Wednesday, August 26, 2026

Question: Which railroad company closed the Hotel Roanoke in 1989, then later donated it to the Virginia Tech Real Estate Foundation?

Answer: Norfolk Southern Corporation, descendant of Frederick J. Kimball’s Norfolk and Western Railroad, built the hotel in 1882, then closed it 107 years later and donated it to the Virginia Tech Real Estate Foundation. Today, the restored hotel operates as the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center, a joint project of Hotel Roanoke LLC, the City of Roanoke, and Virginia Tech, featuring 329 guestrooms and a 63,000-square-foot conference center.