A Guide to Historical Salem

A Guide to Historic Salem -- Volume 2, Number 1 -- Spring 1996

"Lakeside: 65 Years of Thrills and Chills" by Mary Hill
"Horse Show Marks 25th Anniversary" by Delores Mitchell
"Salem Has Horse Show History" by Lon Savage
"Downtown Historic District Designation is Good News" An Editorial by Lon Savage

Lakeside: 65 Years of Thrills and Chills

by Mary Hill

Seventy-six years ago, a cool breeze swept through the Roanoke Valley. Something new, something rare and magnificent, had arrived.

Country folk called it "a concrete lake;" marketers hailed it as "the world's largest swimming pool;" for years, it has been fondly remembered by young and old alike as "Lakeside."

On a Saturday morning in July, 1920, at the grounds of an apple orchard just outside Salem, a man-made "lake" 300 feet long and 125 feet wide was pumped full of water and opened to the public. People flocked from miles around in hopes of finding some relief from the summer heat, some camaraderie with friends and neighbors, possibly some tid-bit to gossip about.

The Salem Times Register reported upon Lakeside's opening that "thousands of visitors journeyed to Conehurst, about one mile east of the corporate limits of Salem and took their initial swim of the season in what is said to be one of the largest inland lakes in the United States.... [S]treet cars from Salem and Roanoke were filled to overflowing all the afternoon and far into the evening with pleasure-seekers. The main road running past the Lakeside Inn was almost completely blocked with automobiles for a distance of nearly half a mile on either side of the swimming pool."

Efforts were taken to create a lake-like effect at the pool -- including a boardwalk and "sand covered beach." A pump which could furnish the "lake" with 20,000 gallons of water every hour was used to "guarantee a fresh and continuous supply of water." Every modern convenience was introduced: electric lights illuminated the entire grounds; a spacious pavilion hosted a soda fountain, news stand, restaurant, and cloak rooms; and male and female bath houses were equipped with individual dressing compartments, lockers, and showers.

Such auspicious beginnings marked the dawn of 65 years of family entertainment in the heart of southwestern Virginia. The success of the pool soon generated a novel attraction: in 1923, Lakeside erected a wooden rollercoaster.

Known at various points as "The Thriller," "The Mountain Speedway," and "The Wildcat," Lakeside's first rollercoaster was a welcome addition. Eight thousand people braved its spine-tingling track in its first year -- a number which increased steadily in its 40-some years of peaks and descents.

Roger Roberts, whose family owned Lakeside at one time, especially remembers one of those descents. In a newspaper interview several years ago, Roberts recalled a woman approaching him about her missing husband: "[She] said that her husband was on the [rollercoaster] when it started, but he wasn't on when it came back. She wanted to know where her husband was. After a little searching we found him hanging from one of the guide beams. He was drunk and he'd fallen out around a curve."

Mark and Holly Woodruff, on the other hand, intimately remember the ups as well as the downs of the rollercoaster which replaced the "Wildcat" in 1968. The young cousins rode the 4,000-plus feet of Lakeside's "Shooting Star" (claimed to be the largest in the world) 50 consecutive times in July, 1972. "We wanted to see if we could break a record," said 11-year-old Holly at the time. "We didn't know what the old record was but we thought 50 times would be enough."

Through the years, Lakeside added a slew of rides and attractions -- including "Lindy" planes, the mini-train, the Whip, the Peanut, the carousel, a skating rink, the outdoor movie theater, bumper cars, the Spider, a game arcade, the Avalanche, the scrambler, and the music pavilion and dance hall. It seems everyone had a favorite: one was scarier, one faster, one brought luck, one brought love....

Fascination -- an over-grown mechanical tic-tac-toe game -- holds particular... well, fascination for one local family. Sonja Smith, who ran the game in the mid-1970s, would regularly sabotage the machine so that Danny Kane, who worked in the park's maintenance department, would have to come fix it for her. Sonja didn't break the game for spite. In fact, she was motivated by quite a different emotion: she wanted to see Danny more often. This year, Sonja and Danny celebrate their 20th anniversary.

World War II era newspaper advertisements reveal two drawbacks to life at Lakeside: drunkenness and segregation. Although drunkenness continued in some form or another up to the park's last days, segregation ended at Lakeside -- at least in one respect -- in 1964. While the park was integrated, Lakeside's swimming pool was converted into a "private club" for whites only; soon after, the pool closed altogether and was filled in to make more park space.

