By the Decades

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The story below is from our September/October 2024 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you! 

Exploring the Roanoker and the Roanoke Valley over the years since this magazine came to be.

The first issue of The Roanoker appeared in the fall of 1974 and its lead piece was telling in several ways:

  • It was written by founder/editor/publisher Richard Wells, who was all of 27 years old. He operated out of a one-room, 135-square-foot office on the fourth floor of the Crystal Towers Hotel and Office Building at 145 W. Campbell, owned at the time by developer Richard Hamlett, who would decades later marry Debbie Reynolds.
  • It was quarterly, 36 pages big — including eight pages of advertising — and had a cover price of 60 cents.
  • The lead piece, written by Wells, was titled “Roanoke: A New Era Is Dawning,” and featured images of the new $8 million, 15-story First National Exchange Bank building and United Virginia Bank’s $5 million 14-story building. It celebrated the recent opening of Tanglewood Mall and the concurrent rising of the federal building and the C&P Telephone building.

In sum, in the fall of ‘74, at least through the lens of The Roanoker, the overriding perspective was one of hope, promise and growth. The issue presented profiles of a lawyer and an architect, coverage of Le Gourmet’s Eugene Fesquet, “Roanoke’s only French chef,” along with pieces on where to buy local art and how to lure convention business to Roanoke.

And so crystallizes our first decade profile to parallel the decades of the magazine:

1970S’ ROANOKE AND THE ROANOKER: A RAILROAD TOWN LOOKS TENTATIVELY FORWARD WITH NEW LEADERSHIP

Notable Dates

  • 1973: Tanglewood opens, with 658,000 square feet, making it the largest Virginia mall west of Richmond.
  • 1975: Reverend Noel Taylor becomes the first Black mayor of Roanoke, having contributed for years, from his post as pastor of High Street Baptist Church as a part of a multi-racial committee to oversee the peaceful integration of Roanoke. Taylor would serve as mayor until his retirement in 1992.
  • 1976: Mill Mountain Theater, housed in 1892 Rockledge Inn atop Mill Mountain, burns. Roanoke annexes 16 square miles of Roanoke County, taking the city’s population over 100,000.
  • 1978: Bern Ewert becomes Roanoke City manager, bringing a visionary presence to the city, its neighborhoods and downtown. Ewert served until his stunning resignation in 1985 to direct the nascent Explore Park.
  • 1979: Design ‘79 sets a path for downtown revival as Billy’s Ritz Restaurant and Alexander’s become pioneer businesses, with Alexander’s celebrating its 35th anniversary in 2024.

Star of the Decade

Reverend Noel C. Taylor, who came to a segregated Roanoke in 1961 to become pastor of High Street Baptist Church, spent the ‘60s and ‘70s working quietly behind the scenes to assure the city’s peaceful integration. He became the city’s first Black mayor in 1975 and served in that capacity until 1992, easily the city’s longest-serving mayor.

Population, 1970

  • Roanoke City: 92,100
  • Roanoke County: 67,300
  • Salem: 21,900
  • Franklin County: 26,800
  • Botetourt County: 18,100
  • Craig County: 3,500

From the Inaugural Issue: Businesses We Miss and Some We Still Cherish

First National Exchange Bank, Fiji Island Restaurant, Peoples Federal, Ramada Inn, The Gourmet, Peery Realty, Aqua Beds, all of which advertised in the first issue of the magazine, along with some still in operation: Branch & Associates, Mr. Bill’s Hair Stylist, Tanglewood Mall, Wingate Associates, MKB Realtors (then Lugar Mastin Kirkland Bolling) and The Roanoker magazine, offering a personalized note to go with the $2 Christmas gift that would keep on giving four times in 1975.

A Star is Born

The May/June 1978 issue carried Brenda McDaniel’s detailed report on Roanoke City Manager Bern Ewert’s “First 100 Days,” with comments from members of city council including words like “very pleased,” “active,” “bright and energetic,” “remarkable” and “I give him a 95.”

Inside the Magazine: Ahead of Its Time?

The magazine’s Holiday ‘77 issue’s cover story was preceded by a “From the Editor” note from Richard Wells, asserting that the story “is sure to raise controversy, although it is not published with that intention.” Stephan Bechtel’s lengthy, careful and thorough “What It’s Like Being Gay in Roanoke” presented a deep exploration of the experience of “the closet door still being closed,” and of having “a right to live and work and have fun just like anybody else.”

