Lunch room in Roanoke Station

NW Mailing List nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Fri May 3 10:24:35 EDT 2024


Tim is correct, it was on the east side of the building, and the smaller counter (segregated) was for the black customers. Today, the gift shop occupies the space of the white counter, and a conference room the black section, The corrugated ceiling is still in place.

I’ve not totally been able to ever determine who operated the counter, but believe it was a contractor that probably came under the dining car department, the first menus used were of the scene of the Powhatan Arrow along New River on the front.

Other station lunch counters were Lynchburg and Petersburg.

By the way, in case someone was wondering, these photos that are being sold are also in the collection of the National Archives, and I suspect the low resolution free files.

Attached is the lunch counter on opening day from N&W. You can see the menus at the lady’s place in immediate foreground.

Best
Ken Miller
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> On May 2, 2024, at 7:45 PM, NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> 
> Please see https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_dkr=1&iconV2Request=true&_blrs=recall_filtering&_ssn=yesterdaysphotos&store_name=yesterdaysphotos&_oac=1&_nkw=roanoke
> 
> There are a couple of views of the lunch counter in Roanoke Station.  I suppose it must have been removed by the time I was there during 1968.  Where was it located within the building?  Also, did it come under the dining car jurisdiction or was it a private company concession?
> 
> Is the smaller counter for Blacks and the larger one for White customers?
> 
> Best wishes,
> 
> Frank Scheer
> f_scheer at yahoo.com<N&W_PASSENGER-WAITING-ROOM_ROANOKE_VA_1940s_F.jpg><N&W_PASSENGER-WAITING-ROOM_ROANOKE_VA_1940s_G.jpg>________________________________________
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