becoming associated in business with his father-in-law, Mr. Enos Arnold. In the following year they started a small wholesale dry goods business under the style of Arnold & Abney, which grew rapidly and soon commanded a prosperous trade. In 1887 Mr. E. A. Barnes entered the firm, which then became Arnold, Abney & Company, and so continued until 1900, when Mr. W. O. Abney and Mr. A. S. Thomas became associated with the business as junior partners, the style of the firm then being changed to Abney, Barnes & Company. By this time the business had grown until the sales amounted to about $800,000 annually. In 1906 Mr. Abney retired from the business to become president of the Charleston-Kanawha Trust Company, of which he was the organizer.  In 1910 he reorganized this company and materially increased its capital. This company did a very considerable business in financing new enterprises, including coal, oil, gas, timber and land companies, and has been very successful. When the Union Trust Company of Charleston was organized, in 1913. Mr. Abney was chosen as its president. The Union Trust Company owns and occupies one of the finest bank and office buildings in the state, a thoroughly modern and imposing structure of thirteen stories, at the junction of  Kanawha and Capitol streets, in Charleston.  In addition, Mr. Abney was president of the Charleston Manufacturing Company, a director in the Charleston Industrial Corporation at Nitro, and had oil and coal holdings. Mr. Abney married Kate V. Arnold, who was born in Charleston, and was the daughter of Enos and Cynthia Noyes Arnold.  Mrs. Abney died in July, 1910.

I leave you with this funny story of Abney Park in 1929

This page is still under construction. Additions and corrections will be made as it progresses.


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