3SSM HlgHKI Sketch Book -OF- LYNCHBURG, VA -ITS- PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. ILLUSTRATED, KDWARD i;OLLOCK,AND S. C. JUDSON, PUBLISHERS. LYNCHBURG, VA. : PiuNTKD Hv The Virginian Job Printing House, Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1887, By EDWARD POLLOCK, Portsmouth, Va.. In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 48 65 5 5 AUG 1 9 1942 PREFACE. ^WX ptTScnting this I'olmiic to the public, the Publishers arc fully coi- ^^ sciflus of its vuiuy shoi-t-comings. It possesses, Jioivcvcr, one decided vwrit, namely : its fidelity to fact. The object of the ivork is to present to the outside li'orld a fragmentary narrative of snch events as, from time to tinn , have concurred in frannng Lynchburg's social, political and conunercial histoiy ; setting fjrth those peculiar advantages which she noxu offers to those who have either capital or talent to invest, and corroborating its statements -with statistics taken from the official records. So commo)i, of late years, has become the custom of " booming'' certain localities, adopted by alleged local historians — -wit/i a single eye to the sab of their literary {?) productions by means of gratifying the vanitv of their subscr/beis at the expense of their own veracity — tiiat the Publishers of this Sketch Book Jiave deemed it wiser, ajui better calculated to provwte the public good, to suppress their oivn '*' cacoetJies scribe luii," and to rely, rather, upon the disinterested opinions of recognized authorities, zvho have had occasion, in their ofiicial capacities or othenvise, to treat Jieretofore of the same sidyccts. The follozving pages ivill therefore be found to contain many quotations and extracts, which the Publishers have been at much pains to collect atul compile, and which they believe will prove alike interesting to the reader and valuable to the conununity. To all those who have kindly rendered tJwir assistance — zohether in the form of counsel, encouragement or material support — the Publishers beg to tender their sincere thanks. Lyxcuburg, Va., May 1st, 1887. w o o W Z H O LYNCHBURG ^ia 8 8 7.=!^ DESCRIPTIVE, INTRODUCTORY. YNCHBURG, the principal inland City of Virginia, lies on the » northern boundary of Campbell County, being situated on the - south bank of the James River, about one hundred and twenty miles above the head of tide-water navigation at Richmond, and two hundred and fifty miles above the point at which this noble and ma- jestic stream empties its waters into Hampton Roads, at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. The City is exactly midway between the magnifi- cent harbor of Norfolk and Portsmouth — unequalled on the Atlantic seaboard — and the Tennessee boundary line at Bristol, from each of which points it is distant two hundred and four miles by the Norfolk & Western Railroad. Like the Eternal City, Lynchburg stands upon seven hills, which give it a highly picturesque appearance, besides affording it abundant facilities for perfect drainage. From the bold and irregular character of its foundations it derives its sobriquet, "The Hill City." It is also known as "The Tobacco City," from the fact of its central position in the district chiefly devoted to the production of the best grades of this " bewitching vegetable, " which forms its principal article of commerce and manufacture. It is copiously supplied with water by large reser- voirs, as Avell as by numerous bold springs. Pure soft water is also easily procurable by wells of moderate depth. The City is lighted through- g SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; A ,1,P •' frtmewell " Fire Alarm and Southern Bell out by dectr>c,ty. and the Gamcwel ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^ Telephone systems are m use. ^ « P--^'^ P ^^^ busi- .,h granite blocks -^^J,- ° ^^^rbeyond Its southwestern ness portion of the Cty, and ext lengthened, and, limits, to the Fa,r Grounds. Th>s l.ne .s n J ,.^^^h eenerally. SCENERY. A- ^ ^f T vnchbure are peculiarly romantic and beau- The surroundmgs of Lynchburg a p / landscape ''^"•- her -btdt ■ :S — Unr.:^rht\na there h^y .emnant of pnmeval e.. O ^e N ^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^ by the bluffs oi Hei,nts t. ^ j ar this past whose feet the broad and rapid Jf'^^'JP™" ,,,„,„„ ^f g.eet- [.ointby several dams and bridges, ha^'-^^X^d a^ a distance ing from the mountains to the sea. To the n^ th , ^.^^ . ^ in their matchless stateliness and .symmetry. INDUSTRIAL ADVANTAGF.S. The geographical position of the City is such as to give ■'";;- orlnlry' m^an'ufacturlng -^--^.^U HaT^d dT^^a?::" i-ailroad lines, "aving connecfons^which afford easy an the City offers special mducemenis lu capital in various kinds of industrial enterprise. iTs PEorLE Axn its trade. 7 The development of the vast mineral wealth of tlie neighboring^ ter- ritory is as yet in its infancy, but it is already known to be practically inexhaustible. Coal of the best quality is also abundant and cheap, while the products of the farm and forest are rich, plentiful and varied. CLIMATE. The topography of the City and surrounding country, its elevation above the sea — over 500 feet on the river bank — and the purity of its atmosphere, make this climate singularly healthy, and especially beneficial to invalids. There are no marshes or stagnant pools, and the neighborhood is entirely free from malarial disorders. The win- ters are short and mild, seldom of more than three months' duration, and are generally dry and pleasant. Snow seldom lies here longer than a few days, and there is but little interruption to agricultural pursuits during the entire winter. The heat of summer, which is never extreme, is tempered by the delicious southwest breezes and the cool sweet air from the neighboring mountains. The nights are always balmy and refreshing, and the days rarely oppressive. During the summer months, near the eastern base of the Blue Ridge Mountains, there are more frequent showers than in any other part of Virginia. The explanation of this is to be found in the fact that the prevailing wind at that season comes direct from the sea, and its moisture, when driven against the mountain barrier, meets with a colder stratum of air and becomes condensed, thus producing the welcome showers which refresh and invigorate the growing crops, while in less favored sections the ground remains parched and dry. The mean temperature of Piedmont Virginia, which, as its name implies, lies at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and near the centre of which the City of Lynchburg is situated, is stated by Col. Randolph Harrison, Commissioner of Agriculture, in his Hand Book of Virginia, published last year (1886), to be as follows: annual, 53.7; winter, 44; summer, 78; while the rainfall is placed at "32 to 44 inches." In reference to this Division of the State, Col. Harrison writes : "For beauty of landscape, variety of scenery, native fertility of soil, water courses contributing to practical benefit as well as to beauty of scenery, this section is surpassed by few, if any, other sections in the United States." And Dr. Ellzey, of Washington, D, C. , in an Address before the 8 SKETCH BOOK OF LVN'CHBURG, VA. ; Southern Association, says: "In its physical features, picturesque and lovely to an unusual degree ; in climate, temperate and healthful ; in the abundance and variety of its productions, unsurpassed ; in all that makes life desirable and home what it should be, there is no place in this world which surpasses Piedmont Virginia — there are very ^qv^ which come near it." AGRICULTURE. The greater part of Campbell County, however, belongs, from a geological standpoint, to that one of the " Grand Divisions " of the State known as " Middle Virginia; " and of this Col. Harrison writes, as follows : " Here is the great tobacco region of Virginia — the lands of the upper and lower Jurassic period or new red sandstone being especially adapted to the finer qualities. The formation is identical with that of Lancaster County, Pa. and the lower Connecticut Valley, where the cultivation of seed leaf tobacco has enriched the community to an al- most incredible degree. ;}; ;{: >(; H: * * * "Middle Virginia is an undu'ating country — hills, table-lands and intervales — living springs and never-failing water courses everywhere. The soils vary greatly — the bottom-lands generally very fertile, and the up-lands are often very productive, especially when the rocks con- tain epidote and some varieties of horn blende. :[; * :i: :|c * * :!: " The productions of this region are varied. Tobacco has been mentioned as the staple of a large part of this Division of the State, but its cultivation is by no means universal — in many counties it is not grown at all. Everywhere the cereals and fruits of temperate climates, notably the apple and grape, grow in perfection ; and while we have not yet reached the grazing stctions proper, we find clover, timothy, orchard and other grasses growing here and there in great lu.xuriance ; and they show a natural adaptation to grass, which, however, so far from having been encouraged, has persistently been thwarted — fought against — from the first settlement of the country until recently. ' Killing grass ' has been the object kept steadily in view in growing tobacco and Indian corn, and, with the large force of slaves inhabiting this region, was so effectually done, that it came to be believed by many that the valuable forage and pasture grasses would not grow here, despite the f^ict that ' blue grass ' — poa compressa(the true ' blue grass ' ) — the identical grass which is so highly valued in Fauquier and Loudoun for making fat pastures — is the grass which has given the planters most trouble to keep under; which has made such a struggle ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. 9 for existence that it has never been extirpated in this region ; but, where it has half an opportunity, will assert its rights and will take possession of the land, crowding out wheat, or whatever may, at the time, be in occupancy. "Clover has long been successfully grown here; and the idea that timothy, orchard, etc., would not succeed, has been disproved by the logic of facts. There is scarcely a county in this region in which there are not meadows that would compare favorably with the best any- where; few though they be, they demonstrate the possibility. The SIXTH STREET BRIDGE AND UNION DEPOT. (from blackwater creek.) renovation of this healthful and most improvable region will be brought about by clothing a large portion of the country with meadow and pasture grasses. " FOREST GROWTH. "The 'Sylva' gradually changes as we ascend from the Tidewater Division to Piedmont. The cypress disappears, the long-leaf pine ceases to grow after the first tier of counties is passed, and the cedar 10 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; and holly, the gum and willow oak, become more and more infrequent. The short-leaf, or hard yellow pine, furnishes its valuable timber in every part of Middle Virginia, but does not take exclusive possession of large tracts of land as in Tidewater, except where it is found as 'second growth' on lands which have been cultivated and then turned out to grow up again. There it takes the place of the genuine ' lob- lolly,' or old field pine of Tidewater — the long-leaf variety — the ' pinus taeda' of botanists. In the forests of Middle Virginia the pine (short- leaf, yellow and two other varieties too rare to deserve a description) grows along with the various oaks, the tulip tree, hickory, walnut, locust, maple, ash and other timber of minor importance ; and, on the streams, sycamore, beech, birch, willow and maple. At some distance from the mountains we again find chestnut in large quantities. In fine, the forest growth of this section is of singular variety, beauty and value." MINERALS. "The mineral resources of this region are very great. Resides the coal of the mesozoic areas of Richmond and Farmville, this country yields gold, silver, copper and iron ores in great variety and abund- ance, and, for architectural purposes, fine gray granite, gneiss, and brown stone, Potomac or brecciated marble, and the finest slate for roofing purposes; also mica, kaolin and asbestos and limestone. "The veins of iron ore are numerous, some of the magnetic ores having a thickness of four feet ; the beds of hematite ore, particularly those upon either border of the belt, as along James river, where it runs oarallel with it, and in the ' Wilderness,' near the Rappahannock, are very thick and extensive. The first successful furnaces in America, those of the colonial Governor Spotswood, were supplied from the latter beds. "There are also large beds of this ore where the Chesapeake and Ohio railway crosses the belt. In this vicinity the valuable sulphurets of iron and copper are found, and there will soon be large sulphuric acid works and a manufactory of fertilizers here, turning out copper and iron as by-products. "The slates of the middle country are excellent for all purposes, notably those of Buckingham and Amherst counties. In Buckingham they have been long and extensively quarried for roofing, flagging, mantles, &c. The sandstone of the imposed ' middle secondary ' are valuable for building purposes, as are also the ' brownstones ' of the red sandstone, which are extensively quarried at Manassas. The infusorial earth, so abundant in Richmond, is valuable as a polishing material." ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. I I RAILROADS. "This country is favored in respect of means of transportation, railroads penetrating it in every direction. The great ' Coast Line,' which passes through the State from Washington to Weldon close to the divide between Middle Virginia and Tidewater, almost on the line between the archjean and the tertiary formations — sometimes in one and sometimes in the other — belongs equally to both. From Wash- ington and Alexandria ray out the Washington, Ohio & Western, and the Virginia Midland, with its various branches ; from Fredericksburg, the narrow gauge to Orange C. H.; from Richinond, the Chesapeake & Ohio stretches out throngh Henrico, Hanover and Louisa into Pied- mont, and thence to the Ohio and beyond ; and the Alleghany, along the beautiful valley of James River through Middle Virginia into Pied- mont and Appalachia. The Richmond & Danville road penetrates this part of Virginia for a hundred and fifty miles before passing into North Carolina, and sends out a branch at Keysville and another at Sutherlin. The Brighthope road from Bermuda Hundred taps the coal region at Clover Hill, twenty-odd miles away. At Petersburg, the Norfolk & Western road passes from Tidewater into Middle V^irginia, and, after a course of more than a hundred and twenty miles in this Division, strikes out Southwest through Piedmont and the Valley to the Tennessee line at Bristol. The Atlantic & Danville is in course of construction from the point to which it is now completed. Hicks- ford, in Greensville County, to Danville and beyond ; and the Southern link of the Virginia Midland extends from Lynchburg to Danville, with a branch from Klba Station into Franklin county. All these roads intersect this Division of Virginia, and there are others projected, and probably soon to be built." HYGIENE. " Except in limited localities, in and near certain water courses, where malarial diseases prevail to some extent, this is an exceptionally healthy region, perhaps as favorable to longevity as any part of America — we might almost say, of the %vorld." To this official statement may be added the singular and important fact that on no single occasion has infectious or contagious disease of any kind ever gained a foothold or assumed an epidemic form in the City of Lynchburg. Sporadic cases have of course appeared, from time to time, but they have never been known to spread here. Indeed it would seem that the climate of this favored region is fatal to nothing save only disease and pestilence, while to all else its effects are emi- nently stimulating and wholesome. 12 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; THE BLUE RIDGE REGION. As Lynchburg lies within twenty miles of the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains proper, and upon the plateau known as the "sub range" at an average elevation of 700 feet, or thereabouts, above the tidewater level, the following information with regard to the sanatory properties of this climate will doubtless prove of interest to the reader, Major Jed. Hotchkiss, in The Virginias, June, 1884, says: "We would call attention to the fact that the Blue Ridge region in V'^irginia is, as can be proven by the testimony of consumptives fully restored to health, the best Saiiiiariitin in the United States east of the Mississippi. The sheltered eastern slopes of the long stretch of that mountain range in Virginia, above the line of 1,000 feet of elevation above the ocean level and under that of 2,500, offers hundreds of localities for health resorts for people afflicted with pulmonary dis- eases, that surpass any other that we know of or have read of. Dur- ing the past thirty-six years the writer has frequently recommended this region to persons having such diseases, and in every case where the advice was followed, a restoration to health has resulted. If any- one is sceptical about the efficacy of the Blue Ridge air, water and exercises, as remedial agents for lung troubles, let him spend a few months at some point in this belt, and we will make him the referee to sustain the opinion here advanced. A young man from Vermont, a victim of this especially fearful New England disease, took his advice and spent the winter of 1882-83 there, and went away with restored health that still continues. We could name other cases. " About the best such people could do would be to buy a few acres of the Sunward dry air slope of the Blue Ridge in Virginia, and busy themselves raising grapes and other fruits while inhaling health and strength. There are at least 200,000 acres of such sanitary country for occupation, room for 20,000 people with ten acres for each, and none of it remote from railways or markets; and here, too, is the region for building up extensive establishments for health and pleasure that will have a large all-the-y ear-round patronage." General McDonald, editor of the Industrial SoutJi, referring to the above, says : " We may say that we have some personal knowledge of the particular locality mentioned, and from our own observation are quite inclined to acquiesce in the opinion of Major Hotchkiss. Among others whom we met at Afton (in this belt) was a very intelligent and plea.sant gentleman in the government service at Washington, from whom we learned that, being subject to rhuematism, he thought it well, before determining where he would spend his summer vacation, to consult the Signal Bureau — the desideratum being a dry atmos- VIS Proi'LE AND ITS TKAl^E. 1 3 plvere. llie officers examined their records, and reported to him that the dryest mountain atmosphere of which they had knowledge was at a place on the Blue Ridge called Afton — of which he had never before heard — and his experience had attested the correctness of the advice that sent him there. So dry is the atmosphere that a Jiewspaper spread on the grass at night shows no sign of moisture- next morning, although the night is much cooler than the day " PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS. The reports of the Standing Committees of the City Council for FIREMEN'S MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN. (ON CHURCH STREET, AT FOOT OF COURT HOUSE HILL.] the fiscal years ending February ist, 18^4, 1885, 1886 and 1887, re- spectively, furnish some very interesting matter relative to the various departments of the Municipal Government. It will be seen at a glance that the City Fathers are fully alive to the wisdom, if not the necessity, of a liberal and progressive policy as regards public improvements of all kinds, while a closer examination will disclose the fact that the bonded debt of the City — always within the limits permitted by the t4 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; charter — has increased but Httle, comparatively speaking, despite the large outlay necessitated by the grand results. The following is from the Report of the Finance Committee for the year ending February ist, 1884: " The Water Works, with its ponderous machinery, lifting water 350 feet, has supplied the whole City with water. The truss, convey- ing water across Blackwater Creek, was erected at great cost, and your Reservoir on Clay Street stands as sponsor for ^^50,000 well spent. " Then, too, you no longer wait for the application of human muscle to the Court House bell to give the alarm of that dreaded element, fire. Electricity holds the hammer in check, ever ready to respond to a simple touch given to a wire in any quarter of the City. You have, in a word, organized (through the zeal and public spirit of the able gentlemen composing the Board of Fire Commissioners) a Department second to that of no city in America. You have improved your pub- lic buildings, adding to some here and erecting new ones there — nota- bly your fire stations and improvement to the Court House, Jail and Alms House. The avenues of approach to the City have not been neglected, as can be seen by a passing glance at Grace Street and its continuation ; Cabell Street, too, and then others still in contemplation. The sewers of the City, too, have not been overlooked; much money not appropriated in the annual ordinance was expended for sewerage, in order to preserve the health of your constituents. So far, then, have you gone in the way of public improvements, and there is, so far as your Committee is advised, but one verdict ; certainly there is no complaint because it has been done. It is true some adverse criticism attended the organization of the Fire Department and the construction of the fire alarm telegraph. Subsequent events have hushed this, and the wisdom of your action can no longer be questioned. ^ ^' :|c ^ :}; ^ ^ "Your Charter permits you to issue bonds to an amount equal to eighteen per cent, of the real and personal property — taxable values — of the City. In comparing your debt w ith that of other Virginia cities of last year, we find — of its taxable values. The debt of Alexandria was 23 per cent, Danville "19 Norfolk "17 Petersburg " 123^ Richmond "12 " Lynchburg "11 " It is proper to state that the Cit)' has not a dollar of floating debt." IIS I'I'OI'I.E AM) ITS TKADK. 15 From the Report of the City l']nf;ineer: "Within a few past years a wonderful change has been wrought in the character and efficiency of the water works; a new pump house has been erected, three powerful water engines are in position, a new reservoir nearly completed, and the distributive pipe system ex- tended in different directions — probably a little beyond the limit of a prudential consideration. An appreciative public has not failed to commend such successful efforts, and will continue to do so as long as we Cdn revel in the enjoyment of an abundant water supply for do- mestic purposes, for gushing fountains, and other privileges, even the use of water for motive power. RUINS OF THE OLD QUAKER MEETING HOUSE. (on SALEM TURNPIKE.) " The Street Department has exhibited remarkable activity during the past year, and more permanent works have been executed than during any preceding year since the incorporation of the City." From the Report of the Committee on Water: "The Committee has the most gratifying announcement to make to the City Council that the water has not been turned off the city for a single hour during the past year. Occasional repairs in different sections of the corporation have caused a suspension, for a few hours, of the supply, but the quantity in storage has been ample for all the needs of the consumers for nearh' two years, or since March 3, 1882." l6 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCH BITRG, VA. ; JOSEPH COHN LYNCHBURG'S LEADING AND ONLY Ooe-Price Clothier, Tailor, Furnislief aod Hatter, IMPRESS THESE FACTS ON YOUR SviIND : / offer you the Largest /StocJc in the State to select from. I name the Lowest Prices^ and have hut One-Price for JEveryhody. Specialist in Fine Clothing for Men, Youths, Boys and Children. Sole agent for this city of KnoaP World- Renowned Derby and SilJc Hats. 824, 826 and 828 Main Street, LYNCHBURG, - VIRGINIA. ITS PKOPLE AND ITS TRAOK. <7 From the Report of the Coinniittee on Fire: "An entire reorganization of ' the Fire Department has taken {)Iace during the last twelve months, and instead of a volunteer, a paid or- ganization has been established, and the cost of maintaining the latter has increased immenseU' ; but the greater efficiency is thought to be commensurate with the expense. March the i6, i8cS3, an (irdinance was passed, appointing three Fire Commissioners, one from each ward, whose dut)' it was to organize a paid department ; and the MR. JOSEPH CORN'S CLOTHING ESTABLISHMENT. (corner of main and ninth streets.) manner and means adopted by that Commission, and the abundant suc- cess which has crowned its efforts, has been attested by all who passed through the trying ordeal of last F"all, when there seemed to be a sys- tematic attempt to burn the City. F^very night, and frequently twice in one night, fires were kindled by the hands of an incendiary. All praise is due the new Department for preventing immense loss of prop- erty and probable loss of life in that awful emergency." jg SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; From the Chief Fngineer of the Fire Department : "Since the organization of this force, the Gamevvell Fire Alarm System has been introduced. " '' ■ r j "To say that this system of alarm has proven very satisfactory, and. so far as its jurisdiction extends, is a complete success, I pay but a small tribute to its inestimable worth and pre-emmence over all other methods, indicating, as it does instantly, the location, or thereabouts, of a fire, thereby enabling the Department to repau" to it immediately. It has been the means of saving much property." From the Report of the Committee on Schools : " It is crratifying to your Committee to be able to report that the Public Schools of the city are in a prosperous and improved condition. "The increase in the number of pupils attending during the la.st scholastic year was great-much greater than the increa.se in the school population of the city. The attendance was more regular and prompt, and the standard of scholarship higher than in any previous year. From the Report of the Committee on Police: " Your Committee takes pleasure in again testifying to the admira- ble management of the Board of Police Commi.ssioners. The City was never better servtd than it has been during the period under review, and consequently your Committee has no recommendations to otter for the coming year." In the Reports for the year ending February ist, 1885, appear the following: From the Committee on Sewers: "The first annual report of your Committee on Sewers is presented under circumstances, as we conceive, of considerable encouragement. Only one year has elapsed since the organization of this Department, during which time the results of its operations will compare favorably with similar work executed during any preceding year, when this branch of the public work was combined with the Street Department. "Over - -00 yards, or ly^ miles, of terra cotta pipes have been laid in various places. The Eighth Street culvert has been extended 140 feet, and the old sewers have been repaired wherever necessary. From the Chief Engineer of the Fire Department: "In submitting this, my second Annual Report of the operations and progress of this Department for the past year, it is with much pleasurernot unmingled with pride, that I point to our P ire Record. showing, as it dojs, \he very small loss within its fire limits of ,S5,- 156,30- .„ .. ... * * ITS I'F.OI'LK AND ITS TRADE. 19 Our city may well feel proud of its superb water supply. Even during the past summer, when cities oxer the entire Union were clamoring for water, our reservoirs never failed, an abundance was to be had during the whole time, and effective streams were obtainable trom all plugs without the use of engine, except those on level with the highest reservoir." From the Committee on Schools : " We are pleased to be able to report that vour Public Schools have never been in a more prosperous condition. ' There has been a orcat 20 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; F. C. BROWN, OILS I II oo 1314, 1316, 1318, 1320 Jefferson St., LYNCHBURG, ■ VIRGINIA. (ESTABLISHED IN 1815.) THE OLDEST BUSINESS MOUSE IN THE CITY. J. H. C. 1NS!0I, m I McfiEIES, (Successor to E. J. Folkes and Folkes & Winston.) 620 and 622 Main Street, LYNCHBURG, - VIRGINIA, ^[A^IUPACTUKERS OP AND DEALERS IN FUilTUR[,MllTTR[SS[yNO cms OF IILL KINDS. WE ALWAYS KEEP ON HAND A LINE OB^ FINE PARLOR AND CHAMBER SUITS, SIDEBOARDS AND EXTENSION TABLES, AND FIXE FANCY TABLES AND PEDESTALS, LADIES' DESK AND PARLOR CABINETS, IN WALNUT, MAIHX^ANY AND ANTK^UE OAK. ftgr-Oiir prices cannot be l>eatoii, and it will pay you to call and examine our stock be- fore purchasing elsewhere. ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. 21 increase in attendance within the last year; a steady improvement in hesysteniofmstructionand the average standard of scholarship at- tuned by the pup.Ls. At a Convention of all the City and County bchool Supermtendents of the State, just held in Richmond, our schools have taken nearly all the first medals and certificates of dis- tmction awarded for ex-cellence. " From the Committee on Police : "Since our last annual report there have been no changes whatever n the admm.strat.on of the Police Department. The service has been thoroughly efficient and satisfactory, and no recommendations are con- sidered necessary. rti<-«-un From the Mayor's Message to the City Council • incl'nl^f TS^'r'F'''V'"'^'°"''^^ '^°^" ^>^ ^^^ gentlemen compos- ing the Board of Fire Commissioners in dealing with the tremendous problem thrust upon the community by the tot5 collapse of the volun- nTonf "■' . .'P'S'"''"'' '^°^'^ ^"^'' ^' ^•"^^^^"I'y remembered by our people. 