Editing Farmville, Virginia (section)

== History ==
Near the headwaters of the [[Appomattox River]], the town of Farmville was formed in 1798 and incorporated in 1912.

===Upper Appomattox Canal Navigation System===
Between 1795 and 1890, Farmville was the end of the line for the [[Upper Appomattox Canal Navigation System]], built to improve navigation on the river. [[Slavery in the United States|Enslaved African Americans]] built the canal system that allowed commodity crops of tobacco and farm produce to be loaded on a [[James River bateau]] in Farmville and shipped to [[Petersburg, Virginia]].  The canals were used until railroads were constructed in this area.<ref name="VIRGINIA TOURISM CORPORATION 2016">{{cite web|url =http://www.virginia.org/listings/HistoricSites/UpperAppomattoxCanal/|title =UPPER APPOMATTOX CANAL|date =2016|website =Virginia is for Lovers|publisher =VIRGINIA TOURISM CORPORATION|access-date =2016-08-25|url-status =live|archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20160914032644/http://www.virginia.org/listings/HistoricSites/UpperAppomattoxCanal/|archive-date =2016-09-14}}</ref>

Many of the boatmen who worked near Farmville were [[free people of color]]. They lived in the [[Israel Hill]] community. Israel Hill was home to both [[White people]] and free [[African-American]] laborers, craftsmen, and farmers freed from the end of the Revolutionary War to around 1810. People of African and European descent worked for the same wages, built a church together, and could have resort to the court of law within the 350-acre town.<ref name="Department of Historic Resources">{{cite web| url = http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/contents/post%20march.2009.bd.meeting.marker.release.1x.pdf| title = Ten New State Historical Highway Markers Approved| last = Jones| first = Randy| date = 2009-04-15| website = Department of Historic Resources| access-date = 2015-08-25| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150923214238/http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/contents/post%20march.2009.bd.meeting.marker.release.1x.pdf| archive-date = 2015-09-23}}</ref>

===Local coal===
{{Infobox company
|website     =
|name        = The Prince Edward Coal Mining Company
|logo        = 
|caption     = 
|type        = Private
|foundation  = ({{Start date|1837|03|24}})
|defunct     = 1880s
<ref name="Farmville Herald">{{cite news
 |last        = Gaskins
 |first       = Ray A.
 |date        = 2015-12-23
 |title       = Monthly Happenings in Farmville and Prince Edward County
 |url         = http://www.farmvilleherald.com/2015/12/the-farmville-coal-iron-company-3
 |newspaper   = The Farmville Herald
 |location    = Farmville, Virginia
 |access-date = 2016-08-04
 |url-status     = live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20160918030246/http://www.farmvilleherald.com/2015/12/the-farmville-coal-iron-company-3/
 |archive-date = 2016-09-18
}}</ref>
|location    = Farmville, [[Virginia]]
|area_served = Farmville
|industry    = Coal
}}

John Flournoy was the first to mine coal near Farmville.  He started in 1833 working on a seam, which was two feet thick. In 1837 the General Assembly granted a charter to The Prince Edward Coal Mining Company to mine and sell coal. This company was still in operation into the 1880s.<ref name="Farmville Herald"/>

Another coal pit in the 1880s was worked on the W.W. Jackson property. The coal from this small pit was used to fuel his blacksmith shop on the same property."<ref name="Farmville Herald"/> The coal deposits are part of the [[Farmville Basin]], one of the [[Eastern North America Rift Basins]] west of modern-day, [[Virginia State Route 45]].<ref name="Virginia Division of Mineral Resources"/>

===Southside Railroad===
In the 1850s, the [[Southside Railroad (Virginia)|Southside Railroad]] from [[Petersburg, Virginia|Petersburg]] to [[Lynchburg, Virginia|Lynchburg]] was built through Farmville.<ref Name=Bright2015>{{cite web |url=http://www.csa-railroads.com/South_Side.htm |title=Confederate Railroads - South Side |last=Bright |first=David L. |date=2015 |website=Confederate Railroads |access-date=2018-01-25 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201031909/http://www.csa-railroads.com/South_Side.htm |archive-date=2017-12-01 }}</ref>  The route, which was subsidized by a contribution from Farmville, required an expensive crossing of the Appomattox River slightly downstream, which became known as the [[High Bridge (Appomattox River)|High Bridge]]. This became the [[Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad]] in 1870; the [[Norfolk and Western Railway]] took it over, and now the line is part of the [[Norfolk Southern Railway]].

