Antebellum Urban Promotion in Fredericksburg, Virginia

Southeastern Geographer Vol. XX, No. 1, May 1980, pp. 58-74 ANTEBELLUM URBAN PROMOTION IN FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA Thomas F. Armstrong A year before the Civil War, the editor of the Fredericksburg Weekly Advertiser surveyed the town's prospects. Noting a woolen factory, an axe and saw factory, and a tobacco factory, he enthusiastically observed that (J) All these are signs, unmistakable signs that Fredericksburg is going ahead, safely ahead. We hoped but little from her canal, railroad, plank road, &c, which plunged her into debt; but from the enterprise to which we have referred . . . we hope much . . . because we believe Fredericksburg from its locality and other advantages was designed by Providence for a manufacturing town, rather than a commercial town. Fredericksburg's older residents were dubious, remembering the anticipation accompanying the slow progress on the canal, turnpikes, and railroads. Each project promised a new prosperity (Fig. 1). Only after long involvement with the Rappahannock Canal, the failure of the railroad schemes, and the qualified success of the plank road, did the town promoters turn to manufacturing. Throughout the 1850s, the town council attempted to promote manufacturing but with limited success. Long-term residents may have been skeptical but they had witnessed an important historical development. Like countless antebellum Southern and American towns, Fredericksburg had faced the problem of town promotion. Unlike many towns or cities which successfully promoted growth around transportation, a water-powered manufacturing site, or mineral resources, Fredericksburg's promoters tried all three. (2) The town's experience thus provides an opportunity to examine diverse promotional strategies, using a rich historical record which includes newspapers , town council proceedings, and other state reports and documents . (3) Dr. Armstrong is Associate Professor of History in the Department of History and Geography at Georgia College, Milledgeville, GA 31061. Vol. XX, No. 1 59 Fredericksburg and Internal Improvements, 1860 1- Swift Run Gap Turnpike (Fredericksburg and Valley Plank Road) 2-Little River Turnpike 3-Fredericksburg to Bowling Green (not built)? 4-Rappahannock Canalf 5-Richmond, Fredericksburg and f \ / # Potomac RailroadJ '~~} harrisonburs 6-Virginia Central Railroad ^staunton 7-Orange and Alexandria Railroad·'J X ./charlotte ALEXANDRIA WINCHESTER EDERICKSBURG COVINeTON CHMON LYN Fig. 1. Fredericksburg and internal improvements, 1860. EARLY DEVELOPMENTS. During the colonial period, Fredericksburg emerged as one of Virginia's leading port towns. The town was founded in 1727 as an inspection center for tobacco. The growth of the town's hinterland and the simultaneous settlement of the lower Shenandoah Valley gave Fredericksburg a trade position of considerable importance . Andrew Burnaby, travelling in Virginia in the 1750s, observed that Fredericksburg "is at present by far the most flourishing [town] in these parts." At the close of the colonial period, the presence of iron works and an armory, coupled with its trade, provided support for the town's more than 1,000 inhabitants. (4) After the Revolution, the soil in much of Fredericksburg's hinterland was becoming exhausted from tobacco planting, and a major shift to wheat production was underway. As a result of this land use change, Fredericksburg shifted from a tobacco center to a wheat milling center in order to retain its trade and commerce. The town also needed an expanded service area to increase its trade role. 60Southeastern Geographer These needs of Fredericksburg coincided with a national transportation revolution. (5) The Rappahannock River could be improved. Turnpikes or at least better roads could be built across the Blue Ridge to assure Fredericksburg of the trade from the Shenandoah Valley. Furthermore , turnpikes leading east could tie the tidewater counties to the Fredericksburg market. On paper these projects appeared to offer the best strategy for commercial promotion. Carrying out the strategy proved more difficult than even the most sanguine of Fredericksburg's residents might have imagined. Fredericksburg's enterprising citizens tried to organize a company for the improvement of the Rappahannock as early as 1793. With the removal of sand bars downstream from the town and with the canalization ofthe river upstream, the townspeople hoped for improved trade. The first Rappahannock Company failed for lack of financial support. Several years later the town council formed a committee to "inquire into the expediency and possibility of deepening the said River [Rappahannock]." (6) Upon receiving...