1 he efficiency of the department organized by them is shown by the statement of the chief that the loss from fires to vvhlch the De partment responded during the last year, both within and without the llVyT^SiTo. "^^ ^-^^•^^'-^•5°- whilst the property saved was valued asih?L'^''JTpf °V'^'^''^'""""^"" composing this board. as well as the Board of Police Commissioners, to allow none but first-rate men o remain on the force under their control, has been ably seconded by the chiefs of these departments and has resulted in giving us a body anv^ctv""?!." /'■'':?' u^^'^ ^'^^ ^°'"P^''^ ^^^'^--^^V with those o^f any city. I have found the members of the police force sober faith- ful, active and vigilant; the officers and many of the men well ac- quainted with the ordinances of the city, whilst the chief has been in- defatigable in his efforts to promote the discipline and efficiency of Ws ThTpoard of^rr^'r'' P^^^^ ^"' ^°°^ '^^- ^' ^he community Ihe board of Police Commissioners have never hesitated to remove any man who impaired the efficiency of the force ; have adminirtred ^iZT '''T'^'l'^ '" '^'''' '^''"^' "'^'^ ^he strictest economv.and ^ a^l matters, have been actuated by an earnest desire for the public wel- " Our public schools are now, as they have been ever since their organization, among the best in the State. The names compos' n^ he list of teachers are a sufficient guaranty that thev enjoy, as they rk:hly deserve to, the confidence of the community. ' ^ ^ ^ S; J. . ^ * * * * o J/f" ''°"''ii"'T' ^ ^^'''^ ^^'^ condition of our community is highly gratifying; the depression in business has been less severely felt here than in most places, and is now passing away; your furnaces, work- SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; DRUGS AND MEDICINES AT ~ WHOLESALE AND EETAIL. We are occupying onr MAGNIFK'ENT NEW HOUSE, on the (Corner of Matn and Tenth streets, aud have the largest ai.d handsomest Drug Eatabli«hment in Virt;iiiia. Th^ie are few larger, and onr Retail Room (25x182 feet) is unquestionably the handsomest in the Southern States. (See cut on opposite page.) We are adding daily to our already hirge stock, and OUR FACILITIES ARE EQUAL To AXV, lor satisfying our friends and customers. OUR WHOLESALE AND RETAIL DEPARTMENTS comprise everything usually found in a F'ijjst-Ci^ass City Drug Establishment. We make ;i specialty of selling to Country Stores, and guarantee satisfaction in every particular. OUR PROPRIETARY MEDICINES some of which are sold all over the United states, are EQUAL TO ANY MADE, and pay better profits tlian other similar goods. Orders are tilled with jjromptness always. «5"A TRIAL ORDER IS respectfuUy solicited, by mail or otlierwise, and we will be glad to have our friends call to see us, whether they buy or not. FAULKNER & CRAIGHILL, Wholesale Druggists, Manufacturers and Proprietors cf Camm's Emulsion, I GOO MAIN STREET, LYNCHBURG, VA. JOHN J. MALLAN &: BRO., DEALERS IX Family Groceries, Dry Goods, Notions, Wines, Liquors, &c. OTHERS DEALEKS IN Coal, Wood, Baled Forage, Miil Feed, Corn, Hay, Oats, Bran, Lime, &c., 714 FirrH AVENUE, LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA. ITS PEOPLE AND PIS TRAP)F.. 23 shops aiul factories arc ocncral;)' at work; tlic indomitahlc enertj;)' of your business men is pushin^j; your trade into new sections of Cf)untry ; the City Government is faithfully and economically administered and our City is securely laxin^j diep and tjroad the foundations of her wealth and greatness." The following extracts are from tlic Reports for the year eniling February ist, 1886. h^rom the Board of h'lre Commissioners: " We conclude b)- stating that the h'ire DepartmeiU is in a high MESSRS. FAULKNER & CRAIGH ILL'S DRUG STORE. (CORNER OF MAIN AND TENTH STREETS.) state of efficiency, and that our aim is yet higher and higher, until it is tJic best, and to this end we trust we will be, as in the past, strengthened and supported by your hearty cooperation." From the Chief of the Fire Department: "The number of fires and alarms for the past year liave exceeded by something over double the number for the year previous, there being in all some seventy-six calls. h^ires only in two instances have attained any proportions, viz: at the drug store of Messrs. W". A. Strother & Son. October 26, and in which nine-tenths of the damage sustained was inflicted by smoke — an element against which we have no means of combatting; the other at Messrs. Ford, Moorman & Co.'s 24 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG. VA. ; Among the Largest Bnyers and Handlers of Leaf Tobacco are HOLT, SCHAEFEU & CO., who do a large Domestic and Foreign Export Business, buying also in other markets of the State and North Carolina, either for direct shipment, or to re-handle such purchases in their Lynchburg factory, the floor space of which is as large, and probably larger than of any factory in the City. Their factory on Lynch Street runs back igo feet. Adjoining the .same in the rear is a large four-story storage house, and connected with this their Jefferson Street factory, where they Manufacture Tobacco Extract for Export to Europe, the whole giving one continuous place of business (fronting on Lynch Street, and in the rear, on Jefferson Street), 264 feet in depth. With six drying rooms, they have ample facilities to handle large quantities of Tobacco at any season of the year, or in the old-fashioned manner by air-drying. The objectionable features of steam-drying are now, however, entirely overcome by employing only rapid circula- tion of air, which process has secured such universal favor for their tobaccos, as it is a copy of Nature's process, and preserves not only the toughness and texture of the leaf, but likewise its natural gum and flavor. As their connection with the Tobacco Business extends for a period of about twenty years (partly in other markets, but for the last ten years identified with the Lynchburg market especially), they com- inand, of course, the confidence of the trade, and their continued suc- cess is conclusive proof of that fact. They do an order business for domestic and foreign markets, both for manufacturers and dealers, in bright as well as dark grades, with both of which the Lynchburg market is so well supplied. .\lJi KINDS OF FINE ENGRAVING DONE AT SHORT N0TICE.^^5«i^* JOHN D. SUTER&CO., BOOKSELLERS & STATIONERS, No. 1017 MAIN STREET, LYNCHBURG. VA. 4i®="Specml agents for Mrs. Tyree's COOK BOOK, "Housekeeping in Old Virginia. '"^ift ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. 25 factory, January 5th, at which the loss amounted to some $2 1 ,000, about half the property being destroyed, the machinery, as also the two lower stories of the building, valued at ;^ 19,500, being rescued from the flames. The damage resulting from the remaining calls, seventy-four in number, footed up only about $10,000." From the Mayor's Message: '*Our School system continues to show splendid results and a unl- RESIDENCE OF MR. EDMUND SCHAEFER. (court street, near seventh.) form improvement from year to year. The enthusiastic and efficient Superintendent has bent all his energies to the discovery and putting into operation the most improved method of instruction. In this effort he has been ably seconded by a most efficient corps of teachers, both white and colored, and the result is highly gratifying. During the past session there was an enrollment of 2, 7 1 7 pupils out of a school 26 .SKETCH BOOK OF LVNCHBURrT, VA ; ly: N ICl u Bi RG VIRGINIA One of the Oldest and Best Known Journals in AlvKinia, Is now owned and published by a company of capitalists and business men of Lynchburg, who are determined to make it A i LEADING i PAPER, Inferior to None in the Commonwealth. -*—•—*— THE VIRGINIAN, Under the new management, will be dkvoteo especially to the Com- mercial, Manufacturing. Farming and other interest of the City and State, and will be, in all respects A I LIVE I PAPER, In which the news gathered in all sections of the world will be daily disseni- iuated throngh its telegraphic columns. i':H]z^i^vd:; DAILY, WEEKLY, $S GO PER ANNUM. I oo " J. R. CLARK, Pres't and Gen'l Manager. BENJ. BLACKFORD, Vice-President. ALEX. IMcDONALD, Editor-in-Chief and Secretary. W. \\^ WYSOR, Associate. BOARD OF DI RECTORS.— Dr. E. A. Ckaighill, Major P. J. Otey, Max GUGUENHEIMER, El). SCHAEFER, JnO. W. CaRROLL, J. P. PETTYJOHN, C. M. BlACKFORD, ITS PEOPLE ANh ITS TRADE. 27 population of 6,290. The average daily attendance iias been 2,010; the numbers of teachers is 47. * * * I think the City is to be congratulated on having schools equal to any in the country. * ^: * :;: * * * " In conclusion, the prosperity of your City continues. Many com- modious and handsome buildings are in the course of erection; trade is good; the kindly relations hitherto existing between employer and employee have been undisturbed, and your municipal affairs have been faithfully and honestl}- administered." WWW BLTILDIXG OF TtTE "LYNCHr^URG VIRGINIAN." (CORNKR OF MAIN AND TENTH STREETS.) The subjoined are taken from the Reports for the year ending Feb- ruary 1st, 1887 — \ery recently published: From the Finance Committee: "It must not be overlooked that from 1881 up to 1885, both in- clusive, $1,030,000 was expended in the various departments^ principal among which were the permanent improvements on the streets (over :528o,ooo), and water (over $390,000), fire (over $70,000), sewers (over $15,000)." 2S SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; THE SOUTHERN JEWELRY HOUSE, F. D. Johnson & Son S02 3ivdlaia:i Street, Xjy an.cl3.To-r.rg-, "Virgrinia,. This well-known house, which has done more than its share towards spreading and establishing the fame of Lynchburg in distant parts of the country as an enterprising commercial centre, was founded by Mr. F. D. Johnson, in 1854, in the town of Culpeper, Virginia. After twenty years of patient, but unremitting labor, Mr. Johnson had ac- quired that experience which comes sooner or later to all honest and persevering business men, and had become an adept at his trade. He had moreover reduced the mercantile department to a scientific method, which, combined with his unvarying custom of dealing in only such goods as he could safely guarantee, and charging his customers an even and low percentage of profit upon net cost prices, soon had the effect of increasing his business to such a gratifying extent that Cul- peper was not large enough to hold it. Accordingly, in 1881, Mr. Johnson moved his establisment to Lynchburg, and in the following year admitted his son, Mr. J. B. Johnson, to partnership. Since that time the operations of the firm — in its wholesale, retail and manufactur- ing departments — have multiplied with astonishing- rapidity, and its order book, representing sales in all the Southern States, as well as in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and even as far away as Colorado and New Mexico, shows an average of 4,000 orders a year. The firm, moreover, does as good a trade in almost every other State in the South as it does in Virginia. The Repairing Department receives an average of 1,500 crippled watches from outside points during the year, and the house dispatches over 2,000 registered packages per annum through the post-office. These figures give but a faint ideaof the volume of business transacted by Messrs. Johnson & Son, which foots up annually to the handsome total of about ^65,000. They supply all the principal colleges of the South with medals, badges, &c., and make a specialty of engraving, designing, and such work as monograms and other designs, illustrated catalogues of which will be sent free to any address on application. The other specialties of the firm are Diamonds, Watches, Clocks, Jewelry, Solid Silver and Quadruple- Plated Ware, Spectacles and Eye Glasses, Gold and Silver Headed Canes and Umbrellas. All their Diamond Work, Medals. &c., are designed and manufactured on the premises, and hundreds of testi- monials in their jiossession bear abundant evidence to the universal approval with which their work and their goods have met throughout the va.st field covered by their trade. The "F. D. Johnson Watch" is ju.stly celebrated as one of the very best time-keepers manufactured in this country. ITS PKOPLK AND ITS IKADK. 29 From the City luigineer: "From the record kept at the pump house, it is ascertained that two of the pumps were operated at an average of twenty hours per day, and the steam pump about five hours. The calculated quantil)' of water pumped the whole year is about 740,000,000 gallons, or over 2,000,000 gallons per day. (The pumping ca])acity is 4,000,000 gal- lons per day). * * * The pumps, reservoirs and superstructures have been inspected and found to be in a fair and serviceable con- dition." MESSRS. F. D. JOHN-SOX & SON'S JEWELRY STORE. (802 MAIX STREET.) From the Chief of the Fire Department : " We have been called upon only forty-six times, or thirty less than the year previous. In but one instance have the flames assumed any magnitude — this at the factory of Messrs. WVight & Craighill — and which had attained such headway when the alarm was given as to be beyond the power of mortals to suppress. The loss in this instance amounted to some $24,000. In the remaining forty-five cases, only some $5,000 was lost, a total of only about $29,000 for the year ; a very moderate sum as compared with the immense losses heralded almost daih' from every section of the country." SKETCH B30K OF LYNCHBURG. VA. (ESTABLISHED IN 1865.) The First National Bank OF LYNCHBUBG, VIRGINIA. Capital Stock: $150,000. Sumlus and UMiyided Profits: $62,000. JOHX F. SLAUGHTER, President. JAMES M. BOOKER, Vice-President ALLEN W. TALLEY, Cashier. CHARLES W. STATHAM, N. R. BOWMAN, JAMES BOYD, DIRECTORS: TAY'LOR BERRY, JOHN H. LEWIS, JAMES W. WATTS, J. R. CLARK, J. SINGLETON DIGGS, E. A. CRAIGHILL. This Bank is one of the oldest monetary institutions in LynchbursJ, having been founded immediately after the close of the cix-il war. It has been uniformly conducted upon conservative business principles, and has never shown the least symptons of weakness or embarrass- ment, even during the dark days of 1873, when so many banks suc- cumbed to the fury of the financial storm. The First National has mad^' handsome proftts for its shareholders, and has also accumulated large security for its depositors Its stock is therefc^-e very rarely found on the market, although always in strong demand at a high premium. Its dividends have averaged over 10 per cent, per annum during the whole term of its existence. It is to such sound and substantial corporations as the I'irst National Banlc that L}mchhurg owes, in a large measure, her commercial stability and well established reputation. ITS FECPI.K AND ITS TKADK. 31 FINANCIAl.. The bonded debt of the City, as shown by the Auditor's Report, was on February ist, 1881,51,020,132.10; on I'ebruary ist, 1885, it was $i,o'')9 532. 10; on l'\bruary 1st, 1886, it was <5i ,106, 532. 10 ; and on Februrry ist, 1887, it was 81.154.99-76. The debt has therefore increased Si 34,8 ')0 within the last four years; but when it is remembered that chiring that period many vast and valuable im- provements have been accomplished — ;uich as the buildinfjj of the COLLEGE 11 ILL KESERVQIR. (BUILT IX 1877.) magnificent new P^eservoirs on Clay Street, at a cost of $100,000; the acquisition of the Ciamewell Fire Alarm System and the Flcctric Light for the streets; the organization of a thoroughly effective paid Fire Department, and a perfect system of .Sewerage — it will at once be evident that, in the words of the F'inance Committee, in their Report to the City Council, "the means for paying your debt is therefore provided for in your charter, and is self-adjusting." While the public debt has increased, taxation has remained undisturbed, consequent upon the largely en.hanced value of property. SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; F. A. KINCKLE, 916 MAIN STREET, LYNCHBURG, V1KGI:NTA, CARRIES THE LARGEST AND MOST COMPLETE LINE OF FINE SHOES IN THE CITY, Sole flgeot fof DUUUP & CO.'S CELEBfiAIED HATS. HEADQUAKTEKS FOR THE SOUTH, No. io8 Eighth Street, Lynchburg, Va. ■■■iiiiillillii B@°'Good, Energetic Agents Wanted in ^Aery County. Liberal Terms to both Agents and Farmers. Correspondence solicited. Cii- culars Mailed Free on Application. General Asfent. ITS PKOPLE ANn ITS TRADE. 33 KDUCATION. The City of Lynchburg possesses forty-four Free Schools, of which twenty-six are devoted to the education of white, and eighteen to that of colored children. In addition to these there are seventy-nine Free Schools in Campbell County — f^rty-nine for white, and thirty for colored children. There are also a number of exxellent private schools for both sexes in and near the City; while the Uni\ersity of Virginia, Washington and Lee University, the Virginia Military Institute, Hampden Syd- ney College, and other eminent seats of learning are within a radius of sixty miles. THE LYNCH BUR(; FAH^. The Lynchburg Agricultural and Mechanical Society, organized in 1869, has extensive grounds and buildings, in the southwestern suburbs of the City, where Fairs are held annually in the month of October. These F"airs attract large numbers of farmers and others from every quarter of the State, who bring their finest horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, fruit and other farm poducts for exhibition. Large sums are dis- tributed by the Society in the form of premiums, and it is safe to say that in no part of Virginia are the annua: fairs better attended, and that nowhere else are finer specimens of !i\'e stock and agricultural produce exhibited. All praise is due to the enterprise and public spirit of the gentlemen forming this Association, a fuller account of which will be found in the later pages of this volume HOTELS AND BOARDING HOUSES. The City is well provided with excellent Hotels and Boarding Houses, at which the cost of living vari^js from S50 to ^1^20 a month, according to the accommodation required. Special rates are given to families. By the day the charges range from i^i-SO to $3. WATER POWER. The James River is a rapid stream, averaging at Lynchburg about six hundred feet in width and four feet in depth. A series of dams, at and above the City, afford a fall of about twenty feet. This mag- nificent water power, which is available at both sides of the river, is only partially utilized for manufacturing purposes, although the entire 34 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; lolunie of the river can easily be made available. This water is owned by the City, and will be furnished as required at a nominal charge. At many points in the vicinity, both above and below the City, there are splendid sites for mills, furnaces, and factories of various kinds. COMMERCIAL GROWTH. The wide extent of ricli back country and the excellent facilities -for transportation always enjoyed by Lynchburg, gave her, from the beginning, a heavy commission and retail business, Under the influence of which she was steadily advancing in population and wealth up to the period of the civil war. Situated in the midst of the finest tobacco- growing region in the world, her people early gave their attention to the manufacture of this article, in which they attained great celebrity, and it was to this special branch of industry that the City chiefly owed her commercial importance. During the last twenty years of restored peace, Lynchburg has re- .sumed her onward march with renewed energy and with such phe- nomenal success that she is to-day, in proportion to her population, the Avealthiest city, except one, in the United States. But her prominence is no longer attributable exclusively to the popularity of her brands of manufactured tobacco, nor even to the im- mense quantity and supurb quality of the leaf handled on her ware- house floors — -although in the latter respect she stands at the head of the list of great tobacco markets. Of late years she has given much attention to and invested much capital in miscellaneous industries, also — such as iron works, furnaces, nail works, fertilizer factories, refrigerators, bark mills, barytes factories and other similar establishments, which give employment to large numbers of men, women and boys, who would otherwise find it dififi- cult to earn a livelihood — to say nothing of the cigarette factories which give honest and lucrative employment to hundreds of white girls. Nor is this all. The New Lynchburg is the home of enormous business houses which conduct only a wholesale trade, besides others which are wholesale as well as retail dealers. Prior to 1865, com- mercial travellers — or "drummers" — hailing from the "Tobacco City," were almost unknown quantities, whereas now they are familiar and welcome visitors throughout the South and Southwest, representing ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TKADK 35 such departments of tradeas Dry Goods, Druj^s and Medicines, Boots and Shoes, Groceries, Fertili/.ers, and the lixe. Millions of dollars pour into the City annually throu£,di these channels, and the pro- nounced success with which tlu-y have met is sufficient jjroof that they can compete triumphantly with any of the vaunted Northern and Western markets. BIGGEli'S PUBLIC SCHOOL BUILDING. (COKXEU OK FIFTH AND CLAY STREETS.) LOCAL INDUSTRIES. Resides the handling and manufacture of the " seductive weed," and the several other important industries carried on in and around the- City, namely: iron works, foundries, flour mills, barytes mills, door and sash factories, sumac mills, fertilizer factories, ice factories and others, already in successful operation, some new enterprises, of which mention will be made hereafter, are about to be undertake.! by local capitalists. There is here a wide field for skill and capital, with every reasonable prospect for its remunerative investment in the de- 36 SKETCH BOOK OF LVN'CHBUKG, VA. ; NORVELL-ARLIKGTON HOUSE. LEADING HOTEL. Recently Enlarged and Renovated. CENTRALLY SITUATED ON CHURCH ami EIGHTH STREETS, Near the Post-Office, Court House, Banks, Churches, and other Places of Interest, Usually Sought by Visitors. One Square from Main St. and Street Car Line. TABLE AND ACCOMMODATIONS FIRST-CLASS. LARGE SAMPLE ROOMS ON GROUND FLOOR, Rooms With Baths. Steam Heat and Electric Bells. OMNIBUS /\ND BAGGAGE WAGONS AT ALL TRAINS. K. S. TERRY, Proprietor, I_i37"rLCl:Llo-u.rg', - - TTirgrinia., TS PEOPLE AND US IKADE n veU^pmcnt o{ \\v: ivjiiicroiis sources of iiuluslrial wealth not hereto- fore attempted in this favored locaUty. An examination of the map will show that, as a point for the colltction of raw material and the distribution of manufactured articlL's, no better i)lacc than Lynchl)urg can be chosen. GOLDEN oppoR ruxrrii':s. With capital sufficient to purchase the requisite plant, and the skill and experience necessary to direct its judicious application — with THE NORVELL-ARLTNGTON ROUSE. (CORXER CHURCH A^■D EIGHTH STS.) cheap and plentiful labor, combined with unsurpassed facilities for transportation — there is no reason why Lynchbur<:[ should not attain as high a reputation for her manufactured productions of iron, cotton, wool, paper, glass, wood, cotton-seed oil, boots, shoes, &c., as she has reached in the manufacture of tobacco. A cordial welcome awaits all who may be attracted to this inviting field of enterprise, together with the material aid and support of the municipal authorities and the community at large. SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; LOUIS P. SHANER, m CUTTLE BROKER, FRONT STALLS, Nos. 2 & 4, BUSINESS COLLEGEo First-class Instruction in KooK-Uc^iJina:, I'hiiii and Ornauicutal I'ennianship, Business Arithmetic— rapid caleulalions— in the i'()lle'-?i'. By D. R. McIVER, A teaclier of over six j'Pars' experience (has tliree diplomas on Book-lveeping and Pen- inaiiship), and Head Teacher of Writins; in City Graded Schools, and Teaclier of Y. M. C. A. Kdiicational Classes. Good references. Terms low. Pen-work by mail. Visiting cards wiitten, 20c. per dozen. Call on, or address, D. R. McIVER, TOS di-u-xcia. Street, - - Xj3rM.cl:LTc^j.rg-, TT'irg-laiiia,. Carpenters and Builders. Cor. T\A^elfth and Grace Sts., Lynchburg, Va., We execute all kinds of Builders' Work, such as Wood, Stone, Brick, Plastering, Tin- ning, Painting, &e. Estimates cheerfully furnished, and correspondeuee solicited. ARMISTEAD & STEPTOE, Real [stateftgeots and General Intelligence Office No. 206 Tenth Street, ATTORNEY-AT-LAW, 914 Wlain Street, - • Lynchburg, Virginia. COMMERCIAL LAW A SPECIALTY. PiKFKKKNCES.— Lyni-hlinrg National Hank, and all Ihe leading business men of the city. ITS FKOl'LE AND ITS TRADR. 59 suMMi^R rp:sorts. The country immediately to the west of Lynchburg abounds with mineral springs of \arious kinds, and all possessing special sanitary \'alue. They are sources alike of health, pleasure and profit, and are justly entitled to at least brief mention in Lynchburg's " Sketch Book." Scores of these delightful summjr resorts in the Piedmont District, Blue l\idge and Alleghany Mountains are accessible in a few hours by rail from this City. Many of them are exceedingly beautiful and hand- somely equipped for the accommodation of from five hundred to a thousand or more visitors. Some of the most attractive of these charming sanatoriums are the Blue Ridge Springs, Yellow Sulphur, White Sulphur, Salt Sulphur, Red Sulphur, Alleghany, Sweet, Rock- bridge Alum, Coyners, the Hot, Warm and Healing Springs, &c. These watering places afford good markets for the surrounding country during the summer season, and Lynchburg participates largely in the trade derived from these sources. To the tourist, this section of V^irginia offers many and various at- tractions. Amongst the most noted curiosities of nature within ea.sy reach of Lynchburg are the. Natural Bridge, the Peaks of Otter, the Caverns of Luray, the Natural Tunnel and the Falls of James River, where it breaks through the Blue Ridge Mountains. GAME AND HUNTLNG. The forests, fields and streams of this pleasant region all supply an abundance of game for the sportsman. As a rule, the woods are toler- ably free from undergrowth, and are, therefore, easily traversed on foot or on horseback. The squirrel, wild turkey and pheasant are very plentiful in the neighboring forests. Partridges (c[uail) are very numer- ous, as also woodcocks. Wild ducks of several varieties are found in large numbers on all the rivers and streams. Good deer hunting can be had in the Blue Ridge and Alleghany Mountains. Trout abound in most of the mountain streams, and in the large rivers there is excellent bait fishing for chub, perch, pike, &c. Foxes, both red and gray, are found all over Virginia, and fur- nish capital sport to those fond of " riding to hounds." But they are not in such numbers as to be troublesome or destructive. cerf:als. The soil of the "Hill Country" of V^irginia, which embraces that region most directly tributary to Lynchburg, varies from light .sandy 40 SKETCH BOOK OF LVXCHBURCi, VA. ; loam to stiff lieavy cla)'. The more closely it approaches the latter the more highly it is esteemed, particularly for mixed farming" and grazing. The principal crops raised in this district are tobacco, wheat, corn, oats and ha\^ ; but all the grasses, grains, fruits and vegetables common to the temperate zone flourish here with ordinary care. The flour made from wheat grown in this section is considered the best in America, and brings the highest price in the marlcets where it is known. F'or many years it was considered the only flour that could be shipped through tropical latitudes without deterioration, and it still maintains its undoubted superiority in the markets of the W'est Indies and South America. On suitable land, with proper tillage, from twenty to thirty bushels of wheat per acre may reasonably be expected. In the James River Valley the "bottom" lands will yield, without manuring, from sixty to a hundred bushels of Indian corn per acre. On uplands of good quality, forty to fifty bushels would be considered a good yield. The oat crop usually succeeds corn, requires but slight preparation of the land, grows luxuriantly and )'ields — especially on bottom or moist lands — a good return to the farmer. Tobacco requires soil of the best natural quality, or the land must be highly manured, to afford a paying crop ; but, when skillfully man- aged, and under favorable circumstances, it returns a very large profit to the planter. Hay also }'ields an abundant crop, and finds a ready sale in this and other markets. FRUIT CULTURE. The fruits of this division of Virginia are unsurpassed in cjuality and variety. The apple ripens from June to November, and the later varieties can easily be kept until the succeeding crop can be gathered. This is the home of the famous " Albemarle Pippin " and the beautiful "Lady Apple," so highly and universally esteemed at home and abroad. Besides these, there are many other kinds of apples of ex- cellent quality and prolific fruition. Apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, grapes, strawberries, &c. , grow freely and require no protec- tion during the winter months. The grape flourishes with a luxuriance not surpassed by the choicest vineyards in other sections of this country, or those of France and Germany. The eastern slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains furnish many thousands of acres suited to the cultivation of fruits, including ITS I'KOPLE AND ITS TRADE, 41 those of the choicest and most deUcate varieties, wliich here attain the liighest perfection. I-'xperimcnts have proved that a better wine can be produced on these mountain slopes than has yet been made else- where in the United States. The Superintendent of '• Carden and (Grounds," connected witli tl)c UNITED STATES COURT HOUSE AND POST OFFICE. (on church street, near ninth.) Department of Agriculture, in his Annual Report to Congress for 1869, speaking of "the most healthy grape of the Northern States," says : " Of course its quality is greatly improved by the length and geni- a ty of the season of growth; for example, those who are familiarwith 42 SKETCH KOOK OF LVNCHEURG, VA. J (ESTABLISHED IN 1881.) . J. D. WATTS, DEALER IN WATCHES, CLOCKS, JEWELRY, SILVER AND PLATED WARE, FROM THE LEADING FACTORIES OF THIS COUNTRY. OPTICA]- GOODS, fockGtInivGS,icissors|othGr liiiG SutlGrij. SE^VING MACHINES, AND SEWING - MACHINE + SUPPLIES. Gold Pens, Pencils, and Fancy Articles, in Great Variety. KPEUIAL ATTENTION GIVEN TO ALL KINDS OF HUyi MAIN STREET, Lynchburg, - - Virginia. IT? PEOl'I.K AND ITS TRADE. 