Roanoke Valley's Top Employers, 1975

  • Norfolk & Western Railway: 5,200
  • Appalachian Power: 3,900
  • General Electric: 3,700
  • Halmode Apparel (dresses): 1,300
  • Roanoke Mills (knitwear): 1,025

Maybe Not in 50 Years Either

In a March/April 1976 piece titled “2001: What Roanoke Will be Like,” Maury Strauss of Strauss Construction answered the question of potential consolidation of Roanoke Valley governments this way: “There are an awful lot of intense feelings that have to be overcome before you will see any real consolidation. My own personal opinion would be no, it can’t happen that quickly, but I hope I’m wrong.”

The First Annual Dubious Achievement Awards

rolled out in 1978 and included The Good Man is Hard to Find Award to two Hollins women who “abducted a 20-foot, 150-pound fiberglass lumberjack from the front of a garden equipment shop on Peter’s Creek Road and hauled him atop their car to the Hollins campus.”

Scoundrel of the Decade?

Roanoke World-News columnist Mike Ives was profiled in a 1976 issue as Roanoke’s most powerful journalist, despite his stated accomplishment of “living past 30,” and ambitions that included fishing and pool. By 1979, the magazine ran “The Inside Story on Mike Ives’ Firing” ostensibly over Ives’ efforts to publish a collection of restaurant recipes outside of the Times-World publishing realm.

ROANOKE AND THE MAGAZINE 1980S: THE RAILROAD LEAVES AND CARILION ASCENDS

Notable Dates

  • 1982: Norfolk & Western merges with Southern to become Norfolk Southern and begins its retreat from Roanoke as headquarters.
  • 1983: Roanoke’s Center in the Square, housing four museums under one roof, opens. Smith Mountain Lake State Park opens.
  • 1985: Valley View Mall, with nearly 1 million square feet of leasable space, opens. Roanoke City Manager Bern Ewert resigns to embark on ambitious plans for Explore Park. The Flood of ‘85 inundates downtown Roanoke and surrounding areas with unprecedented flooding, killing 10 people and effectively ending the Virginia Museum of Transportation’s existence in what is now the Green Goat Restaurant.
  • 1987: Roanoke Memorial Hospital merges with Community Hospital, setting the stage for the new identity (1988) of Carilion Health System (which became Carilion Clinic in 2007).
  • 1989: Norfolk Southern donates the (then-closed) Hotel Roanoke to Virginia Tech.

Population, 1980

  • Roanoke City: 100,200
  • Roanoke County: 72,900
  • Salem: 23,900
  • Franklin County: 35,700
  • Botetourt County: 23,200
  • Craig County: 3,900

Bigger and Bolder

By the first issue of the 1980s, The Roanoker cover price was up to $1.50 and the perfect-bound issue carried 100 pages; the magazine now consistently carried history and themed, carefully orchestrated and composed cover images. 

Stars of the Decade

The intimate, intense October 1980 cover shot of Roanoke City Manager Bern Ewert’s face (photographed by Karl Phillips) and Brenda McDaniel’s thorough and hard-hitting story on his relationship with city council was followed by another Ewert cover story in July ‘83, and then, in the 10th Anniversary issue (October ‘84) with recognition of Ewert as “Man of the Decade.”

The May 1987 issue’s cover story profiled Richard Cranwell with the title, “The Most Powerful Man in  Roanoke Lives in Vinton.” The piece detailed the statewide influence of Roanoke-area state delegates Chip Woodrum, Vic Thomas and especially Dick Cranwell.

The February 1988 issue profiled Northwest Roanoke’s own Warner Dalhouse, who attended Roanoke College, began as a bank messenger boy and had by then risen to run Dominion, Roanoke’s largest bank, and to lend his hand, leadership and funding to  pretty much every enlightened civic undertaking around here—a pattern that continued well into the ensuing decades.

Roanoke Valley's Top Employers, 1980

  • Norfolk & Western Railway: 4,650
  • General Electric: 3,500
  • Roanoke County Schools: 2,200
  • Roanoke Memorial Hospitals: 1,810
  • City of Roanoke: 1,750

Newspaper Delivers

The later years of the 1980s marked a high point for The Roanoke Times & World-News. Daily circulation reached about 120,000 (it’s now about a fifth of that), and the well-staffed, well-edited, well-run paper was home to a group of all-time byline stars including Dwayne Yancey,  Bill Brill, Beth Macy, Douglas Pardue and others.

Boom Goes the Lake

Take a look at the population gain for Franklin County from ‘70 to ‘80—about 9,000 people—and pair that with Bedford County’s increase by about the same number and you get a hint at the explosion of development and population at Smith Mountain Lake over the decade, as developers including Ron Willard, David Wilson and others lined the shoreline with single-home and condo developments.

