Institute, a boy's preparatory school, moved to Salem from Staunton and was renamed Roanoke College. Salem became an independent city in 1968. Towns formed within what is now the City of Roanoke in the first decades of the 19th century. Antwerp was subdivided in 1801, followed by Gainesborough in 1825 (the present Gainsboro neighborhood) and Old Lick in 1834. The Gainesborough settlement remained the most populous community until 1874 when the town of Big Lick was chartered. The unique name was derived from salt marshes that attracted wildlife to the area. This tiny village of less than five hundred people was to become the town of Roanoke in 1882 and in 1884, the city of Roanoke. The new town was located along the old Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad, later to become the Norfolk and Western Railway. The History of Transportation With the Great Wilderness Road and Botetourt County serving as the gateway to the American West, the Roanoke Region was always an intersection for travel and transportation. In the 1850s, the region became a major hub for the nation's developing railroad system. The Virginia and Tennessee Railroad (V&T) came to Big Lick, linking Lynchburg to Bristol and transforming the region. A system was developed to link three railroads across the southern tier of Virginia to form the Atlantic, Mississippi & Ohio Railroad (AM&O). When the Shenandoah Valley Railroad linked Hagerstown, Maryland to the AM&O in Roanoke in 1882, it became the Norfolk & Western Railway. This marked the beginning of a period of rapid growth for the City of Roanoke which was called "the magic city" during this time. The Town of Vinton also was incorporated at this time. To further enhance Roanoke's reputation as a rail hub, The Virginian Railway was built in the early 20th century along the Roanoke River and merged with Norfolk & Western in 1959. In Alleghany County, the Virginia Central Railroad had extended its track from Staunton to the Jackson River in 1857. After the Civil War, the railroad expanded west to connect with the Covington and Ohio Railroad and in 1868 the two lines merged to form the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O). The railroad established a depot and named it Clifton Forge, the only town in the United States to bear its name. When the track to Richmond was completed in 1881, the town boomed as a railway hub and remains