Finding Aid to the Carroll Hotel Miscellaneous Records

JONES MEMORIAL LIBRARY
2311 MEMORIAL AVENUE
LYNCHBURG, VA 24501
(434) 846-0501
CARROLL HOTEL MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS
The records, dated 1892-1894, include a subscription list for capital stock of a hotel
company and several invoices received by the hotel following its construction and opening.
CARROLL HOTEL, LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA, 1892-1959
The subscription list for capital stock, dated 23 November 1892, indicated that a hotel
was to be built in Lynchburg, Va. on property at the corner of Main and Eighth Streets, occupied
then by the Lynchburg Trust Co. The Hotel Carroll Co. was chartered 4 January1893. The
capital stock of the company was to be not less than $50,000 and no more than $250,000. The
subscribers included John W. Carroll, John Wall, Adams Brothers & Paynes (Co.), George M.
Murrell, Camillus Christian, Thomas D. Christian, Davis Childs & Co., and John P. Pettyjohn.
The hotel was named the Hotel Carroll, perhaps for John W. Carroll who was the primary
subscriber. The hotel opened in 1893, as indicated by the invoices dated January-May 1894, and
was demolished in 1959.
JOHN WESLEY CARROLL (1832-1898)
John Wesley Carroll was born in Staunton, Augusta Co., Va., 3 March 1832, the son of
Jacob Carroll and Isabel Layman. When his parents died, he went to Lynchburg, Virginia, in
1848 to learn the trade of cabinetmaker with the firm of Folkes and Winston. He worked for
them for two years and then formed a partnership with William Crumpton, which continued for
nearly thirteen years. In 1859, he began the manufacture of granulated smoking tobacco and
soon built up a vast business. He continued his business during the Civil War. His profits were
entirely wiped out with the defeat of the Confederacy, but, by 1867, he had increased his sales
and had purchased the Crumpton factory. His tobacco was rated with such a high grade of
excellence that he received numerous premiums at international expositions.
Carroll also served as president of the Lynchburg National Bank, director of the
Lynchburg Loan and Trust Company, a director of the Slate Coal Company, and as president of
the Carroll Hotel Company. He also served as a director of the Female Orphan Asylum of
Lynchburg and a member of the Lynchburg City Council for thirty-two years. He was widely
known as one of the most public-spirited citizens of the city.
John Carroll married Sarah Elizabeth Crumpton, daughter of William Crumpton
in 1850. After her death, he married Sallie F. Adams, daughter of Isaac Adams of Appomattox
County, Virginia, in 1878.
John Wesley Carroll died 9 February 1898 in Lynchburg and is buried in the
Presbyterian Cemetery.
MS1332