In 1882, the Norfolk & Western Railway chose a crossroads village of 500 people called Big Lick as its junction point, and the place agreed to become a city. Within a decade the population reached 25,000. The railroad built the shops, the hotels, the downtown grid — everything in a single generation by a single industry, earning the place its early nickname: the Magic City. By 1931 that momentum was visible in skyline form: a 12-story Art Deco headquarters tower, the tallest building in southwestern Virginia, its lobby murals still showing N&W operations to anyone who walks in off the street today. The railroad employed more people than any other company in the region for over a century. When it moved its headquarters out, the manufacturing closures followed. What remained was the architecture, the rolling stock preserved at the old freight station downtown, and a city that knows exactly what built it.
