An incorporated town is a town that is a municipal corporation .
84-773: Blacksburg is an incorporated town in Montgomery County, Virginia , United States, with a population of 44,826 at the 2020 census . Blacksburg and the surrounding county is dominated economically and demographically by the presence of Virginia Tech . Blacksburg, Christiansburg , and the city of Radford are the three principal jurisdictions of the Blacksburg-Christiansburg Metropolitan Statistical Area , which encompasses those jurisdictions and all of Montgomery, Pulaski, and Giles counties for statistical purposes. The MSA has an estimated population of 181,863 and
168-841: A humid subtropical climate ( Köppen climate classification : Cfa ). Summers are humid with warm to hot temperatures, although the area sees significantly cooler temperatures than places of lower elevation at the same latitude, with only 5 days of 90 °F (32 °C)+ highs annually. Winters are generally cool to cold, with occasional intervening warm periods and an average of 0.9 nights of sub-0 °F (−18 °C) lows. Monthly mean temperatures range from 31.9 °F (−0.1 °C) in January to 71.7 °F (22.1 °C) in July. Snowfall averages 24.7 inches (63 cm) per season and generally occurs from December to March, although significant snowfall has been recorded outside of those months. Blacksburg
252-504: A boost of compulsory education during the second half of the 20th century. Even though there had been a place for secondary education somewhere in town since 1906, it was not until 1952 when the first facility for Blacksburg High School was built on South Main and Eheart Streets. Later it moved to new quarters and was adapted as Blacksburg Middle School. That same year, all high schools in Montgomery County began operating on
336-479: A catastrophic structural failure and collapsed, causing structural damage to other areas of the school. The school building was condemned and students attended night school on a split schedule with the Blacksburg Middle School students at their school for the remainder of the year. It was determined that repair costs would exceed $ 18 million and would not be feasible given the age of the school; it
420-401: A charter. In New York and Wisconsin , "towns" are more similar in concept to townships in other states than to incorporated towns in most states (see Administrative divisions of New York , Political subdivisions of Wisconsin ). In some other states, the term "town" is not used for municipalities. There are also different types of town/city governments (incorporated or chartered) that affect
504-452: A few details not found elsewhere. Her escape journey is also referred to briefly in two other Mercury articles, on 26 January and 1 March. An important secondary source is the 1824 written account by Colonel John Ingles, son of Mary Ingles and William Ingles, born in 1766 after Mary's return. His account, The Story of Mary Draper Ingles and Son Thomas Ingles , written when he was 58, is based on stories he had heard from his parents. This
588-482: A gathering of Cherokee chiefs at which a treaty to end the Anglo-Cherokee War was prepared. He found a man who knew of his wife, Bettie Robertson Draper, who had been taken captive in 1755. At that time, she was living at Chillicothe with the family of a widowed Cherokee chief. She was ransomed, and John took her to New River Valley . On 8 May, 1779, Lord Henry Hamilton , a British prisoner of war,
672-541: A grape-vine [and] made a raft" to cross a major river. They may have traveled as much as 500 to 600 miles, averaging between eleven and twenty-one miles a day. Once the corn ran out, they subsisted on black walnuts , wild grapes , pawpaws , sassafras leaves , blackberries , roots and frogs but, as the weather grew cold, they were forced to eat dead animals they found along the way. On several occasions they saw Indians hunting and each time managed to avoid being seen. On one occasion they were able to obtain deer meat from
756-561: A kill abandoned by an Indian hunter, having ...got very near an Indian before they saw him, but as he was busy in skinning a Deer, he did not see them, till they hid themselves behind a Log, towards which the Indian’s Dog kept a continual barking, which frightened the Indian as well as the Women, and having dispatch’d the skinning of his Deer, with as much speed as possible, he made off, leaving
840-435: A larger square, representing the original 16 square blocks that were a part of Black's design. After Black petitioned the state legislature to establish a town at the site, the official establishment and founding of Blacksburg was January 13, 1798, on the 38.75-acre (15.68 ha) tract that he laid out. The following August 4, he signed over the deed to the town trustees . The town was named after him in his honor. In 1808,
