ROBERT LUM DAY, the son of Sidney Brookfield Day and Rebecca Morehouse Lum, was born in Georgia in 1853. The Day’s were Unionists, who refused to support the Confederacy, and as a result the family lost their jewelry business during the Civil War. Leaving the South, Robert worked as a surveyor for his uncle, Martin Lum, who was a chief construction engineer for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. Settling in Huntington, WV, he went to work for the Ensign Manufacturing Company. In 1900 he began a contracting business, to which he added work as an architect. He lived most of his life at 64 West Sixth Avenue. His offices were located in the Frederick Hotel building. He became a skilled concrete builder, especially in the use of fireproof construction, and received several patents for his work with reinforced concrete. Some of his work included the Catlettsburg, KY, City Hall and the Miller & Ritter Building City. His final work was the west wing of the Cabell County Court House.
     In 1884 he married Mary Martha Johnson. The couple had two children, a daughter, Florence, who died in infancy, and a son, Sidney Logan Day. He retired in 1924 and died four years later.