Editing Fries, Virginia (section)

==History==
Fries was named after North Carolina cotton mill owner Colonel [[Francis Henry Fries]].  Jim 'Pipe' Carico (of Stephens Creek, Virginia, the nearest incorporated town) contacted Fries in 1900 and proposed Bartlett Falls on New River as a site for a hydroelectric dam that could power a cotton mill.

Fries purchased the surrounding rural farmland then hired a local labor force to build a dam, a cotton mill and a full-service company owned town. By 1901, the New River Train was extended to the mill site and Fries petitioned the Virginia State Legislature to incorporate the new town of Carico, VA in honor of Jim 'Pipe' Carico. For reasons that are not well documented, the town name was instead legislatively changed to Fries, Virginia and officially incorporated in 1902.

Despite the heavy reliance on manual labor, mules and oxen, the town's construction progressed quickly and the open call for employment spurred migration to the town. Around 300 houses, a post office, a church and a company commissary were wedged into the surrounding hillside before the mill began operation in February 1903 &mdash; with "the most sophisticated technology in the world."<ref name="frieswp">{{cite web
  | title = The Death of a Company Town
  | work = The Washington Post
  | author = Jerry Knight
  | date = September 19, 1988
| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1988/09/19/the-death-of-a-company-town/b1a5dafd-3d05-448a-a806-68a7cf676fc0/}}</ref>

After changing hands numerous times, the mill closed in 1989.<ref name="frieswp"/> At the time the mill closed, it employed 1,700 people.

Fries High School also closed in 1989. The students from Fries, along with students from nearby Independence High School, were combined to form [[Grayson County High School (Virginia)|Grayson County High School]], located in [[Independence, Virginia|Independence]].

The [[Stephen G. Bourne House]], [[Fries Boarding Houses]], and [[Spring Valley Rural Historic District]] are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref><ref name="nps">{{cite web|url=http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/listings/20110311.htm|title=National Register of Historic Places Listings|date=March 11, 2011|work=Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 2/28/11 through 3/04/11|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=July 13, 2013|archive-date=February 22, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222141203/http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/listings/20110311.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>