43 tlie fruit only as a production of Massachusetts would not recognize its flavor and vinous character as ripened in Virginia. * =^ * yii^^ mountain slopes and plateaus in Virginia and other Southern States must be looked upon as the great producing regions of this Continent for a certain class of fine wines, not excepting California and other fa\'ored sections of the Pacific Coast. We must depend upon this section for the ' coming wine-grape.'" GRAZING LANDS. The " Hill Lands" are not excelled by any other part of Virginia, Kentucky or the West as a grazing country. Here are " blue grass '" COURT STREET METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. (CORNER OF SEVENTH STREET.) tracts, watered by plentiful springs and streams of cool soft water, where cattle can feed the whole year round, and where neither hostile Indians nor wild beasts exist to disturb or destroy them. Mr. J. R. Dodge, of the United States Department of Agriculture, after enumerating the most favored regions in the Eastern and North- ern States, the Mississippi V^alley and the eastern and western slopes of the Rocky Mountains, makes the following comparison: " But there is one other section, easy of access and superior in the quality of its grasses to any heretofore mentioned, with a climate mild and equable, in which the very finest and best samples of wool in the United States 44 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, ,VA. ; W. A. STROTHER & SON, WHOLESALE, RETAIL & MANUFACTURING BRUGUISTS The senior member of this firm established the business in the year I(S55, and has remained continuously in the occupation of the same premises — No. 904 Main Street — ever since that date. "Strother's Drug Store" may therefore be fairly regarded as among the "ancient landmarks" which commemorate the birth, growth and development of Lynchburg's coinmercial and industrial history. Mr. Strother had already built up a flourishing trade when the civil war broke out. in I (56 1. In common with his patriotic fellow-countrymen, Mr. Strother volunteered his services to the Confederate cause. For a time his business operations were, to some extent, suspended, but on the res- toration of peace, in 1865, they were resumed with renewed energy, and within the last twenty years the volume of his trade has more than quadrupled. In 1 88 1, Mr. Strother admitted to partnership his son, Mr. W. M. Strother, and the firm assumed its present name. Besides dealing in the commodities common to all first-class wholesale and retail drug houses, the Messrs. Strother are extensive manufacturers of a number of their own recipes, including general family medicines, a full line of flavoring extracts, pills, liniments, horse powders, &c.; while among their more famous specialties, "Silver Medal Cologne" and "Strother's Dentaline " find a ready market in all parts of the Union — over six hundred gross of the former having been sold and shipped to distant points during the past year. Messrs. W. A. Strother & Son are also the patentees of a lubricant which has established itself in the favor of plug tobacco manufacturers throughout the country. It is to such houses as that under review that Lynchburg owes its high mercantile reputation, and the community, being "wise in its genera- tion," extends to it substantial evidence of its confidence and appro\al. This is the oldest house in the City engaged in the drug business, and the only one that ante-dates the civil war. THE PAlic¥B00T7SH0E^ HATTto HOUSE. BOOTS, SHOES, HATS, CAPS, TRUNKS, VALISES, UMBRELLAS, ETC, 1U2J MAIN STREET, LYNCHBURG, VA, BOX t MANUFACTURISG t COMPANY, Totacco Boxes auj Cases, Totocco Sliapes and Factory Fixtures, ITS PEOFI.E AND ITS TRADE. 45 liavc been i^Town." He tlicn directs attention to this locality, and says it is " the chosen habitat of the blue grass and white clover, whose valleys and slopes and summits are alike fresh with verdure. Scarcely better known to the country at large than the fastnesses of the Rocky Mountains, the lands but little higher in price, this region should pro- duce large quantities of the finest and best merino wool in the United States, and the production of mutton, in \iew of proximity to markets and abundance and quality of subsistence supplies, could scarcely be undertaken elsewhere with equal adxantage. " WK. JOIIX W. CARROLL'S RESIDENCE. (on haerison street, corner eleventh.) THE JAMES RIVER VALLEY. I'rom the discovery of the country to the present day, this beauti- ful Valley has been universally regarded as the best portion of Virginia. The James River traverses the State from the Alleghany Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean, intersecting the Mountain, Valley, Piedmont and Tide-water Districts, thus embracing within its influence every advantage of climate, soil and production to be found in the State. The scener}' along the rixer, particularly in the hill district, is unsur- passed in \ariety and beauty. The cool, bracing atmosphere in the 46 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. THE aclliprtCi. have moved for the third time into larger quarters, to accommodate their constantly increasing business, and are now located on Clay Street near Twelfth, where they are prepared for a larger business than ever before. They have already, with one exception only, the largest cigarette trade in the State, and if their former ratio of increase con- tinues, will soon take their place among the few large cigarette factories of the United States. As their name implies, the " Lone Jack " is their leading cigarette. Others are also becoming favorites, the " Ruby" especially. All their brands are free from drugs, or any adulteration, but made of the sweetest bright North Carolina and Virginia tobacco obtainable. Especial mention must be made of an entirely new departure — a long, pure Havana cigarette in brown tobacco paper, the "La Hidalguia" Cig- arette, made of Havana tobacco exclusively, of their own importation and selected by Sanderson & Co., Havana, the owners and original manufacturers of this brand. While these cigarettes may be too sub- stantial for the general cigarette smoker, they satisfy another class — the cigar smoker — giving him a better, a genuine Havana, and at the same time a cheaper, smoke than most low-priced cigars. The adver- tising matter used by the Company has been unique, because combining taste and elegance with usefulness ; we refer especially to the elegant brass plaque clocks known all over the South and West, given free with the Lone Jack Cigarettes. Among the advantages of this business to the City we wish to men- tion especially the fact that it gives employment to a large number of girls, who in former years had no field of labor, or at best, a very limited one in this city. The Company employ a number of these, not only for packing and handling the cigarettes, box-making, &c., but for making millions of cigarette holders, with paraffined tips, which have added so much to the popularity of the celebrated Lone Jack Cigarettes. The principal stockholders are Mr. John W. Carroll, the owner of the world-renowned " Lone Jack " smoking tobacco brand ; Edmund Schaefer, of Holt, Schaefer & Co.; the President of theCompany ; and R. H. Wright, former i)artner of W. Duke, Sons & Co.. Durham, Manager. ITS pf:ople and its trade. 47 vicinity of the mountains is a complete protection against every form of malarial disease, and is invigorating to the most delicate and sensitive constitutions. It is this portion of the James River Valley that un- doubtedly possesses the greatest charms to new settlers of all classes. Here the sturd}' farmer in search of a healthy, rich and attractive " plan- tation ;" the lover of nature and field sports; the man of ample means and cultivated taste; the experienced and enterprising manufacturer in GARLAND'S HILL AND BLACKWATER CREEK. (from northwest end of cuurch street.) pursuit of gain — all may alike find the highest enjoyment and pros- perity. Nature has been so lavish in her gifts to this happy valle}% and its inhabitants have at all times found it so easy to obtain the comforts and luxuries of life, that its rich stores of timber and minerals have hitherto been comparatively neglected — or at least the}' have remained practically undeveloped. During the past few years, how- ever, these dormant sources of wealth have attracted considerable 48 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; THE LYNCHBURG N Daily, Tri- Weekly and Weekly. H THE LEADING NEWSPAPER In Piedmont and Southwestern Virginia. Daily, f5 per anuiiin. Tri- Weekly, |3 " " Weekly, $1 " LOCATED AT THE GATEWAY OF THE RICH SOUTH- WESTERN COUNTRY, WHERE IT HAS A LARGE m IfiWSl CIRCULATION. A Wide-Awake and Progressive Democratic Newspaper Presentintr all the News in the most attractive form. Iron Front Building, No. 215 Ninth Street, . . . . Lynchburg, Va. A. WADDILL, Publisher. ITS I'EOPLE AND ITS TKADll 49 attention, and it is but reasonable to expect tiiat Lynchburg, with its immense natural advanta<,^es, will before long become one of the greatest industrial centres of the New South. VARIOUS. The population of Lynchl)urg is now estimated at about 25,000 souls. By including the immediate suburbs this number would be largely increased. In 1880 the census fixed the population at 15,959; LYNCHBURG'S FIRST TOBACCO FACTORY. (on elm avenue near horse ford road.) while in 1870, when, five years after the close of the war, the City may be said to have entered upon its second lease of exi.stence, it contained, according to the official census, onh' 6.825 inhabitants. Not only has the City kept pace with its rapidly growing popula- tion as regards the number of its stores, factories and dwellings, but it has also made ambitious strides in the character of its buildin'^s, and in all other matters tending towards public improvements, having regard to ornamentation as w'ell as to mere utility. No city in the 50 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; United States of Lynchburg's size can show handsomer churches, factories, hotels, business blocks, private residences and public build- ings. In every direction are to be seen evidences of thrift and enter- prise. Wherever the eye may turn, it is greeted by magnificent new structures bearing testimony alike to the wealth and the artistic taste of the community. On the main thoroughfares, as well as in those portions of the City and suburbs devoted to private habitations, busy hands are constantly at work filling up vacancies with sightly stores and factories and dwelling houses. Stately churches raise their taper- ing spires to the sky, while other sacred buildings, less pretensious, perhaps, bear testimony to the competence, liberality and piety of all classes of citizens. The City of Lynchburg is indeed fair to look upon, presenting, as she does, an air of health, comfort and prosperity which is well sus- tained by statistical facts. The scenery within and without her boundaries presents a charming and endless variety of hill and valley, field and forest, natural beauty and artistic embellishment, such as are rarely to be met with in any one locality. With a rich and productive back country, cheap land, abundant labor, a central position in the most favored region of the Southern Land, an equable and healthy climate, unsurpassed water-power and excellent railroad facilities, and removed by only an inconsiderable distance from the very sources whence the great manufacturing in- terests of the North draw their principal supplies, Lynchburg offers prospects and inducements to the capitalist such as few localities in the United States can justly present, as a careful perusal of this volume to its end — based, as its statements are, upon official facts and figures •exclusively — will fully demonstrate. ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. 5 I HISTORICAL. EARLY DAYS. Wz IKE that of every other American City, the Histor\- of Lynchburg;' ft4 is inseparable in its early pa^^es from that of the whole Conti- ^^ nent. It will not be necessary, therefore, for the purposes of this SKETCH BOOK to inflict upon the intelligent reader the familiar story of the great navigators, Cabot, Columbus, Amadas, and the rest — not to mention the still more remote, and therefore still less authen- tic, Madoc — nor need we recount the virtues of the aboriginal tribes, to-wit : the Susquehanocks, Pamaunkees and Chickahominies, with their renowned chieftains, Winginia and Granganameo, Powhatan and Opechankanough — distinguished alike for the euphony of their names and the simple amiability of their dispositions ; still less desirable would be the vain attempt to clothe the touching narrative of Poca- hontas with some new-found element of romance, or to enlarge upon the thrilling adventures and " hair-breadth 'scapes " of the great original Anglo-American John Smith! Suffice it to say that these worthy people — or others like them — certainly lived and flourished, some- where in Virginia, and at a period not many centuries prior to the birth of Lynchburg's "oldest inhabitant " — that is, if history and tradi- tion be as trustworthy as some people seem to think. That the Colony was regarded as a most desirable place of residence, even in the remote days of its first organized settlement, may be gathered from the often-quoted expression of the Captain John Smith above referred to — " Heaven and Earth never agreed better to frame a place for Man's habitation." At that time the whole of the North American Continent, as far as discovered, went under the general name of Virginia, but as the vast extent of the territory began to be appreciated, it was found expedient to divide it into two sections — North Virginia and South Virginia — the former embracing all the country lying to the northward of the en- trance to Chesapeake Bay, and the latter extending southerly from the same point as far as the Cape of Florida. On j\Iarch 25th. 1584, letters patent were issued by " Bonnie Queen -^ SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; Bess " o-ranting the whole American Colony to " that great ornament of the British Nation," Sir Walter Raleigh, who immediately formed a sort of joint-stock company for the purpose of fitting out an expedi- tion to settle his new possessions. After a long and stormy voyage, this expedition landed, as every schoolboy knows, on Roanoke Island, now a part of North Carohna,, and at once opened commercial negotiations with the neighbormg Indians, with most profitable results. Referring to this distant period of Virginia's history, Colonel W m. Byrd in his IVcsforer Manuscripts, quaintly remarks : "Amongst other Indian Commodities, they brought over Some of of tha^bewitching Vegetable, Tobacco. And this being the first that eve came to England, Sir Walter thought that he could do no less han make a preselit of Some of the brightest of it to His Ro.al Mis- eTs Ir her own Smoaking. The Queen graciously accepted of it, but finding her Stomach sicken after two or three Whiffe, it was pres^ ently whis^pered by the earl of I Leicester's Faction that Sir Weaker had ce ainlv Poisoned Her. But Her Majesty soon recovering her dis^ oX obliged the Countess of Nottinghan and all her Maids to Smoak a whole Pipe out amongst them. So this was the microscopic starting point from which such vast re- sults were to follow, as the tide of time rolled on. The agricultural importance of a large area of Virginia, North Carolina and other States the wealth of their citizens, and the establishment of many a flourishing town and city within their borders-all these things, and more are traceable to the discovery, two centuries ago. of a nauseating weed'. What power is there even in a wreath of smoke, provided onV that it issue from royal lips 1 But tobacco was not the only valuable product of spontaneous c.rowth found by the pioneer adventurers in this new Paradise and reported by them to their friends across the main. Indeed, the accounts given of the Colony by those returning from its shores were so uniformly captivating, that it shortly became the " modish frenzy to emigrate and share the delights thus lavished by prodigal Na ure Unfortunately, however, the new settlers were, as a rule, both idle and extravagant, and had been tempted hither chiefly by the prospect of absolute exemption from the necessity for labor, and abundant opportunity for the free indulgence of vice. Reckless waste and persistent improvidence led, as might have been expected, to numerous disappointments and misadventures, as well as ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRAi:)E. t.> some very rough trdatmcn, at the hands of , he savage redslins' As a consequence, the raee for tmn^ A tin .• • • "^ 'ca-sknis. NINTH (BRIDGE) STREET AND AMHERST HEIGHTS (FROM COURT HOUSE HILL ) ^'^^^ili^- 54 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; TAZEWELL M. McCORKLE. H. A. SOUTHALL. McCORKLE. SoUTHALL & Co., 1011 Main street, - - - Lynchburg, Yirgmia. We endeavor to keep the best of all articles in our line. We guarantee purity. We will not handle adulterated food products knowingly. If any goods purchased of us are not as represented, we want them returned. Orders sent us shall have the same care and attention as if patrons were present. We will always give you good weights, good goods and good will. In STAPLE GOODS we select in each department acccording to QUALITY. In TABLE LUXURIES and in all delicacies for the sick, we excel. We toast our own Coffees fresh ex'ery week. In FOREIGN FRUITS and CONFECTIONERY, we select from the freshest offerings on the market When you want a fragrant Havana Cigar or a genuine Key West, we can supply you. Our FINE FLOUR OF THE ENTIRE WHEAT is superior to any wheat meal or "Graham " flour, because it does not contain any coarse, irritating bran particles, or indigestible husk of the wheat, which are unavoidably present and a part of all wheat meals and "Graham " flours. Will sell you any quantity. We ofi"er inducements in FINE ENGLISH BREAKFAST, MO- YUNE GUNPOWDER and fragrant OOLONG TEAS. We will not handle any but good chop. Our HOUSEHOLD AMMONIA will please you, for the toilet, laundry, and for the bath, as well as for cleansing and the sick chamber. Pint bottles, 25 cents. WE SELL SUGARS AT COST. HE-NO TP>A — the kind used by the Chinese — at 20c., 40c., " '°"'- gate, ™ore than one n,ii,io,r donahs' w„,',h "f '^,i,d" '"so.^f rf COURT SrREET, LOOKING NORTHWEST FROM COLRT HOUSR. our stores are so extensive and elegant as not f„ n- u companson with those of Philadelphia ™d New Yo - . ' f,' ''^- ' and druggists; several cabinet manufac"ories Jsai;;;;'* ""^ k'"''" manufactor es • lo blark-smin, ,i ^'"™'^' 4 saddle and harness Jewelers' estabiish'°ents;';™::;i,:^^Tffi',f--' »«"-' '-tels . 5 Banr;7vl:gi!;?^'=3'?"alsrthre'e\r™'°7'f"'^ ™^ "- "■— ^' Sabbath Scirools' w th from 7m to ,"'^' ^""f'i ^^"^^^ flourishing society, with a librar^ o?'L^eTal ' tho^nd^^ot Ses. 2"! ^.'^ 62 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; _. r-p-pzj — np .. NATIOHAL EXCHANGE BANK, OF Lynchburg. This popular and successful financial institution was established in 1 88 1 under most favorable auspices, and its almost phenomenal prosperity has more than justified the sanguine expectations of its pro- jectors and friends. Its office, on the corner of Main and Eighth Streets, was formerly occupied by the private banking house of Miller & Franklin, who began business immediately after the war, and built up a large and wealthy connection. On the death of the senior part- ner, Mr. John M. Miller, the firm was dissolved, and the National Exchange Bank not only succeeded it as tenants of the building, but also inherited a large proportion of its business. Under the judicious and watchful management of its officers, com- bined with its uniformly courteous and accommodating policy towards its customers and the public generally, it has accumulated deposits equal in amount to any in the City, while the latest published quota- tions, based upon actual sales, place the stock of the National Ex- change at the head of the list of Lynchburg Banks. Its capital is $100,000; its surplus, $25,000, and its undivided profits, $12,611.01. The following is a list of its present Officers : President, George M. Jones; Vice-President, I. H. Adams; Cas/iier, Camillus Christian; Directors, George M. Jones, I. H. Adams, S. B. Ferguson, Thomas E. Murrell, N. C. Manson, Jr., T. D. Jennings, G. H. Nowlin, W. A. Strother, George P. Watkins, S. W. Nowlin, Charles Scott, Jr.; Teller, D. T. ^WlcheW; Book-keepers, J. B. Nowiin, E. P. Miller and W. G. Christian. The National P^xchange Bank conducts a regular banking business in all its branches, at home and abroad, and is, in all respects, a per- fectly safe and trustworthy institution. R W. THURMAN, STENCIL CUTTER, RUBBEP. STIP MftNUFACTURER, AND GENERAL REPAIRER. HOTELS, PRIVATE RESIDENCES AND BUILDINGS OF ALL KINDS, FITTED UP WITH ELECTRIC BELLS, GONGS, ANN UNCIATORS, &C., &C. 623 MAIN STREET - - - LYNCHBURG, VA. ITS PEOPLE AXn ITS TRADE. 63 that we have ^Ir^V:^^^^^^^ ^'^^'^ '^ -'^^ be seen said nothin- of the im^nifire ^l r ^^"•"."•'^hing City. Rut I have successful expcri CMr'^Uv . "' °,^ "'"""'• ""^ ''" ^'^^ '^^'" ^de of we are d.sta^u ' ^j Ls bv IT th.s p aceand Richmond, from which boast of Virc. nit opens n. T ^ k ^"' F'""^''^' ^^'''"'- ^'^^' P'^'de and WATER WORKS DAM AND - LO VEER'S LEAP/' LUC »^ity , and tins opinion '^eems fo lio^o k 1 • •">^»'^u 64 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; " Col. Charles Lynch, a brother of the founder of Lynchburg, was ' an officer of the American Revolution. His residence was on the Staunton, in th^ southwest part of this County, now th^ seat of his grandson, Charles Henry Lynch, Esq. At that time this country was very thinly settled, and infested by a lawless band of tories and des- peradoes. The necessity of the case involved desperate measures, and Col. Lynch, then a leading Whig, apprehended and had them punished, without any superfluous legal ceremony. Hence the origin of the term Lynch Law. This practice o'i lynching continued years after the war, and was applied to many cases of mere suspicion of guilt, which could not be regularly proven. 'In 1792,' says Wirt's Life of Henry, ' there were many suits on the south side of James River lor inflicting Lynch's law.' At the battle of Guildford Court House, a regiment of riflemen, raised in this part of the State, under the command of Col. Lynch, behaved with much gallantry. The Colonel died soon after the close of the war. Charles Lynch, a Governor of Louisiana, was his son." But alas for the infallibility of local tradition and the unanimity of local opinion ! Referring to the above, a correspondent of the Lynch burg Virginian writes to that paper, on November 20th, 1886, over the initial " W," as follows: * * ^ * * * * " This Colonel Charles Lynch was a brother to John Lynch, after v/hom our city was named. They were the sons of John Lynch, who came from Ireland and took up lands in this vicinity. He is said to have come from Limerick. " Now the reading of this article recalled to my mind a different and more remote origin of the term ' Lynch Law,' which I remember to have seen many years ago. "The story was to this effect: Many years ago, the Mayor of Limerick, named Lynch, was a merchant of high character, stern integ- rity, and an abiding sense of justice, a man of great popularity and of unblemished credit " He was accustomed to buy largely from Spanish merchants, and upon one occasion sent his own son to Spain to lay in a cargo of goods; but the young man, finding the fascinations and ])leasures around him too strong for his self-control, v/asted the money entrusted to him, and was forced, in shame, to go to the merchants with whom he had left orders, and countermand them, saying he could not make payment. Their reply was: ' The credit of your house is too good and well-established for us to refuse to send the goods, and we will ship them and send our agents along with you. and your house can make payment to them upon their arrival, or at such time as it may prefer.' To this the young man agreed, and so they set out upon their voyage. But, in mid-ocean, he concluded to throw the agents overboard, and ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. 65 SO escape payment and the indignation of his father. But, upon his arrival in port, his father heard the story from some of tlie'crew, and immtrdiately had his son arrested ami c'onfined in his own castle, a stronijhold. "The citizens, upon hcarinj,^ this fact, assembled around the castle and demanded the release of the son. The stern but just old father said to them that, in his official capacity, he knew no man's son, and that •vsSi%' , ., 5^ "-.-f^ ''V^'^ ^^^ f} RE.SIDE^X'ES ON COURT STREET. DR. E. A. CRAIGUILL. JIK. R. T. CRAIGHILL. it should not be said of him that he, who always endeavored to sup- port the majesty of the law, would be less exacting in his measure of justice because it was his own son who was the offender. He was told in return that his son should not be brought to trial for the murder of the Spaniards, and that, unless he opened the castle doors they would be broken down. The father, thus seeing that the law would be wrenched out of his hands, placed a halter round the neck of his son and had him suspended from the window above the heads of the infuriated citizens. This summary execution, without the form of trial, was then and there called ' Lynch Law.' 66 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; R.R.GOODMAN, MANUFACTURER OF acGO logshcads, f icrcGS, lasGS And all Kinds of Packing Boxes. X r 5 Q K o o I— I PLANIi ILL Al WOOD WOEIIfi IGHINEHY. Flooring, Ceiling- and Lumber Dressed at Short Notice. BRACKETS. WINDOW AND DOOR FRAMES. f^CROLL SAWING. MOULDINGS. STORE FRONTS, k. [rlrlfr^•• •< •--•— iiimih MILL, YARDS AND OFFICE : 1300 to 1310 JEFFERSON STREET, LYNCHBURG, VA. ITS PEOrT.I". AND ITS TRADE. 67 "Your correspondent chanced to menti(in the above account to a i^entleman of much intelliijence, born in Ireland, who repHed that he was famiHar with the story, havint^: heard it many years ao"o. "It now occurs to me, that as thj above-named Charles Lynch, of Revolutionary memory, the ori£][inator of this form of justice here, was of Irish parentai^e, he had learned this story of his own namesake — and, maybe, progenitor — of Limerick, and so determined to introduce into America this Irish form of iustice." THE BIFITH PLACE OP THE CELEBRATED "LONE JAUlv." (in rear of NKW KACTOKY — TWELFTH .STREET.) And alas, again, for the stability of the claim thus set up for Lim- erick, as having given to the world a new code of judicial procedure and to the dictionary a new word! As regards the latter, however, it cannot be denied that the Emerald Isle is quite equal to the achieve- ment, as witness the frequent and general adaptation of the modern " boycott." On the subject under discussion, the Encyclopedia Britaiiica, (vol. XV, p. 105) pronounces as follows — and in so doing furnishes evidence of careful research and impartial judgment: 68 SKETCH BCKDK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; LYNCHBURG ADVANC H -IS FUBLISHED- DAIL7, SEMI-WEEKLY AND WEEKLY, AND HAS THE Largest Circulation (Sworn to) of any Newspaper in Virginia, WEST OP RICHMOND, AND IS THE SI MFRTIIG Umm IN Tll[ STftTf, «» Is the only paper in the City which takes the New York Associated Press Dispatches, thereby giving ALL THE LATEST HOME AND FOREIGN NEWS, and reaches its patrons in South- west Virginia from twelve to fifteen hours AHEAD OF THE MORNING PAPERS. DAILY, one year $4 00 SEMI-VVEEKLY, one year 3 00 WEEKLY, one year 75 SAMPLE COPIES FREE. ADDRESS: A'OVANCE PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO,, LYNCH BUKG, VA. ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. 69 '' Lynch Law. a term used in the United States to characteri/x- the action of private individuals, or<,^anized bodies of men, or disorderly mobs, who, without lei^al authority, proceed to punish, by hanging or otherwise, real or suspected criminals, without atrial according to'^the ordinary forms of law. The origin of the term is doubtful. Ameri- can lexicographers generally refer it to the practice of a Virginia farmer of the 17th century, named L)-nch, who, when he caught a wrong-doer, was wont to tie him to a tree and flog him, without waiting to summon the officers of the law. He is also said to have acted, by CITY HALL AND COURT HOUSE. request of his neighbors, though without any legal authority, as a judge in the summary trial of persons accused of crime. Others trace the origin of the name to the act of James Fitzstephen Lynch, mayor and warden of Galway, Ireland, in 1493, who is said to have ' hanged his own son out of the window for defrauding and kilhng strangers, without martial or common law, to show a good example to posterity.' Others trace it still further to the old Anglo-Saxon verb linch, meaning to beat v/ith a club, to chastise, &c., which they assert has survived in this cognate meaning in America, as have many other words and expres- sions long obsolete in Great Britain." But, however thickly veiled in mystery the true origin of "Lynch Law" may be, or may be destined to remain, and whether it was really indigenous to this fair region of the Old Dominion or not, it must be comforting to the patriotic Lynchburger to feel that the fame of his City need not rely entirely upon the final unravelling of this knotty 70 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. : (SUCCESSORS TO NOWLIM BROS. & CO.) WHOLESALE GROCERS AND Commission ^ Merchants HIGH GRADES FAMILY FLOUR A SPECIALTY, AGENTS FOR The Hazard Powder Co. Hercules Dynamite Co. Bradley Plows and Castings. Manufactured Tobacco. Bethesda Springs. Montague's Liniment. No. 70I MAIN STREET, LYNCHBURG NATIONAL BANK. TJ. S. DEFOSIT-A.R^2". CAPITAL: $250,000. SURPLUS: $50,000. JAMES CLARK, rresident. C. DeWITT, Vice-President. PETER J. OTEY, Cashier. G. W. MOORE, Jr., Teller. J. M. MILLbJR, JK., Discount Clerk. JOS. S. GORDON, Oen'l Book-Keeper. H. S. STABLER, Ass't Book-Keeper. GEORGE WARD, Janitor. DIRECTORS:— James Clark, C. DeWitt, Juo. W. Carroll, Geo. W. Palmer, J. P. Bell, Max Guggenheimer, Jr., S. M.McCorkle, W. A. Carpenter, J. W.Childs, \V. V. Wilson, Jr., S. L. Moorman. DKALEK IN Ice, Coal, Wood and Baled Forage. 