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The Ritter Park Amphitheater is a 1,500 seat outdoor venue. It was constructed circa 1932 by Works Progress Administration volunteers. The site was chosen by Gus Wofford, the park’s landscape architect, as it was tucked away from the main road, near the rose garden, and at the bottom of a small valley. At first, the amphitheater consisted solely of a simple stone stage. Seating was informal and primarily consisted of the upward sloping hill in front of the structure. In 1977, the amphitheater was expanded to include a brick and aluminum stage shell, and an enclosed backstage. The venue was again renovated in 2011, which did little to change the functionality of the stage but updated the aesthetics and improved structural stability. The Ritter Park Amphitheater continues to be used for a variety of events throughout the year, including the Outdoor Community Theater program, Ritter Live Concert Series, and the Huntington Music & Art Festival. 

Ritter Park Amphitheater

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The city of Huntington was incorporated in 1871, and over the next few decades developed into an industrial and railroad community. The south side of Huntington, in the area around Four Pole Creek, remained largely undeveloped and grew a reputation for crime and vice. Little else existed there except for some farm land and homes belonging to workers from local factories. In 1892, the area served as the site of Cabell County’s only public execution; a man named Allan Harrison was hung here after being convicted for the murder of Bettie Adams.By the early 1900s, many residents of Huntington sought for a public park to be created. A failed referendum was held in 1880 to purchase land for a park between Seventh and Eighth streets, and multiple other proposals for a park also failed over the next few years. Meanwhile, the City Council purchased fifty-five acres of land around Four Pole Creek in 1908 with the intention of building an incinerator. Their hope was that an incinerator would remedy the issue constant smoldering from the city dump, which was located in the Fairfield neighborhood. Reportedly, there was widespread opposition in the city to this plan. Lumber magnate and businessman Charles Lloyd Ritter, who built a mansion near the proposed site of the incinerator, donated an additional twenty acres to the city on the condition that they build a municipal park at Four Pole instead. Mayor Rufus Switzer supported the idea of a city park, and hired New Jersey landscape architect J. T. Withers to design one. Wither’s plan, however, was never used as Switzer was soon voted out of office. Ritter Park, named after Charles Lloyd Ritter for his donation, opened on September 11, 1913. Little construction had actually been done at the time, and further development of the park did not begin until after World War I. One notable early feature of the park was a small lake that was made on the north side of Four Pole Creek. It was named Lake Chaposcane, an amalgamation of the first two letters of the names of the city commissioners. The lake was reportedly not very popular with locals, as the water was constantly a muddy brown color. After a child drowned in the lake it was drained sometime in the 1920s. In 1923, a monument to businessman James Caldwell was erected on a hill called Gobbler’s Knob. It was demolished around 1945, after years of repeated vandalism and neglect.The Huntington Board of Park Commissions was established in 1925 and set to work developing Ritter Park. Construction of the park continued throughout the 1920s and 1930s. A number of roads, bridges, and stonework were likely built by volunteers serving with the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression. Following the reopening of Ritter Park, many new homes were constructed alongside the park up until the 1940s. They included architectural styles such as Tudor Revival, grand Colonial, and Classical Revival. Around 1936 a rose garden was created, designed by Park Commission member Gus C. Wofford.Over the years a number of amenities were added to Ritter Park including tennis courts, picnic shelters, walking trails, an amphitheatre, a playground, a dog park, and public art sculptures. The park today is one of the most popular outdoor recreational centers in the Huntington area. It hosts a number of community events each year including plays, concerts, festivals, photo shoots, picnics, reunions, and weddings. In 1990 the park and surrounding neighborhood were added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Ritter Park Historic District. In 2012, the American Planning Association named Ritter Park one of the “10 Great Public Places in America.”Charles Lloyd Ritter, for which the park is named, was born in Muncy, Pennsylvania, in 1865. Ritter first entered the lumber business in Oakvale, Mercer County, West Virginia, in 1889. A few years later, he took his business to Welch and founded the Tug River Lumber Company; later he moved his enterprise to Bluefield, then Bristol, Virginia, and finally Huntington, in 1901. Ritter married Marshall College graduate Mabel McClintock and invested in Huntington commercial properties, lumber, coal, gas, and mineral developments. He was a director of the First National Bank of Huntington, president of the Ritter-Burns Lumber Company, the Ritter Hardwood Lumber Company, the C. L. Ritter Lumber Company, the Central Realty Company, the Huntington Land Company, the Rock Castle Lumber Company, the Turkey Foot Lumber Company, the Norfolk Land Company, the Empire Furniture Company, and others. Ritter died in 1945.

