University of Virginia Library

The Building of the Shenandoah Valley Railroad

In 1881 when the first intimation came of the building
of the Shenandoah Valley Railroad, Big Lick was a
thriving town of six or seven hundred population and
there had been a few more additions to the manufacturing
and general business interests of the place.

At this point in the history of the city of Roanoke,
Philadelphia capitalists, who had bought and taken
charge of the Shenandoah Valley Railr