12UU to 122U .JEFFERSON STREET, LYNCHBURG, VA. >9S* Particular Attention given to the sliipping of COAIi and ICE. M. H. IIAYTHE. iCriminal Law and Collections.) C. J. SEHORN. (Lands and Titles.) HAYTHE & SEHORN, Ninth St.. over P. A. lu-ise's Bank. Notary IN THE Office. LynChbUTg, YQ. ITS PEOPLE AND \TS TRADE. 71 question. There can at least be no doubt as to the fact that Lynch- burg; has given birth to other equally famous and much more credit- able progeny, about whose paternity there is no room for argument. Among these may be mentioned " Lone jack." whose excellence is familiar to every consumer of the "Celestial weed " in every quarter of the globe — alike within the frozen belt of the I'olar Zone and beneath the scorching rays of the tropical sun — in the mining camp of the Far West and on the sheep run of the Antipodes. There are other articles of commerce, also distinctively the offspring of Lynch- ST. PAUL'S (PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL) CHURCIT. (church strekt, corner of seventh.) burg, which have rendered her name sweetly familiar in every State and Territory of the Union, such as "Silver Medal Cologne," the fragrant product of one Main Street Drug Establishment, and " Camm's Emul- sion," manufactured at another ; there is " Phertiston," the magical fertilizer and insecticide ; and there are many more names which might be placed upon the roll of honor. But wherefore? This is not the record of a mushroom — born in the night, matured by the morning dew and doomed to perish before noon-day — but of a giant oak, still in its lusty youth — having only attained, as yet, the years of a single century, but already firmly rooted as the hills upon which it stands. r- SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; E. E. ROSS, L CONIRSCTOR iD BUILDER, MANUFACTURER UP ill Kinds of luildcrs' latGrial. SASH, BLINDS. DOOES. MOULDINGS, Scroll Work of all Descriptions, DCOR AND WJNDOW FRAMES, &c. CO oo on ► * CO CD •^ CO Estimates made on all kinds of Buildin;^- and Remodelling, at short notice, in the City or Country, and ALL WORK GUARANTEED " To be I'irst Class. Rest references given. Correspondence Solicited. Ol-FICE AND SHOP, 1310 Jefferson Street, Lynchburg, Ya. ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. 73 SLAVERY AND TOBACCO. The following extract, relating to the inception and growth of the slave trade and the early cultivation of tobacco, with their influence on the character, manners and general condition of the inhabitants of Colonial Virginia, will afford interesting and instructive reading to those who are not already familiar with the subject. It is drawn from the " Life of Jefferson, " by Prof. George Tucker, of the University of Virginia, — a work of high merit, having been written with great per- spicuity and ingenuous fidelity, elucidating, as it does, incidentally, many important points in the civil, political and commercial history of the State. " In 1744, at the period of the birth of Mr. Jefferson, the settlement had extended about 200 miles from the sea-coast, and, in the northern part of the Colony, had pa.ssed the Blue Ridge. The population was then about 200,000, of whom from a quarter to a third were slaves. "The cultivation of tobacco and the introduction of slaves, soon after Virginia was settled, have had a marked influence upon the habits, character and fortunes of the country. The introduction of tobacco in England, about twenty years before the settlement of Jamestown, led to a rapid extension of its use. A demand being thus created, and a heavy price paid, encouraged the first settlers of Virginia to cultivate it for market, to the neglect of other crops. It long con- tinued the sole article of export, and, from the inadequate supply of the precious metals, it became the general measure of value, the prin- cipal currency of the Colony. In 1758, the quantity exported had increased to about seventy millions of pounds, since which time the product has somewhat diminished. "As thi.s plant requires land of the greatest fertiHty, and its finer sorts are produced only in virgin soil, which it soon exhausts, its cul- ture has been steadily advancing westwardly, where fresh land is more abundant, leaving the eastern region it has impoverished to the pro- duction of Indian corn, wheat and other grain. Its cultivation has thus generally ceased in the country below the falls of the great rivers, and, in its progress to the west, the centre of the tobacco region is now two hundred miles from the coast. "The business of cultivating tobacco and preparing it for market requires such continual attention, and so much and so many sorts of handling, as to allow to the planter little time for any of the other useful processes of husbandry ; and thus the management of his dairy and orchard, and the useful operations of manuring, irrigation and cul- tivating artificial grasses, are either conducted in a slovenly way or neglected altogether. The tobacco district nowhere exhibits the same external face of verdure, or marks of rural comfort and taste, as are to 7^ SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA, -THIE- Vifgioia Nail and l[oo Wofk £. SCHAEPER,. Pre sifient. T. C. JO>'ES. General Manager. OHAS. M. BLACKFORD, Vice Fresident,. J. P. WILLIAMS, See^y. cand Treas. Though the works are not in the City itself, this is nevertheless a Lynchburg enterprise, and, outside its tobacco factories, the most im- portant manufacturing establishment connected with the City and its trade. The works are located about four miles above the Citv; the " bi^ dam " which spans the wide James just above their works, gives them the water power of the whole river, sufficient for several works as large as theirs, but as the Company own the whole tract of land along the river from the dam to the next lock, these advantages will remain secured to them forever. With excellent railroad facilities at their door, located in the midst of the ore lands of the James River Valley, within easy reach of the New River, Clinch Valley and Craig's Creek ore and coal fields, and with this immense water power secured to them forever, the advantage and value of their property cannot be overestimated. In order to fully develop the value of their property, the Company have now determined to add a blast furnace to their works, which will be completed by the end of the year. Making their own iron, they expect to double their profits, at the same time to enlarge the capacity of their works and to extend their trade into new territory. The new stock offered for carrying out these projects was taken up in three days; this fact is proof enough that the Com- pany's advantages and brilliant prospects are fully recognized. The capital stock of the Company is now about $200,000. After their present plans are carried out and the prospective profits realized, further additions to the works are contemplated. Their present capacity is something over 400 kegs of nails per day, besides several tons of bar-iron, spikes, &c. The demand for the products of the mill is greater than it can supply, though working to its full capacity; their nails and iron being of superior quality, are sell- ing not only in Virginia and neighboring States, but as far south as Georgia and Alabama and in Birmingham, even in competition with its own products — in fact in many Southern cities. By increasing the capacity of their works and cheapening the cost of their product, the Company expect in another year to reach the Mis- sissippi and the Gulf States with their goods. Altogether their prospects arc most promising and we know that the liberal and energetic management of the works will see to it that they are realized as far as in their power. ■iTS Pi:(>I'I.E ANl) ITS TRADE 75 be seen in those countries in which its culture has been abandoned. "l^ut the most serious consequence of the tobacco cultivation is to be found in the increase of slaves; for, though it did not occasion their first introduction, it <^rcatly encoura<,rcd their importation afterwards. It is to the spirit of commerce/ which, in its undistinguished pursuit of gain, ministers to our vices no less than to our necessary wants, that Virginia owes this portentous accession to her population. A Dutch ship from the coast of Guinea, entered James River in 1620, thirteen years after the first settlemen.t of Jamestown, and sold twenty of her slaves to the Colonists. "The large profits which could be made from the labor of slaves, while tobacco sold at three shillings sterling a pound, equal to about ten times its ordinary price now, greatly encouraged their further im- portation, by giving to the planters the means of purchasing, as well as PROPERTY OF THE VIRGINIA NAIL AND IRON WORKS COMPANY. the inclination ; and the effect would have been much greater if they had not been continually supplied with labor from the paupers, and sometimes the convicts, who were brought from England and sold to the planters for a term of years to defray the expenses of their trans- portation. " This supply of English servants, together with the gradual fall in the price of tolDacco, had so checked the importation of slaves that, in the year 1671, according to an official communication from the Gov- ernor, Sir William Berkeley, while the whole population was but 40,000 the number of indented servants was 6,000, and that of the slaves was but 2,000. The importation of the latter, he says, did not exceed two or three cargoes in seven years, but that of servants, of whom, he says, 'most were English, few Scotch and fewer Irish,' he estimates at 1,500 annually. ^6 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; JACOB H. FRANKLIN. CHAS. M. FRANKLIN. EDOAR FRANKLIN, Jacob H. Franklin & Sons, WHOLESALE GfocersiComnissionlVlefcliantSi ILj37'ncIb-"bTa.rg^, - - TTiirg'irxia.. Keep always in store one of the lar<^est and most varied stocks of iesYij, itaple and lanci] GrocGries, to be found in tlie State, consisting in part of Coffees, Teas, Sugars, Syrups, Molasses, Bacon. Bnlk Meats, Lard, Rice, Hominy, Clieese, Fish, Soaps, Candles, Soda, Bread Powders, Oils. Canned Fruits Vegetables Fish and Meats; Brooms. Buckets. Blackint.'-, Blueing; Cakes. Crackers, Candies; Spices, ground and whole; Concentrated Lye, Potash, Matches, Paper, Paper Bags, Twines, Alum, Cop- pen's, Epsom Salts. Sulphur, &c., &c. Which they ivill sell strictly wholesale, as cheap as they can be bought in this or any other marJcet. THE lynchbnrg Ice i Refrigerator Co., E. SCHAEFER, Tresident. JOHN W. CARROLL, Vice President. P.J. OTEY, Treasurer. Is a recent addition to the manufacturing establishments of the City, This Company, as the name indicates, make artificial ice, using dis- tilled water, viz., condensed steam, therefore an absolutely pure article h obtained, free from any vegetable or animal germs, which even the best transparent natural ice so often contains. Their capa- city is 20,000 pounds per day, more than this in cool weather, some- thing less during the hot weather, when they have to keep the temperature of their ice and cold storage houses down to the freezing point. Ice in Lynchburg is now selling at }4 cent per pound, in larger quantities at $5 per ton, while in former years the price was about twice as high. The advantage this establishment has been to the City is therefore apparent at a glance. What in most other inland cities of the .South is still more or less a luxury, is here selling so low as to bring this — a necessity, almost, in a hot climate — within the reach of all ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. 71 " But in process of time slave labor was found preferable to that of indented white servants, partly because the negro slaves were more cheaply fed and clothed than the laborers who were of the same race as the masters, but principally because they were less able to escape from bondage, and were more easily retaken. The colonial statute book affords abundant evidence of the frequency and facility with which the indented servants ran away from their masters ; and the extent of the mischief may be inferred from the severity of its punishment. In 1642. runaway servants wore liable, for a second offence, to be branded on the cheek; though fifteen years afterwards the law was so far miti- gated as to transfer this mark of ignominy to the shoulder. In 1662, their term of service, which did not often exceed four or five years, RESIDENCE OP MR. P. A. KRISE. (cor, church and sixth streets.) might, for the offence of running away, be prolonged, at the discretion of a magistrate, and the master might superadd ' moderate corporeal punishment.' In the following year, this class of persons, prompted by the convicts who had been sent over after the restoration of Charles the Second, formed a conspiracy of insurrection and murder, which was discovered just in time to be defeated. Seven years afterwards, in 1670, the Governor and Ccuncil took upon themselves to prohibit the further importation of convicts, whom they call 'jail birds,' and they assign this conspiracy as one of their motives for the order. The privilege, too. enjoyed by the servant, of complaining to the magistrate for the harsh treatment of his ma.ster, either as to food, clothing or yS SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; WINFREE, ADAMS & LOYD, MANUFACTURERS OF AND WHOLESALE DEALERS IN Plug, Twist, and Smoking Tobacco. n^HE business enterprise, prosperity and solidity of a City are in a large measure ^ indicated hy tlie extent and cliaracter of her commercial houses. In the com- merce of tlie South, the City of Lynchburg occupies a jn-oininent and important position. Her situation, as the natural depot for the receptim, manuf icture and ship- ment of tobacco, gives her special prominence in connection with this great staple, which may be considered the main source of the prosperity, wealth and commercial standing of the City. The old, wealthy and successful establishments engaged in handling and manu- facturing tobacco have become familiar by trade and reputation in all sections of the land. One of these is the firm now under review. In 1867, Mr. C. V. Winfree and Mr. William H. Loyd associated themselves together under tlie firm name of Winfree & Loyd. The house soon took rank as one of the leading tobacco manufactories in this part of the country — a position to which it was justly entitled from the variety and magnitude of its stock, its extensive transactions, and the-well-known charac- teristics of the gentlemen composing the firm. About four years ago Mr. Charles L. Adams, who had previously served the firm with faithfulness and ability for many years, was admitted as a partner, and the present name of the firm (Winfree, Adams & Loyd) was adopted. All the members are practical men, having acquired by long training and experi- ence a thorough knowledge of their work and their business is managed carefully, scientifically, and with the consummate judgment which disdains the use of inferior materials or the offering of anything short of excellence in manufactured articles. The financial part of the concern is managed by the senior partner, while Mr. Loyd attends to buying the raw material at the warehouse sales, and, being a fine judtre of qualities, selects the leaf with tlie utmost care. The filling of orders and active office business is under the immediate supervision of Mr. Adams. The factory of the firm is situated at the corner of Tenth and Lynch Streets, and comjjrises two large four-story brick buildings, forming together f>ne commodious and complete establishment, thoroughly equipped with the machinery and appliances neces- sary for their extensive operations. The manufacturing business is organized into different departments, managed by competent men, all under the constant direction of the proprietors. Mr. George W . Stanley, who has charge of the manufacturing department, is considered one of the liest factory managers find manufacturers in Virginia. Their trade in manufactured tobacco is extensive throughout all the Southern States, New Orleans esjiecially being one of the principal centres from which their brands are widely disti'ibuted. The house deals exclusively and entirely in medium and fine grades of the weed, and the brands they manufacture have become justly popular with consumers. Their most celebrated brands are " Arkansas Traveller," a 9-ineh rich Mahogany j)lug ; "Nectar Leaf," an 11 and 12-inch plug for general use ; "Mississippi Sawyer," a great favorite in certain markets; "Cloth of Gold," fine 12-inch plug; "Yum Yum," " Tom and Jerry," " Nip and Tuck." " Jack and Gill," and "Yazoo Belle." The " Eclipse " twist is made from Hurley lilloiand aff'ords an excellent chew. "Fanny Leslie " and " Little Helen " are fine gnults of tobacco, also put ujj in twist form. In granulated smoknig tobacco tiie firm puts up " Virginia bride," " Old Vir- ginia," "Southern Puff," and other brands in pounds, quarters, eighths and other quantities, as demanded. The trade of the house is entirely wholesale, and tlie firm having the best facilities for the prompt fulfillment of orders, is in a position to offer inducements to the trade second to none of its contemporaries, while libenUity and fair dealing will be found to characterize all its transactions. ITS PEOI'LE AND ITS TRADE. 79 punishment, formed, no doubt, a further "ground of preference for slaves who had no such inconvenient rights. ' " Under the united influence of thes: circumstances, the number of negro slaves so increased that, in 1732. the Legislature thougiit proper to discourage their further importation, by a tax on each' slave im- ported ; and, not to alarm the commercial jealousy of England the law, conforming to the notions of the age. formally provided for what no mode of levying the tax could have prevented, that the duty should be paid by the purchaser. This duty was at first five per cent, on the value of the slave, but in a few years afterwards, (1740) it was increased to ten per cent, from which it was never reduced. It did not, however, prevent large importations, for we find the number to have increased in 119 years in the ratio of i to 146; that is, from 2 000 in the year 1671, to 293.427 in 1790; while in the same period the whites had increased only as i to 12, or from 38,000 to 454,881. In the forty years which have elapsed, from the first to the last census It IS gratifying to perceive that the increase of the free population in Virginia has been somewhat greater than that of the slaves, in the proportion of 63 per cent, to 60. and that this comparative o-ain seems to be gradually increasing. '^ "As Eastern Virginia is everywhere intersected by navigable rivers which are sVirted on either side by rich alluvial lands, the early settlers' whose plantations were principally along the margins of the rivers' were able to carry on a direct intercourse with foreign countries from' their separate dwellings. Thus commerce, by the very diffusion of Its most important natural facilities, did not here concentrate in a few favorable spots and foster the growth of towns, as in most of the other Colonies ; and. at the beginning of the Revolution, Williamsburg the seat of Government, and the largest town in Virginia, itself the 'most populous of the Colonies, did not contain 2,000'inhabitants But as the bees which form no hive collect no honey, the commerce which was thus dispersed, accumulated no w-alth. The disadvantages of this dispersion were eventually perceived by the Colonists, and manv efforts vvere made by the Legi.slature to remedv the mischief by authorizing the establishment of towns on selected sites, and giving special privi- leges and immunities to those who built or those who resided on them Iheir purpose was also favored, and even stimulated, by the Govern- ment, from fiscal considerations. But most of these legislative efforts failed, and none were very successful. Thus, in 1680, as many as twenty towns were authorized by Act of Assembly, being one for each County; yet at not more than three or four of the desicrnated spots IS there even a village remaining to attest the propriety of the selection. ^ "There were, indeed, wanting in the Colony all the ordinary con- stituents of a large town. Here were no manufactories to bring together and employ the ingenious and industrious. The Colonists SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; LYNCH HOUSE. LEADING HOTEL. ■4 CO cr-»- •^ CD CD cot •^ CD CD FIVE MI^aTEg W^LK FI^GJ^ DEPOT. $2,00 Per Day, Meals and Lodgings, 50 Cents Each, TABLE UNEXCELLED. Best Sample Rooms in the City. hot and cold baths. Baggage Wagons and Porters Meet all Trains. Omnibus Free. PETTYJOHN & MARSHALL, n^OFR,IETOI?.S, I-j3rr:Lc]:nL'b-L:Lrg^, TTirgrirLia.- ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. 01 devoting themselves exclusively to agriculture, owned no shipping which might have induced tiiem to congregate for the sake of carrying on their foreign commerce to more advantage; here was no Court, which, by its splendor and amusements, might attract the gay, the volup- tuous and the rich ; there was not even a class of opulent landlords, to whom it is as easy to live on their rents in town as in the country, and far more agreeable. But the very richest planters all cultivated their own lands with their own slaves; and, while those lands fur- nished most of the materials of a generous and even profuse hospitality, they could be consumed only where they were produced, and could neither be transported to a distance nor converted into money. The tobacco, which constituted the only article of export, served to pay for the foreign luxuries which the planter required ; yet, with his social habits, it was barely sufficient for that purpose, and not a few of the largest estates were deeply in debt to the Scotch or English merchants who carried on the whole commerce of the country. Nor was this system of credit more eagerly sought by the improvident planter than it was given by the thrifty and sagacious trader, for it afforded to him a sure pledge for the consignment of the debtor's crop, on the sales of which his fair perquisites amounted to a liberal profit ; and if he was disposed to abuse his trust, his gains were enor- mous. The merchants were therefore ready to ship goods and accept bills of exchange on the credit of future crops, while their factors in the Colony took care, in season, to make the debt safe by a mortgage on the lands and slaves of the planter. Some idea of the pecuniary thraldom to which the Virginia planter was formerly subjected may be formed from the fact that twice a year, at a general meeting of the merchants and factors in Williamsburg, they settled the price of to- bacco, the advance on the sterling cost of goods, and the rate of ex- change with England. It can scarcely be doubted that the regulations were framed as much to the advantage of the merchants as they be- lieved it practicable to execute. Yet it affords evidence of the sagacious moderation with which this delicate duty was exercised, that it was not so abused as to destroy itself " This state of things exerted a decided influence on the manners and character of the Colonists, untrained to habits of business and possessed of the means of hospitality. They were open-handed and open-hearted; fond of society, indulging in all its pleasures and prac- ticing all its courtesies. But these social virtues also occasionally ran into the kindred vices of love of show, haughtiness, sensuality — and many of the wealthier class were to be seen seeking relief from the vacuity of idleness, not merely in the allowable pleasures of the chase and the turf, but in the debasing ones of cock-fighting, gaming and drinking. Literature was neglected, or cultivated by the small number who had been educated in England, rather as an accomplish- 82 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; GEORGE D. WITT. GEORGE P. WATKIKS. WITT & WATKINS, WHOLESALE DEALERS IN Boots & Shoes. .«ll'l.f»K'f.>'l These gentlemen commenced business in July, 1878, and are the Pioneers in the Exclusively Wholesale BOOT and SHOE Trade in Lynchburg. Their business has increased regularly with each season, necessitating a move from one Warehouse to another, to obtain more commodious quarters, until February of 1883, when they moved into the spacious building which they now occupy, "No. 808 Main Street, (see engraving on page 10 1), the dimensions of which are 25 feet front by 132 feet deep, five stories high, with all of the modern improvements for the conduct and dispatch of business. They have found it profitable to employ six traveling salesmen, and their house is represented all through the Southern States generally. Their motto from the commencement of their business has been " quick sales and small profits," and to-day thev claim to be the lead- ing JOBBING BOOT AND SHOE HOUSE of the Old Dominion. Their Kip Hand-Made Western-Improved Boot and Shoe, sold un- der their guarantee, enjoy a reputation for general utility and dura- bility unequalled by any similar styles of goods on the market. Among the advantages which this House has are the quick delivery of goods to their customers, being nearer to the trade for which they cater, and the saving of freight to their patrons, which in many in- stances is less by 2}4 to 3 per cent, on an entire bill, than from Northern markets. Recognizing and even realizing the oft-ques- tioned, but nevertheless indisputable and irrefutable argument, that Southern Jobbing Houses, as compared with those in the North and East, hold, in a steadily increasing degree, the vantage ground, based on the fundamental principles of reason and economy, to fur- nish and supply the South with her merchandise, WITT & WAT- KINS press forward from season to season with renewed energy and strengthened determination to force their advantages of situation into notice, and their success, as the result of their efforts, continues to grow to a very gratifying extent, as the years come and go. ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. 83 rnent and a mark of distinction than for the substantial benefit it confers. "Let us not, however, overrate the extent o^ these consequences of slavery. If the habitual exercise ctf authority, united to a want of steady occupation, deteriorated the character of some, it seemed to c > a. H C=3 give a greater elevation of virtue to others Domestic slavery, in fact, places the master in a state of moral discipHne, and, according to the use he makes of it, is he made better or worse. If he exercises his unrestricted power over the slave, in giving ready indulgence to his 84 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; Attorn e y- at-L a w, LYHOHBUR G, - - VIR GINIA. TiMBERLAKE, JaCKSON Sc CO., MANUFACTURERS OF TOBACCO, PJlJ.^CEC.aR, ] '^^'^•*- Sxji^GEoisr HDeisttist, 908 MAIN ST., LYNGHBURO, VA. W. M. SEAY, 814 Church Street, Lynchburg, Va. CALL FOR ESTIMATES. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED. WroTJOHNSOR DEALER IN STAPLE ailfl FANCY SROCERIES, CONFECTIONERIES. TOBACCO, CIGARS, &c. 314 Main Street, Lynchburg, Virginia. Dunsmore's Business College, Staunton, Virginia. This Institution has l)een incorporated by the Lesislature of tlie State of Virjiinia and endorsed by some of her best citizens. It not only teaches youns:and middle-aged men tlie theory of Business and Accounting, but each and every one is required to do actual business transactions, as they would have to do lu every-day life. They are thoroughly ti'ained in everything pertaining to business life. Staunton, Va., .Tuly 30, 1884. We take pleasure in recommending to the public " Dunsmore's Business College," of this city. We hav<> attended and taken part in several examinations of Mr. Dunsmore's pupils, and can test ifv to liis 1 horoutiliness as a teacher, and to the uniform proficiency of his scholars. His pupils uie now filling a number of Important positions, and his college is destined to take rank among the leading Business Colleges of the country. THO. A. BLEDSdE. Cashier Nat. Val. Bank. W. P. TAMS, L'anldrr Augusta Nat. Bank. Staunton, Va., May 20, 1880. * * * You are doing an admirable work and doing it admirably. I do not hesitate to commend you and your institiation very heartily. HERBERT H. HAWES, Pastor Second Presbyterian Church. Staunton, Va., May 26, 1886. It gives rae pleasure to bear witness to the surpassing merits of Prof. Dunsmore's Busi- ness College. He is a born teacher, and bis College has no superior. JAilES NELSON, D. D., Pastor First Baptist Church. ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. 85 liumors or caprice — if he habitually yields to impulses of anger, and punishes whLMievcr he is disobeyed, or obeyed imperfectly — he is certainly the worse for the institution which has thus af- forded aliment to his evil propensities. But if, on the other hand, he has been taught to curb these sallies of passion or freaks of caprice, or has subjected himself to a course of salutary restraint, he is continually strengthening himself in the virtues of self-denial, forbear- ance and moderation, and he is all the better for the institution which has afforded so much occasion for the practice of these virtues. (The character of the Presidents which Virginia has furnished may be ap- pealed to for a confirmation of this view ; and many living illustrations will readily present themselves to all who have a personal knowledge FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. (on main STREET, BETWEEN TWELFTH AND THIRTEENTH.) of the Southern States.) If, therefore, in a slave-holding country, we see some of the masters made irascible, cruel and tyrannical, we see many others as remarkable for their mildness, moderation and self- command ; because, in truth, both the virtues of the one and the vices of the other are carried to the greater extreme by the self-same pro- cess of habitual exercise." MUNICIPAL. In the year 18S0, the City Ordinances of Lynchburg were revised and arranged by the then City Attorney, Capt. Charles M. Blackford, 86 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; O. J^. GOLEIIS/dl^ISr & CO.. -DEALERS IN- BOOTS, SHOES, HATS, TRUNKS, &c., &c. «®-PRICES TO SUIT THE TIMES. ^^ZeCXIITZECXS, Anyone contemplating building will find it to their advantage to correspond with R. U. ISUKKHULL)ER & SOX before beginning to liuild. Time, money and trouble saved, Ijy having your plans thoroughly prepared, and the erection superintended by competent Hfcliit-GctiS R. C. BURKHOLDER & SON, Architects, LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA. JOHN M. PAYNE, Attorney-at-Law and Commissioner in Chancery, OF THE CIRCUIT (^OURT. Lynchburg, Virginia. «SS" Practices in the Courts ol' L> nclibuig and neigliboring Counties. j. w. edwards. :ph:otoc>k.a^:ph:eik., 804 Main Street, Lynchburg, Va. ^^"A commodious and thoroughly equipped studio. Pictures taken by the new 'Tnstantaiieous Pi'ocess." (LATE .jF SHANEK BKOS.) O to O Z ITS TRADE. 