A clipping from The Bluefield Daily Telegraph, published March 19, 2016, to celebrate Kammer Furniture’s 84th year in business.
In time, the furniture store
took over the second, third and
fourth floor.
“It’s old school,” Kammer said.
“It’s a different kind of elevator,
and you don’t see them like that
anymore. The building has been
remodeled, but the elevator has
never been replaced.”
Built for freight and
passengers, the elevator can
appear unassuming from the
outside. When the doors open,
however, it’s as if time stopped
at the turn of the century.
Just inside the retracting gate,
visitors are greeted by soft green
walls and a vintage trimmed
sign reading, “Welcome to
Kammer’s.” As they venture up
and downward through each
of the floors, they can view the
passing exposed internal walls
through the gate.
“All the elevators around here
were like that when I was a kid,”
Kammer recalled. “Most had
gate operators, and the gate
operators would open and close
the gate behind you. ”
Kammer, a Bluefield native,
graduated from West Virginia
University in 1976 with a degree
12 Prerogative Magazine