"The Calcium-Sulfide Corporation was given a charter on February 13, 1929. The plant, manufacturing Cal-Mo-Sol fungicides and insecticides, was built in East Damascus near the Douglas Bridge."
"The first factory to be established in Damascus aside from the lumber industries was the Beaver Chemical Company. The plant received its charter on January 19, 1919, with a capital stock of $50,000, and proceeded to manufacture dyes."
"A promotional booklet published by the Damascus Board of Trade in 1941 stated that there were 18 retail businesses in Damascus, with an investment of $80,000, and annual sales of $252,000. Material for the book was collected by J.H. Montgomery,…
"Northern capital rushed in with an eye on millions to be made from virgin oak, chestnut, pine, and poplar. Trees were cut ruthlessly without regard for future growth. White Top and Cat Face stand as lasting memorials to the denuding of mountains.…
"In 1902 the Thayer Company Dimension Plant was established by T.W.Thayer, head of the Thayer Company in New York state. Mr. Thayer never lived in Damascus and the Damascus plant was a branch plant manufacturing material for sashes, doors, and table…
"The first Virginia-Carolina locomotive reached Damascus on January 25, 1901, and the way for hauling out timber was opened. Whiting's sawmlll in Abingdon began receiving its supply of lumber from Damascus at once."
"About the time the war ended children in this section were attending the old Laurel school, just started in a one room log house that stood where the Kestner house is built west of the Lincoln plant. This school was also a subscription school."
About 1912, people who came to Thayer Company, Smethport Extract Co., and Damascus Lumber Co., and others went on a picnic up the Laurel via the narrow gauge train.