World War II Home Front

The United States' mobilization for World War II brought dramatic changes to this region. The Radford Ordnance Works, nine miles northeast of here, and the New River Ordnance Plant, near here, opened in 1941. Construction employed more than 20,000 people from 45 states, and thousands of workers later operated the facilities. This population boom diversified the area’s agricultural economy and transformed its infrastructure, bringing new roads, schools, retail and industrial establishments, and private and government-funded housing developments. About a mile southeast of here is the New River Ordnance Plant’s staff village, a set of 15 houses built in support of the war effort.