Chew on This: Everything You Don't Want to Know About Fast Food by Eric Schlosser

For almost two hundred years, Martinsburg, West Virginia, was a sleepy little community at the northern tip of the Shenandoah Valley. The town was founded in 1778 and named after Thomas Bryan Martin, an officer during the Revolutionary War. The first settlers came there on horseback along the Cumberland Trail, an important trade route in the early nineteenth century, and cleared the land for farming. The land was perfect for growing apple trees, and soon more apples were being grown in the Martinsburg area than almost anywhere else in the world. A number of Civil War battles were fought in the area, but on the whole, life in Martinsburg was peaceful and calm, year after year. A railroad passed through the city center, and a few factories were built nearby.

As workers moved into houses downtown, small businesses opened to serve them. At J. C. McCrory Co. 5 and 10 Cent Store you could buy socks and pants; at John W. Dean Co. you could find children's shoes; H. L. Doll and Co. was a popular hardware store; and the Alice Govnice Confectionery on South Queen Street was the place to go for ice cream, candy, and chocolate. All of these stores were owned by people who lived in Martinsburg, and farmers from throughout the county came into town to do their shopping. The Tip Top Restaurant at 119 North Queen Street sold a mean corned beef hash, with meat from nearby farms. The town didn't have a single McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, or KFC. And yet, somehow, people still managed to eat.