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“They would start by saying “Sorry about your fire and loss,” and then offer to chip in a half a keg of nails or some other scarce supplies to put toward rebuilding. I’ve always felt that their generosity was the main reason Pop was able to start over.”
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FALL/WINTER 2012
Official Publication of the Lynchburg Historical Foundation
PUBLISHER
Nancy Blackwell Marion
EDITOR
Mary M. Abrams
DESIGN
The Design Group
EDITORIAL BOARD Lamar Cecil
John d’Entremont Peter Houck
James Huston Greg Krueger
Thomas Ledford Marilyn Martin Scott Smith William Young
Lynch’s Ferry (ISSN 1949-2146) is published twice a year by Blackwell Press
311 Rivermont Avenue Lynchburg, VA 24504
Telephone (434) 847-0939
Subscription orders and notice of change of address should be sent to the above address. Subscription rate is $10.00 per year (2 issues) or $18.00 for two years (4 issues) paid in advance.
Copyright 2012 by Blackwell Press All rights reserved
Lynch’s Ferry is for sale at the following locations: Bookshop on the Avenue, Givens Books, Inklings Bookshop, Lynchburg Visitors Center, Old City Cemetery, Point of Honor, Walgreens–Boonsboro Rd., Market on Main, and Lynch’s Ferry’s office at The Design Group.
contents
features
4 Seven Miles, Five Years, Three Million Dollars: The Lynchburg Belt Line and the “West End” Depot by Garland Harper. This fall marks the 100th anniversary of the Kemper Street Station. Located in what was once known as Lynchburg’s up-and-coming “West End,” the depot was the last stop on the Southern Railway’s controversial journey around the city. Plans for the railway improvement project, which also required the construction of numerous trestles and tunnels, conjured fearful “Visions of dozens of shrieking, hissing, rumbling trains... and gangs of vicious tramps following the great highway between North and South.”
22 The J. M. Bell Foundry by John Mitchell Bell in collaboration with Robin Bell Jewett and Pete Jewett. Campbell Avenue in Lynchburg intersects with Mitchell Bell Road in Madison Heights, not on Google maps, but in hearts and memories of “Pop” Bell’s grandchildren. The J. M. Bell Foundry began as a true mom-and-pop shop
and then gradually expanded into a flourishing family-owned business. Photographs and anecdotes revive an era when customer support entailed donating a keg of nails.
30 “The Sweeneys are indeed a wonder!!”: The banjo from Africa to Appomattox by David D. Wooldridge. This entertaining and informative essay explores the life, legend, and legacy of Joel Sweeney, the Elvis of the nineteenth century. Wooldridge has pulled together an eye-popping assortment of photos
and mementos documenting the musical influences and experiences of Central Virginia’s “genius of the banjo.” He has also posted samples of Sweeney-era music at LynchsFerry.com. Listen to the “half barbaric twang” that inspired “hordes of banjo beginners.”
departments
3 From the Editor 45 History in Brief
FRONT COVER: View from the Lynchburg side of the James River as work resumes on the Southern Railway trestle in 1909.
CORRECTION: Spring/Summer 2012’s “The Construction of Lynchburg’s First Skyscraper” incorrectly states that the 11-story Peoples National Bank, erected in 1913, was Lynchburg’s tall- est building until the construction of the 19-story Central Fidel- ity building in 1972. A reader caught the error, pointing out that
PNB was eclipsed by downtown’s 17-story Allied Arts building in 1929-1931.


































































































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