Who Needs Any Stinkin Tinder?

The June 1986 issue introduced “PERSONALS: ISO,” a compendium of SWF seeking tall blond professional male 25-35 who is intelligent and ambitious. The back-of-book listings reached a high point of about 50 per issue and lasted into the mid ‘90s.

Cover of the Decade?

Sylvia Altizer’s perfect-expression face and the photography/art direction of Walker Nelms and Mike Wilson yielded a classic cover for November 1986. (The issue also introduced what would be this writer’s favorite restaurant for the ensuing 25 years until its owner’s retirement in 2011 — Norberto’s Italian Ristorante.)

Power Couple of the Decade

. . . well, actually from the 1976 founding of Boone & Co Realtors until the sale of the company in 2004, Len and Joanne Boone dominated the real estate industry in the Roanoke Valley.

ROANOKE AND THE MAGAZINE 1990S: EXPLORE PARK OPENS, HOTEL ROANOKE REOPENS

Notable Dates

  • 1990: In November voting on whether or not to consolidate the governments and services of Roanoke City and Roanoke County, the proposal failed by about 5,000 votes among about 55,000 cast, with the city voting largely in favor and the county against. 
  • 1991: The 21-story, $38 million Dominion Tower  is completed, becoming Roanoke’s tallest building.
  • 1992: Norfolk Southern completes its 11-story building in downtown Roanoke.
  • 1993: Salem hosts its first Stagg Bowl football championship.
  • 1994: Explore Park opens to the public.
  • 1995: The renovated Hotel Roanoke re-opens under Double Tree management; the hotel had been closed since 1989 when it was deeded to Virginia Tech.
  • 1996 (Jan 6-7): The greatest snowfall in a 24-hour period—22.2 inches—inundates Roanoke. (The 36-inch snow of 1890 took more than 24 hours to accumulate.)
  • 1999: Darlene Burcham begins her 10-year tenure as Roanoke’s first female city manager.

Population, 1990

  • Roanoke City: 96,400
  • Roanoke County: 79,300
  • Salem: 23,800
  • Franklin County: 39,500
  • Botetourt County: 25,000
  • Craig County: 4,400

Prediction ‘91

The January 1991 issue included a prediction for the valley’s future, highlighted by this one from Roanoke County Administrator Elmer Hodge: “I see us as a major medical center. I see us developing in harmony with the river and the mountains—protecting those assets.”

Rogue of the Decade?

Franklin County serial entrepreneur Whitey Taylor in the early ‘90s worked to bring drag racing to Victory Stadium.

Roanoke Valley's Top Employers, 1990

  • Norfolk Southern: 3,500
  • Carilion Health System: 2,500
  • General Electric: 2,100
  • Dominion Bank: 1,890
  • City of Roanoke: 1,860

How's Your Neighborhood Stack Up?

The June 1991 issue included these figures for home value appreciation, 1972-1990:

  • Raleigh Court: 614% ($12K-$85K average price)
  • Sugar Loaf: 476% ($19K-$109K)
  • Hunting Hills: 324% ($59K-$252K)
  • North Lakes: 318% ($19K-$79K)
  • Penn Forest: 285% ($29K-$118K)

Exclusive: Top Docs

The July ‘92 issue launched what has become a biennial Roanoker magazine staple: Top Doctors as selected by Roanoke Valley nurses.

We Knew Him When

This writer’s all-time personal-favorite assignment for The Roanoker was a spring ‘94 visit to Ferrum College where I got to talk to and play catch with Tazewell native Billy Wagner, who had just concluded a record-setting pitching career at Ferrum and signed a $500,000 contract with the Houston Astros toward beginning a record-setting career in the Major Leagues.

Explore Park Opens

In a scale far different from the Disney-cum-Smithsonian destination envisioned at the 1985 outset, Explore Park opens in July, 1994 featuring historic buildings, craft demonstrations and a wetlands area, drawing some 20,000 visitors—including many groups of schoolchildren—by the end of the year.

Beamer Covers, Take 1

The first of four Roanoker covers featuring Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer appeared in September 1994.

Fatter Magazine

With the September/October 1997 issue, The Roanoker went to a bimonthly schedule and perfect-bound printing.

We Got the Cover, While We Could (July 95)

For a brief time in the mid-1990s, the Roanoke Valley had four professional sports teams: the Salem Avalanche (baseball); the Roanoke Rush (football); the Roanoke Riverdogs (soccer); and the Roanoke Express (hockey).

