It is not unusual for a resident of the City of Radford to call upon Altizer Law, P.C., as his or her personal injury attorney. The New River City is also a place where members of our Team enjoy recreational activities. We appreciate the particular beauty of the City and we enjoy the area’s outdoor opportunities almost as much as we enjoy the people of Radford.
Rich in History
The New River crossing of the Wilderness Road was the first permanent settlement within the present boundaries of the City of Radford, called Lovely Mount. The Wilderness Road trail took set
It was in this section of the Wilderness Road that William Ingles and his wife Mary Draper Ingles settled in 1762 and established Ingles Ferry, which became the center of a thriving commercial center that offered a tavern, blacksmithing services, and a general store. Several accounts exist of Mary Draper Ingles’ and her two sons’ capture, along with several others from the community, by the Shawnee in 1755, during the French and Indian War, after the Draper’s Meadow Massacre. The captives were taken to a settlement at the Ohio and Scioto Rivers. After two-and-a-half months, she and another captive woman escaped and made their way back home – a journey of some 500-600 miles, following and crossing several rivers and creeks and crossing the Appalachian Mountains.
In 1854, Lovely Mount was chosen for construction of a Depot on the New Virginia and Tennessee Railroad because it was halfway between Bristol and Lynchburg. The depot was called Central, and in addition to the depot, a repair shop was also built. When the first trains ran two years later, the population of Central had more than tripled and it had become a vital commercial center and shipping point for local products (tobacco, bacon and lumber). The railroad carried products, including coal, coke, stone and iron. Mining and manufacturing interests soon developed and brought prosperity to the area.
In the 1930s the Federal Government chose Radford as the location of a “powder plant” or Arsenal, which was built in 1940-41 to manufacture gunpowder and related products. By the beginning of World 
War II, Radford had a workforce of more than 20,000 people.
Today, visitors to the Wilderness Road can stop at the museums, living history interpretive villages, forts, historic downtown centers, schools, farms and galleries to learn about the early pioneers like Mary Draper Ingles, Daniel Boone, and others and experience the life they led. The Wilderness Road extends from slightly north of Winchester to the Cumberland Gap at the southwestern tip of Virginia. More than 130 stops and 23 communities are included on the Wilderness Road.
Radford University
In 1910, the State Normal and Industrial School for Women was founded at Radford. In 1924, it was renamed the State Teachers College at Radford. Its main focus at this time was to train teachers for the Appalachian region. In 1943, it was renamed the Women’s Division of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). Radford College became a University in 1979. It is now a State University.
The school currently has about 10,000 students, of which about 45 percent come from southwest Virginia, 40 percent come from other parts of Virginia, and 15 percent come from out of the state. Today, Radford University is a co-educational school primarily focused on business, liberal arts, and sciences. It is one of the Virginia’s 8 doctorate-granting public universities. Undergraduate degrees are offered in more than 100 fields. Among the graduate degrees offered are the M.BA., M.F.A., M.A., M.S., M.S.W., Ed.S., and Psy.D. Specialized doctoral programs are offered in health-related fields.
Dance, music, theater, and other cultural activities are available to the community on the Radford University campus, as well as opportunities to explore our universe at the University’s Planetarium.
Outdoor Activities
Radford has 4 parks for picnicking and recreation. Two of the parks offer access to the New River, which is a beautiful site for boating, kayaking, canoeing, tubing and fishing on clear, gentle water.
Radford has threestops on the Virginia Wildlife and Birding Trail. You might find a unique point of view from the water, as well.
Economy
In the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford area, the top employment sectors are government, manufacturing, retail, accommodation and food service, and health care and social assistance.
Top Employers in the education field include
- Virginia Tech
- Radford University
- New River Community College
- Local public school systems
Top employers in manufacturing include:
- Volvo Group North America – Makers of trucks
- Moog, Inc. — designer and manufacturer of motion and fluid controls and control systems for applications in aerospace, defense, industrial and medical device markets.
- Bae Systems Ordnance Systems — Radford Army Ammunition Plant in Radford, VA. The U.S. Military’s Primary Propellant Manufacturer. Radford is capable of producing mass quantities of solvent and solventless propellants to support direct fire, indirect fire, and rocket applications. The facility uses a variety of ingredients in its propellant-making process, including nitroglycerin and nitrocellulose. Radford currently is the primary supplier of solventless propellants.and is the only North American manufacturer and supplier of nitrocellulose.