924-650: A lieutenant under Colonel William Christian in Lord Dunmore's War (1773-1774) against the Shawnee. He married Eleanore Grills in 1775 and settled in Burke's Garden, Virginia . In 1782, his wife and three children were kidnapped by Indians. Thomas came to rescue them and in the ensuing altercation, the two older children were killed. Eleanore was tomahawked but survived. Thomas rescued her and their youngest daughter. In 1761, Mary Ingles' brother John Draper attended
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#17327811262691008-518: A log cabin was built just east of Smithfield Plantation. Robert Preston, a future colonel of the 28th Virginia Infantry , lived here, as did two Virginia governors. The cabin was later added to in the mid 19th century to create a Greek Revival farmhouse now known as Solitude , which is the oldest building on the Virginia Tech campus. In 1872, the 250 acre Solitude farm became the central campus of Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, and
1092-479: A middle school, and a high school. A newly renovated Blacksburg branch library was opened in 1996. In the aftermath of railroad restructuring, many rail lines were abandoned. After 24 years of abandonment and six years of planning and construction, the first phase of the Huckleberry Trail built on the old Huckleberry railbed opened in 1996. The second phase of construction was completed in 1998. In 2019,
1176-562: A new city or village, but not a town, incorporated towns are far less common than city and village municipalities in Illinois. Although civil townships and incorporated towns are sometimes both called towns , they are completely separate types of government in Illinois: Unlike incorporated towns, townships are subdivisions of a county and are not incorporated municipalities. The oldest existing municipal town in Illinois
1260-521: A regional commuter bus service operated by Valley Metro (Roanoke) , provides connecting service between Virginia Tech , downtown Blacksburg, Christiansburg , Roanoke–Blacksburg Regional Airport , and Roanoke , where riders can transfer to an Amtrak train. Incorporated town Incorporated towns are a form of local government in Canada , which is a responsibility of provincial rather than federal government. An incorporated town or city in
1344-550: A search party went back and found the old Dutch woman. Harman took her to the fort at Dunkard's Bottom , where she joined a wagon party traveling to Winchester, Virginia , with the goal of returning to her home in Pennsylvania. After recovering from her journey and reuniting with her husband, Mary and her husband resumed farming at Dunkard's Bottom until the following spring. Concerned about continued Shawnee raids on neighboring settlements, they moved to Fort Vause , where
1428-479: A small garrison safeguarded the residents. Mary remained uneasy, however, and persuaded her husband to move again, this time to Robert Ewing's Fort near Montvale in Bedford County, Virginia . On the same day that they left, 25 June 1756, Fort Vause was attacked by French troops and a mixed force of 205 Shawnee, Ottawa and Miami Indians. Mary's brother-in-law John was killed, and her brother-in-law Matthew
1512-695: A son were born to them after Mary's return from captivity. On 30 July (or 8 July, according to John P. Hale and Letitia Preston Floyd ), 1755, during the French and Indian War , a band of about sixteen Shawnee warriors (then allies of the French) raided Draper's Meadow and killed at least four settlers, including Colonel James Patton , Mary's mother and Mary's infant niece, and a neighbor named Caspar Barger. They took five captives, including Mary and her two sons, her sister-in-law Bettie Robertson Draper, and her neighbor Henry Lenard (or Leonard). Mary's husband
1596-599: A stable and a family cemetery, is protected as part of the Ingles Bottom Archeological Sites . Mary's son George probably died in Indian captivity, but Thomas Ingles , who was 4 when taken captive, was ransomed and returned to Virginia in 1768 at the age of 17; after 13 years with the Shawnee, he had become fully acculturated and spoke only Shawnee . He underwent several years of "rehabilitation" and education under Dr. Thomas Walker at Castle Hill, Virginia . Thomas Ingles later served as
1680-463: A twelve-grade basis which is still county policy to this day. The Margaret J. Beeks Elementary School and the Gilbert F. Linkous Elementary School were both completed in 1963 and Harding Avenue Elementary School was built in 1972. Two years later, in 1974, Blacksburg High School moved its location to Patrick Henry Drive after 20 years of issues with overcrowding in its previous location. Jack Goodwin
