place

West End, Roanoke, Virginia

Neighborhoods in Roanoke, VirginiaShenandoah Valley, Virginia geography stubs

West End is a Roanoke, Virginia neighborhood located in central Roanoke south of the Norfolk Southern railyard. It borders the neighborhoods of Hurt Park and Mountain View on the west, Downtown on the east, Gilmer on the north across the Norfolk Southern railyard and Old Southwest on the south.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article West End, Roanoke, Virginia (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

West End, Roanoke, Virginia
17th Street Southwest, Roanoke West End

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: West End, Roanoke, VirginiaContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 37.273611111111 ° E -79.969444444444 °
placeShow on map

Address

17th Street Southwest 401
24016 Roanoke, West End
Virginia, United States
mapOpen on Google Maps

Share experience

Nearby Places

Memorial Bridge (Roanoke, Virginia)
Memorial Bridge (Roanoke, Virginia)

The Memorial Bridge is a two-lane, 785-foot-long (239 m) bridge spanning the Roanoke River along U.S. Route 11 (Memorial Avenue) in Roanoke, Virginia. The bridge serves as a connection between the southwestern areas of the city (including the Grandin Village area) with central Roanoke. Built by contractor W.W. Boxley, the bridge consists of five 120 feet (37 m) spans, with construction commencing in summer 1925. The bridge officially opened to traffic on May 6, 1926, at a final cost of $282,750.Although officially open to traffic for over four months, its official dedication occurred on August 30 with U.S. Representative Clifton Woodrum in attendance. The delay in its dedication was attributed to delays involving the creation of the bronze, dedication plaques. It is officially dedicated to Roanoke's veterans of World War I.The bridge features five plaques, with their contents determined by the Roanoke City Council. Four of them feature quotations from notable historic figures: Patrick Henry, Theodore Roosevelt, Stonewall Jackson and Thomas Jefferson; with the fifth containing the names of all the soldiers from Roanoke who died in World War I. Although dedicated to the veterans who fought in World War I, many did not attend the dedication ceremony due to its not being originally conceived as a monument to former servicemen. The bridge was officially rededicated on November 11, 1991, sixty-five years after its original dedication.Due to its deteriorating state as a result of corrosion from salt used for deicing in the winter, in April 2002 a major restoration of the span commenced. Costing $1.17 million and completed by spring 2003, the restoration included the replacement of corroded elements, removal of the original Roanoke Street Railway Company streetcar tracks from the roadbed and a resurfacing of the pavement. Additionally, the restoration project incorporated traffic calming principles in reducing the number of vehicular travel lanes from four to two. In addition to the removal of a pair of lanes, both a median and two bike lanes were incorporated onto the bridge.

Burrell Memorial Hospital
Burrell Memorial Hospital

Burrell Memorial Hospital, currently operating as Blue Ridge Behavioral Health (BRBH) Burrell Center, was an historic African-American hospital originally located in the Gainsboro neighborhood of Roanoke, Virginia. The hospital replaced the 1914 Medley Hospital. It opened March 18, 1915 as a 10-bed facility in a converted home at 311 Henry Street. In 1921 the hospital moved to a new, 55-bed location in the adjacent Harrison Neighborhood, having renovated the former Allegheny Institute (originally the Rorer Hotel, 1883) at 611 McDowell Ave., NW.: 122–123  The final facility was constructed 1954-55 on the same property as a four-story, 73,000 square foot, International Style building. It is T-shaped with three wings extending from a central elevator core. The building housed the only African-American medical facility in Roanoke from 1915 to 1965. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. Burrell Memorial Hospital closed in 1979 due to financial strain and reopened the same year as the Burrell Home for Adults, an adult care facility. This facility grew to provide specialized care to residents, but eventually closed as Burrell Nursing Center in 2002.: 133 In the early 20th century, hospitals in the Appalachian region of Virginia were segregated. In Roanoke and southwest Virginia there were no hospitals available to individuals not considered to be white. "[S]everal black physicians in the area, including Dr. Issac David Burrell, were working diligently to establish a hospital for black residents. In the midst of these efforts, Dr. Burrell became seriously ill with gallstones and was forced to travel in a train baggage car to Washington, D.C. for treatment. He died following surgery, and the heart-wrenching circumstances of his death served as a catalyst to ensure that this tragedy would not be repeated for another black person. On March 18, 1915, Burrell Memorial Hospital, named in honor of Dr. Burrell, opened at 311 Henry Street. It began as a 10-bed facility equipped with $1,000 of borrowed money but went on to become the first African-American hospital to earn full approval of the American Board of Surgeons. Dr. Lylburn C. Downing, who had been the first African-American accepted as a member of the Roanoke Medical Society, became the first superintendent and held that position until 1947. "After Burrell's death, the doctors Downing, Williman and Roberts, joined by John Claytor, Sr., and Jerry Cooper, founded Burrell Memorial with ten beds on North Henry Street in March 1915."The flu epidemic of 1919 created the need for expanded facilities, so the hospital moved into the abandoned Allegheny Institute building on the corner of McDowell Avenue and Park Street (now 7th Street) in 1921. This building was used until 1955 when the present hospital was opened. Burrell Memorial Hospital remained a prominent black institution until the 1965 Civil Rights Act mandated the desegregation of hospital facilities. In 1979, the hospital closed. as of 2023 The Burrell Center is home to Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare.