Getting a truly complete list of businesses in the 1632verse would be even more difficult than getting a complete list of all the businesses in the real world. In the 1632verse, some of the businesses quite literally only exist in someone’s mind! That doesn’t mean we don’t try. There is an ongoing effort to (1) create a reasonably complete list of down-time businesses and (2) nail down where the businesses are located, as well as the residences for some of our fictional residents. For the most part, we try to keep the 1631 building exteriors, streets, and infrastructure as close to 2000 Mannington as possible. In the long term, this quite simply makes continuity easier.
These pages focus on the businesses and organizations that have correlations with businesses that existed in Mannington, WV, in April 2000, or thereabouts. We don’t have a 100% complete and correct list, but we like to think we’re pretty close.
My current joke is that I’m the realtor for Mannington. If you need a property for a story, let me know and we’ll figure it out. Be aware that we do strive for realism, so things can’t be conjured out of whole cloth. There are a finite number of buildings in downtown Mannington and the historic district and most of the businesses are spoken for. That’s not all – but please don’t assume you can just add a business to downtown. And please take a moment to look at the lists of businesses to see if one meets your story needs instead of creating a new one.
Businesses
Pre-Existing Businesses
So, for starters, there is a Mannington Main Street web page that lists many of the businesses in Mannington, and it’s been around since around 2001. That’s the main source we drew from both back in the early days of the 1632verse and while working on this website.
A secondary source is that super power otherwise known as “common sense”. People have septic. There has to be someone to pump the septic. While it’s true that they could rely on someone from Fairmont or otherwise outside the Ring of Fire, it’s also true that a truck could have been there pumping out a septic pump. (1. Emergencies happen and 2. people take side jobs when the boss won’t notice.) So, it’s reasonable to include a septic company.
A tertiary source is common “side gigs” like teaching piano or cutting hair. The business that becomes “Hair Club 250” demonstrates this.
For this site, businesses were split into “retail businesses” and “service businesses” with “restaurants” as a separate page.
New Businesses
There are hobbies that turn into businesses. Things that were common hobbies up-time can quickly become jobs down-time. The Pritchett’s making tabasco sauce is a perfect example of this. (A Taste of Home by Chris Racciato, Grantville Gazette #6)
A new world has new needs, such as horse stables. Grantville had horses before, but they weren’t a common mode of transport since everyone had cars.
New uses for old items. There are all kinds of old gadgets in attics, garages, and closets that can inspire new businesses. The sock knitter in The Gourmets of Grantville (forthcoming re-issue as a Baen e-book) is one example. Note that basements are not mentioned because Mannington/Grantville has a flooding issue. It’s not the kind of place things will survive, unscathed, for decades in the basement.
Re-imagined old items, whether they started out down-time or up-time. Morse code was (roughly speaking) reimagined. Skorts were definitely reimagined. Up-time, they are generally speaking a short tennis skirt over a pair of shorts. Down-time, they are closer to very, very full divided pants.
Implied Businesses
There are a ton more businesses that haven’t been discussed in canon, but must exist because their product exists. Motorcycle manufacturers (there are new motorcycles), for example. This (exceedingly amazing) picture was posted on Facebook (Steel Legacy – worth checking out) with the comment “From the underrated cycle maker Hussar-Davidson.” I’d like to see the second part of the name tweaked a bit more, but wouldn’t it be fun to see in canon? (The answer is yes.) Their main rival could be a play on “Indian” motorcycles.
Ball bearing production was discussed in “Ball What’s?” by Gorg Huff and Paula Goodlett (The Grantville Gazette #39). The manufacture of wheels has not been discussed.
New farming methods and seeds are spreading everywhere, but only a few businesses profiting from this are in stories. The same with road construction. And building up-time style bathrooms. And, and, and, and.
Restaurants
This includes what foods are available and when. Soy sauce, for example, is not available. Grantville has or can get the ingredients, but it doesn’t have a recipe or the techniques required for making it. Once whatever came through the Ring of Fire is gone, it’s gone. Yes, they can make fish sauce. Yes, they may get a recipe someday, but it hasn’t happened yet.
Up-time and down-time alike, restaurants change more swiftly than many other businesses. From our modern world-view, it seems like down-timers would all be cooking all their food at home, but that’s not how it actually worked. Buying quick, easy to carry meals was common. The West Virginia Pepperoni Roll has a bright future indeed – just as soon as someone makes pepperoni!
Clubs and Civic Organizations
Pre-Existing Clubs
We have lists of some of the clubs. Many of them are known to have continued post-Ring of Fire, such as the genealogy club and historical society. Others, including the American Legion, Scouts, and the Red Cross, continue to exist but in slightly new forms with new names. (The new names are Imperial Post, Pioneer Scouts, and Red Cross & Red Shield, respectively.)
Some of them thrive and spread far and wide while others struggle a bit more. Scouts, for example, didn’t spread far outside the Ring of Fire until they changed their name because to a down-timer, a “scout” is a military job, not a club for children.
New Clubs
The Committees of Correspondence are the most obvious example.
Implied Clubs
We don’t have a list of clubs from any of the local schools, but it’s hard to imagine they didn’t have all kinds of clubs, including drama, music, reading, art, sports, etc.
It’s also hard to imagine that there aren’t D&D clubs, given the fame of the “nerds” who were playing it when the Ring of Fire happened.
Grantville is not an area that read a lot pre-Ring of Fire, but most libraries have book clubs (plural).
Summary
Grantville was a small, rural town in 2000. By 1632, it’s busting at the seams. It’s unlikely that anyone in town could keep track of all the businesses, clubs, organizations, etc. Have fun using the ones we know exist, and have fun coming up with more of your own!