1764-621: Is Astoria in Fulton County , incorporated on January 24, 1839; the newest existing town is La Prairie in Adams County , incorporated on April 15, 1869. There are 19 incorporated towns in Illinois, none of which are county seats Municipalities in Maryland can be cities , towns, or villages . In all six New England states ( Connecticut , Rhode Island , Massachusetts , Vermont , New Hampshire , and Maine ), towns are
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#17327811262691848-702: Is currently one of the faster-growing MSAs in Virginia. In the mid-1600s, English colonists were still uncertain of what lay beyond the Allegheny Mountains , whose topography and possession by native inhabitants, Tutelo -speaking tribes, were a barrier to expanded settlement by the Colony of Virginia . Abraham Wood , who commanded Fort Henry on the frontier (now the site of Petersburg, Virginia ), and operated an Indian trading post nearby, organized several expeditions to explore farther west. A passage over
1932-646: Is currently used as a restaurant called Cabo Fish Taco. It is also the oldest building on Main Street. The Baptists founded the third oldest church in the town in 1852. In 1832, Westview Cemetery was established from a few acres of land that were deeded to trustees. One of the first educational establishments started here was the Blacksburg Female Academy in 1840. The Olin and Preston Institute (re-charted as Preston and Olin Institute in 1869)
2016-551: Is located in Blacksburg and serves most of southwestern Virginia, southeast West Virginia, and northwest North Carolina. In 2003, the new building for Blacksburg Middle School students opened on Prices Fork Road adjacent to the property housing Kipps Elementary School. On April 16, 2007, Seung-Hui Cho shot 32 people dead and injured an additional 17 in the Virginia Tech shooting before committing suicide. The massacre
2100-660: Is located in the New River Valley and also sits astride the Eastern Continental Divide . It is the 15th largest municipality and the largest town in the commonwealth of Virginia. The Eastern Continental Divide traverses the Virginia Tech Montgomery Executive Airport . The tallest building in Blacksburg is Slusher Tower , a twelve-story residence hall on the Virginia Tech campus. The building with
2184-453: Is now West Virginia, and never returned, although there is evidence that Draper was still alive as late as 1748. By 1746 his family had established Draper's Meadow, a pioneer settlement on the banks of Stroubles Creek near modern-day Blacksburg, Virginia . In 1750, Mary married fellow settler William Ingles (1729-1782). They had two sons prior to Mary's captivity: Thomas Ingles , born in 1751, and George, in 1753. Three daughters and
2268-635: Is one of three types of incorporated municipalities . Incorporated towns were incorporated by special acts of the Illinois General Assembly prior to the creation of the Illinois Municipal Code. Illinois's standard law on municipalities came into effect on July 1, 1872, and does not provide for the incorporation of municipal towns. Since the Municipal Code provides a standard way for citizens to incorporate
2352-966: Is probably the most significant document describing Mary Ingles' capture and escape. Another significant secondary source is an 1843 letter by Letitia Preston Floyd (1779-1852, wife of Virginia Governor John Floyd and daughter of Colonel William Preston , himself a survivor of the Draper's Meadow massacre) to her son Benjamin Rush Floyd . Letitia Preston Floyd did not know Mary Draper Ingles personally, although she claimed to have seen her once, in 1811 or 1812 at "a large Baptist Association." She reports information that she learned from other sources, about Ingles' capture and escape. Historian Preston Davie described this letter as "replete with errors...A jumble of inaccurate hearsay and fact...more imaginative than real." Glanville and Mays counter this opinion: "The overall accuracy of Mrs. Floyd’s 'My Dear Rush' letter
2436-416: Is served primarily by US 460 , a four-lane highway that connects I-81 at Christiansburg, 10 miles to the south, and to I-77 at Princeton, West Virginia. Driving from Blacksburg to its larger metro neighbor, Roanoke , via US 460 and I-81, usually requires less than an hour. Blacksburg Transit (BT) provides bus transportation primarily to and from the campus of Virginia Tech . Students and faculty ride
2520-468: Is surprisingly good...She made minor errors in dates and places. However, it seems to us that Mrs. Floyd did remarkably well for a person aged 63 who was often writing of events about which she learned four or five decades earlier." Differences between the narratives of John Ingles and Letitia Preston Floyd suggest that the Ingles and Preston families had developed distinct oral traditions . They differ on
