CORNER OF SEVENTH & MARKET STREETS (intro page)

By 1900 the corner of 7th Street (Route 50) and Market Street was Parkersburg's most important intersection. The 1907-08 photo (left), looking south on Market, shows the Union Trust Building (left), the Chancellor Hotel, and (beyond 6th Street) Saint Francis Xavier's Church with its tower's original roof. The city's inner-loop trolley line split in the middle of the intersection: the green trolleys went either north on Market or east on 7th, passed each other at a switch line at Lynn & 19th Streets, and arrived back at 7th & Market after a 20-minute loop. The track ran up Market to 13th Street, north on Spring Street to 19th Street, east to Lynn Street, south to 7th Street and back to the corner of Market Street. The city's two streetcar lines were discontinued in 1947.

The Chancellor Hotel, seen here circa 1910, was built in 1901 on the southeast corner of 7th & Market, replacing a Methodist church that had stood there since 1858. For many years the 220-room Chancellor was Parkersburg's premier hotel. It was torn down in 1977.

The Union Trust Building was built at the same time as the Chancellor Hotel. This photo was taken in the early 'Teens.

The First National Bank

This 1920s student ticket was good for one fare on
Parkersburg's streetcars, which were run by the
Monongahela West Penn Public Service Company.

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