Page 4 - A Narrative of the History of Roanoke Virginia

When the English in the 1600s began exploring the regions along the coast of North
Carolina they came across various Indian tribes. The local Indians used as a medium of
exchange (money) small, white seashells which they polished, drilled, and stung up as
necklaces. The Indians called this shell money (spelled by the English based on the
Indian pronunciation, ‘Rawanoke’ or ‘Rawenoch’. The English thought the word was
so beautiful that they gave the name to a wide river which they ‘discovered’ nearby.

Many years later and many miles northwest the name was shared with a new county, and
then to a city. The same meaning of the word but from a different perspective and origin.

Besides our hometown of Roanoke, VA. I have known of other Roanokes, including the
lost colony of Roanoke Island. In fact, additional research showed more than a dozen
other cities and towns in the U.S. named Roanoke. States like Alabama, Illinois, Texas,
North Carolina, West Virginia and even as far away as a Seattle Washington suburb and
into the Dakotas.
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Most interesting was to discover that all but one or two of these cities showed early,
verifiable populations of native Americans, the Indians. The logical conclusion is that
these tribes also valued shells as money and used the term Roanoke to describe them. The
first known of the name Roanoke was the name given to Roanoke Island, and what has
become known as the Lost Colony. Then there is the river that flows from west of current
day Roanoke (becoming the Staunton River in some places) to the sea near Roanoke
Island. As explained before, it was thought to be an original Algonquian word for shell
money, and other native Americans such as the Siouan, Tutelc and Catawban as well as
the Cherokee also adopted the word.

In April of 1865, Big Lick was sacked by Federal forces during the Civil War. But by
1874 Big Lick had become a transportation hub, both because of its convenient, near
central position in the state, and the fact that (remember the earlier comment) the trail
known The Great Road ran through the area. So Big Lick was chosen as the location for
the confluence of the Shenandoah Valley Railroad, The Atlantic, Mississippi & Ohio, the
Virginia & Tennessee Railroads and others to form what became the Norfolk and Western
Railroad.

Frederick J. Kimball, a civil engineer, headed the new line and was responsible for Big
Lick getting the headquarters of the newly formed rail lines. Grateful citizens offered to
rename their town “Kimball” in his honor, but at his suggestion, they agreed to change
the name from Big Lick to Roanoke after the river. As the N&W brought in people and
jobs, the new Town of Roanoke quickly became an independent city in 1884. In fact,
Roanoke became a city so quickly that it earned the nickname "Magic City". Later, in the
60s, an urban renewal project was created at the corner of Williamson Road and Orange
Avenue in order to construct the city's Auditorium and Coliseum. That urban renewal area
was named Kimball, to honor the man responsible for the N&W headquarters being
awarded to Roanoke.

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