Disputanta, Virginia

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Disputanta
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Disputanta, along U.S. Route 460
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Disputanta
Location within the Commonwealth of Virginia
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Disputanta
Disputanta (the United States)
Coordinates: 37°7′28″N77°13′33″W / 37.12444°N 77.22583°W / 37.12444; -77.22583
CountryUnited States
State Virginia
County Prince George
Elevation
115 ft (35 m)
Population
 (2020)
  Total373
Time zone UTC−5 (Eastern (EST))
  Summer (DST) UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP codes
23842
GNIS ID 1492869 [1]

Disputanta is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Prince George County, Virginia, United States in the Richmond-Petersburg region and is a portion of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The postal ZIP Code of Disputanta, Virginia is 23842. It was first listed as a CDP in the 2020 census with a population of 373. [2]

Contents

History

Popular legend has it that William Mahone (1826–1895), builder of the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad (now part of the Norfolk Southern railway), and his cultured wife, Otelia Butler Mahone (1837–1911), traveled along the newly completed Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad naming stations. Otelia was reading Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott. From his historical Scottish novels, Otelia chose the place names of Windsor and Waverly. She tapped the Scottish Clan "McIvor" for the name of Ivor, a small town in neighboring Southampton County. [3]

As they continued west, they reached a station just west of the Sussex County line in Prince George County where they could not agree on a suitable name from the books. Instead, they became creative, and according to the legend invented a new name in honor of their dispute. [4]

The N&P railroad was completed in 1858. William Mahone later became a Major General in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, and was later elected to the United States Senate. [5] [3] A large portion of U.S. Highway 460 between Petersburg and Suffolk is named General Mahone Highway in his honor. [4]

Disputanta was a thriving rail town for the first half of the twentieth century. It was an important stop for trains on the Norfolk and Western Railroad due to its two 50,000 gallon water tanks that supplied water for the boilers on steam locomotives. [6] Disputanta once had several hundred residents, two schools, the Disputanta school for whites, and the Jack Cole School for Negroes; nine stores, three banks, two peanut warehouses, a saw mill, and various other businesses. In 1960, Norfolk and Western became the last major railroad in the United States to abandon steam locomotives for diesel-electric motive power. [7] When Norfolk and Western replaced their last steam locomotives with modern diesel locomotives and ended passenger rail service, trains no longer stopped at Disputanta anymore and its population declined as rail workers left. Today the railroad depot and most of the businesses are long gone and the tiny community consists of approximately 75 homes, two churches, a fire station, a post office, a Dollar General store and an elementary school. A large Food Lion warehouse, an auto parts factory operated by Standard Motor Products, and a large truck stop are located just west of town along Highway 460 between Disputanta and New Bohemia.

In the late 19th century, over 700 Czech and Slovak families settled in Prince George and neighboring counties due to the availability of cheap farmland after the Civil War. Some came directly from their homelands in Eastern Europe, while others who had settled in Pennsylvania moved south to Virginia. Some who had homesteaded in the midwest sold their claims and moved back east and bought farms in Prince George. The area is still very rural and descendants of these Czech and Slovak immigrants continue to live in the area and farm the land around Disputanta. [8]

The historic Chester Plantation, located on U.S. Route 460 just west of Disputanta, and Cedar Ridge, located just east of Disputanta in Surry County, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [9]

Demographics

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prince George County, Virginia</span> County in Virginia, United States

Prince George County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 43,010. Its county seat is Prince George.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petersburg, Virginia</span> Independent city in Virginia, United States

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The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The company operates 19,420 route miles in 22 eastern states, the District of Columbia, and has rights in Canada over the Albany to Montréal route of the Canadian Pacific Kansas City. Norfolk Southern Railway is the leading subsidiary of the Norfolk Southern Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginian Railway</span> Defunct American railroad

The Virginian Railway was a Class I railroad located in Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The VGN was created to transport high quality "smokeless" bituminous coal from southern West Virginia to port at Hampton Roads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U.S. Route 360</span> Highway or spur in Virginia

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norfolk and Western Railway</span> US railroad (key predecessor to the Norfolk Southern Railway (1982-present)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Mahone</span> American politician (1826–1895)

William Mahone was an American civil engineer, railroad executive, Confederate States Army general, and Virginia politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick J. Kimball</span> American civil engineer (1844–1903)

Frederick James Kimball was a civil engineer. He was an early president of the Norfolk and Western Railway and helped develop the Pocahontas coalfields in Virginia and West Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Otelia B. Mahone</span>

