Return to Comparison Statements:
Town Development
Chambersburg was a larger place than Staunton, but no more vibrant or connected to the market than its Southern counterpart.
Chambersburg claimed one hundred blocks, laid out in a grid pattern, and over 4,700 residents. The county seat held 11 percent
of the county population. The town was built around a square, known locally as "The Diamond," that was intersected by the
two major streets of the town, Front and Market. Its imposing courthouse stood on the Diamond, and 32 of the 37 attorneys
in the county lived and practiced in Chambersburg. The town claimed 15 of 63 physicians and 39 of the 144 merchants, far
out of proportion to the town's share of the county population.
Supporting Evidence
Augusta County, Va., Towns (map)
Augusta County Town, Lebanon White Sulpher Springs (map)
Augusta County Town, Parnassus (map)
Augusta County Town, Waynesborough (map)
Comparison, Elevation (map)
Comparison, Towns (map)
Franklin County, Pa., Towns (map)
Franklin County Town, Fannettsburg (map)
Franklin County Town, Greencastle (map)
Franklin County Town, Pleasant Hall (map)
Population of Cities and Towns, 1860 (table)
Town and Rural Distribution of Household Wealth (table)
Related Historiography
Fred Bateman and Thomas Weiss, A Deplorable Scarcity: The Failure of Industrialization in the Slave Economy (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1981).
John D. Majewski, A House Dividing: Economic Development in Pennsylvania and Virginia Before the Civil War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000).
Edward Pessen, "How Different from Each Other Were the Antebellum North and South," American Historical Review 85 (1980): 1119-1149.
Gavin Wright, Old South, New South: Revolutions in the Southern Economy since the Civil War (Baton Rouge: Louisiana University Press, 1986).
Citation: Key = TAF29
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