Page 52 - A Narrative of the History of Roanoke Virginia

New information about the history of Roanoke
Big Lick to Roanoke from 1874-Part Twelve

By Richard Mundy
Sources:refer to New Research Sources-previously posted
New information about the history of Roanoke
Big Lick to Roanoke from 1874-Part Twelve

By Richard Mundy
Sources:refer to New Research Sources-previously posted

In this installment, more improvement continued between old and new towns, following original
alienation with the company when it did little to improve their side of town and its employees.
And civic reform is also on the horizon.

The first signs of sectionalism, fueled by the local press, the RL&IC, and the municipal
government, emerged between “old town” and “new town” in 1882. Most “old town” residents
had initially welcomed the railroad and its employees, but much of their good will turned to
alienation when the company did little to improve their side of town and its employees, who paid
few taxes on their rental homes, demanded public services. Many also resented the RL&IC
monopoly on Roanoke’s water supply, or at least questioned the independence of their elected
representatives.

Most “new town” residents, by contrast, had relocated from established urban areas and found
the primitive conditions, lack of public services, and parochial atmosphere they encountered in
Roanoke bewildering. The periodic episodes of sectionalism that erupted between each
settlement horrified the town’s native elites, and it was mainly through their efforts as local
emissaries of the company that the tensions were, for a time, kept in check. The sectionalism
did not dissipate. Indeed, it grew worse during the remainder of the decade, when Roanoke’s
blacks teamed with northern-born Republicans in “new town” to threaten the domination of local
Democrats.

Both of the settlements that became Roanoke experienced the sort of intensive
demographic and structural growth common in gold or silver “boom towns.” It was primarily the
older settlement and downtown area, however, that suffered the concomitant infrastructure
shortfalls and social disorders typically found in “instant cities.”

As I have previously stated, while Roanoke’s tax exemption proved a bonanza for northern
capitalists and a boon for local businessmen, it saddled the town with chronic revenue shortfalls
that prevented even modest road and sewer improvements or adequate public services. The
consequences were readily apparent; most of the original settlement and much of the
haphazardly laid-out business district had dirt or mud streets, plank sidewalks, kerosene laps,
cisterns and wells for water, and privies or creeks for sewers. “New town,” by contrast, benefited
from urban planning, running water, sewers, and macadamized streets.