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CABELL COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA
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Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Valerie & Tommy Crook
vfcrook@earthlink.net
July 17, 2000
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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 543
Cabell
WALTER S. HALLANAN. State Tax Commissioner Walter
S. Hallanan, one of the youngest and most popular officials
at the state capitol, has had a remarkable career as a
journalist and public official.
Born at Huntington, West Virginia, in 1890, he is the
son of Dr. Thomas and Martha (Blake) Hallanan. His
father died October 15, 1921, at the Hallanan homestead
in Barboursville, after a long and distinguished career
as a physician and writer. His mother still resides at
Barboursville.
Most of Mr. Hallanan's life was spent in Cabell County.
He was educated in the public schools at Huntington and
afterward was graduated from Morris Harvey College at
Barboursville. Immediately after finishing college he en-
tered the newspaper field, being employed as a reporter
on the Huntington Herald. He shortly afterward became
editor of the paper, and in 1909, when the paper con-
solidated with The Dispatch, he became managing editor
of The Huntington Herald-Dispatch, one of the state's
leading dailies.
Mr. Hallanan first attracted state-wide attention in con-
nection with his handling of the publicity bureau of the
Republican State Committee during the campaign of 1916.
The republican forces in the state were divided on the
Taft-Roosevelt issue, and to his tact and ability in main-
taining the common interest of both factions in the state
ticket is credited the success of the republican party in
West Virginia during the campaign. West Virginia was
the only normal republican state which elected a repub-
lican governor that fall.
Mr. Hallanan gave up journalism in 1913, when he was
appointed private secretary to Governor Henry D. Hat-
field. On March 1, 1917, near the close of Governor
Hatfield's term of office, he was appointed state tax com-
missioner. In September, 1921, at the annual meeting
of the National Tax Association, Mr. Hallanan was elected
a member of the executive committee of the association.
By virtue of his office as state tax commissioner Mr.
Hallanan became prohibition commissioner of West Vir-
ginia, and his record as a law enforcement officer and
his splendid administration of the duties of the tax com-
missioner's office have won for him universal trust and
admiration.
Mr. Hallanan was a member of the West Virginia Elec-
toral College in the presidential campaign of 1920. He
is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South,
and is an active participant in church affairs.
Mr. Hallanan married Miss Imogene Burns, of Hunt-
ington, West Virginia, and in October, 1921, their marriage
was blessed by a son, Walter S. Hallanan, Jr.
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