06/02/2026
Lots of big plans around this building in the future, but its history is what really interests me. Built between 1901-1904, the Waldo Hotel was once the premier luxury destination in West Virginia. It's guests have included United States senators, vaudeville stars from the 1920s, and was the meeting place for an anti-Herbert Hoover Senate coalition, and often visited by presidential candidate John W. Davis. It also housed soldiers before they shipped off to boot camp in WWII and later became a dormitory for students at Salem College. More history than I can put in a single post. The building itself is a behemoth of a structure at nearly 80,000 square feet and once had a glorious lobby and a beautiful grand staircase. Today, it sits abandoned and crumbling, with various vegetation sprouting out from its roof and broken windows. Whatever its future holds, I will continue to photograph it to help preserve its history and the memories that so many people in this area have of this beautiful old building. More photos coming in the near future.
Clarksburg History Museum AP Development LLC