- Celanese Acetate — Celanese is a leading global supplier of high-performance engineering polymers designed to drive growth and innovation across all industries. We focus the full power of our development support services, advanced products and deep technical knowledge on the success of our customers, helping redefine the limits of material performance in the most demanding applications.
- Kollmorgen Corporation — Innovators consistently rate Kollmorgen as one of their best motion systems manufacturing partners. Whether you are looking for classic servo motors; direct drive servo motors; stepper motors; drives & amplifiers; gearheads; actuators; or CNC & multi-axis motion controllers; Kollmorgen is one of the few companies in the world whom actually design and manufacture all of these products.
- Lexington Rowe Furniture – Furniture and upholstery manufacturing.
- Corning Glass Works — Corning Incorporated is an American manufacturer of glass, ceramics, and related materials, primarily for industrial and scientific applications. The company was known as Corning Glass Works until 1989, when it changed its name to Corning Incorporated.[2] In 1998, Corning divested itself of its consumer lines of CorningWare and Corelle tableware and Pyrex cookware selling them to World Kitchen, but still holds an interest of about 8%. As of 2014, Corning had five major business sectors: Display Technologies, Environmental Technologies, Life Sciences, Optical Communications, and Specialty Materials. Corning is involved in two joint ventures: Dow Corning and Pittsburgh Corning. Quest Diagnostics and Covance were spun off from Corning in 1996.
- Spectrum Brands — Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. is an American diversified company established in 2005 as the successor company to Rayovac Corporation. Rayovac had been located in Wisconsin since its conception as The French Battery Company in 1906. Rayovac, as a division of Spectrum Brands, remained headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, along with Remington even while the parent company, Spectrum Brands, was headquartered in Georgia. On April 15, 2010 Spectrum Brands announced that it would be moving Corporate Headquarters back to Madison, WI. Spectrum Brands moved its Headquarters to Middleton, WI in October 2013. The company manufactures and markets batteries under the Rayovac and Varta brand names, home appliances under the Remington, Russell Hobbs and George Foreman brand names, lawn and garden care products under the Spectracide and Garden Safe brand names, insect repellents under the Cutter and Repel brand names.[3] Spectrum owns several pet care companies both in the aquarium supply and companion animal trades. In the aquarium business, Spectrum owns Tetra, Whisper, Marineland, Perfecto, Jungle, Instant Ocean, Visi-Therm, and other product lines. Companion animal lines consist of Dingo, Lazy Pet, Wonderbox, and others. Both aquarium lines and companion lines are concentrated into Spectrum’s United Pet Group based in Cincinnati, Ohio.
- Eaglepicher Wolverine — Gasket, Packing, and Sealing Device Manufacturing
- Alliant Techsystems Operations — a light weapons ammunition manufacturer
Most of these manufacturing companies use processes and materials that could, under the right circumstances, be very hazardous to employees and to the community. Negligence could cost lives; mistakes could cause serious injuries to others. If you work for one of these companies and you are 
Should an industrial accident at a manufacturing plant endanger you, your family, or your home, our legal team can help you obtain just and fair compensation under Virginia law for the hurts and harms you suffer. It is easy to feel that you cannot prevail against a large corporation and their insurance company. Bettina has the experience to take on those who have caused you injury or harm and persist until they win for you the best possible settlement or verdict.
Leading employers in the Health Care and Social Assistance sector include:
- Carilion New River Valley Medical Center
- HCA Virginia Health System
- New River Valley Community Services
- Community Housing Partner Corporation
- Heritage Hall
- Warm Hearth Management Division
- Giles Memorial Hospital
Each of these facilities and their respective staff members are trustworthy and they provide high quality care to clients and patients. Unfortunately, however, negligence and accidents can cause harm or death to others. If you or a loved one are injured or harmed due to the mistake or the negligence of a care provider, you may have the right to pursue fair compensation for your harms or losses in the civil courts. Medical malpractice and nursing home abuse or neglect are two of our areas of strength at Altizer Law, P.C. If you believe you or a loved one have been harmed, call us. We will help you evaluate your treatment and determine if you have a legal case. If you do, we will fight for you to obtain the full compensation allowed by Virginia Law.