Industries
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Southside, along with much of Upper South, was long well known for its tobacco crop. The nutrient-rich soil, along with frequent spring rains, provided ideal growing conditions for tobacco as well as soybeans and some cold-hardy cotton plants.
Beginning in the 1940s, various textile mills opened up in the Southside area, most notably the enormous Dan River Mills in Danville. The textile industry found it an ideal place due to inexpensive labor (costs of living in much of Southside is low), while the Southside workforce found textile work to be much more lucrative than the low incomes that frequently come with farming. Along with tobacco manufacturing, textile mills aided the economy of the Southside region to become more prosperous. Beginning in the 1970s, however, many of the textile mills closed up and outsourced work to countries such as Mexico, China and India, where the labor costs were significantly lower. Furthermore, the waning demand for tobacco products hurt Southside somewhat.
The Bassett Furniture company is in the town of Bassett. The Army bases Fort Lee and Fort Pickett employ many people, although fewer than during World War II. Some residents commute to the Philip Morris factory in south Richmond, Virginia|Richmond.
The 1990s brought some new manufacturing jobs to the area, often for industrial-grade metals and ceramics. Numerous prisons were established in the area, and employed local people in relatively high-paying security jobs.
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