The bridge and the rail line from [[Burkeville, Virginia|Burkville]] to [[Pamplin City, Virginia|Pamplin City]] was converted by Virginia Department of Parks and Recreation into [[High Bridge Trail State Park]], based on a rail to trail project.

===Piedmont Mine===
{{Infobox company
| website  = 
| name     = Piedmont Coal Company
| type     = 
| industry = Coal
| founded  = {{start date |1860|}} in [[Raines Tavern, Virginia]], [[Virginia]], United States
| founder  = John Dalby<ref name="Virginia Division of Mineral Resources">{{cite report| last = Wilkes | first = Gerald P.| date = August 1882| title = Geology and Mineral Resources of the Farmville Triassic Basin, Virginia| url = https://dmme.virginia.gov/DGMR/pdf/vamin/VAMIN_VOL28_NO03.PDF| publisher = Virginia Division of Mineral Resources| edition = Vol. 28 Num. 3| location = Charlottesville, Virginia| access-date = 2016-08-08| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130312033004/https://www.dmme.virginia.gov/DGMR/pdf/vamin/VAMIN_VOL28_NO03.PDF| archive-date = 2013-03-12}}</ref>
}}

The [[Virginia General Assembly]] chartered the Piedmont Coal Company for John Dalby in 1860. The mine was near [[Buckingham, Virginia|Buckingham]] [[Plank Road]], [[Virginia State Route 600 (Buckingham and Cumberland Counties)|Virginia State Route 600 in Cumberland]], a mile and a half west of [[Raines Tavern, Virginia]].

Without rail transportation close to Raines Tavern, the transportation cost of getting the coal to Farmville and then by rail to Richmond was too high to sell it at a competitive price. The coal was sold locally to people in the area for heating their homes.

During the [[American Civil War]], the mines continued to operate but then production fell off.  Coal was still there, though, Daddow and Bannon documented seven or eight coal seams and [[anthracite]] in 1866.<ref name="Virginia Division of Mineral Resources"/>

===Civil War===
[[File:High Bridge Farmville Virginia.jpg|thumb|220px|right|High Bridge<br />Photo by [[Timothy H. O'Sullivan]], 1865]]
Confederate General [[Robert E. Lee]] retreated through Farmville as he escaped the [[Union Army]].  Farmville was the object of the [[Confederate Army]]'s desperate push to get rations to feed its soldiers near the end of the [[American Civil War]]. The rations had originally been destined for [[Danville, Virginia|Danville]], but an alert [[quartermaster]] ordered the train back to Farmville. Despite an advance of the cavalry commanded by [[Fitzhugh Lee]], the Confederate Army was checked by the arrival of [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] cavalry commanded by Gen. [[Philip Sheridan]] and two divisions of infantry. General [[Robert E. Lee]]'s [[Army of Northern Virginia]] found itself soon surrounded. He surrendered at [[Appomattox Court House National Historical Park|Appomattox Court House]] on April 9, 1865.

The Prince Edward county seat was moved from [[Worsham, Virginia|Worsham]] to Farmville in 1871.