The land formerly known as Four Pole Creek on the outskirts of town in Huntington, West Virginia, remained undeveloped after the city's incorporation. Residents hardly used the area due to the relatively remote location and the area's association with criminal activity. In 1908, city officials purchased fifty-five acres of land here with the intention of building an incinerator. Local businessman Charles Lloyd Ritter donated an additional twenty acres of land in exchange for having it turned into a municipal park instead. Ritter Park opened in 1913, but most of its development did not occur until the 1920s and 30s. The park helped promote Huntington as an attractive and prosperous city in the twentieth century. For over a century, Ritter Park has provided a place for residents to relax in beautiful scenery, exercise,  and gather for community events ranging from outdoor theater to festivals. The park and surrounding neighborhood were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

James Lewis Caldwell was born in Elizabeth, Writ County, Virginia in 1846. Not much is known about his childhood, though at some point his family lived in Meigs County, Ohio, where Caldwell attended school. In 1863, at the age of 17, he enlisted in Company F of the Sixtieth Ohio Infantry. He participated in some of the fiercest battles of the Civil War such as the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and Appomattox. Following the war, Caldwell resided near Wheeling, while working in the insurance business. Sometime during the 1870s, he moved to Guyandotte where he worked in the lumber industry.Caldwell later moved to the new city of Huntington in the early 1880s, where he became active in local business. By 1884, he had organized the First Bank of Huntington and would serve as its president for 40 years. “He brought the bank to a point where it was the largest in the state in resources, having assets of over eight million dollars.”[1] He also organized the Huntington Electric Light &amp; Street Railway Company, which built a pioneering electric railway, in 1892. In addition he organized and built the Guyandotte Valley Railway, now part of the Chesapeake &amp; Ohio System; was president of the Consolidated Light &amp; Railway Company at Republican, Illinois; president of the Dingess Run Coal Company, secretary and treasurer of the Logan Cannel Coal Company, and a director and member of the executive committee of the Huntington Land Company. Caldwell also served as a delegate at large at the National Republican Convention of 1904, in a sign of his growing influence.[2]Caldwell died on October 18, 1923. In 1926, the Caldwell family received permission from the Huntington Board of Park Commissioners to erect a marble fountain honoring him for his service in the Union Army and to the City of Huntington. Built at a cost of $20,000 the memorial was located in Ritter Park off of Caldwell Road on the lookout known as “Gobbler's Knob.” Over the years, the memorial fountain was vandalized and fell into disrepair: people carved their initials into the marble and granite, the lights circumscribing the monument were stolen, and the fountain itself eventually stopped running. It is uncertain what provoked the vandalism, although it is possible that Confederate sympathizers were to blame. The relatively isolated location of the fountain also made it easy for perpetrators to go unnoticed. In 1939, Ida Caldwell McFaddin, who lived in Beaumont, Texas, returned to visit family in Huntington. She was shocked upon her return to see the memorial vandalized and not cared for. McFaddin then requested that the Huntington Park Board either repair the memorial or tear it down. For several years following McFadden’s disappointment of the monument’s condition in 1939, she and the Park Board argued over what to do with the memorial. The Park Board resisted, but McFadden was persistent with her complaints about the memorial's condition. Finally, the memorial fountain was dismantled in 1945.  [1] West Virginia In History, Life, Literature and Industry, (The Lewis Publishing Company, 1928), Volume 5, 285.[2] West Virginia In History, Life, Literature and Industry, 286.[3] James E. Casto, “Lost Huntington: Caldwell Memorial,” The Herald Dispatch, December 09, 2013. <a href="http://www.herald-dispatch.com/features_entertainment/lost-huntington-caldwell-memorial/article_ef54a1db-fe52-5db2-a88d-14be6a5a7f9b.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.herald-dispatch.com/features_entertainment/lost-huntington-caldwell-memorial/article_ef54a1db-fe52-5db2-a88d-14be6a5a7f9b.html</a>.

