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In the short six months of its existence, West End's Hotel Zinzendorf did host one truly national celebrity: General Adlai Stevenson, 1892's Vice-President candidate for nominee Grover Cleveland. Thousands attended his parade through town (and he won the race!).
The future of the West End's historic past has been assured through the hard lobbying of residents since the 1960s, and the support of local businesses and government, who together have created a local historic district, and beautified the area's parks, streets, and homes.
At first, West End included all of Fifth Street west of Poplar Street ("Millionaires Row"), including the Victorian home of R. J. Reynolds.
After the trolley closed in 1936, and car usage brought new suburbs, many of West End's structures suffered neglect or were destroyed (like the old school and church shown here).
Thomas Edison's apprentice Frank Sprague built the "West End trolley," one of the nation's first electric streetcars. It shuttled folks from West End's grand Hotel Zinzendorf, designed by Boston architects Wheelwright and Haven, to downtown (as here in 1906).
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