===Independent Order of Odd Fellows Cemetery===
The Independent Order of Odd Fellows Cemetery, also known as the Odd Fellows Cemetery, is in Farmville, Virginia. Several prominent state legislators and civil rights advocates who were African American are buried in the cemetery. The cemetery also has approximately 31 headstones from World War I.<ref name=ww>{{Cite web|last1=Gaskins|first1=Ray A|date=2016-05-31|title=World War I and the Farmville American Legion|url=https://www.farmvilleherald.com/2016/05/world-war-i-and-the-farmville-american-legion/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-02-13|website=Farmville}}</ref>

====Burials====
*[[James W. D. Bland]], state senator<ref name=bland>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P1TokxnF_jcC&q=odd+fellows+cemetery+farmville+virginia&pg=PA17|title=Exilic Existence: Contributions of Black Churches in Prince Edward County, Virginia During the Modern Civil Rights Movement|first=J. Samuel Jr.|last=Williams|date=October 20, 2011|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=9781467036955|via=Google Books}}</ref>
*[[Tazewell Branch]] (1828–1925) House of Delegates member<ref name=bland/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://history.house.virginia.gov/members/5868|title=House History|website=history.house.virginia.gov}}</ref>
*[[Nathaniel M. Griggs]], member of the Virginia House of Delegates and Virginia Senate<ref>{{cite web |title=Griggs, Nathaniel M. (d. 1919) |url=https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Griggs_Nathaniel_M_d_1919 |website=www.encyclopediavirginia.org |access-date=14 February 2021}}</ref>
*[[L. Francis Griffin]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://crdl.usg.edu/export/html/vrc/pec/crdl_vrc_pec_35851.html?Welcome|title=Welcome to the Civil Rights Digital Library|website=crdl.usg.edu}}</ref> civil rights campaigner who sued to stop segregation in [[Prince Edward County, Virginia]]'s public schools

===Clay brick kiln===
There was a brick-making industry in Farmville, using the clay of the [[Farmville Basin]].  In 1874, M.R. Murkland built a [[kiln]] for his hand-formed [[brick]]s. He made around 600,000 bricks each year.<ref name="Farmville Herald"/> The [[Triassic]] [[clay]] of the Farmville Basin was mixable and plastic enough and would not shrink too much, which made it suitable for bricks.<ref name="Virginia Division of Mineral Resources"/>

===Rail transport ===

Rail Transport from Cumberland County helped Cumberland farmers sell fruits, vegetables and timber to Farmville markets.<ref name="ImmigrationKoiner1909">{{cite book|author1=Virginia. Dept. of Agriculture and Immigration|author2=George Wellington Koiner|title=A Handbook of Virginia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wfcRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA124|year=1909|publisher=E. Waddey Company, printers|pages=124–125}}</ref><ref name="Dept1916">{{cite book|author=Norfolk and Western Railway Company. Agricultural and Industrial Dept|title=Industrial and Shippers Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dDsuAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA22|year=1916|publisher=Union Print. and Manufacturing Company|pages=22–23}}</ref>  From 1884 to 1917, the [[Farmville and Powhatan Railroad]], later named the [[Tidewater and Western Railroad]], was important to [[Cumberland County, Virginia|Cumberland County]] residents for markets and transportation and the telegraph.  The owners hoped that the line could ship products all the way to the end of the line in [[Chester, Virginia]] and docks in the [[Tidewater region]] to  make the railroad profitable.  The line had trouble competing with the [[Standard gauge]] [[Southside Railroad (Virginia)|Southside Railroad]].

====Coal to ship over rails====
{{Infobox company
|website     = 
|name        = Farmville Coal and Iron Company
|logo        = 
|caption     = 
|type        = Private
|foundation  = ({{Start date|1881|||df=yes}})
|defunct     = 
<ref name="Farmville Herald"/>
|location    = Farmville, [[Virginia]]
|area_served = Farmville
|industry    = Coal
}}