Otelia Butler Mahone from Smithfield, Virginia was a nurse during the American Civil War and the wife of Confederate Major General William Mahone, who was a civil engineer, teacher, railroad builder, and Senator in the United States Congress. Popularly known in Virginia as the "Hero of the Battle of the Crater" during and after the Civil War, her small-of-stature husband was nicknamed "Little Billy." An illustrious "character" in her own right, strong-willed Otelia Butler Mahone became almost as well known as her famous husband. She is credited by local legend with the naming of the towns of Windsor, Ivor, Wakefield, Waverly and Disputanta along the famous 52-mile tangent railroad tracks engineered and built by her husband between the cities of Suffolk and Petersburg. When he led the formation of the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad (AM&O) from three trunk lines across the southern tier of Virginia in 1870, wags claimed the initials stood for "All Mine and Otelia's."

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad</span>

The Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad was built between Norfolk and Petersburg, Virginia and was completed by 1858. The line was 85 miles (137 km) of 5 ft track gauge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ocean View (Norfolk)</span>

Ocean View is a coastal region in the independent city of Norfolk, Virginia in the United States. It has several miles of shoreline on the Chesapeake Bay to the north, starting with Willoughby Spit to the west and the Joint Expeditionary Base -- Little Creek in the independent city of Virginia Beach on the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southside Railroad (Virginia)</span>

The Southside Railroad was formed in Virginia in 1846. Construction was begun in 1849 and completed in 1854. The 5 ft gauge railroad connected City Point, a port on the James River with the farm country south and west of Petersburg, Virginia, to Lynchburg, Virginia, a distance of about 132 miles (212 km).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad</span> American railroad

Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad (AM&O) was formed in 1870 in Virginia from three east–west railroads which traversed across the southern portion of the state. Organized and led by former Confederate general William Mahone (1826-1895), the 428-mile (689 km) line linked Norfolk with Bristol, Virginia by way of Suffolk, Petersburg, Lynchburg, and Salem. The AM&O was promoted as a trade link to the west, and further expansion was envisioned with the goal of increasing Virginia's Ohio Valley and Mississippi Valley commerce. It was heavily backed by investors from England and Scotland.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norfolk and Western Railway class J (1941)</span> Class of 14 American 4-8-4 locomotives

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">U.S. Route 460 in Virginia</span> State highway in Virginia

U.S. Route 460 (US 460) in Virginia runs west-east through the southern part of the Commonwealth. The road has two separate pieces in Virginia, joined by a relatively short section in West Virginia. Most of US 460 is a four-lane divided highway and is a major artery in the southern third of the state. From Petersburg to Suffolk, US 460 is a four-lane non-divided highway. It is a popular alternative to Interstate 64 (I-64) when going from Richmond and other points in central Virginia to the Currituck Sound and Outer Banks of North Carolina, avoiding the congestion and tunnels of the more northerly I-64 corridor. The road passes through several small towns that built up at stops along the railroad line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norfolk and Western 433</span> Preserved N&W class M 4-8-0 locomotive

Norfolk and Western 433 is a preserved class M 4-8-0 "Mastodon" type steam locomotive built by the American Locomotive Company's Richmond Locomotive Works in January 1907 for the Norfolk and Western Railway. It was one of 125 M Class engines in operation on the N&W for around 50 years. After surviving an accident in 1951, the 433 was rebuilt and worked in Bristol, Virginia for a time where she was also assigned as a back up locomotive for the Abingdon Branch. This "Mollie" also worked as a switcher in Roanoke, Salem, and Radford. The 433 was eventually retired in 1958 and it became one of only two M Class locomotives to survive aside from the "Lost Engines of Roanoke". It was cosmetically restored in 2002 and now resides as a static display along the old Virginia Creeper Trail in Abingdon.

References

  1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Disputanta, Virginia
  2. "Disputanta CDP, Virginia". United States Census Bureau . Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  3. 1 2 MAHONE, William - Biographical Information
  4. 1 2 McGlone, Tim (23 April 2012). "What's in a name? Disputanta". The Virginian Pilot . Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  5. "William Mahone". Lva.virginia.gov. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  6. "About NWHS Archives". Norfolk & Western Historical Society. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  7. Cooper, Mason. "NWHS N&W Introduction". Norfolk & Western Historical Society. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  8. "Virginia CzechSlovak Heritage Society" . Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  9. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.