Research Catalog

Title

Roanoke, Virginia, 1882-1912 : magic city of the new South / Rand Dotson.

Author

Dotson, Rand, 1967-

Publication

Knoxville : University of Tennessee Press, 2008, c2007.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xxi, 338 p. : ill., maps; 24 cm.

Summary

Tells the story of a city that for a brief period was widely hailed as a regional model for industrialization as well as the ultimate success symbol for the rehabilitation of the former Confederacy. In a region where modernization seemed to move at a glacial pace, those looking for signs of what they were triumphantly calling the "New South" pointed to Roanoke. No southern city grew faster than Roanoke did during the 1880s. A hardscrabble Appalachian tobacco depot originally known by the uninspiring name of Big Lick, it became a veritable boomtown by the end of the decade as a steady stream of investment and skilled manpower flowed in from north of the Mason-Dixon line. The first scholarly treatment of Roanoke's early history, the book explains how native businessmen convinced a northern investment company to make their small town a major railroad hub. It then describes how that venture initially paid off, as the influx of thousands of people from the North and the surrounding Virginia countryside helped make Roanoke - presumptuously christened the "Magic City" by New South proponents - the state's third-largest city by the turn of the century. Rand Dotson recounts what life was like for Roanoke's wealthy elites, working poor, and African American inhabitants. He also explores the social conflicts that ultimately erupted as a result of well-intended ₃reforms₄ initiated by city leaders. Dotson illustrates how residents mediated the catastrophic Depression of 1893 and that year's infamous Roanoke Riot, which exposed the faȧde masking the city's racial tensions, inadequate physical infrastructure, and provincial mentality of the local populace. Dotson then details the subsequent attempts of business boosters and progressive reformers to attract the additional investments needed to put their city back on track. Ultimately, Dotson explains, Roanoke's early struggles stemmed from its business leaders' unwavering belief that economic development would serve as the panacea for all of the town's problems.

Subjects

• Roanoke (Va.) > Economic conditions > 20th century
• Roanoke (Va.) > Economic conditions > 19th century
• Roanoke (Va.) > History
• Railroads > Virginia > Roanoke > History
• Industrialization > Virginia > Roanoke > History

Note

• "Paper: First printing, 2008"--T.p. verso.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [309]-324) and index.

Call Number

ITD (Roanoke) 11-163

ISBN

• 9781572336438
• 1572336439

OCLC

733085220

Author

Dotson, Rand, 1967-

Title

Roanoke, Virginia, 1882-1912 : magic city of the new South / Rand Dotson.

Imprint

Knoxville : University of Tennessee Press, 2008, c2007.

Edition

1st ed.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (p. [309]-324) and index.

Connect to:

Table of contents only

Other Form:

Online version: Dotson, Rand, 1967- Roanoke, Virginia, 1882-1912. 1st ed. Knoxville : University of Tennessee Press, c2007 (OCoLC)608073699

Online version: Dotson, Rand, 1967- Roanoke, Virginia, 1882-1912. 1st ed. Knoxville : University of Tennessee Press, c2007 (OCoLC)609283253

Research Call Number

ITD (Roanoke) 11-163