97 inal cost was $400. This primitive building had additions made to it on several occasions, and when, in 1873, it was finally removed, its proportions, which are still fresh in the memory even of younger citi- zens, were far from attractive. (See enj^raving on page 59.) " The present Market House, on Main Street, was built during the year 1873. ^ * * ^: * * * * ** The first Court House Was built in 1812, upon a lot given to the Corporation by John Lynch, Sr. It was taken down and the present structure erected on the same site in 1852, THE PEOPLES NATlttNAL RANK. (811 MAIN STREET.) " A census was taken by order of the Council in 1816 by Richard- son Taylor, which proved the population of the town to be 3,087, of whom 1,765 were white and 1,322 colored. The census for 1880 shows its population to be 16,012 ;* but how many are white and how many are colored the books of the new census are not sufficiently c osed to ascertain. " The Town of Lynchburg became the CITY of Lynchburg by an Act of the Legislature, on the 20th of May, 1852. "The first public burying ground was situated at the southwest corner of Court and Tenth Streets. In 18 16 it was abandoned, and *NoTE.— The revised census of 18S0 shows the population of the City to have been 15,959 in that year ; of these 7,485 were white and 8.47-1 colored.— Ed. g8 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; Furniture m Mattresses, — -.^f^t,-^ — A New Feature. ■ o » ■ I have recently made arrangements with some of the largest fac- tories in the United States for the handling of their goods, upon such terms as will enable me to sell their goods at factory prices. When it is remembered that no factory of any importance, or any house in the State, is offering anything like this, I think it well to try me. In addition to the Jobbing Trade, I propose to continue my Retail Business in all of its branches, and will be glad to serve my old friends, and add as many new ones to my list as possible. I am now getting out a Catalogue, which I hope to have ready by 1st July. Write for a copy. THE FURNITURE MAN, 210-212 NINTH STREET, LYNCHBURG, VA. Jacob Shaner, Late of Shaner Brothers. BUTCHER, AND DEALER IN ^EJHS .^^E"''' ' fl FRONT STALLS LIVE STOCK, ^^^^^feofl^^^' ^ ^^^ ^' I Fresli Meats, &c, ^W^^^jf | MarM House. Residence, 1922 Grace Street, 'AMILIES AND HOTELS SUPPPLIED AT SHOUT XOTICE "^^ j A. H. FLECKER, IP h: o T o C3-K. ^ IP h: IE i^, 902 M/\IN STREET, LYNCHBURG, M. All work promptly and artistically tinished. Tarticular attciitioii given to copying and enlarging old pietnres. Also headquarters for Photographic Frames. ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE, 99 the cemetery known as the ' Methodist Grave Yard ' became the pubHc cemetery. "On the 25th of December, 1849, the City contributed ;^500,ooo to the capital stock of the Vir<:^inia & Tennessee Railroad Company, partly by direct subscription and partly by a guaranty of six per cent, dividends of the stock to be taken by others. "On the i8th of February, 1871, it subscribed ^200,000 to the capital stock of the Lynchburg & Danville Railroad Company. MR. J. L. THOMPSON'S FLJiNlTL RE ESTABLISHMENT. (210 ANn 212 NINTH STREET.) " Without these libera! subscriptions, neither of these great works of internal improvement could at the time have been built. "On the breaking out of the war, in 1861, Lynchburg furnished very nearly a thousand men as its quota to the Confederate Army, most of whom were equipped at its expense. The number of killed and wounded amongst its citizens was therefore proportionately 100 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; heavy. No battle took place during the war that the City was not called upon to mourn the loss of its gallant sons. "The City, though threatened in June. 1864, by Hunter's Army, never ivas in the hands of the Federal forces until after the surrender at Appomattox Court House, and when it was occupied it was sub- ject to no pillage. "Since the war, Lynchburg, by reason of the energy, thrift and frugality of its citizens, has overcome many of the obstacles which retarded the prosperity of other Southern towns, and has steadily advanced in population and wealth ; and it is now claimed that in the future its progress will be both rapid and sure." THE FIRST RESERVOIR AND WATER WORKS. The subjoined is quoted by Mr. Howe, but the authorship is not stated : "The Lynchburg Water Works, for furnishing the town with an unfailing supply of pure and wholesome water, were constructed in 1828-29, under the direction of Albert Stein, Esq., Engineer, at an expense of $50,000. The height — unprecedented in this country — to which it was necessary to raise the water, renders this one of the most interesting undertakings of the kind in the United States. " An arm of the James, formed by an island about two miles in length, is crossed, a short distance above the limits of the Corpora- tion, by a dam 10 feet high. A canal of half a mile in length con- veys the water to the pump-house on the river bank, at the foot of Third Alley. A double forcing-pump, on the plan of De la Hire, worked by a large breast wheel, impels the water through the ascend- ing pipe, which is 2.000 feet long, to a reservoir containing 400,000 gallons, situated between Fourth and Fifth Streets, and at the eleva- tion of 2^1 feet above the level of the river. Fire-plugs are connected with the distributing pipes at every intersection of the alleys with Second and Third Streets, and afford an admirable security against the danger of fire. The height of the reservoir, above these streets, gives a jet of water, by means of hose pipes, of from 60 to 80 feet elevation, and throws it, in bold and continuous streams, over the roofs of the highest houses. "The water power created by the dam for the Water Works is amply sufficient for working a large additional amount of machinery, and waits only for a clearer perception by capitalists of the manufac- turing advantages of this town, to be brought into extensive use. The cheapness of labor, the abundance of provisions, and the extent and wealth of the country looking this way for supplies of domestic, as well as of foreign goods, unite with the vast water-power, actually prepared and ready for any application, in inviting the attention of men of capital and enterprise to this important subject." ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE, lor The following account of the ceremony of laying the corner stone of the Water Works is from a local newspaper of that date : " Interesting Event. — On Saturday last, (August 23rd, 1828.) an event deeply interesting to Lynchburg took place ; one in which the convenience, health and safety of us all are involved. The cor- ner stone of the L}'nchburg Water Works was laid— works, the mag- MESSRS. WITT & WATKINS' BOOT AND SHOE WAREHOUSE. (main street, between eighth and ninth.) nitude of which exceeds any ever attempted in Virginia. . . . The stone was laid with civic, masonic and military ceremonies. About 9 A. M. the procession was formed at the Presbyterian Church, at the lower end of Main Street, in the following order : The Military ; the I02 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; reverend Clergy ; the Engineer ; the members of the Common Coun- cil, preceded by the Water Committee ; the Judge of the General Court for the Circuit and Mayor of the Corporation ; the Recorder and Aldermen ; the Masonic Fraternity ; Citizens. " When the procession, under the directions of the Marshals of the day, — Major James B. Risque, Col. Maurice H. Langhorne, and Cap- tains R. R. Phelps, Samuel I. Wiat, and A. M. Gilliam — reached the ground, the Artillery and Rifle Companies formed a hollow square, within which were the Masons, the adjacent banks being thronged with spectators. "The impressive ceremonies commenced with a prayer, appro- priate to the occasion, by the Rev. W. S. Reid, followed by solemn music. The Rev. F. G. Smith then implored of the Supreme Archi- tect of the Universe a blessing on the undertaking. The Masonic Fraternity proceeded to lay the corner stone ; the plate bears the fol- lowing inscription : This stone, the foundation of a work executed by order of the Common Council of Lynchburg, for supplying the town with water, was laid under the direction of John Victor, John Thurman, John. Early, David G. Murrell, and Samuel Claytor, by the Rt. W. Howson S. White, D. D., G. Master, and the Worshipful Maurice H. Garland, M. of Marshall Lodge, No. 39, of Free and Accepted Masons, on the 23d August, A. M. 5828, A. D. 1828, in presence of the Mayor, Recorder, Alder- men and Common Councilmen of said Town ; the members of said Lodge ; the Artillery and Rifle Companies, commanded by Captains J. E. Norxell and James W. Pegram, and numerous Citizens, Albon McDaniel, Esq., Mayor, John Thurman, Esq., President of the Council, Albert Stein, Esq., Engineer. " Mr. John Victor, Chairman of the Water Committee, delivered an address, after which the military fired a salute, and the gratified beholders returned to their homes, all, we hope, determined to use their efforts to carry on the work to a successful termination. We cordially unite with Mr. Victor in saying : ' Let us join hands, noth- ing doubting that we, too, can accomplish what others have so often done.' " THE JAMES RIVER AND KANAW^HA CANAL. This great highway, which was projected about the year 1842, was for man\- years the chief, if not the only means of transportation enjoyed b\- Lynchburg, and formed its principal avenue of communication with the outside world. It extended from Richmond, along the margin of the James River, two hundred miles, through the centre of the State, to a Doint near the base of the Alleghany Mountains. This ITS TEOPLE AM) ITS TRADE. lO- Canal afforded a convenient route between the Western States and the Atlantic Ocean, and was expected by its projectors to become the great thoroughfare of the Continent. A survey of its i)roposed ex- tensions was made by officers of the United States Engineer De- partment, and a full and favorable report submitted to Congress. It was hoped that the National Gcvernment would undertake the com- pletion and enlargement of the Canal, which would then have af- forded uninterrupted water communication between the Mis.si.ssippi and Missouri Rivers and their tributaries, and the Atlantic Ocean at Hampton Roads. Rut, alas for such primitive enterprises in this age of steam and electricity ! The James River and Kanawha Canal, which gave long and faithful service to the State during its lifetime, and from which so much was expected during the after years which never came, is now a mere memory of departed utility — its bed dry and in many places overgrown with grass and weeds, and its tow-path, once the familiar treadmill of the patient horse and mule, now con- verted into the road-bed of the Richmond and Alleghany Railroad. THE LYNCHBURG EEMALE ORPHAN ASYLUM. This beneficent institution, for the edu- cation and support of white female or- phans, owes its existence to the philan- thropy of the late .Samuel Miller, a native of Albem.arle County, Virginia, who was born in the year 1792. It is one of the JrJS noblest monuments to personal benevo- lence and generosity to be found in this or any other of the Southern States. The parentage of the founder was obscure, and his early years were pas.sed in poverty. Having neither social nor schola.stic advatages, he succeeded, by sheer hard work and steady application, in ac- quiring, without a teacher other than his own practical intelligence, a fair education, which proved of infinite value throughout his long and prosperous life. In early manhood he settled in Lynchburg, en- gaged in mercantile pursuits, and eventually amassed an enormous fortune, estimated at several millions of dollars. For many years before his death, which occurred in 1869, he retired, owing to impaired heatlh, to his estate in the country, about six miles from THE PORTER'S LODGE I04 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; Lynchburg, where he was still a hard worker, being interested in extensive speculations in railroad and other securities, in every section of the country. Although a bachelor, Mr. Miller had, for a long period, cherished a scheme for the establishment, at or near Lynchburg, of an Asylum for the maintenance and training of the female orphans of the Cit}' and its vicinity. As early as 1849, he procured the passage, by the General Assembly, of an Act of Incorporation, embodying the ideas he then entertained on that subject ; but it was not until 1868 — the year preceding his death — that he engaged actively in formulating and maturing his plans, with a view to the early establishment of the institution. In June, 1868, Mr. Miller appointed as incorporators Ambrose B. Rucker, John G. Meem, George D. Davis, John H. Flood, Lorenzo Norvell, Charles W. Button, Don P. Halsey, J. J. Terrill, David E. Spence, William A. Miller, John F. Slaughter, Thomas E. Murrell and James O. Williams, to take charge of the real estate — a beautiful grove covering about forty acres, near the southwestern boundary of the City — that he had reserved for this purpose, and to assume cus- tody of the bonds that he had appropriated to the endowment of the Asylum, with authority to erect the necessary buildings and to assume the management of the institution. The first meeting of these gen- tlemen — to formally accept the trust — was held on the loth of June, 1868, and on the following day a new charter was granted by the Cir- cuit Court of Lynchburg, Mr. Ambrose B. Rucker having been elected the first President of the Asylum. In November, 1869, a committee, consisting of John G. Meem, Charles W. Button and George D. Davis, was appointed to select plans for the building, and, in pursuance of that object, visited vari- ous similar establishments in northern cities to ascertain the most ap- proved methods of heating, ventilation, &c. They finally adopted, in the main, the plan of the hospital presided over by the late Dr. Muhlenburg, in New York. On the 1 2th of July, 1870, the site was chosen by the Directors, and in due time the Lynchburg Female Orphan Asylum, as it now exists, became an accomplished fact, at a cost of about ^890,000. The addition of the beautiful porter's lodge was made in 1 881, at a further cost of ;$5,75o. ITS PKOPLE AXn 1'1>; TRADE. 105 o CO a Q 106 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCH BUKC, VA. ; NttOeTNEWUimiPPIVftLLEyCO, Chesapeake and Ohio ]Roiite» Sliortest, Oaictest, anl in Eiery ResneGt tlie Best Lme Betf ecu Portsmouth, Norfolk, And Richmond. QUICKEST ROUTE TO Washing ton and Baltimore . ft-RAND TRUNK LINE UNITING PORTSMOUTH, NORFOLK AND NEWPORT NEWS, ON THE SEABOARD, WITH Cincinnati, Louisville, Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Memphis, Little Rock, New Orleans, AND THE WEST AND SOUTHWEST. MADE PULLMAN SLEEPING-CAR ROUTE TO THE WEST. Ducal Line of Iron Steamships Sail FortiilEMy BetwecQ Newport News aiifl Liverpool, IN CONNECTION w ITH THE CHESAPEAKE & OHIO ROUTE. LOWEST CUR- ' RENT RATES ON EXPORT AND IMPORT BUSINESS. FINE ACCOM- MODATIONS FOR CABIN PASSENGERS. STEERAGE PASSEN- GERS BOOKED TO AND PROM ALL EUROPEAN PORTS. For tickets and full information as to rates and connections. West and -southwest, apply to the Ticket Office of the Richmond & Allegliany Railroad, Lynchburg, Va., or address H. W. FULLER, Gen. Pass. Ai^ent, Richmond, Va. ITS PEOrLE AND IIS TRADE. I07 Contiguous lands ha\e been purchasetl from time to time, and the enclosure now contains about seventy-five acres. These grounds the Directors have reclaimed and improved year by year, and they are now among the most picturesque and ])ark-like in the State. The remains of the benevolent founder, who died on March 27th, 1869, have been entombed within the grounds, beneath a graceful granite shaft — said to be the largest single shaft ever quarried in the United States — which was erected to his memory at a cost of $5,250, The endowment that came from Mr. Miller during his lifetime, and from his estate after his decease — apart from tiie land he presented — amounts to about ;^325,ooo. Sixty- two orphan girls are now supported wholly at this Asylum, while at the same time they are being carefully educated, as well as instructed and exercised in the practical affairs of domestic life. During all the years that the Asylum has been in occupation, only one death — that of a little child — has occurred there. In the chapel hangs a life-size portrait of Mr Miller, painted by F. J. Fisher, the now famcnis artist, of Washington. As a work of art it is unsurpassed in its fine execution and its fidelity to life ; while it may also be regarded as a veritable art curiosity, inasmuch as it was painted entirely from memory, after a lapse of ten years since the artist and his subject had met. Those who were most intimate with Mr. Miller during his later years have pronounced the picture a per- fect portrait. It was finished in 1 881, and purchased for $2,000. The Corporation, at the date of this publication — 1887 — is consti- tuted as follows : President, John H. Flood, who has served continu- ously since April 2nd, 1872 ; Vice-President, William A. Miller ; Di- rectors, ]o\\\-\ H. Flood, William A. Miller. John F. Slaughter, Charles W. Button, William A. Strother, David E. Spence, Thomas E. Mur- rell, J. J. Terrill, John VV. Carroll, James M. -Booker, Charles W. Statham, Thomas D. Davis and Robert T. Craighill ; Secretary and Treasurer, A. W. Talley ; Matron, Mrs. E. J. Britton ; Teachers-, Miss R. Cary Williams and Mi.ss Mildred A. Harris. THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES. With the events of this cruel and unnatural conflict, which, after four terrible years of unequalled heroism and voluntary self-sacrifice on the part of her noble sons and daughters, resulted in the over- throw and humiliation of the Southern Confederacy, this narrative fo8 SKETCH BOOK 0>F LYNCHBURG, VA. THE LYNCHBURG IRON COMPANY'S BLAST FURNACK E. HURD ("iRUBH, President. A. VAN RENS.SELAER, Vice-President. ED. S. HUTTER, .Manager. A. FELLARTON, See' ty and Treasr. The Lynchburg Blast Furnace i? owned by The Lynchburg Iron- Company, anil was built in 1881, by General E. Burd Grubb, who owns most of the stock. The Furnace is hwated between the James River and the main line of the Rich- mond & Alleghany Railroad, within the Crty limits. Its Stack House and Iron Yard are reached by the Va. ^Midland and Norfolk & Western Railroads, as well as by the Richmond & Alleghany. The Company's land fronts abmit 2,000 ft. on the R, & A. with a width of about ?00 feet to the River, and a water power right of about 200 horse-power. The capacity of the Stack is 45 tons pi;? iron per day, or 14,000 tons per year. Two-thirds o-f the ore nsed is mined at Blue Ridge Mines, (brovm hemrtite) of line quality, and the other one third, the neutral magnetic ores, from Lower James River and from Pittsylvania County. The Iron made is mahily a iiiie. quality of Fwindry Iron, soft and fluid, and is sold at full [)rices as fast as made. The Furnace, and the mines which sup[ily the material, give employment to about. 200 men. The annual freights paid amount to about $100,000. General Grubb, the Pi'esident of the Company, is a gentlemen of large fortune, liberal and progressive in his views, and was one of the first capitalists from the North to invest larsrely in Virginia Iron Works. He is the owner of the Blue Ridge Iron Mines, 41 miles' west of Lynchburg, on the X. & W. R. R., and connected with the latter by a branch road two miles long. Tiiese mines probably contain the largest de- posit of hemitite ores yet oj^ened.or worked in Virginia. The Blast Furnace, the various mines and all the affairs of the Company in Virginia are under the management of MaJ. Ed. S. Huttei-, a Virginian and a native of this City. " W; B. JONES &"CO., Manufictnrers aii^ Dealers in all Einfls of Musical lustriments. CO DC < o GO O eS-Aneuis for the MUSIC A L CASKET, retailing for SIO, including 20 ft. of music-. Agents for the popular AUTOHARP, (sliown in al)ovc cut). Always carry a full stock of Kus!<)aii an.l Italian BANJO au.l VIOLIN STRINGS. REPAIRING OF MU.SICAL INSTRU.MENTJS A SPEf'IALTY. We represent the best line of Musical Goods that can be produced in this or other coun- tries. All kinds of repairing done in a neat and subslantia) manner. SOS Divira^ixa. Street, ILj3rr-_cli"k:>-o.rg-, "Va,. I w ^, > n ^ c_, o •^ C/J C/l —I ^ tx) > rn -^ GO ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. 109 has very little concern ; for Lynchburt^, more blest than many of her sister cities of Virginia, was providentially spared the horrors of a siege, or even of a single battle, although for many months she was fortified, and presented all the characteristics of a military camp. Especially was this the case in the latter part of 1863, when Sheri- dan's cavalry were expected to visit the city, and the latter prepared herself to give them a warm reception. From time to time, too, captured Federal soldiers found temporary quarters here, en totitc to' the regular prisons. Besides the Home Guard, the only military organization of that day still survi\'ing, which was mustered into the State service on April THE LYNCRBURG IRON COMPANY'S BLAST FURNACE. 24th, 1 86 1, and did gallant service throughout the continuance of hostilities, Lynchburg furnished nearly a thousand good and true soldiers as her quota to the Confederate armies, and her loss was therefore proportionately heavy. Scarce a battle was fought which did not bring bereavement to at least one household in the City — be- reavement which was to some extent softened by the knowledge that the mourned one had died gallantly in the discharge of his duty and. in the defense of his honor and his home. The principal event of the war, so far as Lynchburg was immedi- ately concerned, occurred in the summer of 1864, when the Fed- eral troops under General Hunter advanced upon the City in force. no SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; RUCKER & BARNETT, Leaf Tobacco Commission Merchants. The firm above named is a representative one in this important branch of the tobacco business. The senior partner, Mr. S. B. Rucker, has been connected with the trade in Lynchburg since 1869, and Mr. J. T. Barnett has had twelve years' experience in his present field of labor. Their copartnership was formed three years ago and their entire attention is given to the sale of leaf tobacco. Messrs. Rucker & Barnett are widely known and enjoy the confidence of planters throughout a large section of Virginia. In 1886 they sold on commission 6,000,000 lbs. of tobacco at the several public ware- houses of Lynchburg. They are always well informed regarding the condition of the Tobacco Market and the prices which can be real- ized, and give their earnest, individual efforts to secure and promote by every honorable and legitimate means the best interests of their principals. They have no dealings of a private nature which might conflict with those of their customers, and do not engage in transac- tions of a speculative character. By activity, prudence and enter- prise, their reputation has become thoroughly established as system- atic and prompt business men. All planters and persons who ship tobacco to them may feel confident that sales will be made at the highest obtainable prices, and prompt returns rendered. EKCEISIOB II7EEI 2sro. 916 Xuiz'isrci:B^ sti^eet, IS THE PLACE TO GO FOR THE MOST STYLLSH Riding and Driving Horses, FOR THE NEWEST AND MOST ELEGANT LANDAUS, X PH.$:T0NS, t SURRIES, t &c, Our Livery is luisiirpassed by any in the State. Our Stable has been pronounced by the leading Physician of our place to be the BEST VENTILATED AND HEALTHIEST IN THE CITY. STRICTEST ATTENTION GIVEN STOCK COMMITTED TO OUR CARE. SPECIAL ATTENTION GIVEN TO THE PURCHASE AND SALE OF HORSES AND MULES. ELLIOTT & DOSS. Proprietors, Telephone Call No. 16. 916 LYNCH STREET, LYNCHBURG, VA. ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. I I I with instructions to capture and occupy it. The circumstances under which his plans were frustrated are thus related in " A Memoir of the Last Year of the War of Independence in the Confederate States of America," by Lieut. Gen. Jubal A. Karly, pubHshed in 1867 — the foot-notes as well as the text beint;- his own : "march to lynchhurg, and i'Ursuit of hunter. " On the 12th of June, 1864, while the 2nd Corps (Powell's) of the Arm}^ of Northern Virginia was lying near Gaines' Mill, in rear of "CITY V^IEVA'," ON AMtlERST HEIGHTS; OVERLOOKINU THE CITY. RESIDENCE OF MR. SAMUEL B. RUCKER. Hill's line at Cold Harbour, I received verbal orders from General Lee to hold the corps, with two of the battalions of artillery attached to it, in readiness to move to the Shenandoah Valley. Nelson's and Braxton's battalions were selected, and Brigadier-General Long was ordered to accompany me as Chief of Artillery. After dark, on the same day, written instructions were given me by General Lee, by which I was directed to move, with the force designated, at 3 o'clock next morning, for the Valley, by way of Louisa C. H. and Char- 112 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; lottesville, and through Brown's or Swift Run Gap in the Blue Ridge, as I might find most advisable ; to strike Hunter's force in the rear, and, if possible, destroy it ; then to move down the Valley, cross the Potomac near Leesburg in Loudoun County, or at or above Harper's Ferry, as I might find most practicable, and threaten Washington City. I was further directed to communicate with General Brecken- ridge. who would co-operate with me in the attack on Hunter, and the expedition into Maryland. " At this time the railroad and telegraph lines between Charlottes- ville and Lynchburg had been cut by a cavalry force from Hunter's army; and those between Richmond and Charlottesville had been cut by Sheridan's cavalry, from Grant's army ; so that there was no communication with I-5reckenridge. Hunter was supposed to be at Staunton with his whole force, and Breckenridge was supposed to be at Waynesboro, or Rockfish Gap. If such had been the case, the route designated by General Lee would have carried me into the Valley in Hunter's rear. "The 2nd Corps now numbered a little over 8,000 muskets for duty. It had been on active and arduous service in the field for forty days, and had been engaged in all the great battles from the Wilder- ness to Cold Harbour, sustaining very heavy losses at Spotsylvania C. H. where it lost nearly an entire division, including its commander, Major-General Johnson, who was made prisoner. Of the Brigadier- Generals with it at the commencement of the campaign, only one remained in command of his brigade. Two (Gordon and Ramseur) had been made Major-Generals ; one (G. H. Steuart) had been cap- tured ; four (Pegram, Hay.s, J. A. Walker, and R. D. Johnston) had been severely wounded ; and four (Stafford, J. M. Jones, Daniel, and Doles) had been killed in action. Constant exposure to the weather, a limited supply of provisions, and two weeks' service in the swamps north of the Chickahominy had told on the health of the men. Di- visions were not stronger than brigades ought to have been, nor bri- gades than regiments. "On the morning of the 13th, at 2 o'clock, we commenced the march ; and, on the i6th, arrived at the Rivanna River, near Char- lottesville, having marched over eighty miles in four days.* " From Louisa C. H. I had sent a dispatch to Gordonsville, to be forwarded, by telegraph, to Breckenridge ; and, on my arrival at *On the loth, we passed over the si'ound, near Tievillian's depot, on which Hampton and Sheridan liad fouglit, on tlie lltli anti 12tli Hampton liad defeated Sheridan, and was then in pursuit of him. Grant claims, in liis report, tliat, on the lltli, Slieridan drove our cavalry " from the tii^ld, in complete rout;" and says, when he advanced towards Gordonsville. on the 12th, "he found the enemy reinforced by infantry, lieliind well-constructed ritle-pils, about five miles from the latter place, and too strong to suc- cessfully assault." This is as thoroughly a fancy sketch as can well be manufactured. There was not an infantry soldier in arms nearer the scene of action thiin with General Lee's army, near Cold Harbour; and the "well-constructed rifle-pits " were nothing more than niilsput up in tlie manner in whicii cavalry were accustomed to arrange them to prevent a charge. Sheridan mistook some of Hampton's cavalry, dismounted and fighting on foot, for infantry ; and the statement was made to cover his defeat. ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. 