Stuart, Virginia | |
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![]() Historic Patrick County Courthouse | |
Location of Stuart, Virginia | |
Coordinates:36°38′25″N80°16′26″W / 36.64028°N 80.27389°W /36.64028; -80.27389 | |
Country | United States |
State | Virginia |
County | Patrick |
Founded | 1792 |
Government | |
• Type | Mayor-Council |
• Mayor | Ray Weiland |
Area | |
• Total | 3.04 sq mi (7.87 km2) |
• Land | 3.04 sq mi (7.87 km2) |
• Water | 0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2) |
Elevation | 1,345 ft (410 m) |
Population (2010) | |
• Total | 1,408 |
• Estimate (2019)[2] | 1,271 |
• Density | 418.37/sq mi (161.53/km2) |
Time zone | UTC−5 (Eastern (EST)) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC−4 (EDT) |
ZIP code | 24171 |
Area code | 276 |
FIPS code | 51-76256[3] |
GNIS feature ID | 1500182[4] |
Website | townofstuartva |
Stuart is a town inPatrick County, Virginia, United States, where it is thecounty seat.[5] The population was 1,408 at the2010 census. The town ofStuart was named after Confederate Gen.J.E.B. Stuart, of nearbyArarat, Virginia.
The Town of Stuart was first incorporated as Taylorsville, Virginia, in 1792, in honor of early settler George Taylor. Stuart has been thecounty seat ofPatrick County since 1791, when the county was organized from territory ofHenry County, Virginia. Captain Eliphaz Shelton of the Patrick County Revolutionary War Militia, donated the land for the construction of a new courthouse and town subdivided from his plantation. ThePatrick County Courthouse was built in the center of the town. What is now designated as the Stuart Uptown Historic District encompasses the historic core of the county seat. It includes government, financial, religious, and commercial buildings dating from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries.
By 1850, Taylorsville had grown to include approximately 50 dwellings and businesses. The1850 census reported 18 households with 50 adults (including 29 boarders) and 60 children living in the area of the courthouse. Occupations listed included fourfarmers, twoinnkeepers, threemerchants,attorneys, twophysicians, twocabinetmakers, twosaddlers, oneharness maker, threetailors, onebricklayer, ninelaborers, aclerk, amail carrier, and asheriff with two deputies. TheDanville and Wytheville Turnpike, the predecessor to the present-dayU.S. Route 58, was established in the 1850s. In 1848, theRichmond and Danville Railroad was chartered, and tracks were completed toDanville by 1856.
Following the economic difficulties of theCivil War, the residents of Taylorsville focused their energies on expandingrailroads to connect to markets and boost the economy. TheDanville and New River Railroad was chartered in 1873, with the line completed toMartinsville, Virginia in nearby Henry County by 1881. In 1883, citizens of Patrick County approved a bond of $150,000 to expand the line. The first train pulled into Taylorsville in August 1884. With the growth associated with the railroad, Taylorsville was incorporated as a town in 1884 and was renamed Stuart in honor of ConfederateMajor GeneralJ.E.B. Stuart, who was born 20 miles west of town inArarat, Virginia.
Following the completion of the railroad, the town of Stuart continued to grow steadily. The population increased 25% from 300 in 1884 to 371 in 1900. While occupations continued to center around the courthouse functions and the typical needs of a trading center, the1900 census reflects the influence of the railroad by recording four railroad employees, eight salesmen, oneinsurance agent, onemining engineer, and one timber dealer. Five teachers, three hotels, two druggists, and two bartenders also indicate the growth of the town. The construction of the railroad led to the distinction of "uptown" and "downtown" Stuart. The original courthouse village was situated at the crest of a hill. An industrial and commercial area developed adjacent to the railroad, which was located further downhill along the flats of theMayo River. "Uptown" continued to serve as the center of the town with the courthouse, churches, school, attorneys' offices, banks, hotels, and stores. The two areas, however, were closely related and interdependent; the town's firsttelephone line at the turn of the twentieth century was run between the railroad depot downtown and the Hotel Perkins uptown.
Before 1915, nopublic water orsewer system was available. People gained their drinking water from privatewells or from nearbysprings. There were nostreetlights, andoil lamps were used for interiorlighting, the roads wereunpaved and thesidewalks were wooden. After the water system was installed, it was well received. By 1926 the population of the town had increased so much that improvements needed to be made.