2604-471: Is the deadliest mass shooting on a college campus since the University of Texas tower shooting in 1966. On January 21, 2009, Zhu Haiyang decapitated Yang Xin at Virginia Tech in the first campus murder since the Virginia Tech shooting. On February 13, 2010, following a snowstorm that dropped two feet of snow on the area, the gymnasium roof on the previously occupied Blacksburg High School suffered
Blacksburg, Virginia - Misplaced Pages Continue
2688-433: Is the dividing line between the sections. John Black's property was later developed as the majority of the central campus of Virginia Tech. In 1797, William Black laid out a small grid of streets and lots comprising 16 blocks on a portion of his land. The original town was limited to the area bounded by present-day Draper Road, Jackson Street, Wharton Street, and Clay Street. The town logo contains 16 small squares that create
2772-676: Is the site of the Blacksburg Electronic Village or BEV, conceived as a computer networking project of Virginia Tech in 1991 and officially born in 1993 as a way to link the town together using the Internet . This project quickly ushered the town into what is being called the Information Age . In 1994, Montgomery County Public Schools completed construction of Kipps Elementary School at 2801 Prices Fork Road. By this time, Blacksburg had five elementary schools,
2856-528: The Battle of Point Pleasant in 1774. After four or five days the women reached the junction of the Ohio and Scioto rivers, where they could see Lower Shawneetown in the distance, on the opposite riverbank. There they found an abandoned cabin, which contained a supply of corn, and an old horse in the back yard. They took the horse to carry the corn, but he was lost in the river when they tried to take him across what
2940-689: The Blue Ridge to the Colony of Virginia . Following another cession at the 1744 Treaty of Lancaster , however, there was a dispute between the tribe and colonists over whether the new boundary was the Alleghenies or the Ohio River . The site of Blacksburg lay just within this disputed zone. By the 1740s, the Wood's River Land Company, represented by Colonel James Patton , gained a large tract of land within present-day southwest Virginia . Part of
3024-555: The Draper's Meadow Massacre during the French and Indian War . They were taken to Lower Shawneetown at the Ohio and Scioto rivers. Ingles escaped with another woman after two and a half months and trekked 500 to 600 miles, crossing numerous rivers, creeks, and the Appalachian Mountains to return home. Two somewhat different accounts of Mary Draper Ingles' capture and escape, one written by her son John Ingles, and
3108-541: The United States is a municipality that is incorporated under state law. An incorporated town will have elected officials, as differentiated from an unincorporated community , which exists only by tradition and does not have elected officials at the town level. In some states, civil townships may sometimes be called towns, but are generally not incorporated municipalities, but are administrative subdivisions and derive their authority from statute rather than from
3192-474: The Virginia Anthracite & Coal Railroad , which later became known as the "Huckleberry." Traffic in Blacksburg increased sufficiently enough that by January 1913 the town voted against allowing cows to continue to roam in town. The first filling station was opened in 1919 and at the time was the only one between Roanoke, Virginia , and Bluefield, West Virginia . The town's first landing strip
3276-505: The "old Dutch woman" but who may have been German, to escape with her. The next day (probably 19 October) they asked permission of the Native Americans to go into the forest to gather wild grapes, and set off, retracing the route their captors had followed after Mary was taken captive in July. They wore moccasins and carried only a tomahawk and a knife (both of which were eventually lost), and two blankets. As they were leaving
3360-531: The 2013 fall semester is located at 3401 Bruin Lane, behind the current Blacksburg Middle School and Bill Brown Football Stadium. Blacksburg is governed by a Town Council of six members and a mayor. Elections take place in November of odd-numbered years. Council members are elected for four-year terms. The town’s mayor is an elected office. By tradition, the town's vice-mayor is the councilperson who received
3444-458: The BT fare free with a flat payment included in the cost of tuition. Virginia Tech subsidizes BT for this service. Transportation is available to anyone for a fee, and during special events the service is often free. Blacksburg Transit also offers shuttle service to non-students on Virginia Tech Football game days for $ 5 to be transported from outlying parking areas to the stadium. The Smart Way Bus,
Blacksburg, Virginia - Misplaced Pages Continue
