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    Christiansburg
    Christiansburg
    Christiansburg
    Ebook193 pages1 hour

    Christiansburg

    By M. Anna Fariello and Kate Rubick

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    About this ebook

    Images of America: Christiansburg is a finely tuned compilation of photographs depicting the growth and character of a rural, southwestern Virginia community. Christiansburg proper is situated along the edge of a verdant plateau that rises between the Allegheny and Blue Ridge Mountains and is incorporated into the New River watershed. Early settlers were attracted to the region s rich alluvial soil and tempered climates. By the mid-18th century, permanent homesteads began to dot the gentle landscape and the town was officially incorporated in 1792. These photographs follow Christiansburg from its beginnings as a popular stagecoach stop to the 20th century, documenting progress in education, industry, and commerce.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateMay 4, 2005
    ISBN9781439612873
    Christiansburg
    Author

    M. Anna Fariello

    M. Anna Fariello is an associate professor in the Virginia Tech Department of Interdisciplinary Studies and the director of Curatorial InSight, as well as a former Smithsonian research fellow, Fulbright scholar, and author of the interpretive text Objects and Meaning. Co-author Kate Rubick has been actively involved in southwestern Virginia heritage projects for the last three years and has served as project coordinator for the Highland Cultural Coalition. Ms. Rubick holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the University of Vermont.

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      Book preview

      Christiansburg - M. Anna Fariello

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      INTRODUCTION

      Anyone approaching Christiansburg while driving on Interstate 81 is familiar with the steep uphill grade that leaves a convoy of tractor-trailer trucks moving slowly in the right-hand lane. Situated along the edge of a plateau that rises to 2,000 feet from the Valley of Virginia, Christiansburg lies between the Allegheny and Blue Ridge Mountains. Within the New River watershed, the town straddles the Eastern Continental Divide, where waters part for points east toward the Atlantic Ocean and points west towards the Ohio River and into the Gulf of Mexico. Its landscape is marked by rolling hills and distant mountains and defined by the majestic and meandering New River. For centuries, the only way across the New was by boat, poled along by a ferryman.

      The lands of Montgomery County once swept from the Blue Ridge westward toward the Ohio River. Although the present county is not nearly so large a territory, its early pristine heritage is preserved in the 20,000 acres of national forest located along its northern boundary. Before its settlement by European immigrants, this land was wild, populated by big game animals and old growth forests. Rich alluvial soil and tempered valley climates distinguished the territory as a fertile hunting ground for Native Americans. Present-day Christiansburg encompasses 14 square miles of this original territory.

      In the closing years of the 1700s, Christiansburg town fathers obtained a charter to establish an officially recognized town on the site of a small settlement called Hans Meadows. The town’s first official building was a 20-square-foot log cabin, but when the growing settlement was chosen to serve as the Montgomery County seat, a new brick courthouse was constructed. In 1833, a stately courthouse was erected adjacent to the newly dedicated public square, anchoring Christiansburg’s governmental and commercial activity to its present site.

      The town prospered at the crossroads of important early transportation arteries. During the period from 1800 to 1850, supply grew to meet demand and a number of general stores sprang up to serve travelers stopping to restock and refuel. Two restful mountain resorts—Yellow Sulphur and White Sulphur Springs—were built on the outskirts of Christiansburg. During summers, when the threat of illness heightened, affluent city dwellers escaped to the mountains to take in fresh air and bathe in the purifying mineral springs. When the Civil War put a halt to the vacations of the resort-going crowd, the buildings were put to wartime use, one as a field hospital.

      Christiansburg was already situated near the crossroads of two major byways—the Wilderness Trail and the Great Wagon Road—when the railroad arrived in the mid-19th century to transport agricultural commodities and coal from source to supplier. Even today, Norfolk Southern trains transverse the county along tracks that crisscross the area. The town’s rail heritage began in 1854 when the Virginia Tennessee Company laid the first tracks through the valley. The thriving Montgomery County seat was adamant that a train would not run directly through its cultivated community center, so the rail depot was built just over the hill and out of sight. In the wake of its construction, a populous community developed around the rail stop. Known as Christiansburg Station, the area once called Bangs was now called Cambria. As a result of immediate rail access, Cambria became a thriving industrial center with factories and freight warehouses lining the tracks. Bangs was formally renamed Cambria in 1892 and incorporated in 1906 as Montgomery County’s third largest town.

      The latter half of the 19th century was distinguished by progress in the area’s educational institutions. In 1849, the Montgomery Academy was established as a Presbyterian school for boys. In its wake came a sister school for girls, established during the 1850s. In the 1860s, a Freedmen’s Bureau school was founded to meet the needs of the area’s African-American population; the Christiansburg Institute would evolve from a private to a public institution over the course of its 100 years. The future of Christiansburg was forever altered a decade later when, in 1872, Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College opened its doors in the northern section of the county. Soon after the start of the 20th century, a teachers’ college for young women was established nearby. In the 1930s, Montgomery County built the new Christiansburg High School to serve area students’ needs for several generations.

      The cornerstone of Montgomery County’s third courthouse was laid in 1909, thus inaugurating the 20th-century image of the town with its hallmark eagle soaring high above the landscape. Assembled on the town square on that hot day in July, citizens listened to speeches, a brass band, and groups of singers from local churches. Only a few decades later, the elaborate porch and columns of the new courthouse were removed to accommodate construction of Lee Highway, an early interstate system of roads leading out from the nation’s capitol to points south. Completed through Christiansburg in November 1926, the highway was cause for a celebration. The increase in automobile travel through Christiansburg along this major thoroughfare prompted the construction of individually owned motels, restaurants, and filling stations.

      In the first years of the 20th century, Christiansburg’s commercial downtown continued to develop and expand. The townsfolk were served by a newspaper, several hotels, general stores, a livestock market, and a number of banking institutions. By the first decade of the new century, a developing communications system accommodated nearly 300 telephone lines strung throughout the town, and multiple power lines were hung along the main streets to supply the town’s electricity. Although the commercial center of Christiansburg was devastated by major fires that changed the townscape, the town recovered, adding important services in the way of a community hospital and civic infrastructure.

      In spite of a tremendous growth in its population, industry, and tourism, the area surrounding Christiansburg remains linked to its agricultural roots. Working the land included a variety of activities, from coalmining in Merrimac to harvesting crops from nearby farms. Events of the agricultural season brought communities together to share work and celebrate the harvest. In the fall, after the corn was shucked and the squash gathered, farmers turned their attention to apple trees. Apple butter making called for families to gather, peel, and quarter bushels of fruit that were stewed and seasoned in vast copper kettles over open fires. The all-day stirring was often accompanied by music,

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