In all likelihood, Lakeside would have continued attracting customers, scaring them witless, and taking them for a ride for years to come, had not a series of misfortunes befallen the park. In the early 1980s, new owners found themselves in tax trouble and were forced to sell Lakeside to Mountain Park, Inc. The company spruced up the park with fresh paint, landscaping, fountains, games, rides, and more. All these efforts at rejuvenation, however, were quickly laid to waste when a devastating flood surged through the park in 1985.

Lakeside was left in shambles. The rollercoaster, bumper cars, skeet ball machines, miniature golf course, train tracks, arcade, and pavilion were all damaged or destroyed. Still, the company decided to recoup what they could, and modify the rest. The rollercoaster was repaired; the bumper cars and skeet ball machines were replaced; construction of a 250-seat theater to host professional marionette shows had been initiated; and a Treasure Island -- with animals, giant family swings, and mazes -- was in the works. There were even plans for several major rides to be added before the park re-opened in the spring of 1986.

That was when real tragedy struck. As crews were sprucing up the park for the summer crowd, a worker cutting weeds around the rollercoaster was hit and killed by a car of the Shooting Star during a test run.

The flood damage, coupled with a $1 million lawsuit issued by the family of the victim, and waning park attendance, was enough to force the owners' hand. On October 19, 1986, Lakeside Amusement Park closed for good.

A year later, a North Carolina park bought the rollercoaster and some of Lakeside's biggest rides. The dream that local enthusiasts could one day make a pilgrimage down to Emerald Point water park in Greensboro to take yet another turn on the Shooting Star, another spin on the Tilt-a-Whirl, however, was short-lived. Emerald Point had its own financial woes; it closed in 1991, before ever re-erecting the Roanoke Valley's Shooting Star. And "the largest rollercoaster in the world" was eventually sold as scrap wood to someone with plans to build a storage barn and bridge.

The land that once boasted amusements and extravaganzas of epic proportions was converted in 1988 into the Lakeside shopping mall.

It's hard to find someone who lived in the Roanoke Valley prior to 1986 who doesn't have some special recollection of Lakeside. The park has spawned generations of tall tales and summertime remembrances -- whether it's losing your lunch on the Tilt-a-Whirl or finding a husband at the Fascination game. Although bigger, more elaborate amusement parks were springing up all over Virginia, Lakeside was, to its very last days, a place for fun and memories -- a place the Roanoke Valley could depend on for a little relief from the harsh summer heat, a little camaraderie with neighbors and friends, and a little bit of gossip for the weeks to come.

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Horse Show Marks 25th Anniversary

by Delores Mitchell

First thing you notice is the aroma. When you enter the doors of the Salem Civic Center during Horse Show Week, a racy, pungent odor fills the air. Horse owners, riders and breeders call it their "Chanel No. 5;" others call it something else. But regardless of what you call it, there is no denying that the Roanoke Valley Horse Show is the longest running sporting event in the Roanoke Valley.

Scheduled for June 17-23, the Show this year marks its twenty-fifth anniversary. In 1972, the first show offered a total of $11,000 in prize money to exhibitors, was four days long with fewer than 100 classes, and had a total of 444 horses in attendance. In 1996, awards will total more than $200,000.

Why has the Roanoke Valley Horse Show been such a success, while other sporting events have floundered? When a small group of horse enthusiasts gathered in the early seventies, their dream was to sponsor an "A" rated horse show in Roanoke. George Moore, Rudy and Barbara Bova, Wesley Huddleston, Curtis Turner, Hazel Crowder, Billy Willis, Al Rice, Jack Burress and Bob Robertson -- all had attended big-time shows in Louisville, Ky., and other cities. It would be a challenge to bring such a show to Roanoke. Between them, they raised $11,000 in prize money.

The next year, the newly-formed Roanoke Valley Horsemen's Association took over. It put together the right combination of circumstances from the very beginning.

First: they chose the right location. Exhibitors loved the air-conditioned Salem Civic Center with its available showers and the large grassy area in the rear where their horses could be turned out to graze.

Second: they chose the right manager. J.W. (Bill) Dailey of Greensboro was the first show manager and continued to be manager for eight years, until his death in September, 1979. Dailey was the professional the Roanoke amateurs needed. The horse business was Bill Dailey's life. He showed horses, trained horses, judged horses and managed shows. He met his wife Claire at a horse show. Following his death, Claire managed the Roanoke show for two years.

Third: they chose the right local businessmen as Chairmen. The chairman's job was to raise money, know the rule books, coordinate and supervise the committees, handle all problems and work with the manager to keep the exhibitors happy.