James Lewis Caldwell was an influential business leader in Huntington, West Virginia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He was a veteran of the Civil War, serving in Company F of the Sixtieth Ohio Infantry and fighting in the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and Appomattox. Later in life he became a very influential businessman in Huntington, organizing and operating a number of enterprises such as the First Bank of Huntington and the Huntington Electric Light & Street Railway Company. Upon his death in 1923, the Caldwell family sought to have a monument built in his honor. The family and the Huntington Board of Park Commissioners erected a monument to him on a hilltop in Ritter Park known as Gobbler's Knob. After years of neglect and vandalism, it was dismantled in 1945.

James Caldwell Memorial (1923-1945)

Earth Portal was created by Taylor “Butch”  Frazier Jr. in 1999. The work of public art is constructed of welded stainless and regular steel. Over the years, the stainless steel components of the piece have remained in good condition, while the regular steel components have rusted and decayed. As the work contains both types of metal, this was clearly a conscious choice by Frazier. The message contained in this choice is perhaps relatable to the human condition. Frazier suffered from lung cancer near the end of his life, and in fact, it is what encouraged him to begin creating sculptures. The rusted and pristine sides of Earth Portal could relate to both the public and private identities Frazier lived as he was dying, and to the way our bodies decay over time while other aspects remain the same. Additionally, the name of the piece seems to allude to Frazier’s own passing from living to another place or state of being. Earth Portal was dedicated on May 2, 1999 and Frazier passed away the next day. A personal friend of Frazier’s said of Earth Potal, “Butch wanted it to live in Ritter Park so folks could sit on it… kids could play on it… he probably wouldn’t have even minded the bits of graffiti.”1

Earth Portal

The Ritter Park Fountain was constructed in 1999. The family of D. Sterling Diddle donated the fountain and plaza in Diddle’s memory. Diddle was born in Huntingon in 1896 and was a prominent businessman. He founded the Guaranty Bank and Trust Company in 1939. This enterprise grew to be worth over $140 million in 1988, when Diddle accepted an offer from the Charleston based National Banc of Commerce to merge the two banks. The fountain itself is a simple stone circle with a central jet surrounded by smaller jets on the edges. The decorated stone arches and retaining walls adjacent to the fountain are original elements designed by Gus Wofford in the 1920s.  In 2019, the fountain received a major renovation, which fixed the fiberglass bottom, improved the waterflow, and made the entire feature computer controlled. LED lighting was also added for additional customization. The repairs and modernizations cost just shy of $135,000, a lion’s share of which was raised by Diddle’s grandson, Sterling Hall. Photographs of Ritter Park Fountain can frequently be found in local businesses and in the background of prom, wedding, and event photos.

The Ritter Park Fountain is one of Huntington’s most iconic landmarks. Constructed in 1999, the fountain is also adjacent to stonework designed by landscape architect Gus Wofford in the 1920s. The fountain, which is dedicated to an important local entrepreneur, received major renovations in 2019.

