KINGWOOD — If you like Preston County history, old photos or both, a visit to the Kingwood Public Library will brighten your day.
The library is displaying a collection of old photos and postcards from around the county. It’s the one place you can see everything from sheep shearing in Hazelton to the 1870 Preston County courthouse.
The photos have come from a variety of sources, according to head librarian Joel Beane. Beane said the over the past 40 years the library has collected more than 100 antique photos and postcards.
“People have donated some of them, some came to us through book donations where they were being used as book markers,” he said. “If the book didn’t have a name in it, we didn’t know who to give the photo or postcard back to.”
Beane said he found some of the postcards and photos at yard sales. “I found a few postcards in North Carolina at a postcard and photo sale,” he said.
One postcard in the collection depicts Hopemont Hospital as it looked in 1913. A photo of the 1913 – 1914 Kingwood High School honor roll students hangs near a photo of the Hotel Frantz in Albright and the Home Motel in Bruceton Mills.
Beane said all of the photos and pictures on the postcards are of places and people in Preston County. He said a 1906 post card in the collection is of the Cheat River. Another is of a train engine coming from a tunnel.
Among the photos on display is one of Main Street Kingwood as it looked in 1956. Another photo is of horse-drawn wagons parked in front of the Graham Umgarner Co.
Beane said the library is still looking for photos and postcards of Preston County for its collection. . Anyone wishing to donate to the collection can do so by dropping the cards and photos off at the library.
Beane said he too has collected post cards over the years. He said many of them were sent to him by local people who dropped by the library before going on vacation.
“Someone I knew would come in and tell me they were going on vacation and I would say send me a postcard,” he said. “And they usually did.”
The Kingwood Public Library is open 9 a.m.–8 p.m. Monday, noon-5 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday and Friday, and 10 a.m.-2 p.m.Saturday.
