Five More Interesting Facts About Lynchburg Virginia

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From the City of Lynchburg website:

1. "In October 1868, Dr. Malcolm (Mahlon) Loomis, a part-time resident of Lynchburg, used a vertical antenna, a high-frequency detector and a sparkgap transmitter to successfully send electro-magnetic waves through the atmosphere, thus inventing radio, six years before the birth of the "father of radio," Guglielmo Marconi. Despite records that indicate Loomis invented the radio, he lacked the necessary funds to perfect his equipment and gain recognition for his invention."

2. "Extending from Church Street to Court Street with 139 steps, Monument Terrace was built in 1924 as a memorial to citizens who fought and died in American wars. At that time the original basin, located at the base of the monument steps, was replaced with a listing of Lynchburg's WWI dead and Charles Keck's representative of a doughboy, 'The Listening Post'."
(In Rome, another city of Seven Hills, the famous Spainish Steps is also composed of 139 steps.)

3. "Packet Boat "Marshall," located in Riverside Park, carried General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's body to Lexington after he was mistakenly killed by his own sentry. On May 10, 1863, the Orange and Alexandria Railroad brought Jackson's remains to Lynchburg and made the transfer to the packet boat with the appropriate ceremonies."

4. "From April 6 to 10, 1865, Lynchburg served as the capital of Virginia. Under Governor William Smith, the executive and legislative branches of the Commonwealth moved to Lynchburg for the few days between the fall of Richmond and the fall of the Confederacy."

5. "The Society of Friends, or Quakers, was the first religious group to settle in Lynchburg. Although Charles Lynch, Sr. was a Roman Catholic, his wife, Sarah and daughter were instrumental in founding the South River Meeting House of the Society of Friends, the city's first house of worship. Although there were many Quakers among early settlers in Lynchburg, the numbers decreased as agriculture and industry in the South became increasingly dependent upon slavery, which the Friends opposed. The Meeting House, located on Fort Avenue, was restored and is now part of Quaker Memorial Presbyterian Church. "