University of Virginia Library

Damascus.

When the Abingdon Coal and Iron Railroad Company was first
suggested, and for some years thereafter, the location of this town
and the postoffice at this place were known as Mock's Mills and
remained so until about the year 1892; when the postoffice was
changed to Damascus at the instance of General J. D. Imboden,
who at that time was very much interested in the welfare of the
community.

It has been suggested that the name of Damascus was given to
this locality because of a fancied resemblance to Damascus in Palestine,
near the scene of the conversion of St. Paul.

The location of this town was laid off into streets by the year
1892, and the plans of a magnificent hotel and numerous business
enterprises were projected; but the crisis came soon thereafter,
and all growth and progress ceased until about the year 1897.

In the meantime business had revived, and the property of the
Abingdon Coal and Iron Railroad Company became the property

of the Virginia and Carolina Railway Company, of which W. E.
Mingea, of Roanoke, was president, and the railroad had been
completed to Damascus.

The first train carrying passengers reached Damascus on the
7th day of February, 1900, and at that time the building of the
Beaver Dam railroad from Damascus to Crandull, Tennessee, was
being rapidly pushed to completion, and every preparation was
being made for a rapid development of the magnificient water-power,
mineral deposits and immense forests of splendid timber
found in the immediate vicinity of Damascus.

Since that time the Beaver Dam railroad has been completed,
and the Virginia and Carolina Railway Company has been extended
some distance up Laurel Fork of Holston river in the direction
of North Carolina. A large tannery, extract plant, an
extensive sash, door and blind factory and numerous saw mills
carried on by hundreds of hands are at work in and around Damascus
at the present time. The town itself has experienced a
very rapid growth, and to-day boasts of several churches, a splendid
public school building, a number of prosperous mercantile
establishments, one physician, Dr. Fortune, one real estate agent,
R. F. Fortune, a bank and many thrifty citizens.