Ritter Park Fountain

After the death of Bettie Adams, Harrison was quickly apprehended and taken to Cabell County Jail. The Huntington Advertiser describes Harrison as deeply remorseful and quotes the accused as saying that he believed that he deserved to die for his crime. The Cincinnati Enquirer painted Harrison as a stone-cold killer, unremorseful, and quoted him saying that he would murder Bettie Adams again if he had the chance. Allen Harrison was found guilty of murder and sentenced to hang on November 17, 1892. The event took place at Four Pole, an area on the outskirts of town that was known for criminal elements. Newspaper accounts estimated 5,000 people witnessed the execution, close to half the city's population, along with people from Ohio and Kentucky. Prior to 1899, executions in West Virginia were public and were carried out at the county level with minimal state involvement. Starting in 1899, all executions were carried out privately in the West Virginia Penitentiary, and all executions carried out before 1950 were hangings. This changed with the introduction of the electric chair, which became the new method of execution in 1951. Ninety-four executions occurred between 1899, when executions were made a state responsibility, and 1959, the year of the last execution in West Virginia. West Virginia never executed a female, all were male. West Virginia abolished the death penalty in 1965.Ritter Park is consistently mentioned as one of the most impressive municipal parks among small cities. Given its previous reputation, however, it may not be surprising to find that the city purchased most of the land in 1908 and intended to operate a municipal incinerator at this location. However, as some of the more wealthy residents of the city were living adjacent to the park, influential citizens proposed an alternative — the development of a large municipal park. The plan attracted the support of Charles Lloyd Ritter, who donated 20 adjacent acres.The park opened in 1913, but at least some of the land might still have been sold to private developers, as the city had no funds to develop the park. In the midst of the Great Depression, however, community residents secured funds from the federal Works Progress Administration and began constructing the stonework and other features of the park. Given the previous reputation of this area and the pressure to use this land to support commercial development or a municipal waste facility, one may gain a deeper appreciation for the park and those who worked to preserve this land for future generations.

On November 21, 1892, 26-year-old Allan Harrison was publicly executed at Four Pole Creek, known today as Ritter Park. Harrison was sentenced to hang for the murder of 16-year-old Bettie Adams of Barboursville. The night before the execution, the city was buzzing, hotels sold out, and special trains brought area residents to town to witness the event. An estimated crowd of five thousand witnessed the hanging of Allen Harrison, Cabell County's first and only public execution.   

A Public Execution at Four Pole Creek (Ritter Park), Nov 21, 1892 

The Ritter Park Stone Circle is one of the finest examples of the rusticated stonework found throughout the park. These stone retaining walls, boundary markers, and landscape features were constructed around 1932 in a rusticated style. Despite their unpolished appearance, great care was put into the stonework, and there has been little deterioration over almost one hundred years of existence. The Works Progress Administration worked on Ritter Park, and typically worked in the rusticated style seen here, making it likely WPA volunteers were the builders. This particular stone area might have once been a part of the Rose Garden, perhaps as an event space. In looking to help the park keep up with the needs and wants of today’s citizens, the Greater Huntington Park & Recreation District began a 2015 campaign to install permanent game boards in the circle so that parkgoers can play chess, checkers, or other games. 

