Redevelopment Renaissance Success Story

Ronceverte Redevelopment Renaissance

By Tom Neeley and Andrea L. Dono | From Main Street Story of the Week | October 3,2011 |


Founded in 1882 in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, Ronceverte was once a lucrative wood-mill town and important rail hub, as well as the county’s commercial center with stores, manufacturing facilities, the county hospital, and stockyards. It is a community of 51 firsts, which include the first brick streets in the county, the first fire department, the first electrical plant, and the first female mayor in the state.
By the 1970s though, the community began decline as it lost businesses due to passing of old families who owned and operated industrial plants, major floods, and changes in traffic patterns caused by the interstate highway system only five miles away. By the 1980s, the town had lost much of the luster of its earlier days.
When I came to Ronceverte in 2001, most of the downtown was desolate,” says former Main Street Program Manager Doug Hylton. “Only a few businesses were holding on.” A big part of the problem, he explains, was that three long-time families were sitting on vacant and underused properties. Some properties were tied up in litigation; some were casualties of slumlord or absentee ownership. Others waited for a downtown renaissance to happen while idle historic buildings deteriorated.

Construction of the interstate highway system only five miles away and the passing of owners of many long-time businesses sent Ronceverte into a steep decline in the 1970s and 80s.
Credit: Ronceverte Redevelopment Corporation

Setting the Stage for Redevelopment

The community began looking for ways to reverse the decline. First and foremost was a change in the structure of the city government. Ronceverte was the last remaining West Virginia town governed by a commission. In 1999, a new city charter was established and a city council was created. Other signs of progress: a city planning commission was formed, new zoning and planning ordinances were put in place, a city manager was hired, and the city was declared a certified local government."

Click here to read the complete article.