3528-636: The Batts and Fallam party claimed all of the lands comprising the river's drainage basin for King Charles II . However, the region was not yet open to English patent . In 1700, Seneca warriors of the Iroquois Confederacy based in New York and Pennsylvania, overran the entire area, driving out the other bands. As early as 1718, the Seneca had agreed to sell the parts they had conquered east of
3612-613: The Blacksburg Rotary Mountain Bike Skills Park opened with funding from Blacksburg Parks and Recreation and donations. On July 8, 1997, ground was broken for the experimental " Smart Road " project. The second phase of construction was completed in 2002. The road is currently closed to the public and used as a research test bed for the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. A National Weather Service office
3696-577: The Carcase behind him, which afterwards afforded an agreeable Repast to the starving Travellers, and after having satiated their Hunger, took as much of the Meat along as they could carry, and pursued their Journey, making the River their Guide, and feeding on Grapes and Nuts for their Support. By now the temperature had dropped, it was starting to snow, and the two women were weak from starvation. At some point,
3780-500: The Christiansburg-area segment was opened. About half that amount of time passed before the U.S. Route 460 bypass opened in 1969. In the 1970s, Virginia Tech was annexed into the town and the town acquired other land. Together with the effect of the annexations, the population grew from 9,000 people to 30,000 during this decade. Replacing the old public bus system, Blacksburg Transit began running in 1983. Blacksburg
3864-456: The Draper's Meadow area for his sons John and William in 1772. Smithfield Plantation , built in approximately 1774 by Colonel William Preston , was developed on the original Draper's Meadow site, near the current location of the Duck Pond on the Virginia Tech campus. When Samuel Black died in 1792, the land was evenly divided into two sections by his sons. The road now known as Draper Road
3948-558: The French or British as it suited them, plus its location through gaps into the Alleghenies further west, the area's development was viewed with increasing apprehension by the French and their Indian allies. In July 1755, during the French and Indian War , hostile Shawnee Indians equipped and armed by France attacked the frontier outpost at Draper's Meadow, which then had around twenty pioneer settlers. About four settlers were killed in
4032-532: The Frontiers of Virginia." Letitia Preston Floyd and other sources state that, about "three months" after being taken prisoner, Mary gave birth to a daughter, although there is evidence to the contrary. As a prisoner, Mary sewed shirts using cloth traded to the Indians by French traders and, at the insistence of the traders, she was paid in goods for her work. The Mercury newspaper account states that Mary
4116-816: The Mississippi and Chesapeake watersheds the official boundary between their Virginia colony and native peoples. It remained so until 1768, when native claims to the land including Blacksburg were cleared by the Treaty of Hard Labour with the Cherokee , and the Treaty of Fort Stanwix with the Six Nations (Iroquois Confederacy). The Shawnee finally abandoned their claim to this territory in 1774 following Dunmore's War . Samuel Black, whose family settled in Staunton, Virginia , bought 600 acres (2.4 km) of land in
4200-515: The New River, the old Dutch woman made a second attempt on Mary's life, probably about 26 November, but Mary "got loose...and outran her." (The New-York Mercury article states that "the Dutch woman attempted to kill her...in order, as it was supposed, to Eat her; but [Mary] after a fierce struggle, released herself...and fled away." ) She hid in the forest and waited until dark, then continued along
4284-492: The Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College opened on October 2, 1872, with a faculty of three members. The college grew and became known as Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI), later, "and State University" was added to the name, which shortly afterward became informally referred to as Virginia Tech. It is now officially called Virginia Tech. It is Virginia's land-grant university . A fire-fighting unit
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#17327811262694368-591: The attacks, and five were taken captive to Kentucky by the Shawnee, among them Mary Draper Ingles , who later escaped. The memorial to Draper's Meadow massacre was dedicated on a bridge located near Duck Pond. By the end of the war, Draper's Meadow was deserted. By the Treaty of Easton (1758), and again by the Royal Proclamation of 1763 , the British Crown made the Allegheny ridge separating