The perfect choice for the first chairman was Dr. Al Rice, a veterinarian with an abiding interest in animals. He was the Director of the Virginia Horse Shows Association and of the Virginia Horse Council. He served two years and all the business of the show was carried on at his office, the Roanoke Animal Hospital, using his secretarial staff. There was not enough money to rent an office. For the next two years, Julian H. Rutherfoord, Jr., an insurance executive and former member of the Virginia House of Delegates, was chairman, and the Rutherfoord Insurance Agency in the Patrick Henry Hotel became headquarters.

Next, J. Wesley Mitchell, a quarter-horse owner and stock-broker, took charge, and everything moved to Paine-Webber for four years. The next chairmen were Marge and Charlie Glover, and the horse show was managed from their basement for two years. In 1982, Duane Williams and Linda Eichelberger became co-chairmen.

All through the "Dailey" years, each chairman contributed an enormous amount of time, energy, expertise, secretarial help and money (with no thought of remuneration) to keep the show on the level they expected it to be. In 1980, a year after Dailey's death, the Roanoke Valley Horse Show was named NATIONAL HONOR SHOW OF THE YEAR by the United Professional Horsemen's Association, the Association's most prestigious award.

Fourth, the caliber of the volunteers. The same committee members served under the Daileys for eleven years, and their expertise was enormous. To explain the amount of work it took to put on an all-breed Class A horse show is impossible. Each volunteer, as a member of the Horsemen's Association, had his own horse or horses to take care of. That meant feeding, riding, training and mucking stalls on a daily basis. Most held full-time jobs. Add to that raising money to sponsor classes (and local businesses were slow responding to requests for money), selling ads, paying for entertainment for the one thousand or more exhibitors, manually putting up 400 stalls in back of the Civic Center, finding money to buy expensive silver trophies and ribbons for the winners, to say nothing for the thousands of pieces of correspondence the show entailed.

Each year, the day the show was over, the weary volunteers gathered to plan the next year's show. Working so closely together for such a long time, they became almost like a family. Hazel Crowder, Mary Lou Temple, Donna Hefner, the Jim Blair family, Donnis Overholt, Bill Mahone, Lowell Gobble, Lynda Eichelberger, Duane Williams, the Wes Mitchell family, Marge and Charlie Glover, Curtis Turner, Andy Marsinko, Susan Van Name, Howard Bush ... this was the dedicated, durable, persistent group who hung on through trying times and who came back year after year to work.

Fifth: the attitude of the Roanoke Valley people. It was the first indoor, air-conditioned horse show in the state of Virginia, and people flocked to see it. It was the first time many had seen horses that cost as much as a house. It was a whole new world, and many nights, especially Fridays and Saturdays, were sell-outs.

Sixth: the vitality of the horse industry in the 1970s. Who could believe that a series of lectures about horses in 1969, sponsored by the Virginia Tech Extension Service, would mark the beginning of the Roanoke Valley Horsemen's Association and that this association would bring a big-time horse show to the Roanoke Valley? Because of interest generated by the meetings, according to Extension Agent Lowell Gobble, "We decided to select a steering Committee to set up the association we have today." More than 500 members were signed up at $2.00 per year dues; they put together an organization capable of programming major horse shows, and the Roanoke Valley Horse Show was the result.

Claude Shiflett, a trainer and owner from Roxboro, North Carolina, has the distinction of being the only out-of-town exhibitor who has shown at every horse show. Curtis Turner of Salem has been in charge of getting the dirt into the ring for the entire 25 years of the show. After he and his assistants build the ring, twelve 4-H clubs from the area remove rocks from the dirt, paint fences, shovel dirt, give out ribbons and do a host of other chores. For this, each club receives a financial grant from the Horsemen's Association.

In 1983, the Horsemen's Association invited the Junior League of Roanoke, Inc., to become co-sponsor, and they accepted. The League injected new vitality into the show, and thanks to them and the generosity of Mrs. Marion Via, the Roanoke show gained international fame. It has changed from an all-breed show to one consisting mostly of hunters, jumpers and saddle bred horses of the highest quality.

No longer is the office in someone's basement. A new office has been built behind the Civic Center, and it is run by computers.

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Salem Has Horse Show History

1932 Horse Show Had 77 Entries

by Lon Savage

Horse shows have been a part of Salem for a long time -- well before the ultra-successful Roanoke Valley Horse Show now celebrating its 25th anniversary, as excerpts from City Council minutes clearly attest.

In the years before World War II, in fact, Salem people had horse shows every year or so, it appears. "I remember four of five I rode in," recalls R. Franklin Hough of Salem, whose father helped organize the events. "They were sort of schmalzy compared to today's show, but they were good horse shows."

