History of Roanoke County

Early in life, when a
mere boy, he went to
Pittsylvania Courthouse
in the employ of
Colonel Bennett and
continued with him for
several years in the mercantile
business. After
reaching his majority,
he branched out for himself
with a store located
at "Rough and Ready,"
in Montgomery County,
Virginia, near the town
of Snowville, as now
located.

There he continued in
business until about
1850, when he married
Julia Ann Hannah at
"Solitude," near Roanoke City, then "Big Lick," and
moved there to live. The homestead settled by
George Hannah, the grandfather of his wife, was
granted to him by George III of England. About
1854 or 1855, the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad was
constructed through this section, and he bought a
farm of the Shirey heirs, which adjoined the land of
his wife, and also the land of John Trout along Commerce
Street, including all the land on which is situated
the West End of the city of Roanoke, and became a
large farmer owning a large number of slaves and raised
large crops of tobacco and wheat.

He had increased his lands and slaves by purchasing
more slaves and fifteen hundred acres of land in Pulaski
County, Virginia, so that at the close of the war he
had nearly one hundred negro slaves, young and old.
After losing his slaves he did not farm on so large a
scale, but continued to farm and manufacture tobacco
at Big Lick till about the year 1882, when he engaged
largely in railroad contracting, and the purchase and
development of iron ore properties, being the builder
and owner of the Rorer Iron Mines near Roanoke,
Virginia, and the railroad leading to same, besides
owning large iron properties in Craig, Botetourt and
Montgomery counties in Virginia. He also became
interested in the development of the present city of
Roanoke, having laid off the first town lots and employed
the first real estate agent in the person of the
late J. A. Dalby. These lots were laid off in what
was a beautiful oak grove, fronting on Commerce
Street, from the present site of the courthouse out
to Franklin Road, near the site of the large grammar
school now being erected.

He also laid off and constructed, for the most part
at his individual expense, through his lands, all the
streets running west and parallel with the Norfolk &
Western Railway from Commerce Street to the West
End Furnace, embracing all the land between the
Norfolk & Western Railway on the north and Ferdinand
Avenue on the south, and with the Roanoke
River as far west as the furnace.

Ferdinand Rorer built the first town hall, known as
"Rorer Hall," for the city of Roanoke, and was among
the city's first councilmen, as well as one of the first
hotel proprietors, building and operating the "Rorer
Park" Hotel, which was occupied by a great many
new comers to the young growing town who have
become permanent citizens, and are now living here,
among them being the Rev. W. C. Campbell, for
whom was named the principal street running in front
of the hotel, "Campbell Avenue," as was Patterson
Avenue named for Patterson H. Rorer. Rorer
Avenue, Ferdinand Avenue and Ernest Avenue, being
named for members of the Rorer family. He also
dedicated to the First Presbyterian Church the land
on which it is built and with his teams and at his own
expense for the most part, hauled the Old Presbyterian
Church from Gainsborough, or "Old Lick" as it was
called, and helped to erect it where the handsome new
church now stands, the old church being moved to
the rear and is now used as a Sunday School room.

He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, being
converted under the ministry of the Rev. C. H. Howard,
in 1873, and joined the church at the time of his
conversion.

He was a man of generous impulses, warm-hearted,
and one of the pioneer builders of the city of Roanoke.

University of Virginia Library

FERDINAND RORER