Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-11-05
.POE-|MESSENGER BUILDING
MAY YET Be PRESERVED.
j. II. Witty Tells What Admirers
of Poet Have Done to Keep
Valuable Relic.
OF HoBsoN's IDEA
Long Delayed in Teaching Any Dc
cfSion Due to Inaction of City Au-
thoriticS in Matter of Widening
Fifteenth Street.
by !. 81. WIIIT"FN.

by J. ~. WuITTN
I'm the discussion OF the preservation
OF the Poe McsSrngcr building has
arisen som" arguments dcprcciatinB
the inactivity of ruc's admirers until
late emergency arose" such argu-
ments have been made in ignorance Of
knowledge upon III. subject matter.
ana ar" all in error.
f"W days after tn" Poe Messenger
building was condemned. three years
or NOR" ago. the safety Of that old
cdific" was considered by admirers Of
po" ana the Messenger in Richmond.
and has never for one moment since
been lost sight OF Som. Of these al =
inlr"rs ar. among III" present COM
mitt"c having matters under advise
ni"nt. Indeed. tho ultimate prcscrvu-
ZION Of The Messenger building uad
been considered many years previous
ly. and recall meetings attended by
r. y. Brock. X J.. Traylor. e. W. Wal.
lace and others. This Messenger
building was discussed not only in
connection with Poe. but as one OF
Richmonds typical old-tim" dwellings
and the home OF tn" ScGth's most sue
ccssfu! magazine Poe himself. when
writing OF PiChmonds f.H wcll-knuwn
literary characters. referred 10 tn. sol"
brilliant record OF J. T.. Heath. tho
Messengers first editor. AS VOL as Vir.
when Il Il. Minor conceived tho idea
Of publishing history Of tho southern
Literary Messenger. he ln"t with littl"
cncourasement. aud vas told thar he
never could get the Nnuncia! backing
in RiChmond needed To make II a sue
cess. had been over his manuscript
with him. and told him tina; he vas
wrongly irfoi moi that toe not alone
hut the MESSENGER .till had many
friends left in Richmond y list Of
twenty persons WAS made UP some Of
whom still survive, ana tn" amount al
money required 10 PUBLISH the book was
subscribed in short period; IN" book
was published and is NOW w.ll cir.
culatcd
WAITED on CIT, no
WIDEN THE STREET
After the condemnation OF the Mes
scnG"r building, and the widening Of
Fifteenth Street was discussed. II con-
ference OF tn" admirers OF ,h. Mes
scnE"r building. as We'll a. Poo. met
at til" State Library Building. At
that time Mrs. KATE J.. Minor Spon.
for the Association for tho rr.S-rva-
ton OF Virginia Antiquities, who wcr.
To car" for the building temporarily
until permanent arrgnEc TO tnko
over the building were effected L. q
SVEN OF tn. State Library. hud
worked out "A rough Dian for tn" secur-
| 'nG Of outside Subscriptions and the
| making Of the building Il National
j Poe Museum" Tho writer was asked
TO confer with real estate agents
secure cost Of the building. etc. as
well to confer with Richmond citi-
zens OF means with view towards
buying tho building until regular
organization could he Effected
But the very same obstacles that
came before III. present citizens com
mttee then doomed up--hindcrinE. de-
LAYING ana pr.Ncatinu any innl action
The trouble was not the "inactivity''
Of Poe's friends but the ''umccrtaiuty'
Of the city authorities in the matter Of
the widening of Fifteenth Street which
matter is still pending. /, was the
hrst desire, not only nf the old com
m!ttcc. but the present one, TO retain
the building OF the old site. with the
former committee IL was the idea TO
re-enforcc. and max" the building per-
mancnt IL stood. bat the widening,
OF tho street stood as - barrier Ed
ward Rose. with his real estate asso-
cia,es. was conferred with and for a
time il looted like Fourteenth Street
was 20 be used instead OF Fifteenth
] believe the committee would APP
prove the plan that has been suggested
by Mr.. Hobson. Of the Administrative
Board: but whether the Messenger
building could remain where !; stood
or would have 10 come down. was the
important question that never could be
definitely determined. 1t was about
this period that the possible removal az
the building came up and the Richmond
College grounds We're suggested by Mr.
Stanard and Or. Mctcalf
PROPOSED REMOVAL
TO RICHMOND COLLEGE,
Then the Richmond College WAS To-
Gated at the corner Of Broad and Iom-
hardy Streets. and ii can now he bet
ter understood why the project of IA re-
81 D,..I., -
then looked SO feasible. SO. ii should
now he seen tina; friends of Poe and
the Messenger have had the final
preservation of the old .Iessengcr
building i'll mind for more than II quar-
ter Of ii century. The writer had this
most in view when he purcha scd from
the estate of the late B. B. Minor the
editorial desk used by Poe while on
the Messenger. This has In il faint
outlines written by Poe on one of the
compartments: "E. y. Poes Personal
Papers" 1t has been preserved these
many years. and is still in my nos
session. with the only existing manu-
script verse known to have been writ
ten by Poe while on the Messenger, as
we'll as manuscripts prepared and pub
lished In the Messenger by Governor
Hamilton, st. Ledger Carter. William
Maxwell and others. These manu-
scripts were edited by and still have
on them Poc'S autograph In addition
! have also preserved most interesting
letters mailed TO r. W. White of the
~ cnger, from o. w. Holmes, r. a
and other shining literary lights
ne past, In which they mention the
= esteem held for the Messenger by
has also been stated recently in
a. matter that while the City Council
,opriatcd $1,000 for Poe monu-
i. the project failed for want of
Iher funds from Richmonds citizens
is also an error The Poe move
lent OF many years ago was largely
fostered by Charles Marshall Graves
then member of The Times Dispatch
editorial corps. 1t was a noble effort
on the part Of Mr.. Graves and Others.
and. rather informal. Joseph T.. VIII
lard and several other we!l-known cit
liens offered their names and CO.
operation until matters could he made
permanent. As those who know who
have ever had occasion to seek city ap-
propriations, the successful effort to
have the City Council give $4,000 to-
ward Poe monument meant much
hard work