Hotel Wyoming

The town of Mullens is named after its first settler, Andrew J. Mullins, who came to the area in 1894. Beginning around the turn of the twentieth century, other settlers began arriving to take advantage of the abundant timber and coal resources in the area. By 1903, approximately 250 people lived in the area and this number grew to almost one thousand by 1910. Downtown Mullens was established and several simple businesses were erected to service local residents. When the town was officially incorporated in 1912, an error at the courthouse led the name to be incorrectly spelled Mullens rather than Mullins. Over the next several years, Mullens evolved into the primary industrial depot in Wyoming County. The main street became packed with temporary wooden storefronts and houses. This led to disaster when two fires and a flood leveled much of Mullens between 1917 and 1919. After these calamities, city ordinances required all structures to be built of brick or stone. However, these events did nothing to slow the explosive growth of Mullens.

Construction began on Hotel Wyoming in 1918. J.C. Sullivan, who owned several local coal mines, funded construction of the building. Like most of Mullens, the foundation was devastated by a fire in August 1919. Construction was restarted and the hotel was completed in 1920. In 1922, Sullivan moved the Bank of Wyoming, which he also owned, to the bottom floor of the hotel. Unfortunately for Sullivan, the businessman was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1925. Shenandoah Life Insurance Company purchased the Hotel Wyoming building and shortly after, the People’s Bank of Mullens replaced the Bank of Wyoming. In 1936, the four hundred pound red neon sign with the words “Hotel Wyoming” was added to the entrance. In the 1940s, the building was sold to M.H. Hodel, owner of the Beckley Newspaper Company. The hotel was later sold to Sam and Nelva Webster.

Hotel Wyoming catered to a strange mix of markets. Intentionally positioned as the first building seen by travelers arriving by rail or road, the hotel remains the tallest building in Mullens at five-stories. The building essentially features two rises connected by a bottom-floor lobby. Originally, the first floor contained the lobby, a 250-person dining room, a kitchen, and the bank. The bank also had access to a basement containing a vault, which still remains in the building. The second floors hosted a mezzanine and several social rooms. The top three floors are occupied by sixty-eight guest rooms. Though Hotel Wyoming offered nicer accommodations than an inn or boarding house, calling it a luxury hotel is a bit of a stretch. Many rooms were forced to share a bathroom with their neighbors, or use a communal one down the hall. Most traffic to Mullens would have been industrial, so the primary patrons were likely businessmen, investors, foremen, and other wealthier individuals involved in the lumber and coal industries.

Architect Alex B. Mahood designed Hotel Wyoming. Mahood was born in Lynchburg, Virginia and studied at the prestigious École des des Beaux Arts in Paris. After completing his studies, the architect moved to Bluefield, West Virginia in 1912. Over the next several years he developed a reputation for pragmatic neoclassical buildings. Hotel Wyoming was his first commission to create an accommodation building. Previous works were limited to private residences and commercial storefronts. The most distinctive feature of the hotel is the front door. Two large pilasters flank the door on either side, while an arched multi-paned transom filters light. The facade of the building utilizes simple two over two sash windows on mortar sills and little ornamentation. The dentilled cornice projects slightly out from the roof, providing much needed depth to the building. The total height of the structure is seventy feet. Mahood led an incredibly successful career in West Virginia, designing schools, courthouses, and several major buildings for West Virginia University — including the iconic Creative Arts Center. 

After 1945, the population of Mullens began to sharply decline due to shifting natural resource business practices. However, Hotel Wyoming remained a profitable business in Mullens. A noteworthy event occurred in 1952, when John J. Woods — who self-billed as “the human fly” —  climbed the building in order to raise money for the Mullens police department. Hotel Wyoming received a renovation when John Hall updated the ballroom and opened a new dining room in 1956. At the same time, Ella Neely began operation Ella Neely’s Beauty Salon in the basement. However, the hotel was ultimately unable to compete with larger chain hotels along nearby interstates, and closed for good in 1978. During its almost sixty years of operation, Hotel Wyoming hosted many famous personalities such as Babe Ruth, Will Rogers, and — at the time presidential hopeful — Senator John F. Kennedy.

After closing, Hotel Wyoming remained abandoned and unused for decades. A 2001 flood swept over seven feet of water through the already structurally dilapidated hotel. Mold and debris was spread throughout the basement and main floor. Additionally, concrete floors in the rear of the building collapsed as a result of the water damage. Recently, there have been pushes to save the historic building. Sam Webster donated Hotel Wyoming to the city of Mullens and the Mullens Community Development Corporation (MCDC) has taken charge of restoring the building. In 2019, MCDC received a $5,000 grant from the Foundation for Overcoming Challenges and Utilizing Strengths from West Virginia Brownsfields Assistance Center. The grant is the first step in restoring Hotel Wyoming into a usable property. Possibilities for the building include office space, medical facilities, housing, and many more. Work will be completed in partnership with West Virginia University Masters of Business Administration students and students from Virginia Tech’s Construction Engineering school. Once again, the one hundred year old Hotel Wyoming may soon be a mainstay in the fabric of Mullens.

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