History reflects Mudville community devastated by industrial fire

Once upon a time, there was plenty of joy to go around in Mudville. The two major streets, Squirrel Lane and Rabbit Lane, bustled with the daily life of a small rural community. Folks took pride in their gardens, creating a pleasant, clean and peaceful place to live. Tall grasses, plants and flowers filled every family’s yard. Beautiful meadows filled with rabbits and squirrels gave the village roads their names. The smell of homemade jams, breads and pastries emanated from the neighborhood kitchens. About twelve closely knit families lived along the dirt roads during the pre-depression era. People residing here rarely remembered to lock their doors at night. Mudville residents often fed itinerant strangers breakfast, who walking the railroad tracks, had nothing to eat. Christmas was an unforgettable experience as each family exchanged presents with each other. Often residents reminisced about their childhood days when the train whistle was the last sound heard at night before laying their heads on the pillow.

A busy part of Stephens City. Courtesy John Holt.

Stephens City Station aka Mudville, was located just west of down-town and split by Marlboro Road (Route 631) and the railroad tracks. On June 13, 1870, the new Winchester and Strasburg Railroad was completed which connected Stephens City (then Newtown), for the first time with Winchester and the Manassas Gap Railroad at Strasburg. A small train station was built on the east side of the tracks, just north of Marlboro Road and occupied by the station master. The railroad empowered Stephens City Station to become the industrial and commercial hub for Stephens City. The business district was later nicked-named Mudville, due to the lack of hard surface roads and water filled potholes lined with lime paste which seldom allowed the dirt streets to completely dry.

The train depot located across the tracks from the train station was expanded in 1914 to include a general merchandise and produce business. The general store sold everything from clothes, farm supplies, coal, and lumber to dried vegetables. Very rural folks would drop in to exchange eggs and butter for dry goods. The building included a Western Union telegraph office, a small waiting room and a merchandise pickup area. Mail was delivered daily by train to the depot and then driven to the Stephens City Post Office by horse-drawn wagon. Livestock was routinely loaded onto the trains. In the 1930s, the Baltimore and Ohio ran eight passenger trains, four every morning and four every evening stopping in Stephens City each day.

Businesses flourished around the larger train depot from the 1870s until the 1930s. The three story Stephens City Milling Company, established in 1893, resided on the west side of the tracks along with The Shenandoah Vinegar and Cider Company which operated an evaporator for drying fruit. In 1900, the M.J. Grove Lime Company opened a lime quarry and lime kiln here employing as many as seventy-five workers. A lime kiln plant was constructed in 1906 and became an important piece of the Stephens City economy. Stephens City Cooperage, Virginia Chemical Company, a blacksmith shop, grocery store, barber shop and several restaurants all blossomed in Mudville. A one room school house sat in the middle of this industrial complex.

Mudville’s prosperity would begin to wane during the Great Depression and then a most disastrous fire would plunge this community toward an economic death spiral. On November 17, 1936, there was a devastating fire that ravaged the village. According to the Winchester Evening Star, the raging inferno began in the evaporator plant of the Vinegar and Cider Company, a building made of mostly dry pine boards. It was a two-story building with furnaces on the ground floor and facilities for hydrating the fruit above. Apparently furnace waste had sifted through apertures which admitted heat into the drying room and had lodged against pipes leading from the furnace. The fire engulfed the entire building in a matter of minutes and forced employees out of the building. Fanned by high winds that roared in from the west with gale-like force at times, cascades of sparks and ashes carried east at least a mile.

Site of Stephens City fire, workman in rubble. Courtesy Dorothy Connor Collection, Stewart Bell, Jr. Archives Room, Handley Regional Library, Winchester, VA.

The winds caused the fire to spread quickly and by morning the flames had consumed the evaporator, the cooperage (barrel-making) plant, the apple packing shed, a storage house, a corn house, an auto shelter and a few storage sheds. The fire also damaged a blacksmith shop, a grocery business, a restaurant and property of the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad. While no fatalities or injuries were sustained, the property losses (adjusted for inflation were equal to $950,000 in today’s dollars) were enormous with a comparatively small portion protected by insurance.

The intense heat from the fire broke the Northern Virginia Power lines plunging Stephens City and Strasburg into darkness until early morning. A large B&O steel hopper containing coke caught fire. Six of the B&O main line rails had to be removed and a power switch leading to the cooperage plant was rebuilt. One rail nearest the coke hopper bent almost into a right angle. Fortunately many buildings including the M. J. Grove Lime Company, B&O Depot, a restaurant and residential dwellings went undamaged. A major factor was the excellent service rendered by bucket brigade volunteers who were stationed at strategic locations, fiercely extinguishing blazes in the grassy fields and buildings as sparks and embers touched down.

The Mudville fire along with the 1930s depression era economy and the termination of passenger train service in August 1949 did bring about the gradual demise of the village. Some of the businesses did rebuild but not with the success experienced before the fire. The M. J. Grove Lime Company would continue to operate in Stephens City through most of the twentieth century. As businesses closed and residents moved or passed away, The Lime Kiln operation bought the properties and demolished the buildings. Anna Stout, who left Mudville in 1972, was one of the last residents to depart the village. The railway agency closed the station building in May 1974. According to the Newtown History Center website, the quarrying operation would close down in September of 1988 after being bought out by the Flintkote and then Genstar Companies. The processing plant was then operated by the Shen-Valley Lime Corporation and would finally close down in 2003.

Today, all that remains of the once thriving village on Marlboro Road are the empty lime-covered remnants of demolished factory and house foundations left to be reclaimed by nature. The passenger train service transportation economy that drove the haphazard establishment of Mudville was eliminated, the harsh living conditions due to lime dust become too difficult and the economic downturn put an end to this amazing little community, leaving us with another fascinating Shenandoah Valley memory.