Potential Industrial Cities

In the US, much of the growth of industry happened in the North. However, Virginia (which at the time I'm looking included West Virginia), has large supplies of coal and iron.

What I'm trying to do is make Virginia more part of the north than part of the south, and to do that I think I need to shift the focus from agriculture to industry (probably using slaves still however, at least at first). What are some cities or towns that could become large industrial hubs, like what happened to Manchester in England? I imagine that they could be right on the modern Virginia-West Virginia border, right? They also would need to be on some form of river, to move the materials. The mountains are a problem, but with a series of dams, locks, and canals, that shouldn't be too big of an issue.
 
I think looking at Harrisburg will help

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrisburg,_Pennsylvania

If I understand correctly you are looking to replicate its rise within Virginia without its subsequent decline so that by today it is as important in the USA as Manchester is to the UK?

Best Regards
Grey Wolf

Basically. My goal is for Virginia to be more in line with the Central and Northern States than with the southern states, and to do that it needs industry. I'm trying to think of cities that could become industrial from basically nothing before. Right now the best I have is Madison, West Virginia, since it is located in one of the best coal locations in that state.
 
What you should bear in mind is that Manchester and Birmingham are not near coalfields. Britain's main coalfields are in Wales, Yorkshire, and the Northeast, not Lancashire.

Industrialization could not really have happened under slavery. Industrialization is a response to high wages, involving labor-saving machines and the factory system. If you're a colonial power and there's slavery elsewhere in faraway colonies then the added income could help you industrialize your herrenvolk, as happened in 18c Britain, but having on-site slavery will instead suppress wages.

West Virginia didn't have much slavery - the terrain is not friendly to large slave plantation. But it still could not really be part of the industrial core, because its location wasn't good enough. It's too far from the coast, and is too hilly for good water transportation. Railroad transportation is feasible, but it's even more feasible in New York and Pennsylvania; railroads reduce the disadvantage of mountainous regions, but do not eliminate it.
 

TFSmith121

Banned
Two obvious ones:

In the US, much of the growth of industry happened in the North. However, Virginia (which at the time I'm looking included West Virginia), has large supplies of coal and iron. What I'm trying to do is make Virginia more part of the north than part of the south, and to do that I think I need to shift the focus from agriculture to industry (probably using slaves still however, at least at first). What are some cities or towns that could become large industrial hubs, like what happened to Manchester in England? I imagine that they could be right on the modern Virginia-West Virginia border, right? They also would need to be on some form of river, to move the materials. The mountains are a problem, but with a series of dams, locks, and canals, that shouldn't be too big of an issue.

Two obvious ones:

Harper's Ferry (now in West Virginia) - the armory and arsenal opened in 1799, and was significantly expanded and upgraded in 1845-1854; civil service staff numbered 400, and the assigned Ordnance personnel (officers and enlisted) would have been in addition to that; the town was well located for (pre-electric) hydropower from the Potomac, and good transportation, as well - the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal opened to HF in 1833 and the Baltimore & Ohio railroad came through in 1834. Overall production in the arsenal were more than 600,000 muskets, rifles and pistols, or (on average) 10,000 annually (although capacity would have been higher; that 10K is averaged over six decades. The arsenal was also an R&D center, in terms of the development of interchangeable parts and breechloaders, thanks to this individual:

http://www.nps.gov/hafe/learn/historyculture/john-h-hall.htm

Norfolk - The town (Gosport/Portsmouth/Norfolk) was always a shipbuilding center, but the Naval Yard opened as such in 1801, and became home to the first drydock in the US in 1834; both sailing and steam ships were built there through to 1861, and the yard was reclaimed and recommissioned in 1862.

http://www.portsmouthnavalshipyardmuseum.com/

Also obvious would be Richmond, which was as industrialized as any city in the south in 1861; maybe Charlottesville, because of UVA, but Charlottesville isn't really well-placed in terms of transportation.

That gives you four, from the northwest part of the state to the southeast, including on the Chesapeake.

Best,
 
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