Around July 5, 1894

In this day and age, newspapers rarely print fiction. Of course, there is the occasional magical story written by a third grade class that appears every once a week in the Arts and Entertainment section of the paper, but for the most part, fictional stories of real substance are not published in newspapers anymore. This was not the case in the 1800's. Appearing in The Valley Star each week was...

The July, 1894 conflict between the workers who made up the American Railway Union and their employers at the Pullman Company developed into a nationwide strike that affected emerging urban centers across the country. While the strike was originally centered in Pullman, Illinois, its effects quickly spread to the cities connected to Chicago by rail. On JUly 5, 1894, for instance, the normally uneventful...

Stored deep in the attic was a collection of Virginia and Maryland postcards depicting various different historical sites such as the Arlington House, the University of Virginia, the Mariner's Museum, and Monticello. Important enough that it was stored with the Duke family's personal belongings, one postcard from the late nineteenth century displayed a famous Timothy O'Sullivan photograph...

Will Anderson had a lot of trouble on his hands. Anderson, a prominent creditor in central Virginia, found himself in the midst of a particularly difficult legal battle involving the sale and distribution of coal-rich lands in West Virginia. The lands in question were the John Lykens and Crescent tracts. Apparently, two men, James G. Paxton and J.R. Jordan, owned some of the land and allotted...

Collegiate life in the nineteenth century bore many resemblances to modern university life. In Hampden-Sidney College's yearly publication, The Kaleidoscope, students shared stories of pranks, sports victories, and rigorous course loads that could easily have been written by a college student today. However, the influence of Greek life was much greater in the nineteenth century. Especially...

One of the most interesting aspects of the Viola area is the manner in which is grew and developed. Looking at the turn of the nineteenth century at the Sanborn Insurance map it is clear that the Viola area does not even exist. In Greenville, South Carolina there is Poinsett Highway, which is one of the main roads in and out of downtown Greenville. However, off of Poinsett Highway one finds Stone...

The year was 1894, and the United States economy was in a state of depression. The large number of unemployed citizens needed a way to provide for ther families. They were able and willing to work, but opportunities were scarce. On June 8, 1894, The Detroit Free Press published a notice to the community that Mayor Hazen Pingree was to continue his plan to turn Detroit into an agricultural...

For several decades leading up to the 1900's, the coal and iron industries had grown to become the backbone of the southern economy. Places such as Luray, Virginia, located in Page County, and other Appalachian mining areas became large centers of industry, attracting workers, railroads, and Northern investors.

Yachting, in all of its splendor, has finally reached the mid-Atlantic and has spread quickly throughout the region in the late nineteenth century. The Baltimore Yacht Club, tracing its origins to 1891, was formed in Baltimore City where it is situated on Sue Island. To commence the building of a new yacht for Mr. J.D. Mallory, John Farlow, Percy Donaldson, and other members of the club, the B.Y.C....

Robert E. Lee was a Confederate general who was greatly known during the Civil War. He had respect for his men and, having known most of the people he fought, his enemies. Lee Fought for what he believed in and upon his defeat knew his soldiers would be devastated. Hoping to let them know how they fought their best and it was not their fault he wrote them a farewell letter. Coming from a life rich...