ROANOKE AND THE ROANOKER 2000S: RIVERSIDE CENTRE LAUNCHES NEW ERA

Notable Dates

  • 2000: Carilion Health System and Roanoke City announce plans for Riverside Centre for Research and Technology. The $19 million Roanoke Higher Education Center opens in the former Norfolk Southern General Office Building in downtown Roanoke.
  • 2002: September sees the effects of a years-long drought draw Carvins Cove to its lowest level ever, some 33 feet below full pond.
  • 2006 Venerable Victory Stadium, completed in 1942 at a cost of $300,000, with a seating capacity of 24,450 and having hosted years of rivalry football games between VMI and (what was then called) VPI, is demolished. The long-awaited flood-control program for the Roanoke River begins.
  • 2008: The Taubman Museum of Art—concurrently touted as a major addition to downtown Roanoke and panned as an architectural spaceship plunked down in downtown Roanoke, opens.

Population, 2000

  • Roanoke City: 94,911
  • Roanoke County: 85,788
  • Salem: 24,447
  • Franklin County: 47,286
  • Botetourt County: 30,496
  • Craig County: 5,091

Best Predictions for the Century (made in the Jan/Feb 2000 issue).

  • From serial entrepreneur Ron Blum: “Within the next 10 years we’ll see video phones, smart cars, electric cars, wristwatch phones, electronic books and a significantly higher stock market.”
  • From Tech football coach Frank Beamer: “Technology will be a double-edged sword. It can be a source of unlimited information, but unfortunately there are no standards, nothing to monitor who’s putting that information out there. That raises questions about how accurate the information is and the people who are sending it.”

Valley Women Rate Men

From the November/December 2000 survey of nearly 250 women in the Roanoke Valley, the top 9 things they liked about men:

  • Strength (physical or psychological)
  • Appearance/physical traits
  • Caring/kindness
  • Companionship/friendship
  • Politeness
  • Helpfulness
  • Sex
  • Honesty
  • They’re not women

Snapshot 2001: The Valley’s 5 Most Influential People

  • Tom Roberston, Carilion Chairman
  • Warner Dalhouse, Retired Chair of First Union Bank
  • Dick Cranwell, Minority Leader, Virginia House of Delegates
  • W. Heywood Fralin, CEO, Medical Facilities of America
  • Darlene Burcham, Roanoke City Manager

Roanoke Valley's Top Employers, 2000 

  • Carilion Health System: 5,250
  • Norfolk Southern: 2,700
  • Roanoke County Schools: 2,550
  • First Union National Bank: 2,510
  • Roanoke City Schools: 2,470

Mom Salute

Norma Lugar’s celebration of Geraldine Barber in September/October 2002 began this way: “At 27, she was a divorced single mom with 4-year-old twin boys to raise. Alone. Pinching pennies. Working multiple jobs. A tough life? Not if you ask Geraldine Barber, a former Army brat who learned early how strong women cope with tragedy.”

Duke Rebuke 

Another chapter in a golden decade for Roanoke Valley athletes was celebrated in Roland Lazenby’s March/April cover story on reasons for the intense hatred for former Cave Spring High and then-Duke star JJ Redick, who is now head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Split Personality, Cover Version

The Jan/Feb ‘08 cover manifested the magazine’s long-standing mixed feelings about the valley: great place to live vs failing to grow. Content inside was the same, but subscribers received the grim question while newsstands and other distribution got the fabulous place to live message.

Coincidence? 

It was only a few months after the May/June 2009 story on Roanoke City Manager Darlene Burcham’s management style that she announced her retirement from the position.

ROANOKE AND THE ROANOKER 2010-'24: GREENWAYS GROW AND COVID SLOWS

Notable Dates

  • 2012: The reality show “Salvage Dawgs,” featuring Black Dog Salvage co-owners, launches on DIT Network and runs until the COVID pandemic leads to its end in 2020.
  • 2017: Both Hollins University and Roanoke College celebrate their 175th anniversaries.
  • March 2020: The beginning of the COVID pandemic is marked by school closings, initially for only two weeks.
  • 2023: The Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs, the valley’s sixth professional hockey team, win the SPHL President’s Cup, marking the first hockey championship in the valley since 1987.
  • May 2024: Roanoke City Manager Robert Cowell, appointed in 2017, abruptly resigns, apparently under pressure by city council and with three weeks’ notice.