113 Charlottesville, on the ir)th, to which place I rode in advance of the troops, I rccei\ed a telej^rain from him, dated at Lynchburjr, informr ing me that Hunter was then in Bedford county, about twenty miles from that place, and moving on it. "The railroad and telegraph between Charlottesville and Lynch- burg had been, fortunately, but slightly injured by the enemy's cav- alry, and had been repaired. The distance between the two places was sixty miles, and there were no trains at Charlottesville, except one which belonged to the Central road, and was about starting for Waynesboro. I ordered this to be detained, and immediately di- rected, by telegram, all the trains of the two roads to be sent to me with all dispatch, for the purpose of transporting my troops to Lynch- burg. The trains were not in readiness to take the troops on board RESIDENCE OP MR. W. H. WREN. (court strket, between tenth and eleventh.) until sunrise on the morning of the 17th, and then only enough were furnished to transport about half my infantry. Ramseur's division, one brigade of Gordon's division, and part of another were put on the trains, as soon as they were ready, and started for Lynchburg. Rodes' division and the residue of Gordon's were ordered to move along the railroad, to meet the trains on their return. The artillery and wagon trains had been started on the ordinary roads at daylight. " I accompanied Ramseur's division, going on the front train, but the road and rolling stock were in such bad condition that I did not reach Lynchburg until about i o'clock in the afternoon, and the other trains were much later. I found General Breckenridge in bed, suffering from an injury received by the fall of a horse killed under him in action near Cold Harbour. He had moved from Rockfish 114 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; ly:nchburg fertilizer compa:n"y. Messrs. Wrjght & Cratghill, Manufacturers and Proprietors of THE LYNCHBURG FERTILIZER AND INSECTICIDE, have, within the past two years, originated an enterprise which has already attracted wide-spread attention, and is destined to become in the near future one of the gigantic and overshadowing interests in the commer- cial and agricultural history and material progress of Virginia and the United States. It bids fair to be one of those astoni-shing out- growths of American industry and inventive genius, which are con- stantly springing up and exciting the admiration of mankind. The lands of the older States of the Atlantic Seaboard have be- come impoverished by unskilled cultivation and the excessive use of stimulating guanos ; and the planters of the South have been so re- morselessly victimized by the fraudulent fertilizers which flood the market, that the agricultural depression of that once teeming region is melancholy to witness. Moreover, the insects, (bred and nour- ished by the filthy manures manufactured of decayed vegetable and animal matter), have become nearly as destructive to growing vegeta- tion as the locusts of Egypt. All over the country, indeed, whilst the staple crops of all kinds have received and are receiving incalcu- lable damage, the cultivation of many of the most useful vegetables, luscious fruits and beautiful flowers has become nearly extinct, by reason of the animal parasites which feed upon the tender plants and prevent their perfection and fruitage ; and it has really come to pass that no vegetation whatever, from the forest oak or standard fruit tree to the products of the farm, the garden and the hot house, is exempt from the blighting curse. In this deplorable condition of affairs the enterprizing firm of Wright & Craighill have put upon the market their Lynchburg Fer- tilizer and Insecticide — an article of merchandize whose formula and preparation have taxed the highest chemical talent of this Country and Europe, resulting in the happy combination of a perfect fei'tilizer and a perfect insecticide, adapted to all crops, soils and climates. This valuable preparation does not stimulate \iv\\. feeds the .soil, whilst gently .stimulating the growing crops and preventing the hurtful interference of insects with its healthy growth. It is not the province of the historian to deal too much in de- tails, but rather to contemplate the wider field of human demand and supply in the complex and ever-varying interests of communities in Towns and Cities, States and Nations ; and in this connection it may be averred as a rational belief that no device or invention has ever originated in this or any country more promising than The Lynch- burg Ferthjzer and Insecticide for the producer and consumer of vegetable food, or better calculated to clothe the earth with charming verdure and fill it with the beauty and fragrance of blooming flowers. ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. I I 5 Gap to Lynchburg by a forced march, as soon as Hunter's movement tovvarcis that place was discovered. When I showed him my instruc- tions, he very readily and cordially offered to co-operate with mc, and serve under my command. " Hunter's advance from Staunton had been impeded by a brigade of cavalry, under Brigadier-General McCausland, which had been managed with great skill, and kept in his front all the way, and he was reported to be then advancing on the old stone turnpike from Liberty, in Bedford County, by New London, and watched by Imbo- den with a small force of cavalry. "As General Breckenridge was unable to go out, at his request, General D. H. Hill, who hapi)ened to be in town, had made arrange- ments for the defense of the city, with such troops as were at hand. Brigadier-General Hays, who was an invalid from a wound received at Spotsylvania Court House, had tendered his services and also aided in making arrangements for the defense. I rode out with General Hill to examine the line selected by him, and make a reconnoisance of the country in front. Slight works had been hastily thrown up on College Hill, covering the turnpike and Forest roads from Liberty, which were manned by Breckenridge's infantry and the dismounted cavalry of the command which had been with Jones at Piedmont. The reserves, invalids from the hospitals, and the cadets from the Military Institute at Lexington, occupied other parts of the line. An inspection satisfied me that, while this arrangement was the best which could be made under the circumstances in which General Hill found himself, yet it would leave the town exposed to the fire of the enemy's artillery, should he advance to the attack, and I therefore determined to meet the enemy with my troops in front. " We found Imboden about four miles out on the turnpike, near an old Quaker church, to which position he had been gradually forced back by the enemy's infantry. My troops, as they arrived, had been ordered in front of the works to bivouac, and I immediately sent or- ders for them to move out on this road, and two brigades of Ram- seur's division arrived just in time to be thrown across the road, at a redoubt about two miles from the city, as Imboden's command was driven back by vastly superior numbers. These brigades, with two pieces of artillery in the redoubt, arrested the progress of the enemy, and Ramseur's other brigade, and the part of Gordon's divison which had arrived, took position on the same line. The enemy opened a heavy fire of artillery on us, but, as night soon came on, he went into camp in our front. " On my arrival at Lynchburg, orders had been given for the im- mediate return of the trains for the rest of my infantry, and I ex- pected it to arrive by the morning of the i8th, but it did not get to Lynchburg until late in the afternoon of that day. Hunter's force was considerably larger than mine would have been, had it all been ii6 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. THE LYNCHBUEQ FURNITUEE CO.. WHOLESALE AND RET AIL FURNITURE DEALERS. This house commenced business in May. 1885, and from the start success has attended its operations. The members of the firm are W. P. Dillon, C. W. Liggan, and Gilliam & Co. The two first, who are enterprising and energetic young business men, give their constant and persevering attention to the management of the Company's business, (Gilliam & Co. having a pecuniary interest alone.) Stock purchases are made direct from the manufacturers on the mo.st advantageous terms, and, being content to sell goods on a reasonable margin of profit, the Company has, through close and polite attention to the wants of their customers, established in a com- paratively short space of time an entensive and ever-increasing trade. Their warerooms contain a large and varied assortment of all kinds of Furniture, suited to every taste and every purse. They also carry a large and diversified line of Mattresses. Their present business premises are at 917 Main Street, but about July ist they will remove to the commodious four-story brick, iron-front building now being erected for them at 1023 Main Street, a cut of which appears in the opposite page. The new building is 125 feet in length, and will be one of the largest, most ornate and complete business blocks in the City of Lynchburg. U OHN T, EDWARDS AGENT Broker and Commission Merchant. Consignments of all kinds of Leaf Tobacco solicited. Special attention given to the sale of Prized Leaf Tobacco. Dealers will find it to their interest to send me their Tobacco or guaranteed samples for sale. I keep a full line of all classes of Virginia and North Carolina Tobacco. Burley Tobacco a Specialty, The attention of buyers is invited to my stock. Correspondence Solicited. ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. 117 up, and as it was of the utmost consequence to the arnny at Rich- mond that he should not get into Lynchburg, I did not feel justified in attacking him until I could do so with a fair prospect of success.* I contented myself, therefore, with acting on the defensive on the iSth, throwing Breckenridge's infantry and a part of his artillery on the front line, while that adopted by General Hill was occupied by the dismounted cavalry and the irregular troops. During the day, there was artillery firing and skirmishing along the line, and, in the afternoon, an attack was made on our line, to the right of the turn- NEW BUILDING OF THE LYNCHBURG FURNITURE COMPANY. (main street, between tenth and eleventh.) pike, which was handsomely repulsed with considerable loss to the enemy. A demonstration of the enemy's cavalry on the Forest road, was checked by part of Breckenridge's infantry under Wharton, and McCausland's cavalry. "On the arrival of the cars from Richmond this day, Major-Gen- erals Elzey and Ransom reported for duty, the former to command *From the best information I have received, I am satisfied Hunter's forca exceeded ^0,000 men, -^ Il8 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; ESTABLISHED OVER FIFTY YEARS AGO. H, SILVERTHORN, 912 MAIN STREET. lewGler, iilversmith and latchmakGF, Carries the Most Complete and Varied Stock of Diamonds, + Watches, 11^ THIS SECTI03Sr. Being a practical man, and knowing the advantages of selling First Class Goods, his effort is to select from the leading manufacturers of the country, and can say without hesitation that No House in the South Caiiies a Rnef Class of Goods. I am also prepared with necessary tools and machinery, and fine, skilled workmen, to do all kinds of difficult Repairing and Matching Jewelry, Watches and Silverware. Diamonds Re-set, Medals, Badges and Rings made to special order, and Artistic Engraving and Monogram work. Address H. SiLVERTHORN, ITS PEOPLE AND PPS TRADE. 119 the infantry and dismounted cavalry of Breckenridge's command, and the latter to command the cavalry. The mounted cavalry consisted of the remnants of several brigades divided into two commands, one under Imboden, and the other under McCausland. It was badly mounted and armed, and its efficiency much impaired by the defeat at Piedmont, and the arduous service it had recently gone through. As soon as the remainder of my infantry arrived by the railroad, though none of my artillery had gotten up, arrangements were made for attacking Hunter at daylight on the 19th, but, sometime after midnight, it was discovered that he was moving, though it was not MR. H. SILVERTHORN'S JEWELRY STORE. (912 MAIN STREET.) known whether he was retreating, or moving so as to attack Lynch- burg on the south where it was vulnerable, or to attempt to join Grant on the south side of James River. Pursuit could not, there- fore, be made at once, as a mistake, if either of the last two objects had been contemplated, would have been fatal. At light, however, the pursuit commenced, the 2nd Corps moving along the turnpike, over which it was discovered Hunter was retreating, and Elzey's com- mand on the right, along the Forest road, while Ransom was ordered I20 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; to move on the right of Elzey, with McCausland's cavalry, and en- deavor to strike the enemy at Liberty or the Peaks of Otter. Imbo- den, who was on the road from Lynchburg to Campbell Court House, to watch a body of the enemy's cavalry, which had moved in that direction the day before, was to have moved on the left towards Lib- erty, but orders did not reach him in time. The enemy's rear was overtaken at Liberty, twenty-five miles from Lynchburg, just before night, and driven through that place, after a brisk skirmish, by Ram- seur's division. The day's march on the old turnpike, which was very rough, had been terrible. McCausland had taken the wrong road and did not reach Liberty until after the enemy had been driven through the town. " It was here ascertained that Hunter had not retreated on the route by the Peaks of Otter, over which he had advanced, but had taken the road to Buford's depot, at the foot of the Blue Ridge, which would enable him to go either by Salem, Fincastle, or Buch- anan. Ransom was, therefore, ordered to take the route, next day, by the Peaks of Otter, aTid endeavor to intercept the enemy should he move by Buchanan or Fincastle. The pursuit was resumed early on the morning of the 20th, and on our arrival in sight of Buford's, the enemy's rear guard was seen going into the mountain on the road towards Salem. As this left the road to Buchanan open, my aide. Lieutenant Pitzer, was sent across the mountain to that place, with orders to Ransom to move for Salem. Lieutenant Pitzer was also instructed to ride all night and send directions, by courier from Fin- castle, and telegraph from Salem, to have the road through the moun- tains to Lewisburg and South-Western Virginia blockaded. The enemy was pursued into the mountains at Buford's Gap, but he had taken possession of the crest of the Blue Ridge, and put batteries in position commanding a gorge, through which the road passes, where it was impossible for a regiment to move in line. I had endeavored to ascertain if there was not another way across the mountain by which I could get around the enemy, but all the men, except the old ones, had gotten out of the way, and the latter, as well as the women and children, were in such a state of distress and alarm, that no reli- able information could be obtained from them. We tried to throw forces up the sides of the mountains to get at the enemy, but they were so rugged that night came on before anything could be accom- plished, and we had to desist, though not until a very late hour in the night. " By a mistake of the messenger, who was sent with orders to General Rodes, who was to be in the lead next morning, there was some delay in his movement on the 2ist, but the pursuit was resumed very shortly after sun-rise. At the Big Lick, it was ascertained that the enemy had turned off from Salem towards Lewisburg on a road which passes through the mountains at a narrow pass called the ITS PEOPLE AMI US TRADE. 121 • Hanging Rock,' and my column was immediately turned towards that point, but on arriving there it was ascertained that the enemy's rear guard had passed through the gorge. McCausland had struck his column at this point and captured ten pieces of artillery, some wagons, and a number of prisoners ; but, the enemy having brought up a heavy force, McCausland was compelled to fall back, carrying off, however, the prisoners, and a part of the artillery, and disabling the rest so that it could not be removed. As the enemy had got into the mountains, where nothing useful could be accomplished by pur- suit, I did not deem it proper to continue it farther. A great part of my command had had nothing to eat for the last two days, except a little bacon which was obtained at Liberty. The cooking utensils were in the trains, and the effort to have bread ba'-ced at Lynchburg CITY RESERVOIRS AND CHURCH (R. C.) OF THE HOLY CROSS. (corner of clay and seventh streets.) had failed. Neither the wagon trains, nor the artillery of the 2nd Corps, were up, and I knew that the country through which Hun- ter's route led for forty or fifty miles, was, for the most part, a deso- late mountain region ; and that his troops were taking everything in the way of provisions and forage which they could lay their hands on. My field officers, except those of Breckenridgj's command, were on foot, as their horses could not be transported on the trains from Charlottesville. I had seen our soldiers endure a great deal, but there was a limit to the endurance even of Confederate soldiers. A stern chase of infantry is a very difficult one, and Hunter's men were marching for their lives, his disabled being carried in his pro- vision train which was now empty My cavalry was not strong 122 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; LYNCHBUBG MABBLE UNO GBANITE WOBKS 82H27 CMrcli Street, Corner of Nlntli Street, J. I. VAN NESS, Proprietor. This establishment, which has in a marked manner for many years enjoyed the favor of the public, keeps up with the times in quality, variety and prices of its pro- ductions. The fact of its having so successfully overcome competition is suiEcient endorse- ment of its past methods of conducting business, and should be a guarantee for the future. We undertake country work of every kind and size, including Marble and Granite Monuments and Headstones, iron Railings, Vaults, Marble, Limestone and Granite Curbing, Building Marble. &c. A visit to our shops will convince the customer that he can obtain more for his money, in quality of material and beauty of workmanship than most cities offer, and with a large assortment of designs from which to select, his taste can be gratified in every parti r^ular. We obtain low rates of freight which are guaranteed the customer. Thankful for past patronage we solicit a continuance of the same, promising sat- isfaction in every respect. Z < Z U |> w X CO o o < (JO — ' '^== ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TKADP:. 1 23 enough to accomplish anything of importance, and a further pursuit could only have resulted in disaster to my command from want of provisions and forage. '^ I was glad to see Hunter take the route to Lewisburg, as I knew he could not stop short of the Kanawha River, and he was, there- fore, disposed of for some time. Had he moved to South-Western LYNCHBURG MARBLE AND GRANITE WORKS— J. I. VAN NESS, PROP'R. (church street — FOOT OF COURT HOUSE HILL.) Virginia he would have done us incalculable mischief, as there were no troops of any consequence in that quarter, but plenty of supplies at that time. I should, therefore, have been compelled to follow him.* *Grant, in his report says: "General Hunter, owing to a want of aininunition to give battle, retired from before tiie place," (Lyncliburg). Tliis is a little remarliable, as it ap- pears that this expedition had been long contemplated and was one of the prominent features of the campaign of 1864. Hheridan, with his cavalry, was to have united with Hunter at Lynchburg, and the two together were to have destroyed General heft's com- munications and depots of supplies, and then nave joined Grant. Can it be believed that Hunter set out on so important an expedition with an insufficient supply of ammu- 124 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; " My cnminand had marched sixty miles, in the three days pur- suit, over very roup^h roads, and that part of it from the Army of Northern Virginia had had no rest since leaving Gaines' Mill. I de- termined, therefore, to rest on the 22nd, so as to enable the wagons and artillery to get up, and prepare the men for the long march be- fore them. Imboden had come up, following on the road through Salem after the enemy, and the cavalry was sent through Fincastle, to watch the enemy and annoy him as he passed through the moun- tains towards LcAvisburg, and also ascertain whether he would en- deavor to get into the Valley towards Lexington or Staunton." RESTORED PEACE. During the twenty years which have elapsed since the close of the war and the unsettled state of affairs — national and municipal — which necessarily supervened, no startling events have occurred whereby the even course of Lynchburg's development has been disturbed. Indeed her subsequent history may be written in a very few compre- hensive words — Peace and Plenty, Prosperity and Progress. In all matters affecting her commercial interests she has been vigilant, en- terjirising and aggressive, until her wealth, in proportion to her popu- lation, is exceeded by that of only one other city in the United States. Valuable and permanent public improvements have been the mile-stones which have recorded the flight of the passing years, while private enterprise has been actively and successfully employed in establishing the beautiful " Hill City " as one of the leading Busi- ness Centres of the South. Her great natural advantages have been enhanced and utilized in various ways, but there is still room for the profitable investment of much capital in any of the numerous manu- facturing and mercantile pursuits for which this locality is so emi- nently adapted. That the community is fully alive to the value of its own possessions in this respect is evidenced by the fact that sev- eral new and important industries have been inaugurated here, within the past few years, by resident capitalists, and others, of greater magnitude, may be looked for almost immediately, nitlon ? He had lovight only the battle of Piedmont, with a part of his force, and it waa not a very severe one, as Jones' foi'ce was a small one and composed niosl ly of cavalry, t'rook's ciilumn not being Ihcre was not engaged. Had Sheridan defeatc CANDIES, FRUITS, NUTS, TOYS, &c, No. 827 Main Street, Opposite Lyncli House, Xj'S'nsrciiBTJi^a-, ~VxiEia^xisrxj^. Specia-lty. ITS I'EOPLE AND ITS TRADE. 1 29 COMMERCIAL AND GENERAL. THE CHAMBER OE COMMERCE OF THE CITY OF LYNCHBURG. The organization of this important and influential body resulted from a long felt necessity for " that concert of action and unity of purpose amongst the business men of the City " which was regarded as " essential to the full development of its material welfare and commercial prosperity." A meeting was called at the Lynch House on November 2nd, 1882, at which the general advantages of such an organization were unanimously conceded, and a committee appointed to report a Constitution and Rules of Order for the Association. Accordingly, at an adjourned meeting, held on the 2nd of December following, the Chamber of Commerce of the City of Lynchburg was formally organized, its general objects being proclaimed as follows : "The promotion of every scheme for the advancement of the commercial, manufacturing and monetary interests of this community, and the abatement of every grievance injuriously affecting such interests. " The establishment and application of uniform and equita- ble rules and usages of trade. " The collection and preservation of statistical information concerning the commerce, capital, production and growth of this city. "The speedy and economical settlement of differences amongst its members, without resort to litigation. "And the discussion of all questions affecting the interest of the capital, trade or manufactures of the city, and the pe- cuniary welfare of its citizens." Since the date of its formation, the Chamber has been in active and useful operation, and has been the means of achieving much good to the industrial and mercantile interests of the City. The membership of the Chamber is numerous, and comprises the leading business men and firms among the Manufacturers, Bankers, Brokers, Merchants and Wholesale Dealers of Lynchburg. The first Presi- dent of the Chamber was Mr. George M. Jones ; the next was Capt. 130 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; Charles M. Blackford, who was succeeded by the present presiding officer. The following gentlemen now compose the governing body of the Chamber, and their names cannot fail to inspire the utmost confidence among those who maintain commercial relations with the City : Pres- idcnt, Jacob H. Franklin ; First Vtce-Prcsident, William H. Wren ; Second Vice-President, William Kinnier ; Secretary, Carter Glass ; Treasurer, P. A. Krise ; Executive Committee, C. H. Almond, C. M. Blackford, J. P. Bell, F. C. Brown, Joseph Cohn, J. R. Gilliam, Max Guggenheimer, Jr., Wm. A. Heffernan, Wm. Hurt, James W. Watts, Wm. A. Miller, Wm. A. Strother, C. W. Scott, George P. Watkins, J. Gordon Payne. The annual meeting of the Chamber is held on the Second Tues- day in January. Quarterly meetings are also held on the Second Tuesdays in April, July and October, in each year, and regular meet- ings of the Executive Committee are held on the first Saturday of every month. Special meetings may be called at any time by the President, or acting President, or by any three members of the Exec- utive Committee, due notice having been given to all the members. THE LYNCHBURG TOBACCO ASSOCIATION, Until within the past few years, during which industrial interests of various kinds have been successfully undertaken in Lynchburg and its immediate vicinity, the commercial life of the City may be said to have been almost wholly dependent upon the Tobacco trade, in its numerous and always multiplying branches. Indeed this particular industry still holds by far the most important and conspicuous place among the varied pursuits which give employment to the capital, brains and muscle of the "Tobacco City's" inhabitants, and it is therefore very necessary that it should be fostered and encouraged with the utmost solicitude, and carefully fortified against all adverse possibilities from within or without. With these objects in view, and for the purpose of regulating the warehouse sales and exercising such supervisory authority over all transactions in Tobacco as would secure perfectly fair play between buyer and seller, broker and commission merchant, planter and manufacturer, this useful Association was or- ganized in 1867. It is well-nigh impossible now to over-estimate the advantages which have accrued to the commercial interests of Lynch- burg through the labors of this influential organization, whose list of ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE, m membership bears the names of every tobacco manufacturer, ware- houseman, broker and dealer in the City. The following gentlemen are the present Officers and Committeemen : President, John T. Ed- wards ; Mee- President, R. II. T. Adams; Seeretary and Treasurer, James Franklin, Jr.; Supervisor oj Weiglits, S. W. Younger; Executive Committee, N. R. Bowman, (Chairman), R. L. Miller, C. L. Wright, S. W. Younger, James M. Booker, Jr., E. M. Heard, Wm. King, Jr., E. A. Allen, David Walker ; Ai'bitration Committee, T. E. Murrell, (Chairman), J. H. Smith. H. H. Withers, John H. Flood, W. J. Collins. The annual meeting of the Association is held on the first Monday RESIDENCE OP MR. JOHN D. HOLT. (corner of WASHINGTON AND HARRISON STREETS.) in October, and the regular monthly meetings on the first Monday of each month. Special meetings are called from time to time by the presiding officer or members of the Executive Committee as matters of urgency arise. The Lynchburg Tobacco Association is perhaps the best organized and most systematic commercial body in Virginia, if not in the whole South ; and it is but just to state that this state of efficiency has been attained, to a great extent, through the untiring energy and incessant vigilance of its President, Mr. John T. Edwards, who was elected to this position in October, 1885, and re-elected in 1886, after having previously served the Association as Vice-President. His member- 132 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; ship dates back to 1873, since which time he has attended 'ever>^ meeting of the Association, except two ; and on one of these occa- sions he was absent from the City. It is easy to beheve that, with such an excellent example from the Chair, punctuality and other business-like properties are regarded as cardinal virtues by the mem- bers generally. TRANSPORTATION. Lynchburg lies at the intersection of three railroads which branch out in six different directions, namely : the Virginia Midland, north- ward to Washington and southward to North Carolina ; the Norfolk & Western, southeastward to Norfolk and soutwestward to Tennessee, Georgia, &c.; and the Richmond & Alleghany, northeastward to Richmond and westward to the great coal fields of West Virginia. THE VIRGINIA MIDLAND RAILWAY. This line extends from the City of Washington, D. C.,to Danville, on the border of North Carolina, passing through the productive Piedmont section of the State and entering the heart of the tobacco- growing region. It has branches from Manassas to Strasburg, in the Valley of Virginia, where it, unites with the Baltimore & Ohio sys- tem ; to Warrenton, in Fauquier County, to tap the rich grazing farms of that beautiful district ; and to Rocky Mount, in Franklin County, to secure the tobacco and other valuable trade of the counties lying under the Blue Ridge in South Virginia. At Washington and Alexandria the road makes close passenger and freight connection with the Baltimore & Ohio and the Pennsyl- vania Central systems ; at Orange with a narrow gauge road to Fred- ericksburg. At Charlottesville it crosses and connects with the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, leading eastward to Richmond and deep water at Newport News, and westward to the coal and iron fields of West Virginia and to the Ohio River. At Lynchburg it intersects the Norfolk & Western and the Richmond & Alleghany Railroads. At Danville it unites with the Richmond & Danville Road, and, un- der the same general management, consolidates with what is known as the "Richmond & Danville System," which owns and controls nearly three thousand miles of railway, extending like a net-work through the Cotton States of the South. ITS PEOPLE AM) ITS TRADE. 