ALDERSON W.Va. (Hinton News) – It is time for another edition of A Peek into Summers County’s Past. Every week, local history collector, William Jones discussed pieces from his collection and their historical significance to the area. Over time, Jones has featured stores, restaurants, service businesses, stories behind town names and much more. While not entirely centered around Summers County, in this edition, he is talking about the Alderson Federal Prison.
To begin the conversation, Jones stated, “This week’s piece has a little different point of perspective in that it doesn’t only pertain to Summers County. The Alderson Federal Prison Camp is situated on property that is in both Summers and Monroe Counties. The prison first opened as the Federal Industrial Institute for Women on April 30, 1927. It was the first federal prison for women in the United States.”
Continuing the tale, Jones said, “The 1920s saw a great shortage of places to incarcerate women. Female inmates were either placed alongside male inmates in all-male institutions or given alternative punishments for their federal crimes. About this time locations across the country were being sought after to house a new federal prison. According to the rare history book: The Rise and Fall of Alderson, West Virginia, written by Thomas Dixon in 1967, a group of businessmen went to Washington in the early 1920s, proposed for the prison and got it.” This location in West Virginia was selected after these men went to Washington to sell their idea for having Alderson be the new site for the federal prison camp.”
“This location in West Virginia was reportedly selected due to it being isolated enough from major population centers so that any potential escapees wouldn’t be enticed to make a run for it. But at the same time was in close proximity to the main metropolitan areas on the east coast. Summers County won the bid for these qualifications by the site selection board.”
Discussing the prison’s beginnings, Jones noted, “Mary B. Harris became the first warden after being chosen by Mabel Walker Willebrandt. Mrs. Willebrandt became known as ‘The First Lady of Law.’ She devoted much of her career to seeing that prohibition was effectively enforced. Which brought about another name for her; ‘Prohibition’s Portia.’ Still, despite this, legend has it that the federal prison in Alderson doors was opened by moonshining women from up in the hills of West Virginia.”
“Warden Harris started her first year off with the overwhelming task of effectively overseeing the new facility that became inundated by 174 female inmates by the time its first year came to a close. This book was written by Mrs. Harris and her first-hand perspective of her 16 years as superintendent at the Federal Industrial Institution for Women in Alderson, as well as other jobs she held in the corrections field.”
Jones went on to say, “I am sure fascinating stories could be told by employees of its nearly a century in operation. Especially about some of the famous inmates it has housed. Such as Billie Holiday, Axis Sally, the wood-be President Gerald Ford assassins Sara Jane Moore and Squeaky Frome, Lulu Roman (a star of Hee Haw), Tokyo Rose and last but not least, probably the most famous prisoner of recent times, Martha Stewart.”
Normally, I do not interject much into Jones’ descriptions, but I have a small addition to this one. My dearly departed grandfather, Denver “Dickie” Abshire, worked at the prison for many years. He was working when some of the more famous inmates were lodged there, including Squeaky Frome. He always had stories from his time at the prison. Stories of training, dealing with inmates, strange requests, breaking up fights, the list goes on. Often, he laughed but occasionally told a tale that invoked sadness. Regardless, fond memories still surface when thinking about him telling those stories.
Back to your regularly scheduled programming, Jones said, “The first few weeks after Martha Stewart started her sentence at the federal prison, Alderson became a media circus! From the local stations to national news you wouldn’t go anywhere in town without seeing a news reporter. For instance, take my memory as just an idea of how things were. It was 2004 when she served her 5-month prison sentence for insider trading.”
“My mother and I were having lunch at the Monroe Dinner on the Monroe side of Alderson. A reporter walked in and everyone scattered and left the dining room. Except for my mother and I. The reporter walked up to Mom and asked if she would mind being interviewed, Mom said yes, thinking it must be a local news station.”
Jones continues, “I don’t remember much about the interview except for her being asked, ‘how Martha Stewart’s incarceration has affected the town of Alderson?’ Mom gave them an answer they were not expecting, she said ‘I think everyone is blowing it out of proportion! I do not know why they are referring to it as ‘Camp Cupcake.’ She is being treated no differently than any of the other inmates! I know because I have several family members and friends that work at the prison. Martha had done nothing more than what any other criminal has done. It is just that she had a famous name when she did it.'”
“The anchor thanked Mom when the interview ended and shook her hand. We finished our meal and went home without thinking twice about it. That night the phone started to ring with people saying things like ‘Cheryl I just saw you on TV!’ Again, we didn’t think twice about it. It wasn’t until her friend from Charleston called her and said the same thing that we started to track it down. It turns out that Mom had been interviewed by a reporter for Entertainment Tonight and was seen nationally. Best of all she had no idea she was being interviewed for a show everyone could see across the country just hours before!”
Jones also noted, “Aldersons, a department store in Alderson that first opened in 1887 and in 2004 was being run by the late Betty Alderson. Betty created three t-shirts with catchy sayings during Martha’s time in Alderson. One was ‘West Virginia Living: It’s a Good Thing,’ ‘I Spent Time in Alderson, WV,’ and my favorite, ‘Alderson, WV A Great Place to Spend Time.’ Martha would send all of her family and friends who came to see her to the store. Betty never got to meet or speak to Martha before she passed.”
“Betty’s daughter, Sarah Alderson, who now runs the store did get to speak to her. She called the store to try to find a way of locating the ceramics teacher who taught at the prison during her time there. She was trying to locate the molds for a nativity scene that she had made in a class while she was an inmate there. She ended up locating the molds and unveiled them on her website last Christmas. She was featured on the Tonight Show about it last November. Martha, who was 81 at the time, explained to Jimmy Fallon, ‘Well, I was at this very lovely federal camp down in Alderson, West Virginia.’ They had a ceramics class. And I chose to spend my evenings making ceramics.’ Mr. Fallon leaned over to her, covered her ears and said ‘Prison!’ They both shared a lot of laughter.”
To wrap up, Jones said, “I have had several family members from aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and great grandparents and many friends who have worked there. Many of which worked long enough to retire. Of all of the stories they told of their time employed at the prison, the ones that involved Martha Stewart are my favorite. Of all the businesses Summers County has seen since being formed in 1871. The federal prison in Alderson and its inmate count has always been a large source of revenue, bringing in more federal funds to the county.”
This is the end of another edition of A Peek into Summers County’s Past. If you have a tale from the area’s history to share, send an email to news@hintonnews.com. Be sure to check back next week for another look at the county’s past.
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