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Coal Towns/Andover, Virginia
Although not a coal town, Andover served the very important purpose of acting as the center for transporting the coal out of the narrow hollows and to the larger markets. Beginning in 1896, Interstate Railroad, a subsidiary of Virginia Coal and Iron, opened its rail line connecting the town of Appalachia with the new coal mines at Stonega. Within only a few years, high levels of production and the opening of new towns and mines required more rails. At the site of Andover , Interstate Railroad built their rail yard from which the local train traffic would be managed.
As existing coal towns grew and new towns were built, Andover grew with them. By 1907, several new tracks were laid through the town and Andover became the center of Interstate Railroad's local operations. Throughout the 1910s, the town grew through the addition of several new houses for railway workers and had fifty houses by the beginning of the next decade. By the time the construction was complete, the town had a school, church, and sixty houses, forty of which were simple four-room homes. Andover also had a company store, but it only operated from 1917-1921, presumably closing because of the town's proximity to a thriving Appalachia .
Today, visitors to Andover still see the neat rows of houses, most of which lay between Callahan Creek and the railroad tracks. The original church remains standing fronting the creek and the original school has been converted to a private home.
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This page last updated: May 31, 2005
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