Wv Est. 1863.

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Capitol Plaza Theater

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    A modern view of the industrial park. Photo sourced from clio.com Everybody in the Charleston area knows about the South charleston ordnance center AKA Industrial Park. How much do you really know, though? Did you know the buildings were originally built for WWI by the Navy? I can't say for certain exactly what year because I've heard and read different things, some say it was built before the war but others say during the war. My personal opinion is that it was started during the war, I say that because I know that it wasn't completed in time to produce a lot for WWI.       In 1922 the plant was closed because of the naval treaty of 1922. It was reopened in 1939 and contributed a lot to WWII. They produced tiny tim rockets (air to ground rockets), torpedo flasks and more than 130,000 of the huge gun barrels for navy ships. .     Photo of the Naval Ordnance plant. Sourced from clio.com inside of the Nav...
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"Mad Ann" Bailey

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A pic a friend and I took of the grave of Ann Bailey when we visited Point Pleasant in 2022 “Mad Ann” Bailey was a famous frontierswoman. History.com names her one of the 7 gutsiest women on the American frontier, in a March 2018 article.    I went to Ann Bail ey Elementary, where I think I was misinf ormed about who A nn Bailey really was , or maybe after all these years, I just don’t fully remember what I was taught. In any event I was surprised to re-learn about Ann Baily in recent years.   Ann Hennis came from Liverpool, England around 17 61 to Virginia. She was an educated woman. She married her first husband, Richard Trotter , in Virginia. Richard was a Sh enandoa Valley settler. He also participated in and survived General Edward Braddock’s disastrous expedition of 1 755 (a major event in the French and Indian war) . Richard was killed in Lord Dunmore ’s war AKA The Battle of Point Pleasant . I covered Lord Dunmore’s war in deta il in my book, Ce...
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