4452-496: The camp, they met three French traders from Detroit who were harvesting walnuts. Mary traded her old dull tomahawk for a new one. The women went north, following the Ohio River as it curves to the east (see map ). Expecting pursuit, they tried to hurry at first. As it turned out, the Shawnee made only a brief search, assuming the two women had been "destroyed by wild beasts." The Shawnee told this account to Mary's son Thomas Ingles, when he met some of them many years later after
4536-645: The date of the massacre (July 30 vs July 8, according to Ingles and Floyd, respectively), the number of casualties, the ages of Mary Ingles' children, and several other aspects. John Peter Hale, one of Mary Ingles' great-grandsons, claimed to have interviewed Letitia Preston Floyd, and other people who knew Mary Ingles personally. His 1886 narrative contains numerous details not cited in any previous account. There were some references to Mary Ingles' escape in contemporary reports and letters, which were gathered in later efforts to document people who had been taken captive by Indians. The story of Ingles' ordeal has inspired
4620-426: The depot was closed, the empty cars were picked up, and the tracks were immediately removed. After years of effort by the citizens of the town a trail was constructed on the former railroad right-of-way and, after years of construction, funding and planning issues the Huckleberry Trail was opened to the public on December 1, 1998. 190 years after its original construction, the newly renovated Smithfield Plantation house
4704-631: The first white settlements west of the Alleghenies. Mary Draper Ingles was born in 1732 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to George and Elenor (Hardin) Draper, who had immigrated to America from County Donegal , Ireland in 1729. Between 1740 and 1744, the Draper family moved to the western frontier of Virginia, settling in Pattonsburg on the James River . According to John P. Hale, in 1744 George Draper went on an exploratory trip into what
4788-664: The gauntlet : When their Warriors arrive within half a Mile of their Towns, it is their custom to whip those who have been so unfortunate as to fall into their Hands, all the Remainder of the Way till they get to the Town, and that it was in this Manner our poor unhappy Neighbors from Virginia had been treated by them. According to her son, Mary was not required to do this. Mary was separated from her sons, who were adopted by Shawnee families. According to John P. Hale, Mary's oldest son Thomas
4872-440: The highest elevation is actually Hoge Hall (formerly Lee Hall ), another residence hall , which until May 17, 2009, was home to the transmitter of campus radio station WUVT . The tower for WUVT now sits atop Price Mountain. Due to its elevation, the climate of Blacksburg is a hot-summer humid continental climate ( Köppen climate classification : Dfa ), being cooled down from the lowland areas of Virginia, all of which possess
4956-488: The highest number of votes in the most recent election and is formally elected by council at the first meeting of the new year. According to the United States Census Bureau , the town has a total area of 19.89 square miles (51.5 km) of which 19.89 square miles (51.5 km) is land and 0.04 square miles (0.10 km), or 0.10%, is water. At 2,080 feet (634 m) above sea level, Blacksburg
5040-601: The house, after the death of its owner in the following decade, served as a college infirmary from 1882 to 1886. It was later used for faculty housing. According to records of the Post Office Department of the National Archives and Records Administration , the post office was established as "BLACKSBURGH" on April 8, 1827. The name was changed to the current spelling (without the "h") in 1893. The Methodists had built two cabins to worship in since
5124-493: The main units of local government. Towns cover most or all land area in all six states, including rural areas . New England towns are notable for their town meeting form of government. Mary Draper Ingles Mary Draper Ingles (1732 – February 1815), also known in records as Mary Inglis or Mary English , was an American pioneer and early settler of western Virginia . In the summer of 1755, she and her two young sons were among several captives taken by Shawnee after
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#17327811262695208-406: The old Dutch woman became "very disheartened and discouraged", and tried to kill Mary. (Letitia Preston Floyd's account reports the two women drew lots to decide "which of them was to be eaten by the other." ) Mary managed to "keep her in a good humor" by promising "a sum of money" to be paid to her by Mary's father-in-law upon their safe return to Draper's Meadow. Soon after they reached the mouth of
