This week on Inside Appalachia, a look back at some of the stories that shaped the show in 2024, like the story of an abandoned Fairmont Brine site in Marion County, West Virginia. It was a common hangout spot, but there’s a hidden danger. Also, food deserts are places where it’s hard to find nutritious food. Like disenfranchised neighborhoods in East Knoxville, TN. And, not all bamboo is invasive. In fact, there’s a species native to Appalachia.
Entrepreneur Donald Franklin Duncan was born in Rome, Ohio, on June 8, 1893, but spent his childhood in Huntington.
Credit e-WV / WV Humanitites Council
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WV Humanitites Council
While in San Francisco in the late 1920s, Duncan saw a common Filipino toy known as a yo-yo, which means “come-come” in the Tagalog language.
He left Huntington in his mid-teens and became a successful salesman for the Brock Candy Company in Chicago during World War I. In 1920, he introduced Good Humor ice cream to the world.
While in San Francisco in the late 1920s, Duncan saw a common Filipino toy known as a yo-yo, which means “come-come” in the Tagalog language. He bought out the toy’s manufacturer, modified the top, substituted a slip-string of Egyptian fiber, and hired Filipino natives to demonstrate the toy across the country. Duncan’s yo-yo became wildly popular. In 1962, its peak sales year, the Duncan Yo-Yo Company sold 18 million yo-yos and spinning tops. He owned the trademark on the word yo-yo from 1930 to 1965, when a federal appeals court ruled that the word was part of the common language.
With his profits, he founded the Duncan Parking Meter Corporation, which at one point made 80 percent of all meters sold in the world.
Donald Duncan died in Los Angeles in 1971 at age 77.
The man about to lead West Virginia’s second largest city is gearing up to tackle one of its biggest challenges. Homelessness is a growing challenge in Huntington and throughout West Virginia.
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This week on Inside Appalachia, crossing a river by ferry can be a special experience, and hard to come by. On the Ohio River, a retiring ferry captain passes the torch to his deck hand. And Hurricane Helene destroyed roads and knocked out power and cell service across western North Carolina. But there was still a way to keep people in touch.
