The Trans-Allegheny Bookstore

Carnegie Library of Parkersburg, West Virginia

By Bp Joseph Boyd (Ancient Church of the West)

I recently visited an old haunt of mine, the Trans-Allegheny Bookstore, where I bought my first theology books, which were already over a 100 years old 25 years ago when I bought them. They had been in an old Presbyterian pastor’s library, and the bookstore had acquired them after his death. 

The building itself was remarkable, having a wrought iron internal frame to hold up the weight of the books, and semi-transparent glass floors. It also had a beautiful spiral staircase. The building was one of Andrew Carnegie’s projects, and was a gift to the State or West Virginia. 

Apparently, the bookstore has been closed for a long time, the product of an unclear will at the death of its owner, and it has been locked up for a decade with many of the books that I leafed through in my teens still sitting on dusty shelves. 

Seeing this old building brought back so many memories, and reminded me that my books will, someday, be all that is left of my lifetime of theological study. Better to pray and live Christianly than to obsess over mountains of paper that will just sit for years as people squabble over what little worth they represent! The finest monuments we build to our own intelligence and good works will, someday, sit barred-up, ready for auction, and be bulldozed to make way for a parking lot. Only what is done for Christ will last!