Babcock Office & Store

Babcock Office and Store. A Key Industrial and Commercial Building in Downtown. , It is likely no coincidence that the Babcock Boom and Lumber Company, Davis' largest employer in the timber era, built its office and store adjacent to the bank, just a few yards from the passenger train station, and just across the street from the main hotels. The convergence of these buildings made this part of William Avenue the historic center of commercial activity. On the street level of the Babcock building, shown below in a photograph of a 1950s-era parade, was a company store. Like the coal company stores in nearby communities, this one acted as a department store for lumber company employees, associates, and their families. Upstairs were Babcock sales and maangement offices, as shown in the smaller photograph at far left. Other businesses also had offices here at various times, often related to timber or coal., (Captions):, A sign over the door (below) shows that the store was operated at least for a time by Buxton and Landstreet, a firm which also operated other company stores nearby., The Colabrese Brothers later ran a store in the same building for about 30 years., A historic view of the store's intenor (right), its merchandise, and its employees shows shelved partitions running from front to back with a wooden stair and mezzanine at the rear., Today, while the old partitions are gone, a newer one divides the rear at street level from the commercial space in front. The staircase and mezzanine remain intact with their original woodwork behind the newer partition (below right)., Photo credit: upper right | Pete Johnson; lower right | David Vago, upper left | West Virginia Regional and History Collection, West Virginia University; lower left | Tekavec Family collection, Layouts and text by David A. Vago Historic Resource Planning and Design