Men gather in front of Snyder’s Five-and-Dime on Pennsylvania Avenue in Hundred in the late 1950s. (Photographer unknown)

Memories of growing up in the Wetzel County town of Hundred are included in the latest issue of Goldenseal magazine, now on sale. Author Bob Masters, a retired library director and native of Hundred, shares his memories, along with those of several childhood friends, in an article titled, “As It Was in Hundred: Recalling Life in a Wetzel County Town.”

“It was a time when this small West Virginia town was the center of our universe,” Masters writes of the cozy, yet bustling, community during the 1940s and ’50s. Classmates Maxine (Bartrug) Straight, Johnny Oliver, Katy (McNeely) Watson, Ethel Riddle, Joan (Masters) Myers, Bob Haines, and Sonny Masters contribute colorful stories and personal recollections about early years spent in this memorable place.

Among the now-defunct businesses recalled are Fred Berdine’s Lumber, the Hundred Milling Company, the New Commercial Hotel, Drummond’s Dry Cleaning, Hinerman Brothers’ clothing and dry goods, Snyder’s Five-and-Ten Cents Store, Taylor’s Barbershop, and Dick Arnett’s Clothing Store.

The group also relates fond memories of the Hundred Airport, the downtown B&O train depot, He-Boy Hennan and his make-shift taxi, and the “Liar’s Bench” along Pennsylvania Avenue. All of these are gone now, the article states, but they live on in the hearts of those who cherish their memory.

Also in this issue of Goldenseal are articles about Upshur County glass artist Ron Hinkle; Charleston businessman, magician, and raconteur Noble F. Conner; the disastrous 1972 Buffalo Creek flood; and a Boone County barbeque sauce derived from an old family recipe.

Goldenseal is West Virginia’s magazine of traditional life and is published quarterly by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History in Charleston. The magazine sells for $4.95 and is available at Hundred Farm Supply in Hundred or by calling (304)558-0220, ext. 153; online at www.wvculture.org/goldenseal.