Route 15 was a major route of travel between north and south for Native tribes. According to local historians, a pitched battle was fought near present Leesburg between the warring Catawba and Lenape tribes, neither of whom lived in the area.
European settlement of near Leesburg began in the late s as tidewater planters moved into the area from the south and east establishing large farms and plantations. The genesis of Leesburg occurred sometime before when Nicholas Minor acquired land around the intersection of the Old Carolina Road and the Potomac Ridge Road present day Route 7 and established a tavern there.
Despite lack of growth around the tavern, upon Loudoun's formation in , Minor dubbed the sparse collection of buildings about his tavern "George Town" in honor of the reigning monarch of Great Britain. Leesburg was pictured in less-than-alluring words. In , diarist Nicholas Cresswell noted that it was "very indifferently built" and had "few inhabitants and little trade. In the early s, many of the lots were owned and then sold by Col.
James Steadman, an officer in the Loudoun Militia. They were built in The lots had a foot frontage, which encouraged buyers to purchase three or four. Back Hill is along Market Street, between Church and Harrison streets, in back of the courthouse complex.
The hill was once a favorite spot for sledding. Even after the street was paved in the early s, the hill was impassable for traffic in wintry weather. In an earlier era, heavy wagons and stagecoaches approaching town from the east took Loudoun Street, whose rise is far gentler than that of Back Hill. The east side of Ayr was once in town, and the west side was in the county. Some people consider the local courthouse among the few courthouses in Virginia not burned during the Civil War — ; though it was not built until Marshall , architect of the famous Marshall Plan that helped re-build Europe after the war, and radio personality Arthur Godfrey, who donated land for the town's first airport.
Today Leesburg continues to serve as the center of government and commerce for Loudoun County. The town's Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in and cited as one of the best preserved and most picturesque downtowns in Virginia.
Downtown merchants have recently labeled themselves "Loudoun's or, Loudoun County's, depending on the audience Original Town Center," largely in response to the growing number of mixed-use shopping in proximity. As of , the town had been county seat for of the previous years. On September 14, , The Town of Leesburg celebrated its th birthday. During that celebration, the town unveiled its new flag.
White is from the Lee Family Coat of Arms. Yellow is from the Lee Family Coat of Arms. Symbology: This flag represents the coat of arms that was in use by the Lee Family of Virginia when Leesburg was founded in The blue and yellow checkerboard band on the red back ground represents the Lee Family Coat of Arms at which Leesburg is named for and the white Cinquefoil five petal flower on a blue background comes from the Astley Family Coat of Arms.
The coats of arms were quartered like the flag is showing. The white cross indicates Leesburg as a crossroads. According to the United States Census Bureau , the town has a total area of Leesburg is located in the northern Virginia Piedmont at the base of the easternmost chain of the Blue Ridge Mountains , Catoctin Mountain.
The town is an area of the Piedmont known as the Culpeper Basin an inland sea during the Jurassic period and is also in the valley of the Potomac River , so that the overall relief is much less dramatic than other Virginia Piedmont towns, though portions of western Leesburg along the foot of Catoctin Mountain may be considerably higher.
The principal drainage for the town is Tuscarora Creek and its northern branch, referred to as the Town Branch, which empties into Goose Creek just east of the town.
Census estimates as of July 1, , showed the population of Leesburg at 47, people. According to the census , there were 42, people including 14, households, and 10, families residing in the town. The population density was 3, people per square mile 1,
0コメント