It was rumored that the coal near Farmville would draw the Orange & Keysville Railway which was chartered, graded and the right of way was purchased, between Farmville and Hampden Sydney.  However, the rails were never laid down.  The coal field was idle until 1891 when the Farmville Coal and Iron Company began leasing land, selling stock and reopened the Piedmont mines. The company built a one and a half mile spur rail line from the [[Farmville and Powhatan Railroad]] to the mine. This railroad provided transport from the mine to the docks at [[Bermuda Hundred]] in the [[Tidewater region]]. On Jan. 24, 1891, an editor of “The Financial Mining Record” suggested that the Farmville Coal & Iron Company, did not have enough coal production to justify a fraction of its stock price.  The [[Norfolk and Western Railway]], since 1883, had been bringing in coal from a new coal mine.  The [[Pocahontas Coalfield]] which could provide coal more cheaply and ship the coal on a larger standard gauge, class one railroad.  This decreased to the economic viability of mining coal in the [[Richmond Basin|Richmond]] and [[Farmville Basin]]s.<ref name=Miller2011>{{cite web|url=http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/11-r18.pdf |title="Backsights" Essays in Virginia Transportation History Volume One: Reprints of Series One (1972-1985) |website=Virginia DOT |author=Ann B. Miller |date=June 2011 |access-date=April 26, 2016 |publisher=Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303223612/http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/11-r18.pdf |archive-date=March 3, 2016 }}</ref> The Farmville Coal and Iron Company went bankrupt a few years later, possibly before any coal was mined.

The Farmville Coal & Iron Company did bring positive change.  They requested that the town build an [[electric power plant]] and a [[waterworks]].  Designation of the power plant was established in 1890 and the water works were designated in 1893.<ref name="Farmville Herald"/>

===Farmville Lithia Springs===
{{Infobox company
|website       = 
|name          = Farmville Lithia Springs
|image         = Farmville_Lithia_Springs_Water_Advertisement_from_Philadelphia.png
|image_caption = Farmville Lithia Springs Water Advertisement from Philadelphia
|type          = Private
|foundation    = {{Start date|1884|08|24}}
|defunct       = {{End date|1901|07|07}} (dissolved)
|fate          = Bottling House burned down.<ref name="Covington">{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.fpehs.org/monthlyhappenngs.html
 |title       = Monthly Happenings in Farmville and Prince Edward County
 |last        = Covington
 |first       = Edwina
 |date        = September 2008
 |website     = Farmville-Prince Edward Historical Society
 |publisher   = Southside Virginia Historical Press
 |access-date = 2016-08-01
 |url-status     = live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20160624040129/http://fpehs.org/monthlyhappenngs.html
 |archive-date = 2016-06-24
}}</ref>
|location      = Farmville, [[Virginia]]
|area_served   = International
|industry      = Beverage
}}

Farmville Lithia Springs bottled and sold mineral water from Farmville from 1884 to 1901. The lithia springs were considered as a possible destination for tourists but the investors decided to bottle the water and ship it.<ref name="Covington"/> The water was tested and found to be superior to waters from Carlsbad, Germany. Lithia Springs Water from Farmville was shipped domestically and internationally for [[water cure (therapy)|water cure]]. The springs were just north of the [[Appomattox River]] from Farmville.

Lithia Springs water contained the following minerals naturally occurring in the water.<ref>{{cite book|title=A History of Prince Edward County, Virginia, from Its Formation in 1753, to the Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KjgUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA47|year=1922|publisher=Williams printing Company|pages=47–48}}</ref>
*[[Lithia water]]
*[[Magnesium]]
*[[Chalybeate]]
*[[Iodine]]
*[[Alum]]

===Economic disparity among diverse groups===
In 1897, economic conditions were different for [[African-Americans]], and [[white people]] in Farmville.  Even though there were twice as many black people as white people, white people owned ten times the value of real estate. Without land or inherited wealth, black people found it difficult to get established.  There were black shop keepers, bricklayers, tobacco workers, the shop keepers got money to buy their stores as laborers in New York. Many black men left to go north to make money leaving women behind.  Among the black community, Israel Hill Hamlet was more stable, than other places because they owned their land.<ref name="Du Bois 1898">{{cite journal |last1=Du Bois|first1=W. E. B.|date=January 1898 |title=The Negroes of Farmville, Virginia : A Social Study|url=https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/3943/item/477567/toc/497802 |journal=Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor |volume=3|issue=14|pages=10–23 |access-date=December 30, 2018}}</ref>

