Ronceverte (French for green brier) came into being with the C&O Railway. Jed Hotchkiss, a civil engineer from Staunton, Virginia, platted the town in 1871 on a tract formerly known as Edgar's Mill. As its founders intended, Ronceverte became the county's chief railroad junction and a center of the region's latenineteenth-century lumber industry. Its St. Lawrence Boom and Manufacturing Company operated the largest softwood mill in the nation from 1882 to 1908. Ronceverte was incorporated in 1882 and became Greenbrier County's largest municipality in 1890, a distinction it held until nearby Lewisburg overtook it in 1960. Throughout the twentieth century, the town's population hovered around 2,000. The 2000 figure was 1,557.
Writing Credits
If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.
SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.