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Shanty Town
I remember a few Shanty Boats on the Elk River. At one time, these houseboats stretched from the mouth of Court Street all the way up to the trolley bridge on the Elk . These were very tiny, usually one or two rooms at the most. The bathroom was the river, usually an "outhouse" built right in to the boat that dropped into the Elk. The funny thing is that the city wanted to get rid of the houseboats as far back as 1923 according to newspaper articles, and yet they were still there when I was a kid. This photo shows the last of the Shanty Boats just before early Urban Renewal. TODAY
Same scene, as the first photo, just up the riverbank. The people living on this boat were "junkers", finding wood, metal, cardboard.... anything to sell at the "recycling center". They brought their finds to the riverbank and sorted them. Some even had little food gardens. TODAY
Same scene again, looking in the opposite direction. Here you can see the old powerhouse for the Charleston Urban Railroad which was possibly by this time, the Boys Club. You also see the old Trolley bridge and railroad bridge crossing the Elk.
TODAY
You can just barely see the bridge piers and deck in this photo, as the trees have reclaimed the riverbank long ago.
Notice the "outhouse" that discharges directly into the river
Typical family on the Elk
Some lived on the riverbank.
This photo from 1936 shows the shanty boats still docked near the end of Court Street.
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