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Railroad Building:
In 1852 ginia and Tennessee Railroad was con Big Lick from Lynchburg, and the f entered the village on November 1 of ' Though some growth followed the adve railroad, Big Lick's expansion was sli number of years. On Feb. 28, 1874, tl was incorporated as the town of Big 1880 the federal census gave Big Lick tion of but 669. The building of the Sh Valley Railroad in 1882 to a conned the Norfolk and Western at Big Lick r real beginning of the city, and in that name of the place was changed to (Indian word meaning "money").The city was named for the mounds near its site. It grew from a settlement established in 1818 to operate the Rocky Mount Cotton Mills, built by Joel Battle, and still in operation. The original building was burned by Federal forces in 1863. It was rebuilt and again destroyed by fire of incendiary origin. The present building dates from 1871. The railroad was built through the town in 1848, and in 1867 Rocky Mount Depot, as it was called by the railroad, was incorporated as the town of Rocky Mount, with a population of 50 people. The State Industrial School for Boys is located here.
Somewhat belatedly the railroad developed the South. Before the Civil War, Southerners had preferred to invest their executive skill and money in managing land and slave forces; the Souti had consequently lagged in railroad building. By 1860 only one route connected the seaboard with the Mississippi River, the Charleston and Memphis, an expansion of the Charleston and Hamburg. To rebuild the economy devastated by the war and to participate, albeit belatedly, in the progress of the times, the Southern states after Appomattox incurred large state debts in behalf of railroad construction, and held out inducements to Northern capital.
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