WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS (WVDN) — As U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin toured White Sulphur Springs on Monday, Feb. 21, the bustling town stood in stark contrast to the devastated landscape he’d visited after the June 2016 flood.
Manchin was in town to tour the Schoolhouse Hotel, a fully ADA-accessible, boutique hotel located in the former White Sulphur Springs High School on Big Draft Rd. The senator was greeted by local dignitaries and the developer of the project along with a cadre of contractors who are continuing to build the future hotel.
Giving his remarks to the crowd gathered in the hotel ballroom, Manchin recalled visiting White Sulphur Springs in the days following the June 2016 flood that decimated entire neighborhoods and took eight residents’ lives.
The senator remembered encountering Debbie Nicely, who was standing on an empty lot looking towards Howard’s Creek. “I asked her what she was looking at,” Manchin said. “She said she was looking at where her house used to be.”
Nicely’s husband, daughter, and grandson were all killed in the flood. Manchin remembered how Nicely told him she’d spoken to her daughter on the phone as the waters of Howard’s Creek pulled her downstream.
Manchin also toured businesses in downtown White Sulphur Springs, where the once-flood damaged buildings are now full of shops, barbers, and a local school, GreenRiver Academy, a private school for children with disabilities.
Manchin said the reconstruction and development in White Sulphur Springs reflects the resilience of all West Virginians. “This is your legacy,” he told the crowd had gathered in the hotel to hear his remarks including the large group building contractors who had gathered for his visit.
“I’ve toured a lot of disasters,” Manchin said. “Mine disasters, flood disasters… (West Virginians) don’t give up. We can’t give up.”
Manchin acknowledged the investments made by developer Charlie Hammerman, president and CEO of the Disability Opportunity Fund, whose federally backed funds have supported the construction of the Schoolhouse Hotel and the renovation of a city block on Main Street.
“This (hotel) is a legacy to you, to all of you,” he said.
The Schoolhouse Hotel is the first completely ADA-accessible hotel in the United States.
The Disability Opportunity Fund is also behind the group of buildings that are now occupied on the north side of Main Street. Hammerman’s daughter, Genny Frieman, said that the Fund purchased the entire city block which is now 100 percent occupied.
“All of the businesses are either female-owned or female managed,” she said.
Frieman said the Disability Opportunity Fund has traditionally functioned as a lender to businesses who are minority-owned, serve disadvantaged communities, or address accessibility. The White Sulphur Springs properties are the first ones the Fund has purchased outright.
During his remarks at the hotel, Manchin also briefly addressed world events such as Russia’s potential invasion of Ukraine.
“Anytime there is a problem, (the United States) will be involved, especially when energy is involved,” he said.
Manchin continued that the crisis could exacerbate rising inflation.
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