133 THE NORFOLK & WESTERN RAILROAD. With its eastern terminus at the magnificent port of Norfolk and Portsmouth, this road extends to Bristol, on the boundary Hne be- tween Virginia and Tennessee, a distance of four hundred and eight miles, Lynchburg being exactly midway between these terminal points. Branches extLMid to City Point, at the confluence of the Appo- mattox and James Rivers ; to the coal fields and iron mines of Poca- hontas, in Tazewell County ; to the great salt and plaster deposits at Saltville ; and to the enormous coal and iron beds on Cripple Creek, in Wythe County. This road connects at Petersburg with the lines running northward through Richmond and southward through Weldon, North Carolina ; at Burkeville, with the Richmond & Danville system ; at Lynchburg, with the Virginia Midland and the Richmond & Alleghany Roads ; at Roanoke, with the Shenandoah Valley Railroad, forming another route southward ; at Salem, with a branch of the Baltimore & Ohio ; and at Bristol, with the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia Road and the great system which, through the medium of the Memphis and Charleston route, branches over the cotton region. THE RICHMOND & ALLEGHANY RAILROAD. This runs, as a completed road, along the bank of the James River from Richmond to Williamson's, a point on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad in Alleghany County, with a branch up the North River to Lexington, Virginia. It enters the heart of Richmond, and has ac- cess to the harbor and to all the other Railroads centring in that im- portant city. It passes up the James River, through its fertile bot- tom lands, with switches to take granite at the quarries of Henrico and Fluvanna Counties, slate in Buckingham and Amherst, iron from several furnaces and ore from many mines. At Lynchburg it unites with the Norfolk & Western and the Vir- ginia Midland Railways. At Buchanan, it connects with the Shenan- doah Valley Road ; at Lexington, with the Baltimore & Ohio system, forming another route to the North and West ; and at Williamson's it connects with the Chesapeake & Ohio, and thus reaches the Ohio River and the coal and iron of West Virginia. It will thus be seen that LYNCHBURG is, perhaps, the best dis- tributing point in the whole South. Not only has it six distinct lines 134 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; of railway, radiating, as above shown, to all quarters, but there are competing routes in every direction. Northward there are four: (i) By the Virginia Midland, all rail, through Washington and Baltimore. (2) By the Norfolk & Western, and steamers from Norfolk to Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Providence and Boston. (3) By the Richmond & Alle- ghany to Richmond and by steamers to northern ports. (4) By the Richmond & Alleghany and the Baltimore & Ohio, via Lexington. Eastward there are three : (i) To Norfolk by the Norfolk & West- ern, and to Richmond by the same route, connecting at Burkeville with the Richmond & Danville Road. (2) To Richmond by the Richmond & Alleghany direct. (3) To Richmond by the Virginia Midland and the Chesapeake & Ohio at Charlottesville. Southward there are two : (i) By the Virginia Midland and the Richmond & Danville system. (2) By the Norfolk & Western, the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia and the Memphis & Charleston lines. Westward there are three: (i) By the Richmond & Alleghany and the Chesapeake & Ohio, and by the Richmond & Alleghany and the Baltimore & Ohio at Lexington. (2) By the Norfolk & West- ern. (3) By the Virginia Midland and the Chesapeake & Ohio, and by the Virginia Midland and the Baltimore & Ohio, at Strasburg. These various lines are all strong and vigorous, and are all very ac- tively competing for freight and passengers, thus securing Lynchburg, to a large extent, from the disastrous effects of transportation mo- nopolies. Other railroads are projected and chartered, which will, when com- pleted, add considerably to the bulk of trade seeking this market. Chief among these is the LYNCHBURG, HALIFAX & NORTH CAROLINA RAILROAD, to the capital stock of which the City last year voted an appropria- tion of $250,000, and which may be regarded as a strictly local en- terprise. The principal offices and the terminus of the Road will be in this City, and there is every reason to believe that the work of building the line will be commenced at once and prosecuted vigor- ously until completed to Durham, N, C, where it will connect with the Durham & Roxborough Railroad, thus bringing within our reach the fertile bottom lands of the Roanoke River, as well as the fine ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. 135 THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. (corner of court and eleventh streets.) 136 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; tobacco plantations of Halifax County. The recently elected officers of the Road are : President, Peter J. Otey ; Vice-President, Wood Bouldin, Jr.; .SVr/r/rt'/j, Alexander McDonald; Directors, Vio^y H. Payne, Jacob H. Franklin, J. R. Clark, Adam W. Novvlin, J. R. Lawson, John W. Clay, Robert W. Withers, H. A. Edmondson, Joseph Stebbins and Robert W. Watkins. New lines of railway, and extensions of existing ones, are multi- plying on all sides with astonishing rapidity, and especially is this the case with the roads which intersect at this point, and their immediate connections. The vast mineral wealth lying to the westward of us, and which has of late years attracted so much attention, is, of course, responsible, to a great extent, for this activity in railroad construc- tion, which wdll probably continue until all the rich deposits of the neighboring sections have been brought within reach of their legiti- mate markets. TOBACCO. Situated centrally with relation to the great tobacco-growing region of Virginia, and enjoying exceptionally favorable transportation facili- ties, which bring all the great markets and seaports of the United States within easy and direct access, Lynchburg has always taken the lead not only as a mart and distributing point for the raw material, but also as a producer of the manufactured article, of all kinds and qualities, and has well earned the sobriquet by which she is widely known — *' The Tobacco City." Ever since her foundation, the Town has been the depot for the tobacco grown within the district naturally tributary to her — from the days when the hogsheads were rolled along the public highways to market, down to the time when the introduc- tion of railroads offered the planters a less expensive and far more expeditious method of transmitting their produce — and, as the " Dev- il's Weed," so named by the royal lunatic " Quid King Jamie," has always been the principal and most valuable crop cultivated in the surrounding counties, it has naturally exercised a ruling influence upon the commercial history of Lynchburg. The average crop grown annually in this tributary section is about 75,000,000 pounds, and of this enormous aggregate at least two-thirds is handled by the warehousemen, dealers and manufacturers of this market. The handling of this immense quantity of leaf, and its man- ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. 137 ufacture into plug, twist and smokiiij^ toljacco, under almost innu- merable brands, gives occupation, directly or indirectly, to the greater portion of Lynchburg's inhabitants. As the population in- creases and industries become more diversified, the influence of the Tobacco trade upon the aggregate business of the City will naturally diminish in proportion, but it is clear that for many years to come it will continue to hold the leading place among local industries, and that all others will remain to some extent dependent for their success upon its prosperity. A great portion of the tobacco brought to this market still comes by wagons, direct from the neighboring plantations, but that grown in more remote districts also comes in considerable quantities over the lines of the several railroads centring here, and this latter class is increasing very rapidly. One reason for this increase is, that in many of the smaller towns and villages along the railroads that penetrate the tobacco-producing counties, warehouses and re-prizing "facto- ries " have been established, and much of the crop so collected is forwarded in hogsheads to Lynchburg — which holds a sort of metro- politan relationship to the whole section — to be re-sold. Six commodious warehouses supply the neces.sary accommodation for this large trade — one of which has been recently erected, in order to keep pace with the ever-growing bulk of arrivals. At all of these warehouses the leaf is sold " loose." In other markets it is sold in the hogshead, by sample, but it has been found more satisfactory here to offer it open on the warehouse floor, so that buyers may in- spect every leaf, if they so desire, before making their purchases, and thus avoid all risks of dispute and controversy. A " Storage Ware- house " has also been opened lately, principally for the Western hogs- head trade, which promises to become a great success. The following table, taken from the official records of the Lynch- burg Tobacco Association, show the actual sales of Leaf Tobacco on the warehouse floors for the last sixteen years — each year ending on October ist — and it must be admitted that the figures bear testimony to a most gratifying increase : 1871. 17,425,539 lbs. T876. 25,091,621 lbs. 1872 1873 1874 1875 14,323,708 " 1877. 19,699,775 20,214,748 " i«78. 28,318,183 18,206,321 " 1879. 21,143.217 14,127,430 " 1880. 25,062,881 138 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; 1881. 20,090,822 lbs. 1884. 21.190,644 lbs. 1882. 20,127,208 " 1885. 29,495,758 " 1883. 24,620,811 " 1886. 37,462,979 " In order that Lynchburg's position as a tobacco market may be clearly understood by the reader, the following extracts from the an- nual report presented id the Lynchburg Tobacco Association by its President, Mr. John T. Edwards, at the last annual meeting, are given : * -1: ***** * " The figures I shall give you to-day again place you at the head of the loose tobacco markets of the world, and there is no reason why you may not very soon be the peer of any market in the State for the sale of prized tobacco. One of Virginia's most gifted sons said : ' I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past ;' and, judging by the past, I ask you to contemplate what the near fu- ture of the tobacco trade of this beautiful and progressive City is to be. I do not propose to deal in imagination, or fancy pictures, but in stern reality, and figures that do not deceive. ** Look, if you please, at the following comparative statements and figures, and tell me if any market can truly show such increase in trade and substantial growth. Poutids. " The average annual sales for fifteen years, per warehouses, from 1870 to 1884, inclusive, amounted to 20,657.163 Amount of tobacco sold in 1885 through warehouses 29,495,758 Increase percentage for 1885 over average sales for fifteen years pre- ceding, 47 per cent. Total sales for 1885 38,306,939 Increase percentage, 90 per cent. Sales per warehouses for 1886 37,463,979 Sales per warehouses for 1885 29,495,758 Increase percentage in 1886 over sales of 1 885, 37i per cent. Sales not reported in 1886, per warehouses 8,708,799 Like sales in 1885 6,444,100 Increase percentage in 1886, 35 per cent. Resales in 1886, not included in above sales 3,160,373 Resales in 1885 as above 3,367,073 Increase percentage in 1886, less than 5 per cent. TOTAL SALES FOR THE YEAR 1886 49,332,050 Total sales for the year 1885 38,306,939 Increase percentage in 1886 over 1885, 39 per cent. INCREASE IN 1886 OVER AVERAGE SALES FOR FIFTEEN YEARS, FROM 1870 TO 1884, INCLUSIVE, 145 PER CENT. Amount of tobacco exported in 1886 81,710,723 Amount of tobacco exported in 1885 9,604,246 INCREASE PERCENTAGE EXPORTED IN 1886, 133 PER CENT. " The remainder of the purchases for 1886, amounting to 27,621,- ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. 139 ^2"] pounds, have been manufactured in Lynchburg, bought on do- mestic accounts and shipped to home markets. I am unable, as you are aware, from our .system of selUng tobacco, to ascertain the aver- age price paid for tobacco sold here, but I assert it without fear of successful contradiction, that if it were possible to divide the dark and bright classes, the average on the former would far exceed that of any loose market of the State, and the largest proportion of the bright, being of the finest quality of cutters and wrappers, would far exceed any average on the bright markets of North Carolina and this State. H-, ****** * " In my last address I called your attention to the importance of CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS' MONUMENT. (in the METHODIST CEMETERY.) constructing the Lynchburg, Halifax and Durham Railroad. You have acted wisely, and now this Railroad is about to be constructed through the finest tobacco counties of Virginia and North Carolina. With the completion of this Railroad, I predict an increase in your trade annually of 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 pounds tobacco, to say nothing of other benefits to be derived from it, both by the farmers along the line and the citizens of Lynchburg. South Boston, that flour- ishing and enterprising town of Halifax, is soon to be closely allied with you. Geographically, you occupy a position superior to any in the State, as a distributing market. You have railroads stretching out in every direction, and connection with every tobacco market of 140 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ', the world. Your loose tobacco market is now favorably known to every nation and every city of the world. Your export trade is rapidly increasing. Your export buyers are strong competitors on all classes of tobacco. You have orders for all the finest wrappers, finest canary cutters, finest smokers, finest dark shipping, for which your market is celebrated, as well as all the lower classes. * t- ***** :): *' Nothwithstanding the large increase in your receipts this year through the warehouses, it will be seen at a glance that the demands of the trade have not been satisfied. Let the producers look to this and send their tobacco direct to the market that shows a demand for it." As a Leaf Tobacco market Lynchburg, therefore, heads the list. As a Tobacco manufacturing point she stands fifth. In addition to the railroads now centring here, the Lynchburg, Halifax & Durham road, penetrating some of the richest tobacco-growing counties in Virginia and North Carolina, will shortly be opened, thus forming another important feeder to the trade of the City. With all these advantages, it must be evident that Lynchburg's future, as a great central depot for the staple product of this region — to .say nothing of her other industries and general commerce — is fully assured. There are in the City to-day twenty-five houses engaged in the manufacture of Chewing Tobacco — plug and twist — and nine in the manufacture of .Smoking Tobacco — including the celebrated and in- comparable "Lone Jack"; three Cigarette Factories ; Six Tobacco Warehouses ; one Tobacco Storage Warehouse ; thirty-three Tobacco Leaf Dealers, who buy immense quantities of tobacco, as agents and on orders, for domestic and foreign markets ; nine Tobacco Commis- .sion Merchants ; one manufacturer of snuff; one of Tobacco Extract and one F'ertilizer Factory — the only one in the world — the base of whose excellent product is Tobacco. Incidentally to the trade there are manufacturers of Tobacco Boxes, Hogsheads, Specific Machinery, &c., while the number of citizens, of all classes, immediately de- pendent on this branch of trade for their livelihood, would aggregate several thousands. STATISTICAL REVIEW— 1868 to 1883. The latest "Annual Report" of the Lynchburg Chamber of Commerce, which contains statistical information of any special value. ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. I4I was issued in 1884, and the subjoined extracts are selected from the address of its then President, Capt. Charles M. Blackford, delivered on the 8th of January in that year : " When the war closed, Lynchburg-, like all other Southern cities, was completely prostrate. Its enormous slave property was value- less ; all its banks and monetary institutions were hopelessly insolvent; its currency by one blow reduced to worthless paper ; personal prop- erty was all gone, and real estate reduced to a minimum in value; every industr\' destroyed ; labor disorganized ; government unstable, and the future so uncertain that men's hearts failed them for fear. Yet amidst darkness and gloom, with patient toil and frugal life, our people went to work, and to work with a vim, and in three years had accomplished wonders, and had gotten themsehcs into line and the machinery of business fairly going. "Now, giving our people these three years to get into position, let us see what has been done since. "Full statistics of trade and progress have not been preserved. Still, there are some facts undisputed, by a comparison of which you can measure the result of your labors. " For example : while the exact figures cannot be given, it is con- siderably understating them to say that from 1868 to 1883 the popu- lation has more than doubled. " In 1868 the total real and personal property of Lynchburg as- sessed for taxation, amounted to ;$3.264, 705 ; in 1883 to $9,797,921, or three times as much, and this does not include the capital in busi- ness, which comes under the head of license tax. " From the data which have been gathered by our agent, I am safe in making the following, as an approximate estimate of the values owned in Lynchburg in 1883 : Amount of real estate $5,406,641 Personal property, as taxed • 3,891,271 Engaged in trade, as capital and otherwise 2,897,962 U. S. Bonds and other personal property, not listed, estimated 500,000 Total property of the city $12,695,874 " This shows that, while the population was doubled in this period, the wealth is four times as great. "This estimate of population and property is made with due re- gard to the extension of the City limits, which was made between the two dates compared. In ascertaining the population in 1868, I take the figures of a local census which included all the territory sub- sequently incorporated into the City, and the values are taken from the values assessed for taxation under the railroad tax, which ex- tended for half a mile around the former limits, and included all the territory taken in by the extension of the limits. 142 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; "Another interestincr comparison is found in the statements of the bankin_CT institutions of the City. " The true banking capital of a place is not the mere par of the aggref^ate capital stock of the different banks. It is the money which, through the instrumentality of the banks, is centralized in a place, and is available to the merchant or manufacturer who desires to borrow. This, of course, includes under the head of ' Banking Capital,' the aggregate capital, surplus and deposits of all the banks ; for this aggregate, after deducting what is invested in real estate, office furniture and other like property, and what cash is necessarily kept on hand, is what the banks have to lend out and thus put into the channels of trade. *' In the beginning of 1868, the aggregate capital, surplus and de- posits of all the banks of Lynchburg amounted only to ^537,811.82, of which, so high was the rate of discount, [then twelve per centum] that only $276,T,$g.4^ was lent out and represented by bills receivable. " In 1883, the aggregate capital, surplus and deposits, amounts to $3,428,078. 17 — over six times as much — and the loans, instead of being $276,359.45, as in 1868, aggregate an average of two and one- half miUions — nearly ten times as much, but are at a rate of discount of only six per centum. " Nor is this great increase the only remarkable disclosure made by this inspection of the bank statements. The bills receivable of the banks and bankers of the city averaged for 1883, an aggregate of about $2,500,000. The average duration of the negotiable paper discounted by banks is ninety days, and hence the whole $2,500,000 was renewed, some of it in the same, but the most of it in different hands, four times during the year ; and therefore the total discounts of the banks of Lynchburg for the year 1883 aggregated toi millions of dollars, and I speak advisedly, as the President of a bank in full accord with the other banks, and by their authority, when I announce that out of this large sum so lent out in this community during the past y edit, not one cent zuas lost 07' suspended. The same thing, I be- lieve, can not be said by any other place of the same size and doing the same amount of business in the United States. " The statistics from the railroads have not all been furnished yet ; but enough is before me to justify a statement that the tonnage to and from Lynchburg during the past year was about nine time as much as it was ten years ago. ******** " During the past ten years, the trade and manufacture of tobacco has increased, but not in proportion with the advance of other indus- tries, a fact which is significant, and for which many reasons are given. " In 1873, 18,206,321 pounds of leaf tobacco were sold in Lynch- burg ; in 1883, 24,620,811 pounds. In 1873,4,503,337 pounds of tobacco were manufactured here; in 1883, 6,061,568 pounds. ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. 143 "Why this trade alone lias lagged in the race, is a very difficult question to answer. " For one I have no great apprehension that the tobacco trade of this City will decline. There is too much energy and capital in it for that, but the fact is the place has outgrown this particular traffic. Thirty years ago, aye, twenty years ago, when Lynchburg won and deserved the title of ' The Tobacco City,' when capital and industry RESIDENCES ON CHURCH STREET. MR. CHAKLES W. BUTTON. DR. D. A. LANGHORNE. sought no other channel, when a citizen was a tobacconist or nothing, and when a stranger, to use the language of the sable poet, was only ' 'Gwine down to Lynchburg town. To carry his tobacco down dar,' this place was dependent on that trade exclusively. This is not now the case, not because of any decline in the tobacco trade, but because other enterprises have to so much larger extent occupied the indus- tries of our people, and have made such rapid growth that tobacco, while it is still indisputably king, and will be so for many years to come, finds a rival not to be despised, and all good citizens must re- joice that such is the case. 144 SKETCH BOOK OF LYN'CHBURG, VA. ; •' Long since the war the commercial vigor of Lynchburg was con- fined to the retail trade. Now the retail trade has greatly increased in bulk and in profit, and in addition, house after house is being started, devoted exclusively to the wholesale business in distinct articles. "The merchant can here be supplied now with groceries, dry goods, hard-ware, boots and shoes, hats and caps, drugs and medicines, all from different houses, and at prices so low that those who buy once are sure to come again. Nor do these merchants sit quietly in their counting rooms and wait for trade to come to them, as in the Arcadian days of John Hollins, John G. Meem and Henry Davis. "Every train that leaves, carries a commercial traveller on his missionary tour in behalf of his employer in particular, and Lynch- burg in general, and I am told that whenever two or three are gath- ered together within a radius of hundreds of miles, there will be found a Lynchburg drummer in the midst, plying his vocation with such zeal that the more fastidious representatives of the larger cities retire in disgust from the ground, knowing that if it is thus in the green tree, competition will be a farce in the dry. " If one will start from the abutment of the beautiful dam which has just been finished across the river, and which will greatly increase our water power, and pass down to the end of this level on the canal, the evidence of recent growth and development is very apparent " — (Here are enumerated Flour Mills, Foundries and Machine Shops, Gas Works, Lumber Yards, the new City Pump House, Planing Mills, Sash, Blind and Door Factories, Furnaces, Furniture Factory, Sumac Mill, Bark and Dye Works, Barytes Mill and " the long line of freight trains, bulked from three roads, and with cars whose labels trace their homes South as far as Texas, West to the Rocky Moun- tains and North to the Grand Trunk ") — " all tell of new enterprise, of diverted capital, and of successful endeavors, and tell a tale to which others are listening with anxious ear. * * t- * * * * * " I have thus grouped some of these new enterprises that we may see the City is making its departure into other channels than tobacco. .But much, much more can and must be done. How much room have we for cotton and woolen factories, for manufactories of agricul- tural implements, of carriages and wagons, of paper, wooden ware, spokes, staves, fertilizers, leather, boots and shoes, hats and caps, drugs and medicines, stoves and castings of like nature, furniture, pottery, glass and all the infinite variety of iron ware ; indeed all the numberless articles which mati's luxuries or nece.'^sities demand. " We have room in abundance, and there is still vast unused water power on this and the level above the City, or, if steam is preferred as a motive power, coal is now reduced to a figure which makes it avail- able, and by circling the town with a railway, switching off from the ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. 145 Midland track, near Karn (S: llickson's brick yard, and running toward the Dirt Bridge or Fair Grounds, and possibly connecting with the Norfolk & Western road, very ample accommodations can be provided for any new enterprise at very moderate cost. "Situated as this City is, in the midst of a cheap and healthy country, where labor and money are cheap ; where power, either by water or steam can be economically applied ; where the raw material is daily passing by us to seek distant factories ; where the climate is so moderate that cyclones and tornadoes are unknown, and where the zero point is almost unnoted on the thermometer, and men can do out-door work eleven and a half out of the twelve months of the PROPERTY OF THE LYNCHBURG AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL SOCIETY. (tue maix buildixg and grand stands from the race track.) year, and where six railways ray out in six different directions, and connect with the whole network of the land. North, South, East and West — there is no place which so commends itself to the manufac- turer as a distributing point for his wares, or where he can sit so close to the gateways of the great marts and enjoy their benefits and yet escape their burden of expense." THE LYNCHBURG AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL SOCIETY was organized in May, 1869, and in October of the same year held its first annual Fair in the beautiful and extensive grounds belonging 146 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; to the Society, near the southwestern boundary of the City. Col. George P. Tayloe, of Roanoke, was chosen as the first President, and the late Mr. T. C. S. Ferguson, of Lynchburg, Chairman of the Ex- ecutive Committee, with Mr. Alexander McDonald Secretary and Treasurer. Under the able management of these excellent officers, assisted by an Executive Committee comprising some of the most substantial citizens of Lynchburg and the neighboring counties, the success of the organization was assured from its inception. Under the immediate supervision of Mr. Ferguson, with the benefit of his experience and jndgment, the Society expended about ;$20,ooo dur- ing the first summer and autumn of its existence, in beautifying the grounds, erecting buildings — pavilions, stalls, &c. — and in laying out and grading the race track. The Society has had some reverses and many difficulties to contend with, on account of unseasonable weather, floods, financial stringency and other causes, but it has always managed to hold its own, and more, not having failed once, since its organization, to give to this community and section of country the benefit of its Annual Exhibi- tion ; and during that period it has distributed to its friends and pat- rons, in the way of premiums and current expenses, about $150,000, besides having been the means of attracting hundreds of thousands of dollars in trade to the City, that might otherwise have gone else- where. The advantages that the Society has conferred upon Lynch- burg are beyond any computation. Col. Tayloe was succeeded as President by Mr. Joseph Cloyd, of Pulaski, and he, in turn, by Mr. George W. Palmer, of Smyth County. Major D. P. Graham, of Wythe, was the next President, succeeded by Mr. Charles M. Blackford, of this City. At the annual meeting held on May 2nd of this year, Senator John W. Daniel was unanimously elected the President of the Society for the current year, Mr. Blackford having declined re-election. Mr. Blackford was also the second chairman of the p:xecutive Committee ; Mr. B. H. Nowlin, third ; and Mr. John W. Carroll, fourth. Mr. E. J. Folkes succeeded Mr. Carroll, and is. and has been for five years, a most efficient incumbent of this most responsible position. It is due to Mr. Folkes to say that the signal success of the Centennial Celebra- tion, held last year (1886) was owing more to him than to any other individual, because of his indefatigable personal supervision and dircc- ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. 147 tion of the preparations, together witli the great abihty and excellent judgment he exercised in consummating the desired object. Many eminent statesmen and orators have, from time to time, hon- ored the Society with their presence, and addressed the gathered multitudes, on the occasion of the Annual Exhibitions at the Fair Grounds. The list would be too extended if all were enumerated, but it may not be amiss to mention Hon. A. G. Thurman, a native Lynchburger, Senator Vance, Hon. B. Johnson Barbour, Governor Gilbert C. Walker, Hon. Thomas S. Bocock, Hon. A. R. Boteler, PROPERTY OF THE LYNCHBURG AGRICULTURx\L AND MECHANICAL SOCIETY. (.VIEW OF THE FAIR GROUNDS FROM THE MAIN BUILDING.) Hon. J. L. M. Curry, Ji-idge FuUerton, of New York, General Fitz- hugh Lee, the present Governor of Virginia, Rev. Dr. Fitzgerald, another native Lynchburger, Capt. James Barron Hope, of Norfolk, and Lynchburg's distinguished son and favorite orator, Senator John W. Daniel. At the annual meeting of the Life Members of the Agricultural Society in 1884, a preamble and resolution were introduced by Mr. Alexander McDonald, and unanimously adopted, setting forth the fact that the year 1886 would be the Centennial of Lynchburg's ex- istence, and suggesting, thus early, the propriety of having the Exec- utive Committee take the initiative in celebrating it appropriately. 