When Galax was incorporated in 1906, roads in the area were few and little more than muddy ruts, so the city’s founders secured a commitment from the Norfolk and Western Railway to extend the railroad 2.7 miles from nearby Blair before the first lot in Galax was sold. They understood that the railroad would be essential for moving people and goods. The railroad had first come to the region north of Galax to carry lead and copper from mountain mines, but the spur to Galax changed the kinds of products shipped out. In its heyday after World War I, the Galax station served a wide range of businesses, including furniture and mirror manufacturers, a milk condensation company, a weaving company, numerous farmers, and others, for whom the railroad was a vital link to distant markets. As the mines were exhausted and better roads created other transportation options, the branch serving Galax eventually closed, and the last regularly scheduled train departed at noon on November 15, 1985. In 1986, Norfolk and Western donated the rights-of-way for the 57-mile section of rail bed between Galax and Pulaski to the State of Virginia, and the land became the New River Trail State Park, which now provides recreation for over one million people each year.