5292-510: The organization administrative powers such as council-manager government that is the most popular form, townships , Villages , town meeting , etc. Under California 's Government Code Sections 34500–34504, the terms "city" and "town" are explicitly interchangeable, i.e. there is no legal distinction between an incorporated city and an incorporated town. California has 22 incorporated municipalities that are styled "Town of (Name)" instead of "City of (Name)". In Illinois , an incorporated town
5376-548: The other by Letitia Preston Floyd, an acquaintance, are the main sources from which the story is known. The story became well-known following the 1855 publication of William Henry Foote 's account in Sketches of Virginia: Historical and Biographical, based on Mary's son's manuscript. It was further publicized in 1886 with the publication of an embellished version in John P. Hale's Trans-Allegheny pioneers: historical sketches of
5460-609: The ridge was finally found in 1671 when explorers Batts and Fallam, sent by Wood, reached the present-day location of Blacksburg, Virginia. Their expedition followed Stroubles Creek , through the current locations of the town and campus of Virginia Tech , to what they named Wood's River. They reported the area as inhabited by the Monacan and Moneton , Siouan -speaking groups, but the Virginian colonial legislature had authorized Wood to claim it. Accordingly, on September 17, 1671,
5544-427: The riverbank. Finding a canoe , Mary crossed the New River at its junction with the East River near what is now Glen Lyn, Virginia . Mary continued southeast along the riverbank, passing through the present-day location of Pembroke . Four or five days after leaving the old Dutch woman, she reached the home of her friend Adam Harman on or about 1 December 1755, 42 days after leaving Big Bone Lick. Shortly afterward,
5628-432: The top of the hill, where it now intersects the Alumni Mall. By October the town's second stoplight was installed on Main Street at Roanoke Street and was synchronized with the original one at Main and College. The establishment of official law enforcement began in 1937 when Officer Dave "Highpockets" Sumner became the first Blacksburg police officer. The first police car was purchased nine years later. Blacksburg experienced
5712-411: The town's founding, but they did not build a more permanent structure until 1830, when they constructed a brick church. The Presbyterians were the next Christian denomination to build a church within Blacksburg's limits. In 1848 they built their first brick building at 117 South Main Street. Though still standing, this building has not been used as a church for many years. It was once South Main Café, but
5796-491: The tract became Montgomery County and Pulaski County and was sold to Virginian, Irish, Scots-Irish, and English settlers as a reward for their services during the American Indian Wars and other wars. The Draper and Ingles families were among those who built their homes at Draper's Meadow by 1748; this area was between the present location of the campus and the subdivision of Hethwood. Because of its strategic location between powerful Indian nations, who alternately allied with
5880-399: Was a Methodist-sponsored academy established in 1851. The first bank in Montgomery County, Blacksburg Savings Institution, was established in 1849. The first newspaper published in Blacksburg was the Montgomery Messenger . Its first issue was printed in 1869. In 1871, the village that became known as Blacksburg was incorporated and Thomas W. Jones became the first mayor. One year later,
5964-402: Was also assigned "to attend [the Native Americans] as Servant, to dress their Victuals, and stretch the Skins they might procure." In October 1755, about three weeks after reaching Lower Shawneetown, she was taken to the Big Bone salt lick to make salt for the Indians by boiling brine . While working at Big Bone Lick, in late October 1755, Mary persuaded another captive woman, referred to as
6048-511: Was appointed the first chief of police by the Blacksburg Town Council in 1954. Jan Olinger was made the first female police officer in 1976. 1958 marked the beginning of the end for the railroad that came to be known as the "Huckleberry." In the 1960s, however, railroads underwent restructuring. Passenger service came to an end on July 25. On June 30, 1966, the last freight train arrived at the Blacksburg depot. Within 24 hours,
6132-536: Was being escorted under guard to Williamsburg and spent the night at the home of William and Mary Ingles. In his journal, Hamilton noted that the trauma of Mary's captivity and escape still affected her, 24 years later: The only primary source of information about Mary Ingles' capture and escape is an article published in the New York Mercury on 16 February 1756 based on a report from "a Traveller who lately came from New River in Virginia," which contains