1^8 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; Acting upon this suggestion, co-operative committees from other or- ganizations in the City were appointed, and, by the faithful, united and harmonious work of all, the great and memorable Celebration of last year was the result. To Mr. McDonald is due the credit of orig- inating the idea of the Centennial and in arranging and carrying out the programme, and it is also his due to add that no one v/orked more laboriously to make it a success in every particular. The Trades Parade would have reflected credit upon a city of much greater pretensions than Lynchburg. It was the surprise and delight of all who saw it. Various were the attractions during the festival, and immense crowds thronged the streets, to the number of many thou- sands in excess of any previous concourse here. It was, in fact, a glorious reunion, and will be long remembered by all who took part in it. One of the many prominent features of the celebration was the planting of a " Centennial Oak " in the Fair Grounds, with im- pressive and interesting ceremonies. The Tynchburg Agricultural and Mechanical Society is now in the full tide of prosperity, being entirely free from debt and having a sur- plus in its treasury. The Managers of its affairs point with just pride to its prosperous condition — the most prosperous by far of all similar organizations in the State. Whilst there are many who have contributed liberally of their time and money to bring about this state of affairs, all will agree that to the accomplished editor of the Virginian, Mr. Alexander McDonald, the community is indebted more than to any one else, because of his ever watchful and faithful care in the man- agement of the Society's interests, in his dual capacity of Secretary and Treasurer. Those who have the best opportunity of knowing will bear willing testimony to the correctness of this statement ; and further, that, except for Mr. McDonald's efforts, the Society would long since have languished and died. The fact of his having been re-elected unanimously every year to this responsible office, is ample evidence of the confidence and appreciation in which he is held by the members and managers of the Society. The next Fair will be held in October of this year, and the Execu- tive Committee are already making preparations, by improving the race track, grading, beautifying, building, planting, &c., and it is be- lieved that this will be the most exten.sive and attractive exhibition ever given under the auspices of the Society. ITS PEOrr.E AND ITS TRADE. I4g The following are the present officers : President, John W. Daniel ; Chair7)ian of Executrrc Coniniittvc, E. J. Folkes ; Secretary and Treas- urer, Alexander McDonald ; Executive Committee, E. J. Folkes, F. D. Johnson. E. A. Craighill, Ridgway Holt, R. L. Miller, George D. Witt, James R. Kyle, L. P. Shaner, W. D. Adams, Samuel Tyree, E. C. Hamner, S. W. Nowlin, G. W. Smith, W. O. Johnson and Joseph Cohn. BANKS AND BANKERS. It is beyond question that in the matter of sound and liberal finan- cial institutions Lynchburg is extremely fortunate. These form the bulwarks of trade in all mercantile and industrial communities, and frequently offer the safest and most satisfactory investment for float- ing capital. There are five incorporated Banks in the City — four National and one State — besides two private Bankers. These repre- sent resources which in the aggregate amount to several millions of dollars — a sum fully adequate to all the demands which the large trade of the City is likely to make upon it. No difficulty is expe- rienced by the manufacturers, brokers and other business men in ob- taining as much money as they require, at all times and at reasonable rates, on good commercial paper. In fact, the Banks are competitors for mercantile discounts, and are always ready and willing to aid the reputable merchant and manufacturer in the prosecution of his legiti- mate business. The Lynchburg Banks are well and prudently man- aged, and are all paying handsome dividends. In evidence of this it may be stated that they have been entirely unaffected by the "runs" and "panics" which have proved so disastrous to the banking establishments of other Virginia cities during the last few years. HOTELS. On arriving at Lynchburg for the first time, the stranger cannot fail to be impressed most favorably with the superiority of our Hotel accommodations ; and this is admitted to be one of the best crite- rions by which to gauge the general commercial prosperity — or other- wise — of every city. It must be confessed that in this respect many of our Southern provincial towns are sadly deficient, and the traveller is certain to be agreeably surprised at the comfort and elegance with which he finds himself surrounded when he first accepts the hospi- IJO SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; tality of the *' Hill City." Situated at the intersection of several busy railroads, Lynchburg receives and entertains many thousands of transient visitors during the year, and first-class hotels have been, for many years past, not only an absolute necessity to the public but also a source of handsome revenue to their proprietors, who vie with each other in supplying the wants and increasing the comforts of their guests. Our Hotels are all that the most fastidious could desire — lofty, commodious, well lighted and well ventilated, within easy reach of railroad depots, churches, places of amusement, street railways, banks, stores, &c.; well furnished and provided with parlors and reception rooms ; cleanly, comfortable, well managed and devoid of those tri- fling but numerous discomforts which usually render hotel life so un- attractive. Their tables abound in all seasonable luxuries, and the large patronage which they enjoy is the best possible testimonial to their excellence. IRON WORKS, FOUNDRIES, &c. The proximity of Lynchburg to the great coal and iron fields of Western Virginia has naturally led to the establishment at this point of Furnaces and Iron Works, of which there are now three in exten- sive operation. All of these have recently enlarged their capital with a view to expanding their capacity and increasing their products. They are all busy and prosperous, with every prospect of continued success. Pig Iron of the finest quality is manufactured from the ores of this district, while the Nails, Bars, Spikes, &c., made here in large quantities are unsurpassed, and command a ready market as rapidly as they can be turned out. Castings for Agricultural Implements and Machinery of all kinds are also among the products of our local foundries. In addition to these there are established agencies of Harvesting Machines of various popular makes, and of those numer- ous other inventions which have become indispensable to the modern agriculturist and manufacturer. The means of supplying, renewing and repairing is thus brought within the reach of all who employ en- gines and other mechanical contrivances, either in tobacco factories, grist or saw mills, or in the simpler but not less essential operations of the farm. DRUGS AND CHEMICALS. The bulk of business done in these important commodities, in ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. I51 Lynchburg, is much more considerable than would be supposed by the uninitiated, and is conducted by two wholesale and about a dozen retail houses, whose united sales reach the handsome sum of half a million dollars, or thereabouts, annually. The stocks kept by these establishments are large and varied, and several of our druggists have earned a wide and honorable reputation through the excellence of the goods they supply, as well as through the agency of certain " specialties " which they put up. The wholesale and manufacturing representatives of this branch of trade have done valuable service to the City, for their enterprise has been the means of retaining and disbursing among our own people, in the form of v/ages, and otherwise, thousands of dollars which for- merly went to Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and other markets, in pa\-ment for the same goods which can now be supplied at home, on equally favorable terms. Besides Drugs and Chemicals, all our wholesale and some of our retail houses carry full lines of Paints and Oils, Perfumery, Spices, Seeds, Patent Medicines, Fancy and Toilet Articles, and numerous other commodities not strictly akin to pharmacy, such as Tobacco, Cigars, Cigarettes, &c. Our principal wholesale drug trade is carried on with Southwest Virginia, Tennessee, the two Carolinas and Georgia, while all the Southern and Middle States have been made more or less familiar with Lynchburg's enterprise in this line. Nor is this all. From New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver, San Fran- cisco, Austin, and all the principal cities of the Union, orders have been received for preparations compounded here, and it is a matter of record, most gratifying to the manufacturers, that, these prepara- tions have been enquired for and purchased in London and Paris, as well as in other P^uropean capitals. Even distant Australia has fur- nished an applicant for the agency of one of Lynchburg's proprietary medicines, and it is therefore quite reasonable to expect that the name and fame of our City will yet overspread the civilized world as the birth place and home of more than one commercial celebrity. BOOKS, STATIONERY, &c. The quality and quantity of reading matter in circulation among the people of any community will be found to be a very accurate test of their intellectual capacity and refinement. Where there rare well 152 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; patronized book stores, carryinpj lar^e and well-selected assortments of standard literature, there will also most certainly be found a large proportion of cultivated and well-informed readers. And this may justly be claimed for Lynchburg, where the book business is con- ducted by men whose own high education and mental culture emi- nently qualify them to cater to the intellectual requirements of their neighbors. We have several handsome and well-stocked Book and Stationery Stores, where all commodities usually kept by first-class establishments of the kind are to be found in great abundance and endless variety, including choice paintings, engravings, photographs, and a host of other articles which may be grouped under the generic term " Fancy." In some cases the Book and Stationery business is combined with that of Pianos, Organs and Music, and our dealers represent the most famous factories in the country, and always keep on hand a large selection of first-class instruments. GROCERS AND COMMISSION MERCHANTS. These two important branches of Lynchburg's trade are here con- solidated, for the reason that they are too closely allied to each other to admit of separate treatment. United, they cover a vast field and embrace many interests. Indeed, there is no department of com- mercial enterprise represented in the City which employs so much capital, engages so many of our leading business men, or exercises so wide-spread an influence over the whole territory which recognizes Lynchburg as its principal or central market. It is customary among our wholesale grocers to act also as commission merchants, and vice versa. Vast quantities of tobacco, grain, bacon, poultry and other kinds of produce, are received here for sale on commission, and the consignments are often accompanied by orders for provisions or cash. An open account is often kept by the planter with his Commission Merchant, who advances what goods, fertilizers and money may be required by his country customer, from harvest to harvest, and it occasionally happens that the latter is unable, through misfortune or some other cause, to make a settlement even at harvest time, in which event his Commission Merchant must " carry " him till the following year, taking a mortgage lien upon land or future crops, as security. It will be seen that considerable capita! is required to carry on a busi- ness of this kind ; and it may be here stated, without fear of contra- ITS PKOPLE AND ITS TRADE. diction, that in no town in the United States can be found a more sound, solvent and successful body of business men than the Grocers and Commission Merchants of Lynchburg, in proportion to the pop- ulation and the amount of capital involved. RESIDENCE OF MR. JOSEPH COHN. (CHURCH STREET, NEAR StXTH.) FURNITURE. This trade has a.ssumed much importance in Lynchburg of late years, and now employs a large cash capital. Ordinary household necessaries could always be obtained here as well as elsewhere, but the handsomer and more expensive articles were generally sought at Richmond, or even still further away, until those now engaged in the business wisely took advantage of the opportunity thus offered to 154 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; local enterprise. Our Furniture Warerooms now contain large and varied assortments of stock, and every taste and every pocket can be suited, at factory prices, whether the articles be required for par- lor, dining room, chamber, office or school. There are several firms engaged here in this business, and they can afford to sell their goods at reasonable figures, as they make their purchases at the manufac- tories and obtain the most favorable terms. The out-lying districts of this and adjoining States find this a most advantageous market at which to make their purchases, and each year brings increased busi- ness to our dealers. Here, as in other places, there are those to be met with who refuse to acknowledge genuine excellence unless they import it direct from some distant market ; but experience has taught the great majority of consumers that it is more economical, as well as infinitely more satisfactory, to deal with merchants whom they know personally and meet every day, reliable and responsible business men, who are always accessible when, through some acci- dent or unexpected flaw, a guarantee may have to be made good. WEARING APPAREL. The above words are intended only to apply, in this instance, to Boots and Shoes, Hats and Caps, Clothiers' and Tailors' Goods, and Men's Furnishing Goods generally, and not to those unfathomable mysteries of feminine attire which are distracting even to think upon, and cannot possibly be either enumerated or described. These com- bined interests require considerable capital, and it is estimated that in Lynchburg not less than a quarter of a million of dollars is invested in them. The Boot and Shoe business, in which there is one large house doing an exclusively wholesale trade, is very far reaching, and goods supplied by Lynchburg houses may be found in every portion of Central and Western Virginia, in the two Carolinas, Georgia, Ala- bama, Tennessee and other Southern States. Hats and Caps, which also have an exclusively wholesale representative here, form another link in the chain which binds us commercially to the people of ad- joining States, and sales in this line are heavy, especially in Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee, where the bulk of the business is done. The same may be truly said of Clothiers' and Tailors' Goods and Men's Furnishing Goods, the trade in which is extending grad- ually, and will doubtless some day overspread a much more extended ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE, I 55 territory. All these different branches of Lynchburg's business are in the hands of sterling, practical men, who are intimately acquainted with the wants of their respective trades and thoroughly understand them in their most minute details. Having sufficient working capi- tal, they are enabled to take advantage of every fluctuation of the market, and to buy up at low figures whatever may be suitable to their business. By these means they can often sell to the retail trade and individual consumers at better prices than the manufacturer would be willing to accept during his busy season. DRY GOODS, NOTIONS, &c. No attempt will be made here to depict the wonders or solve the mysteries of that " Woman's Paradise," a first-class Dry Goods Store, a mere catalogue of whose ordinary stock would fill many a close- writ page. Suffice it to .say that Lynchburg can show as handsome and as well-stocked establishments devoted to this particular class of merchandise as any city in Virginia, or elsewhere in the Southern Land. She can also boast of at least one mammoth concern, whose trade is exclusively wholesale, and whose annual business it would require seven figures to compute. Until within the pa.st few years the wholesale trade of Lynchburg, in this as in all other departments, was comparatively unimportant, but only for the reason that no per- sistent experiment in that direction had been made. The uniform success which has crowned those enterprising houses which have led the van in establishing the City as a great wholesale depot has already encouraged several others to follow their good example, and it is not overstating the case to assert that to-day the " Hill City " has few equals in the whole South as a trade centre. Our principal Dry Goods and Notions Stores are on Main Street and many of them carry heavy stocks of all those articles belonging to their trade, including full lines of carpets, of all descriptions and the product of all lands, as well as mats, rugs, druggets, and other similar wares. All their goods are guaranteed not to exceed Northern prices, and their assort- ments are as complete as are to be met with in any other city. MISCELLANEOUS TRADES. In the preceding pages, special attention has been directed, under distinctive headings, to several of the principal branches of trade and 156 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; industry which engage the manufacturing and mercantile classes of Lynchburg, and it must be conceded that not only does the present condition of her affairs make a most creditable showing, but also that her existing advantages are in a fair way to be considerably aug- mented, and that her future is rich in promises of continually in- creasing prosperity — promises which will certainly be redeemed, provided her people remain faithful to themselves and to their tra- ditions. In addition to the more prominent subjects already reviewed, there are others, too numerous for separate classification, and yet too pro- ductive of good, in their combined influence upon the community, to justify their being passed by without mention. Among the indus- tries which may be regarded as incidental to the enormous tobacco interests of the City, the manufacture of Hogsheads and Tobacco Boxes occupies a prominent position and gives employment to a large number of mechanics. The demand for these products by local tobacco shippers and manufacturers is naturally very consider- able ; but it is not confined to the City, orders being constantly re- ceived from neighboring towns along the several lines of railroad. A Broom and Brush factory has recently been established here, and its capacity is already taxed to fill orders for the local trade. This will prove of great advantage not only to those actually engaged in the business, but also as suggesting to the farmers of this district a new and profitable crop. The phenomenal success of our Fertilizer and Insecticide factory — the only one in the world the basis of whose product is tobacco — has been most gratifying to the whole commu- nity, as well as to its projectors and proprietors, the value of whose ingenious formula has been proved beyond controversy under the severest tests. The Printing and Binding establishments of the City defy successful competition as regards both the quality and the price of the work they turn out. Every visitor to the City is struck at once with the style and excellence of the carriages and horses — the property of our enterprising Livery Stable proprietors — which are always to be seen on our streets. There is perhaps no town in the South where better conveyances and saddle horses can be hired than in Lynchburg. This is due in great measure to the almost precipi- tous character of many of our thoroughfares, on which inferior horse- flesh and defective vehicles would be worse than useless. In this connection it may be stated that there are several carriage, buggy, ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. 15/ cart and wagon builders in the City who turn out first-class work and are highly esteemed throughout the neighboring districts. The City Cemeteries and rural Graveyards for many miles around are supplied with beautiful marble and granite shafts and tomb-stones which bear the " imprint " of a well known Lynchburg sculptor, as do also many of the ornaments which adorn our handsome churches and residences. The windows and show cases of our Jewelry Stores sparkle with rich gems and present a most attractive assortment of watches, clocks, gold and silver ware, and such other articles as pertain to this depart- ment of trade, which here embraces spectacles, eye-glasses and opti- cians' goods generally. Fine engraving on stone and metal, design- ing and repairing of all kinds, can be executed here in true artistic style, while orders for Lynchburg watches are received from even the most distant points in the United States with increasing frequency. In the matter of Hardware, Stoves, Tinware, Cutlery, and other kin- dred commodities, the business done here is simply enormous, and there is no need to pass Lynchburg in search of any article in this line, as the whole catalogue can be found in stock at any of our lead- ing houses, of first-class quality, and at reasonable prices. The man- ufacture of Ice from distilled water is among the recent industrial experiments of the City, and, so far, the enterprise has been re- warded with complete success. This now indispensable article of daily consumption is furnished here at half-a-cent per pound, or, in larger quantities, at five dollars per ton. The Ice is absolutely pure, and, at the prices above quoted, is now within the reach of all classes of consumers. Other important industries are in full and successful operation in and around the City, to wit : Grist, Saw and Planing Mills, Door, Sash and Blind Factories, Bark Mills, Dye Works, Barytes Mills, Stone Quarries, and a score more, which, however, have not yet attained special prominence. A tour of the City will reveal to the observant visitor such an array of magnificent new structures — Churches, Public Buildings, Private Residences, Factories, Stores and Warehouses, — that any further eulogy of our Architects, Contractors and dealers in Builders' Materials would be regarded by him as en- tirely superfluous. This is a great mart for Horses and Mules, which are extensively dealt in by our Livery Stable proprietors. The best stock for any and all purposes can be obtained here at all times and at such prices as to suit all purchasers. The Lynchburg Agricul- 158 SKETCH BOOK OF LYNCHBURG, VA. ; tural and Mechanical Society has done much towards establishing this City as a great cattle and live stock market also, and our leading Butchers deal largely in live as well as dead meat of the finest quality. Such goods as China and Glass Ware are to be found here in as great variety and at as low prices as in the large Northern Cities. Our Painters, Plumbers, Tinners, Boot and Shoe Makers, Blacksmiths and mechanics of all kinds furnish excellent work, each in his own line ; while our Photographic Artists turn out first-class work in all styles, and faithfully reproduce, in most becoming manner, the very superior efforts of those other artists, the Milliners and Tailors. Stencil cutting and stamp designing have also their efficient representatives here, as have also all classes of mechanical and artistic contrivances, sewing machines, electrical machinery, &c. Musical Instruments of every description can be purchased, renewed and repaired. Our Confec- tionery establishments are unrivalled in the variety, and excellence of their delicious wares. In short, for a city of its size and population, there cannot be found one anywhere in which the necessaries, com- forts and luxuries of life, in all conceivable forms, are more abundant or more easily obtainable than they are in Lynchburg, and if those who have been ace ustomed to send to distant points for their supplies will only give our merchants, manufacturers and mechanics a fair trial, they will certainly have no cause to regret the experiment, which will no doubt result in securing their permanent patronage for our " home trade." THE LOCAL PRESS. THE LYNCHBURG VIRGINIAN. This venerable and widely known journal, which has only one senior in the State, was established in 1808, when Lynchburg was a comparatively small and unimportant town. It was launched as '! The Lynchburg Press," but when, in 1820, it came into the hands of the late John Hampden Pleasants — one of the most distinguished journalists the State of Virginia has ever produced — its name was changed to "The Lynchburg Virginian'' and has so remained ever since. When Mr. Plea.sants left the Virginian to take up his residence at the Capital, where he became the founder of the Richmond Whig, Richard H. Toler succeeded to the editorship of this paper, and, upon his transfer some years afterwards to the Richmond Whig, William M. Blackford became his successor here. Upon the retire- ITS PEOPLE AND ITS TRADE. 159 ment of Mr. Blackford, A. W. C. Terry assumed the duties of editor of the Virginian, and continued in their discharfre until his death, which occurred in 185 i. James McDonald was then installed in the editorial chair which he occupied till the beginning of 1.S57, when the paper was purchased by Charles VV. Button, who became editor and continued in that pc^sition until July, i>4 CONTEXTS. 175 rase Contractors and Builders. Hamilton Rros 38 Ford, Wm II 88 Koss, E E 73 Seay, W M Hi Cidlery. Watts, JD 42 Dentists. Craddock, Thomas E 90 Hill. J R «>0 Lee, F A 84 De'sifining and Engraving. Johnson, F I) & Son 28 Silverthoni, H 118 Suter, John D & Co 84 Watts, J D 43 Dictionary. Webster's Unabridged 9f) Drnqs, lledicines. &c. Faulkner & CraighiU 33 Strother, W A & Son 44 Dry Goods and Notions. Mallan, JohnJ & Bro 33 Electric Btlls and Machinery. Thurman, R W 63 Fancy Articles. Johnson, F D & Son 38 Silverthorn, H 118 Watts, J D 43 Fertilizer <& Insecticide, Manufrs of LynchburiT Fertilizer Co 114 Wright & Craighill 114 Flour, d-c. Lee&Co 56 McCorkle, Southall & Co 54 Nowlin, S W & Co.... 70 Fruits and Confectionery. Boyd, Samuel A 128 Johnson, WO 84 Lavinder, N H 60 McCorkle, Southall & Co 54 Fur7iishing Goods — Gentlemen's. Cohn, Joseph 16 Hillsman & Myers 88 Furniture, dl-c. Lynchburg Furniture Co, The .. 116 Thompson. J L 98 Winston, J H C. Son & McGehee 30 Groceries — Wholesale. Franklin, Jacob H & Sons 76 Lee&Co 56 Nowlin. S W & Co 70 Robinson, Tate & Co 60 Williams, James T, Son & Co 94 Groceries, &c. Johnson, WO 84 Lavinder, N H 60 McCorkle. Southall & Co 54 Mallan, John J & Bro 22 Page Hats and Caps — Wholesale. Almond, C II 60 Hats, Caps, &c. Cohn, Joseph 16 Coleman, G A & Co 86 Gills & Anderson 44 Kincklc, FA 32 Hay, Mill Feed, d-c. Kinnier, John II 70 Lee&Co 56 Mallan Bros 32 Horses and 3Iules — Dealers in Elliott & Doss 110 Jones, JohnW 88 Hotels. Lynch House 80 Norvell-Arlington House 36 Ice, ciic. Kinnier, John H 70 Lynchburg Ice & Refrigerator Co, The 76 Ice Cream Saloon. Boyd, Samuel A 128 Intelligence Office. Armistead & Steptoe 38 Iron, Manufacturers of Pig Lynchburg Iron Co, The 108 Iron Works. Va Nail and Iron Works Co, The 74 Lynchburglron Co, The 108 Jewelry, Watches, Clocks, &c. Johnson. F I) & Son 28 Silverthorn, H 118 Watts. J U 43 Leaf Tobacco Commission Merchants. Rucker & Barnett 110 Liniment, &c. Faulkner & Craighill 32 Nowlin, S W & Co 70 Strother, W A"& Son 44 Livery and Sale Stables. Elliott & Doss 110 Jones, John W. 88 " Lone Jack,''' Manufacturer of Carroll, John W .'.. 125 3Iarble and Granite Works. Lynchburg Marble & Granite Works. 132 Van Ness, J 1 132 Mattresses, &c. Lynchburg Furniture Co, The... 1x6 Thompson, J L 98 Winston, J H C, Son & McGehee 20 3Iills — Planing. Goodman, R R 66 Mitieral Spring Water. Nowlin. S W & Co 70 Monuments and Headstones. Lynchburg Marble & Granite Works. 122 VaniNess^J 1 122 {■j6 CONTENTS. Musical Instruments. Jones, AV B & Co Nail Works. Va Nail and Iron Works Co, The. Newsjyapers. Lynchburg Advance" The. rase 108 68 •• Lynchburjj News" The 48 m 20 76 Lynchburg Virginian" The Oils, Turpefitinei &c. Brown, FC Franklin, Jacob H & Sons Optical Goods. Johnson, FD&Son 28 Silverthorn, H 118 Watts. J D 42 Painters, Rouse, Sign and Carriage. Butler Bros 94 Pliotographers. Edwards, J W 86 Flecker, A H 98 Plows and Castings. Ford. Win H 88 Nowlin, S W & Co 70 Powder and Dynamite. Nowlin, SW&Co 70 Printing, Book and Job. Virginian Job Printing House 92 Button, Chas F & Joseph .. 92 Proprietary Medicines. Faulkner & Craighill 22 Strother, W A&Son 44 Publishers. Merriam. G & C & Co 96 Pollock, Edward 96 Railroad Companies. Newport News and Mississippi Valley Co 106 Chesapeake & Ohio 106 Virginia Midland 132 Norfolk & Western 133 Richmond & Alleghany 133 Real Estate Agents. Arniistead & Steptoe 38 Reapers, Mowers, &c. McCormiek Harvesting Machine Co.. 32 Roofing — 2\n and Slate. Doherty & Fortune 56 Rubber Stamp Manufacturer. Thurman. K, W 62 Sash, Doors., Blinds, dec. Goodman, RK 66 Heffernan, Wm A 122 Ross, EE 72 Scroll-sawing, Turning, &c. Goodman, R R 66 Ross, E E 72 Sewing Machines and Supplies. Watts J U 42 Page Silver arid Plated Ware. Johnson, F D & Son 28 Silverthorn. H 118 Watts, J D T 42 Stairways and Newel Posts. Hefifernan, Wm A 123 Ross, EE 72 Stencil Cutter. Thurman, RW 63 Stoves and Tinware. Doherty & Fortune 56 Steamship Line. Ducal Luie 106 Tailors — Merchant. Cohn, Joseph 16 Hillsman & Myers 88 Terra Cotta Piping. Ford, Wm H 88 Tobacco Brokers — Leaf. Edwards, John T, Agent 116 Tobacco Bo.res, Cigar Cases, dec. Dawson & Adams Box Manuf g Co... 44 Goodman RR 63 Lynchburg Box Co 56 Tobacco Dealers — Leaf. Holt. Schaefer&Co 34 Tobacco Extract. Holt, Schaefer & Co 24 Tobacco Hogsheads, Tierces, &c. Goodman, R R 66 Tobacco, Maimfactured, Jobbers of Nowlin. S W &Co 60 Williams. James T, Son & Co 94 Tobacco Manufacturers — Plug and Twist. Timberlake, Jackson & Co 84 Winfree, Adams & Loyd 78 I'obacco Manufacturers — Smoking. Carroll, John \V 125 Winfree, Adams&Loyd 78 Tobacco Shapes and Factory Fixtures. Dawson & Adams Box Manut'g Co... 44 Lynchburg Box Co 56 Trunks, Valises, die. Coleman, G A & Co 86 Gills & Anderson 44 Undertakers. DiuLMud.GA& Son 90 Wago?i,s and Buggies — Manuf r of Ford, Wm H ••• 88 Watches, Clocks, Jewelry, &c. Johnson, F D & Son 2J^ Silverthorn, H 118 Watts, JD -is Wines, Liquors, &c. Mallan, John J & Bro 33 Wood and Coal. Kinnier, John H W Mallan Bros 22 I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 014 441 900 5