Why is Madison Heights called Hog Town?

 i live in HogTown and there is no smell here it is still on the other side of the river in lynchburg VA

i have HogTown's Finest inked on my right arm you can look at the pic on my myspace page

www.myspace.com/theaceofspadezguy

I live in Madison Heights, and I can tell you there is no smell whatsoever. I don't believe the story about Mr. Madison is actually true even. I believe the reason Madison Heights is called "Hogtown" is because in the early 1800's the city of Lynchburg passed an ordinance, prohibitting the raising of hogs in the city limits. Lynchburg's residents began contracting with Madison Heights residents to raise their hogs for them. This is the most likely reason the city became known as "Hogtown". Years ago, Madison Heights residents were ridiculed by the name, "Hogtown". Now it is used proudly by its residents. Madison Heights is a wonderful town to live in AND it doesn't smell!

A man named Charles Stinson, who grew up in "Hogtown" has just released a wonderful book about our town called, Hogtown:Memories of Madison Heights. I just finished reading it, and thoroughly enjoyed learning all I could about the town I call home.

hey guys, nobody said there was an odor NOW (although there is no less than any place down wind from a landfill as the heights is. however the burg gets most of that downtown...) and the new nickname IS "dirty heights"...

i find the three posible solutions to the "hogtown" riddle are all actually essentially the same. the hogs were obviously there. and the initial story i had heard was hogtown was used mostly for main street/lynch's ferry since the pigs were run from town, down (or up, i dunno where the facilities were located) the hill to slaughter. so this was from a lifelong resident living just off of 9th near dawson street.

the second answer i got (also delivered by persons who had been born and bred in the county) was the name was a reference to the women of the area!  

madison heights is fairly large, especially when taking in some of the area shared by it and some of the locales on its fringes. like galt's mill (unbelievably beautiful) elon (again, country side perfection) dixie airport, izaac walton, winesap, wright shop, etc. but hogtown really is not madison heights. it is primarily the "old town" area coming from the very banks of the james, down stump's hill on main and up to colony road. that is the thick of it. main street and lynch's ferry and what lies between what are now the two rt 29's. the area of main above colony is still hogtown but hogtown ends, i believe, at the entrance to 29 bus. at or around phelps rd. though slick's cafe uses "hogtown" as their location so perhaps that includes seminole and the wright shop (and old wright shop) areas as hogtown as well. do the citizens of hillcrest believe to be hogtinians ass well?

while it is somewhat romantic to see the name as something positive i do believe the name was used as a pejorative. certainly the graffiti sprayed on the 29s exit to colony rd by the local white gang for over a decade "HOSTERTOWN RECKIN CREW" doesn't paint the picture of a place not deserving of some unsavory nickname. the hogtown wrecking crew were known in the neighborhood. mostly confining their petty criminal activities to the regions below colony rd.

and what about the malformed mug of the infamous, dogman, who could be seen wandering 29 round the kroger up near the oriole lodge for about 15 years (if THAT place could talk!!!) ... jimmy "river rat" whose dissapearance still puzzles those of us who knew him. are the rumors true? was his truck pushed into the river by the illiterates of the wrecking crew???

stinson's book is quite intesting. it seems like a slice of life from what may have been the best time to have lived in that area. when i lived there is was past its prime. but still had a strange energy about it. it has certainly been influenced by the training school or what ever you may have called it.  could you imagine what must have happened there (which is another story, of course!) i recognized a few familiar spots which looked much different by the time i got to them. and even though it was a rough neighborhood i still walked to the store at night without hassle above colony often growing up and had little trouble for most of the decade i lived there. if you didn't start anything nothing would happen as a friend of mine would say. but if you were looking for trouble, you could find it no doubt.

I am related to Charles, and still currently live down off Main Street in the family home. My father is one of Charles cousins, and said a lot of the book was correct. But some wasn't, rather it was just the age difference or differences of opinion. In my time here I have seen it change and not really in a good way. There are many homes that need help and the county is currently working on getting grants to help with upkeep to them. They is a group that has come in and buying the older homes to fix them up and rent to the LU students. Which is a good idea and brings value and a better atmosphere to the area here.

Small, friendly easy to get to any place Lynchburg, Charlottesville etc