6216-735: Was built as part of the Hethwood development. During 1981, the Blacksburg Community Center opened. It cost the town $ 1.2 million to build. By 1988, the New River Valley Mall, located in the neighboring town of Christiansburg, was opened and the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center had its first ground-breaking ceremony. After construction of Virginia's portion of Interstate 81 began in 1957, nine years passed before
6300-496: Was built in 1929 and was 1,800 feet (548.64 m) in length. The grass landing strip was given airport status in 1931 and later became Virginia Tech Airport . Local buses began to make their rounds for the first time in 1947. The town's first theater was built in 1909. It was a precursor to the Lyric Theatre on College Avenue. In the spring of 1935, Main Street was strung with ten street lights from Roanoke Street northward to
6384-662: Was built in 1970. The Blacksburg Branch of the Montgomery County Library was opened the same year. Ten years later, it was moved into the facility that used to house the Blacksburg Lumber Company on Draper Road. In 1971, Blacksburg ratified a new charter and LewisGale Hospital Montgomery was built. The University Mall shopping center opened that year as well. In the mid 1970s the Foxridge apartments, an even larger student apartment complex,
6468-475: Was captured. Mary very likely provided information about the location, size and layout of Lower Shawneetown to her husband, who then suggested to Lieutenant-Governor Robert Dinwiddie that he organize an assault on the town in retaliation for Shawnee attacks on English settlements. William Ingles participated as a lieutenant in the Sandy Creek Expedition in early 1756, however the expedition
6552-530: Was decided not to repair the building. Before the school year of 2013-14 Blacksburg High School was operating on a normal schedule out of the Blacksburg Middle School building on 3109 Prices Fork Road, and the middle schoolers were going to school in the old Christiansburg Middle School. The original Blacksburg High School building was vacant until it was demolished in the Summer of 2011. The newly constructed school building of Blacksburg High School which opened for
6636-531: Was forced to turn back before reaching the town, due to harsh weather and lack of food. The Ingles had four more children: Mary, Susanna (b. 1759), Rhoda (b. 1762), and John (1766-1836). In 1762, William and Mary established the Ingles Ferry across the New River , and the associated Ingles Ferry Hill Tavern and blacksmith shop. She died there in 1815, aged 83. The site of her former log cabin , with
6720-463: Was nearly killed but fled into the forest. The Indians took their captives, along with several horses loaded with items taken from the settlers' homes, northwest along the New River , then along the Ohio River . They traveled for a month to Lower Shawneetown , located at the confluence of the Scioto and Ohio rivers. Upon arrival at the town, the prisoners were made to undergo the ritual of running
6804-403: Was organized within the university in 1899. The town bought its first fire truck 43 years later. The Blacksburg First Aid and Life Saving Crew was founded in 1951 and renamed Blacksburg Volunteer Rescue Squad in another addition to the growing amount of emergency services. The first automobile came through the town in 1901. Three years later the train entered Blacksburg from Christiansburg using
6888-587: Was probably Dutchman's Ripple. They followed the Ohio, Kanawha , and New rivers, crossing the Licking , Big Sandy , and Little Sandy rivers, Twelvepole Creek , the Guyandotte and Coal rivers, Paint Creek , and the Bluestone River . During their journey, they crossed at least 145 creeks and rivers—remarkable as neither woman could swim. On at least one occasion they "tied logs together with
6972-413: Was re-opened in 1964. The amount of commercialization in the area began to increase in the mid-1960s. The Corning Glass Works (now called Corning Incorporated ), based in upper New York State, opened a manufacturing facility in 1964 that is located south of Blacksburg. The Blacksburg Municipal Building on South Main Street was constructed in 1969. Terrace View apartments, the first large student complex,
7056-657: Was taken to Detroit , her sister-in-law Bettie was taken to what is now Chillicothe, Ohio , and her youngest son George was taken to an unknown location and died soon afterward. One source states that another captive, Mary's neighbor Henry Leonard, later escaped, although no details are given. An article in the New-York Mercury of 16 February 1756, describing Mary's capture and escape, mentions that while in Lower Shawneetown she saw "a considerable Number of English Prisoners, who have been taken Captives from
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