===''Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County''===
[[File:Robert Russa Moton High School, Farmville, VA.JPG|thumb|left|Robert Russa Moton High School, Farmville, VA]]
Farmville and Prince Edward County Public Schools were the source of ''[[Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County]]'' (1952–54), a case incorporated into ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'' (1954), the landmark case that overturned [[school segregation]] in the United States. Among the cases consolidated into the ''Brown'' decision, the ''Davis'' case was the only one involving student protests.

[[R.R. Moton High School]], an all-black school in Farmville named for [[Robert Russa Moton]], suffered from terrible conditions due to underfunding by white officials in the segregated state. The school did not have a gymnasium, [[cafeteria]], or teachers' restrooms. Teachers and students did not have desks or blackboards, and due to overcrowding, some students had to take classes in a school bus parked outside. The school's requests for additional funds were denied by the all-white school board. Students had protested against the poor conditions.

As a result of the ''Brown'' decision, in 1959 the Board of Supervisors for Prince Edward County refused to appropriate any funds for the County School Board; in massive resistance, it effectively closed all public schools rather than integrate them. Wealthy white students usually attended all-white private schools ([[segregation academy|segregation academies]]) that formed in response. Black and poorer white students had to go to school elsewhere or forgo their education altogether. Prince Edward County's public schools remained closed for ten years. When they finally reopened, the system was fully integrated.

Prince Edward Academy was the longest-surviving of the segregation academies, still teaching students in 2019.  Although technically integrated at that point, the school had few students of color. Prince Edward Academy was renamed the [[Fuqua School]] in honor of [[J. B. Fuqua]], a wealthy businessman who was raised nearby and who has endowed the school.

The former R.R. Moton High School building was designated as a [[National Historic Landmark]] in 1998 for its significance to the [[Civil Rights Movement]]. It houses the [[Robert Russa Moton Museum]], a center for the study of [[civil rights]] in education.<ref>[http://www.motonmuseum.com/events/19980831.html], Moton Museum official website  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509171228/http://www.motonmuseum.com/events/19980831.html|date=May 9, 2008}}</ref> In 2015, [[Longwood University]] and Moton Museum entered into a formal affiliation to advance understanding of the history of the struggle for civil rights.

===National Register of Historic Places===
The [[First Baptist Church (Farmville, Virginia)|First Baptist Church]], [[Farmville Historic District (Farmville, Virginia)|Farmville Historic District]], [[Longwood House (Farmville, Virginia)|Longwood House]], [[Robert Russa Moton High School]], [[Sayler's Creek Battlefield]], and [[Worsham High School]] are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2010a}}</ref><ref name="nps">{{cite web|url=http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/listings/20130308.htm|title=National Register of Historic Places Listings|date=2013-03-08|work=Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 2/25/13 through 3/01/13|publisher=National Park Service|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222134726/http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/listings/20130308.htm|archive-date=2014-02-22}}</ref>

===Recent events===
Farmville made headlines in September 2015 after being selected by the [[Commission on Presidential Debates]] to host the 2016 vice-presidential debate. The debate was held at [[Longwood University]] on October 4, 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wtvr.com/2015/09/23/longwood-2016-vice-presidential-debate/|title=Longwood University to host 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate|work=WTVR.com|date=23 September 2015 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304053343/http://wtvr.com/2015/09/23/longwood-2016-vice-presidential-debate/|archive-date=2016-03-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://debate.longwood.edu/|title=2016 Vice Presidential Debate at Longwood|work=2016 Debate at Longwood|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325171549/http://debate.longwood.edu/|archive-date=2016-03-25}}</ref>

The town is crossed by the [[High Bridge Trail State Park]] which extends {{convert|4|mi|0}} east to the historic [[High Bridge (Appomattox River)|High Bridge]].