Editing Barbour County, West Virginia (section)

===Later history===
The economy and infrastructure in Barbour grew steadily, but slowly, through the late 19th century. Although the first railroad had reached nearby [[Grafton, West Virginia|Grafton]] in 1852, a narrow-gauge railroad was not laid through the county until the early 1880s; a standard gauge line followed in the 1890s.

In 1990, private developers offered Barbour County citizens $4M to $6M annually in host fees to accept out-of-state garbage into a County landfill over the following three decades. Up to 200,000 tons of garbage per month would be delivered.<ref>"Landfill Controversy Divides Barbour County" (1990), ''Charleston Gazette'' (Oct 28 issue).</ref> (At the time, the county's annual budget was only about $1M.) County voters rejected the offer.<ref>"Barbour Rejecting Landfill" (1990), ''[[Charleston Gazette]]'', (Nov 7 issue).</ref>

In 2023, Barbour County lost its major employer when [[Alderson-Broaddus University]]'s board of trustees voted to close the institution some 152 years after its founding.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/02/us/west-virginia-alderson-broaddus-university-closes-students/index.html |title= Financially struggling university in West Virginia closes down, leaving students scrambling |first= Mitchell |last= McCluskey |publisher= [[CNN]] |date= August 2, 2023 }}</ref>