Awards were trophies and ribbons, rather than the thousands of dollars offered as prizes by the current show, but "people were as happy to get those ribbons as they could be," according to Anne Taylor Oakey of Salem, daughter of another organizer.

One of the most successful was a show in October of 1932, conducted by the Salem Horse Show Association and Salem Kiwanis Club, "on the Roanoke College field," according to Town Council minutes, and somewhere in Langhorne Place according to others. The show drew 77 entries, in thirteen classes including two in jumping, two each in three- and five-gaited saddle horses, and children's, ladies' and gentlemen's horsemanship events.

Officers of the Association at that time were W. Alex Oakey, president; Frank H. Vest, secretary; and Frank C. Wiley, treasurer. A Kiwanis committee consisted of C. E. Webber, T. E. Burke, Wayne McDaniel, Russell Johnston, Carl Gottschalk and J. B. Taney.

All are remembered. Alex Oakey was a bachelor and community leader. Frank H. Vest was a businessman and father of the current Episcopal Bishop of Southern Virginia. Frank Wiley, Anne Taylor Oakey's father, was a civic leader and developer. C. E. "Ted" Webber was a pharmacist, later to become owner of the Evans-Webber house on Broad Street. Russell Johnston ran a hardware store. Carl Gottschalk was "a German with a lot of intelligence," they say now. And so on.

Nine years later, in May, 1941, according to Town Council minutes, the Salem Horse Show Association put on a horse show for British relief, and progress was evident. The show, held at Dixie farms just west of town, had 31 classes, prizes of about $1,200, seating for 3,000; and tents serving as stalls. Association president was James L. Wiley, Frank's son, who went on to become a major operator in horse sales and training in Northern Virginia.

Council's minutes before the event refer to the 1941 event as "the first show in Salem for a number of years," with the hopeful comment that, if it should become "a booming success, it may well become an annual event." It did not. Later minutes report little more than "a representative crowd attended."

Town Council minutes were silent about horse shows for twenty years, until the Horse and Pony Club of Salem gave a horse show on August 26, 1961, at Waldron Stables.

Nothing appears thereafter until 1972, when the minutes reported preparations for the first horse show in August of that year sponsored by the Roanoke Valley Horsemen's Association. Excitement was evident: it was the first "A" rated indoor show in the state, with more than $10,000 in prize money.

The rest is history.

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Downtown Historic District Designation Is Good News

An Editorial by Lon Savage

All Salem should take pride in the designation of our downtown historic district in both the Virginia Landmarks Register and, as seems certain, in the National Register of Historic Places.

Both designations came up for action March 20 at a joint meeting of the State Board of Historic Resources and the State Review Board of the National Register of Historic Places, and both were approved. Inclusion in the Virginia Landmarks Register is definite. Inclusion in the National still needs National Park Service approval, but that appears to be a formality.

That is good news, indeed.

The designations are public recognition that the district -- running generally along Main Street from College Avenue to Chestnut Street as shown on the map at right -- is culturally significant, in terms of both history and architecture. Historically, the district includes the town's original sixteen acre plat located along the historic Great Road West, and it comprises buildings from the early nineteenth century through late twentieth century. Aesthetically, it presents a compact array of architectural styles from every period of the city's development, including well-preserved examples of Greek Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne, Classical Revival, Late Gothic Revival, Georgian Revival, Colonial Revival and Modern styles.

The designations are more than honorary. Salem should take every opportunity to focus attention on the district and its designation. Salem citizens, if they haven't done so before, should make a point, next time they go over "Main Street Hill," to pay particular attention to the upper floor exteriors of most of the buildings, which retain high levels of integrity and rich architectural embellishments, or the high ceilings inside some of them, with their pressed-metal finishes. Those from outside Salem -- including that most desired of all species, the tourist -- will pay increasing attention to the city and its history. The designations open the possibility of highway signs calling attention to the historic district, and plans are already afoot to request such signage.

Moreover, the designations will provide both federal and state tax credits to property owners for qualified improvements of their property in the district. Federal law has long allowed such tax credits, and the Virginia General Assembly, at its just-concluded session, enacted legislation that will allow a state tax credit for qualified rehabilitation of such properties, too.

Kudos are in order for the Roanoke Regional Preservation Office of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources for their leadership in this project. Locally, kudos should go to the City Department of Planning, and we hope it isn't being immodest or self-serving to claim some credit for our own Salem Historical Society and its president, David Robbins, who worked so hard, and so successfully, to obtain these designations.

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