THE HISTORY OF LYNCHBURG PART 2

This is part #2 of the series of "THE HISTORY OF LYNCHBURG" Lynchburg is indeed rich in history and I will try and capture some of the best of it in this series. If you missed Part 1, here is the link. HISTORY OF LYNCHBURG PT 1

THE HISTORY OF LYNCHBURG PART 2

In the late 1820's, the town accomplished a major engineering feat with the construction of a water works system which drew its supply from the river below. Plagued by continual problems with a spring and well-based water supply, a reservoir was constructed (at the corner of 7th and Clay St.) along with wooden pipes and a pump house at the river (near the base of 7th).

In 1830 at the height of the Lynchburg tobacco trade, over 50 tons of the regions cash crop were processed a year. As a result, Lynchburg became one of the wealthiest cities in the nation per capita income, second only to the whaling town of New Bedford, Massachusetts

The decade brought with it some unusual phenonema to Lynchburg, including an earthquake, an all-night meteor storm, a hailstorm that broke almost every window in the town, and a rare auroral display in the northern sky. By the end of the 1830's, Lynchburg's population topped 6000.

By 1840, the James River and Kanawha Canal was completed(the town had in 1832 dropped a planned railroad in favor of the canal system), and packet boats began regular operation between Lynchburg and Richmond (a lock from the Kanawha canal is preserved on the Blue Ridge Parkway and Rte. 501 intersection about 15 miles west of the city).

1842 and 1847 brought two floods, the latter one wreaking havoc with the canal system and destroying the water works dam, leaving the town without water for several months

   Early Va & Tennessee RR Locomotive

On March 24, 1848, Lynchburg incorporated the Lynchburg and Tennessee (soon to be named Virginia & Tennessee) Railroad, following the refusal of the state to fund its construction. By June 1, sufficient funds had been raised to retain the charter, and by October, property at the old ferry site had been purchased to build a depot, and contractors were solicited for the first segment from Lynchburg to Salem.

Construction began in 1850, and on February 18, 1852, the railroad's first locomotive (the "Virginia") was tested when it climbed out of the river basin, disappeared into a tunnel and then returned (By 1881, the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad would be a part of the Norfolk & Western RR).

(The "Roanoke," as photographed in 1854. A sister
locomotive, the "Lynchburg," had blown up two years
earlier in Forest, Virginia, killing two people)

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