In 1916, the Clark Power and Light Company established the firstelectric light system in Stuart. Each customer was charged a flat rate of $1.25 per month, and if 300 citizens bought into the system, Clark would allow the lights to burn all night. The Stuart Power and Light Company bought them out, and they were sold to the Virginia East Coast Utilities Company. In 1938, during the Great Depression, the Appalachian Electric Power Company bought them out. Joseph H. Vipperman, a Stuart native, was the president of this company when its name was changed toAmerican Electric Power. The firsttelegraph was installed in Stuart with completion of the railroad here in 1884.
Reportedly the first telephone was operated at the Hotel Perkins. By 1923, ten lines served the county, each with a central; the Stuart central was located in the home of Walter S. Gilbert. In 1937, the Lee Telephone Company acquired all the private lines. In 1974, theCentral Telephone Company of Virginia bought out the Lee Company. Years laterSprint/Centel bought them out and nowCenturylink serves Patrick County.
Travel to Stuart was difficult until the first hard-paved road reached Stuart from Martinsville in 1925. In 1929, a nine-mile stretch from Stuart to theNorth Carolina state line south was paved and improved. In 1930, the three miles to Cruzes (Cruises) Store was paved, and in 1932, the road was extended toHillsville, Virginia. Today, State Routes 8 andU.S. Route 58 serve the town and the county, and other counties along its east-to-west stretch. Route 58 is a four-lane divided highway, crossing the entireCommonwealth, as well as Patrick County.
By1940, the population of Stuart had increased to 600 and the majority of the buildings standing today had been constructed. The Patrick County Bank (established in 1890 and later merged with the Bank of Stuart in 1926) constructed its largeClassical building directly across from the courthouse in 1911. The two uptown churches, StuartUnited Methodist Church and the StuartBaptist Church, constructed their present-day structures in the early twentieth-century.
Stuart is a town for all age groups. It has a burgeoning downtown and recent retail developments along the Highway 58 corridor. New additions include the downtown rail trail along the Mayo River, a new Farmer's Market located within the heart of town, and new sidewalk and infrastructure improvements along Main Street.
TheStuart Uptown Historic District,Goblintown Mill, andPatrick County Courthouse are listed on theNational Register of Historic Places.[6]
Stuart is located at36°38′25″N80°16′26″W / 36.64028°N 80.27389°W /36.64028; -80.27389 (36.640197, −80.273940).[7]
According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.7 square miles (1.9 km2), all of it land.
0.7 square miles (1.8 km2)
The town of Stuart is a hilly community within a small valley surrounded by theBlue Ridge Mountains. The Mayo River runs through the heart of town, down throughPatrick County.
Climate data for Stuart, Virginia (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1913–present) | |||||||||||||
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Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °F (°C) | 79 (26) | 82 (28) | 88 (31) | 95 (35) | 98 (37) | 101 (38) | 105 (41) | 102 (39) | 99 (37) | 95 (35) | 88 (31) | 86 (30) | 105 (41) |
Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 48.1 (8.9) | 51.9 (11.1) | 59.3 (15.2) | 69.6 (20.9) | 76.4 (24.7) | 82.8 (28.2) | 86.1 (30.1) | 84.6 (29.2) | 79.3 (26.3) | 70.6 (21.4) | 60.0 (15.6) | 51.2 (10.7) | 68.3 (20.2) |
Daily mean °F (°C) | 36.7 (2.6) | 39.5 (4.2) | 46.2 (7.9) | 55.6 (13.1) | 63.9 (17.7) | 71.2 (21.8) | 74.8 (23.8) | 73.5 (23.1) | 67.8 (19.9) | 57.4 (14.1) | 46.9 (8.3) | 39.7 (4.3) | 56.1 (13.4) |
Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 25.2 (−3.8) | 27.2 (−2.7) | 33.1 (0.6) | 41.6 (5.3) | 51.3 (10.7) | 59.5 (15.3) | 63.5 (17.5) | 62.3 (16.8) | 56.3 (13.5) | 44.2 (6.8) | 33.8 (1.0) | 28.3 (−2.1) | 43.9 (6.6) |
Record low °F (°C) | −17 (−27) | −5 (−21) | 2 (−17) | 15 (−9) | 29 (−2) | 31 (−1) | 46 (8) | 44 (7) | 33 (1) | 21 (−6) | 7 (−14) | −3 (−19) | −17 (−27) |
Averageprecipitation inches (mm) | 4.13 (105) | 3.15 (80) | 4.04 (103) | 4.18 (106) | 5.00 (127) | 5.25 (133) | 5.36 (136) | 5.18 (132) | 5.05 (128) | 3.50 (89) | 3.36 (85) | 4.08 (104) | 52.28 (1,328) |
Average snowfall inches (cm) | 2.0 (5.1) | 2.1 (5.3) | 0.5 (1.3) | 0.1 (0.25) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 1.7 (4.3) | 6.4 (16) |
Average precipitation days(≥ 0.01 in) | 9.6 | 8.6 | 9.8 | 10.4 | 12.4 | 12.5 | 13.2 | 12.1 | 10.1 | 8.9 | 8.3 | 10.0 | 125.9 |
