The Iron Cross (railroad landmark) (Waynesboro, Virginia)

USA / Virginia / Waynesboro / Waynesboro, Virginia
 place with historical importance, interesting place, railway crossing
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This is where the C&O railroad crosses over the N&W rail line. In the late 19th century, the site was expected to be a focal point of national-scale economic growth: a new Pittsburgh of factories and industrial wealth. A railway station was in the southwest elbow and just south of that, the still-visible L-shaped building was a hotel for rail passengers (today it is working-class apartments). A boomtown atmosphere of land speculation and factory-construction surged along in the planned Basic City, Virginia (named for the Basic steel-refining process) until the depression of 1893 bankrupted many investors. Enterprises closed down and Basic City dwindled until being absorbed into neighboring Waynesboro, Virginia, in 1923. The Iron Cross sits now amid decrepit storefronts and vacant lots with empty malt liquor bottles strewn about. The blighted, almost slum-like setting gives an ironic twist to the name of the street that passes under the Cross: named during the era of high expectations, the mean street is called Commerce Avenue. The otherwise-inexplicable use of the word Basic in so many businesses in the east end of Waynesboro is a legacy of when Basic City was still on the map.
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Coordinates:   38°4'13"N   78°52'32"W
This article was last modified 6 years ago