Mountain City Economy

The early economy was based on natural resources, timber and mineral extraction, these industries were strongly dependent on the train system. When the timber became sparse in the region the Beaver Dam Railroad slowed its trips, it abandoned that section of tracks entirely by 1918. The Peavine Railroad quit coming through Mountain City in 1924. And in 1941 a flood washed out the tracks for the Virginia and Southwestern Railway, a train that united many of the cities in the area, unfortunately these tracks were never replaced and Southwestern quit coming to Mountain City.

But the people of Mountain City were industrious, by 1943 they were the green bean capital of the world with crops averaging 1.5 to 2 million dollars a year. The town revolved around the harvests and school would close for a few weeks in fall just to make sure that the crop could be harvested on time. This bounty was brough to an end by poor agricultural management, a beetle infestation, and finally machination of the remaining labor force. By 1960 the wealth brought by the green bean growers had faded.

The following decades brough a series of factories to the region a ceramics facility, plants making gloves and shoes, and even a Levi’s manufacturing plant. By 2000 they had all closed down. Today the largest employer is the Parkdale fibers plant. Other employers include the Northeast Correctional Complex prison, Herman Trucking, Phoenix Medical Center, and the Nightline Factory.