A period of prosperous growth began when the Baltimore Ohio Railroad established a locomotive shop complex and switching yard in the area. and the town became an important freightgenerating point on the B&O line. When local entrepreneurs persuaded Surrounding railroads to turn from wood to coal for firing their locomotives. the coal industry in the region boomed. In the 1880s. William Luke established the West Virginia Paper Companys paper millWestvacoin Piedmont. which became a major source of jobs for Piedmont residents. This included native Appalachians. migrant African Americans. and European immigrants. especially Italians and Irish. Therefore. soon after the opening of the paper mill. Piedmont became a town saturated with ethnic neighborhoods.
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migrant immigrants