Ritter Park Stone Circle

For many years the area that became Ritter Park was merely an empty strip of land on the south end of Huntington. In the early 1910s Mayor Rufus Switzer successfully advocated to have a city park created on the property, following public opposition to a plan by the city council to construct an incinerator at the site. Ritter Park officially opened on September 11, 1913; it was named after Charles Lloyd Ritter, a local businessman who donated an extra twenty acres of land to bolster the size of the park. The land designated as the park actually remained largely undeveloped for the next several years. In 1925 the Huntington Board of Park Commissioners was established to operate Ritter Park. For the next decade the Board worked to develop the park and add facilities.One of the major improvements made by the Board of Park Commissioners was the creation of a public rose garden. The garden was largely planned by Gus C. Wofford, a landscape architect hired by the Board to design new sites in the park. In addition to the garden, Wofford was also responsible for designing the amphitheatre, stone bridges, picnic shelters, a tulip garden, and a series of lily ponds. The Rose Garden had opened to the public by 1935. The following year a Jacob Eversdyke was hired to be its first rosarian. The garden’s characteristic stone works, including retaining walls, flights of steps, benches, and a center arch, were built by the Works Progress Administration, which was responsible for much of the construction at the park during the 1930s. The garden also originally included lily ponds, which have since been dismantled.The Rose Garden underwent renovations during the 1970s, and in 1997 a maintenance shed, off-street parking, and a visitors’ center were added to the site. The center, named the Room With A View, is available to rent for private events. The garden contains around 3,000 rose bushes, representing over 200 different breeds. The flowers typically reach full bloom in late May or early June. It is a designated test garden; new batches of roses are sent here each year to be tested before being offered to the public for home gardens. Every November the public is also invited to collect clippings from the rose bushes to grow their own plants at home. The Rose Garden is a member of the American Rose Society and has been voted one of the best rose gardens in the nation.

The Rose Garden is one of the most popular attractions in Ritter Park. The garden was created in the mid-1930s during a period of infrastructure improvements for Ritter Park, which previously had been mostly undeveloped. It was designed by landscape architect Gus C. Wooford, who also planned many other sites around the park. The garden's iconic stonework is believed to have been constructed by the Works Progress Administration. Today the Rose Garden contains 3,000 rose bushes representing around 200 different varies of roses. It is a popular venue for weddings, showers, and photography sessions. The Rose Garden is included on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Ritter Park Historic District. 

Ritter Park Rose Garden

A recent addition to the city of Huntington, this small dog park was the result of community organizers who secured the city's victory in the 2012 "Bark For Your Park" contest sponsored by PetSafe. This land was part of Ritter Park but not being utilized, owing to the decision to locate the dog park at this location. The dog park is currently maintained by the Greater Huntington Park & Recreation District.

Ritter Dog Park

Major Nathaniel Scales was a relative by marriage to the early settlers of the Guyandotte region, and earned The Savage Land Grant for serving as an officer in the French and Indian War. The Savage Land Grant was given to soldiers of the French and Indian War by the state of Virginia. Scales allotment from the grant included the land that is now Huntington, and on it he created a plantation. George Lewis Beuhring was a German immigrant who moved to America when he was 14 in 1805, and later served in the War of 1812. The Beuhring family purchased Scales' plantation in 1837. The plantation property extended from 7th Street to 11th Street along the Ohio River, and past the hills of what is now Ritter Park.The log cabin in Ritter Park was once home to the keeper of the Beuhring Vineyards.Following the Beuhring’s occupation of the building, the structure was used a pest house — somewhere where individuals suffering from an infectious disease could be quarantined. The cabin was likely used for this purpose during the influenza epidemic that directly followed World War I. Today, the cabin is headquarters for the Daughters of the American Revolution: Buford Chapter. When the DAR acquired the cabin in the 1920s, it was badly deteriorated, so the organization decided to begin preservation and restoration efforts to save the cabin. Architect Sydney Day designed the cabin's remodel in the Early Colonial style. Alterations were completed in 1922 with materials that could be salvaged from the original cabin. The location of the original cabin was closer to Gobbler’s Knob than the current cabin. The surviving cabin is currently furnished with antiques, and the DAR still hold meetings in the cabin today.

Uphill from Ritter Park's tennis courts, across the street from its dog park and near the entrance to the Ritter Park Amphitheater, sits an eighteenth century log cabin that was rebuilt in the 1920s to be used as a meeting house for the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). A Revolutionary War cannon sits outside the cabin. Originally, it was a vineyard-keeper's house at Beuhring Farm, which was located between the Ohio River and Fourpole Creek in the early 1800s, before the city of Huntington was founded in 1871. The home was at one time also a place where sick townspeople were quarantined when they came down with the flu.

Ritter Park

Ritter Park Amphitheater

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