Average snowy days(≥ 0.1 in) | 1.0 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 3.1 |
Source:NOAA[8][9] |
Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
---|---|---|---|
1890 | 332 | — | |
1900 | 371 | 11.7% | |
1910 | 388 | 4.6% | |
1920 | 401 | 3.4% | |
1930 | 588 | 46.6% | |
1940 | 720 | 22.4% | |
1950 | 849 | 17.9% | |
1960 | 974 | 14.7% | |
1970 | 947 | −2.8% | |
1980 | 1,131 | 19.4% | |
1990 | 965 | −14.7% | |
2000 | 961 | −0.4% | |
2010 | 1,408 | 46.5% | |
2019 (est.) | 1,271 | [2] | −9.7% |
U.S. Decennial Census[10] |
As of the 2010census,[3] there were 1,408 people, 629 households, and 315 families residing in the town. Thepopulation density was 1,301.5 people per square mile (501.4/km2). There were 726 housing units at an average density of 698.8 per square mile (269.2/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 86.4%White, 8.9%African American, 1.8% fromother races, and 1.5% from two or more races.Hispanic orLatino of any race were 3.1% of the population.
Distance From Stuart and Population | |
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5 Miles | 6,329 |
10 Miles | 15,594 |
20 Miles | 95,093 |
40 Miles | 824,396 |
50 Miles | 1,473,391 |
https://www.census.gov/ |
There were 449 households, out of which 25.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.9% weremarried couples living together, 14.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 45.0% were non-families. 42.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 19.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.09 and the average family size was 2.85.
In the town, the population was spread out, with 22.4% under the age of 18, 9.3% from 18 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 23.0% from 45 to 64, and 19.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 85.5 males. For every 100 females aged 18 and over, there were 82.8 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $20,192, and the median income for a family was $35,000. Males had a median income of $29,375 versus $19,938 for females. Theper capita income for the town was $16,265. About 21.3% of families and 24.1% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 36.2% of those under age 18 and 20.1% of those age 65 or over.
The Patrick County Public School System offers sixelementary schools and onehigh school, with Stuart Elementary School andPatrick County High School lying within the town's boundaries. Thehigh school, which serves approximately 1,000 students in grades 8–12, is fully accredited with theSouthern Association of Colleges and Schools. Stuart Elementary provides apre-kindergarten to seventh grade level education for approximately 500 students each year. The school consistently ranks within the top schools in Virginia in theStandards of Learning Testing program, as well as many other areas of academic excellence.Patrick County High School recently became District and Regional Academic Champions, as well as winning a plethora of accolades throughout the academic and athletic fields, such as RegionalCross Country Champions, DistrictFootball Champions, RegionalWomen's Basketball Champions, and multiple DistrictTennis Champions. They too have a proud academic history and were also ranked as one of the top public high schools in theCommonwealth of Virginia. In their annual public high school rankings,U.S. News & World Report rankedPatrick County High School as one of the top schools inAmerica.
The town of Stuart has the firsthospital in theCommonwealth of Virginia to be designated as a Critical Access Hospital. Public water and sewer services are offered to residents in the Stuart-Patrick Springs area through the Stuart Water and Sewer Plant, as well as a public waste field just outside town. The town does not offer anairport. The local media outlets are the1270 AM WHEORadio Station, Cable 5 TV, andThe Enterprise, the town'sweekly newspaper.
Stuart has an annual festival, theEaster Brothers' Homecoming Gospel Sing, held every July in Dominion Valley Park. The celebration honors the Easter Brothers, a local group that gained national fame.[11] Stuart also hosts the oldest continuousbeach music festival on theEast Coast, "Hot Fun in the Summertime" presented by the Virginia Jaycees. Other major attractions include the Virginia Peach Festival, The Stuart Apple Dumpling and Strawberry Festivals, The Stuart Food and Wine Festival, The 4th of July Celebration, The Patrick County Fair, and the annual musical events featured on the Crooked Road Music Trail.