Arts n Docs

In the July/August 2010 issue, Warner Dalhouse waxed poetic about the best ideas in the valley since ‘74:

“I firmly believe that Center in the Square’s success made other things possible: reopening of Hotel Roanoke, restoration of the Shenandoah Hotel building, creation of the O. Winston Link Museum, the Roanoke Higher Ed Center, the Jefferson Center, even the reopening of the Grandin Theatre.

“Carilion is now on the cutting edge of what is happening in health care in America. . . . It is impossible to forecast the extent of the impact of the new research institute and medical school. This is big. This is really significant.”

Norma Lugar: 1934-2010

In his “Letter That Didn’t Get Written” (May/June 2010) tribute to the magazine’s first editor other than Richard Wells, he wrote: “You were the heart and soul of this magazine, Norma. Yes, we’ll get someone else to take the assignments for the 35th anniversary and that issue will be a fine one. But neither it nor any future issue is ever going to be the same without you.”

Roanoke Valley's Top Employers, 2013

  • Carilion Clinic
  • Roanoke County Schools
  • Roanoke City Schools
  • U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
  • Kroger Stores

Population, 2010

  • Roanoke City: 97,032
  • Roanoke County: 92,376
  • Salem: 24,082
  • Franklin County: 56,159
  • Botetourt County: 33,148
  • Craig County: 5,190

The Face of Valley Renewal

Even by early in the 2010s, Roanoke native Ed Walker had overseen several major renewal projects in the valley, including the former Colonial American National Bank Building, the former Grand Piano & Furniture Building, the former Virginia Mills Building and the former Patrick Henry Hotel (all in downtown Roanoke), as well as the former Roanoke Ice House building on the Roanoke River in Wasena.

The Face of Valley Greenways & Trails 

By the time of her 2021 retirement after 25 years as the Roanoke Greenways Coordinator, Liz Belcher had had a strong hand in 25 miles of urban greenway and 400 total miles of paved and natural trails.

Hokies 'n Hoos

Roland Lazenby’s November/December 2013 piece on the football rivalry included a sampling of the obligatory dumb jokes:

Q: How do you keep the Wahoos out of your backyard?

A: Put up goal posts.

Q: Why don’t the Hokies have ice on the sidelines?

A: The guy with the recipe graduated.

Here's Liz!

The Jan/Feb 2018 issue of the magazine welcomed the publication’s fifth editor, Liz Long, along with a re-design. Liz’s great work and the look of the magazine continue as fresh as they were then as she carries on and advances such time-tested staples as Best of Roanoke, Top Docs and Dining Awards, and in 2020 launched a new feature that will present its sixth annual class in January, 40 Under 40.

50 Years: When Roanoke Went Outside

Yes, much has changed over the past 50 years in the Roanoke Valley. We migrated from being railroad-driven to a health care-driven metro. Our downtown emerged from dark days of danger and dive bars with scant residents to a thriving area with about 90 restaurants and nearly 3,000 residents. Population grew significantly in the Smith Mountain Lake and Botetourt County areas.

But if there is one thing that has defined the valley over the past five decades, it is that we went outside to play.

In 1974, when The Roanoker launched, you could go up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and find an overlook or a trail. You could go west of town and put yourself on the Appalachian Trail.

Carvins Cove had zero trails. Beginning with some unofficial bike trails in the 1980s, the natural area in the second largest municipal park in the country now has more than 60 hiking/biking/horseback trails, with the most recent significant addition being the 2019 opening of the Hinchee Trail, linking Brushy Mountain to Salem and its collection of greenways, including the Mason Creek Greenway and the Roanoke River Greenway.

Mill Mountain in ‘74 was a similar blank space for trails, with no more than a few social pathways. By 1999 there was a trail plan and now there are more than 10 miles of looping and intersecting trails that link to downtown Roanoke and to the Roanoke River Greenway.

Explore Park, not conceived in ‘74, is now home to 14 miles of trails as well as camping, yurts and cabins.

And those are only examples. Keyed by the 1997 formation of the Greenway Commission, the efforts of the now-retired Liz Belcher and others have resulted in trails all over the place, beginning with Roanoke County’s Garst Mill Greenway in ‘97.

Since then the additions have been numerous, beautiful and inviting: trails at Tinker Creek, Read Mountain, Wolf Creek and Catawba, to name only a few.

And as more segments of the region’s primary greenway along the Roanoke River come to completion, the valley gets closer and closer to what once seemed like a pipe dream: a 31-mile pathway from western Roanoke County near Spring Hollow Reservoir through Salem, Roanoke and Vinton to Explore Park.

The Roanoke Valley changed mightily from 1974 to 2024, not the least of which was going outside for a walk or a bike ride.

The story above is from our September/October 2024 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!