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The West Virginia Encyclopedia
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The West Virginia Encyclopedia
Lumberman Charles Lloyd Ritter (October 6, 1865-December 22, 1945) was born in Muncy, Pennsylvania. In 1889, he came to West Virginia and entered the lumber business at Oakvale, Mercer County. Two years later he moved to Welch, where he organized the Tug River Lumber Company. Its offices later moved to Bluefield and then to Bristol, Virginia, before Ritter brought the company to Huntington in 1901.
Ritter settled permanently in Huntington, marrying Mabel McClintock, a Marshall College (now Marshall University) graduate, in 1902. He purchased many important commercial properties in the Huntington business district and invested in lumber, coal, gas, and mineral developments in West Virginia and nearby states. He was a director of the First National Bank of Huntington, president of the Ritter-Burns Lumber Company, the Ritter Hardwood Lumber Company, the C. L. Ritter Lumber Company, the Central Realty Company, the Huntington Land Company, the Rock Castle Lumber Company, the Turkey Foot Lumber Company, the Norfolk Land Company, the Empire Furniture Company, and others.
Ritter died in Huntington where he is remembered today in the name of Ritter Park, to which he donated acreage.
Written by Mary Lou Pratt
Wallace, George S. Huntington through 75 Years. Huntington: 1947.
Comstock, Jim, ed. West Virginia Heritage Encyclopedia vol. 19. Richwood: Jim Comstock, 1976.
C. L. Ritter Sr., 80-Year-Old Realty Owner, Taken by Death. Huntington Advertiser, 12/23/1945.
C. L. Ritter's Funeral is Set for Thursday. Huntington Herald-Dispatch, 12/24/1945.