Founding family of Alderson fights errant town to save historic landmark

ALDERSON, W.Va. — Members of one of West Virginia’s founding families are fighting to save a commercial building on the National Register of Historic Places that consultants have determined to be viable as a new business location.

Sarah Alderson, whose fifth great-grandfather established the town on the Greenbrier River, said she and her brother, Joe Alderson, made arrangements to purchase the building and had invested in roofing materials. However, town officials reneged on the sale.

Now, she says, it appears crews are working toward a demolition, though the matter is not apparent as an item or discussion in town minutes.

Alderson, whose family is among the most historically prominent in West Virginia, said she would prefer to acquire and develop the property, a plan in which the family had already invested.

“Even though the town promised to sell it to us to restore and make a business out of, they reneged right after we paid to have a tarp put on the roof and bought the roofing materials.”

She says state officials have informed her that using public money to fund the demolition would typically require approval by the state as the property is designated federally as historic.

“I’ve seen people in hazmat suits running in and out of the building all day, so I suspect something is up,” Alderson said, though she added that consultants she and her brother had asked to inspect the building had determined very little asbestos or other materials were present.

“We asked the consultants whether we were insane to want to buy the property, and they said, ‘Absolutely not!’,” Alderson said.

The two-story structure was likely a grain store built in an authentic wood-frame architecture of the period, possibly by George Alderson.

The building, which is now at 303 S. Monroe St., was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990 and is considered vital to the historic integrity of the town’s national historic district. It was sold to the Town of Alderson in 2010 and assessed in 2024 at $47,700.

State law requires the Alderson Historic Landmarks Commission, a judiciary branch of the municipal government, to approve or contest attempts to alter landmark properties through legal means, but no record of its meetings appears to exist.

Alderson says the town has more economic potential than it’s had in years, which is one reason the investment in maintaining an additional commercial property is worth it.

“It’s a usable building that we want to buy and put a business in,” she said. “This is a small, easily saveable, and useful building.”

She is urging town residents and others to call the town hall at 304-445-2916 to share their opinions.

Native entrepreneurs, the Alderson family owns Alderson’s Store, a prominent business in an Art Deco historic structure across from the endangered building.

Sarah Alderson’s forebear, John Alderson Jr., established the Greenbrier Baptist Church. Her great-great-grandmother, Emma Alderson, established the Alderson Academy, which later became Alderson Broaddus University.

Grants and tax credits are provided to owners of historic buildings in Alderson, and the U.S. Department of Commerce reports that heritage tourism in districts such as Alderson’s is the largest sector of the tourism industry worldwide.

Alderson Main Street, which advertises itself as dedicated to sponsoring events and “managing restoration projects,” is no longer affiliated with the W.Va. Department of Economic Development or the National Main Street Program.

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