Leesburg | |
|---|---|
 Center of Leesburg in 2012 | |
 Seal  Logo | |
  Leesburg  Leesburg  Leesburg | |
| Coordinates:39°6′56″N77°33′52″W / 39.11556°N 77.56444°W /39.11556; -77.56444 | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Virginia |
| County | Loudoun |
| Founded | October 12, 1758 |
| Named after | Lee family |
| Government | |
| • Type | Council–manager |
| • Mayor | Kelly Burk(D)[1] |
| • Vice Mayor | Neil Steinberg(D)[1] |
| Area | |
• Total | 12.47 sq mi (32.29 km2) |
| • Land | 12.40 sq mi (32.11 km2) |
| • Water | 0.069 sq mi (0.18 km2) |
| Elevation | 341 ft (104 m) |
| Population | |
• Total | 48,250 |
• Estimate (2021)[4] | 48,908 |
| • Density | 4,333.2/sq mi (1,673.07/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC−5 (Eastern (EST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−4 (EDT) |
| ZIP Codes | 20175-20178 |
| Area codes | 703,571 |
| FIPS code | 51-44984 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1498505[5] |
| Website | www |
Leesburg is a town in and thecounty seat ofLoudoun County, Virginia, United States. It is part of both theNorthern Virginia region of the state and theWashington metropolitan area, includingWashington, D.C., the nation's capital.
European settlement in the area began around 1740,[citation needed] when it was named for theLee family, early colonial leaders of the town.[6] Located in the far northeast of the state, in theWar of 1812 it was a refuge for important federal documents evacuated from Washington, D.C., and in theCivil War, it changed hands several times.
Leesburg is 33 miles (53 km) west-northwest of Washington, D.C., along the base ofCatoctin Mountain and close to thePotomac River.[7] The town is the northwestern terminus of theDulles Greenway, a privatetoll road that connects to theDulles Toll Road atDulles International Airport. Its population was 48,250 as of the 2020 Census[3] and an estimated 48,908 in 2021. It is Virginia's largest incorporatedtown within a county.
Like much of Loudoun County, Leesburg has undergone considerable growth and development over the last 30 years, transforming from a small, ruralPiedmont town to asuburbanbedroom community for commuters to the national capital. Growth in the town and its immediate area to the east (Lansdowne/Ashburn) concentrates along the Dulles Greenway andState Route 7, which roughly parallels the Potomac River betweenWinchester to the west andAlexandria to the east.
Leesburg is home to professional soccer teamLoudoun United FC of theUSL Championship division who play their home matches atSegra Field.
TheFederal Aviation Administration'sWashington Air Route Traffic Control Center is in Leesburg.
Leesburg may have been named to honor the influentialThomas Lee[citation needed] or more generally for theLee family. The name change was passed by an Act of Assembly in 1758.[6]Francis Lightfoot Lee and Phillip Ludwell Lee, two of Thomas' sons, were early town trustees.[5] The town is not named, as is sometimes thought, forRobert E. Lee (Thomas' great-grandnephew).
Prior to European settlement, the area around Leesburg was occupied by variousNative American tribes.
In 1670,John Lederer (1670) testified that the entire Piedmont region had once been occupied by the"Tacci, alias Dogi", but that theSiouan tribes, driven from the northwest, had occupied it for 400 years.[citation needed]
In 1699, theAlgonquianPiscataway (Conoy) moved to an island in the Potomac in the environs of Leesburg, and were there when the first known Europeans visited what is now Loudoun County.[8]
What later became Old Carolina Road and is present-dayU.S. 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-day Leesburg between the warringCatawba andLenape tribes, neither of whom lived in the area.
A war party of Lenape had traveled from their home inNew Jersey and neighboring regions, all the way toSouth Carolina to inflict a blow on their distant enemies, the Catawba. As they were returning northward, a party of Catawbas overtook them before they reached thePotomac River, but were defeated in a pitched battle 2 miles (3 km) south of Leesburg. The surviving Lenape buried their dead in a hugeburial mound, and early settlers reported that they would return to this mound to honor their dead on the anniversary of this battle for many years thereafter. The date of this conflict is unknown, but it seems the Lenape and Catawba were at war in the 1720s and 1730s.[9]
European settlement near Leesburg began in the late 1730s asTidewater planters moved into the area from the south and east, establishing large farms and plantations.[citation needed] Many of theFirst Families of Virginia were among those to settle in the area, including the Carters, Lees and Masons.[citation needed] The genesis of Leesburg occurred sometime before 1755, when Nicholas Minor acquired land around the intersection of the Old Carolina Road and the Potomac Ridge Road on present-dayRoute 7 and established a tavern there.[citation needed]
Despite lack of growth around the tavern, upon Loudoun County's formation in 1757, Minor dubbed the sparse collection of buildings about his tavern "George Town" in honor of the reigning monarch ofGreat Britain.[citation needed] The village's prosperity changed the following year when the British Colonial Council ordered the establishment of the county courthouse at the crossroads.[citation needed]
Minor had a town laid out on the traditional Virginia plan of six criss-cross streets. On October 12, 1758, theVirginia General Assembly founded the town of Leesburg upon the 60 acres (0.24 km2) that Minor laid out.[8] Leesburg was renamed to honor the influentialThomas Lee and not, as is popular belief, his sonFrancis Lightfoot Lee, who lived in Loudoun and brought up the bill to establish Leesburg.[10][failed verification] When the post office was established in Leesburg in 1803, the branch was named "Leesburgh"; the "h" persisted until 1894.[8]
During theWar of 1812, Leesburg served as a temporary haven for the United States government and its archives, including theDeclaration of Independence and theU.S. Constitution and portraits of early American leaders, includingBenjamin Franklin, when it was forced to fleeWashington in the face of theBritish Army.[11] When reconstruction began on theUnited States Capitol,Potomac marble from quarries just south of Leesburg was used.[8]
Early in theAmerican Civil War, Leesburg was the site of theBattle of Ball's Bluff, a small but significantConfederate victory. The battlefield, along the Potomac River 2 miles (3 km) northeast of the town center, is marked by one of America's smallest national cemeteries. The town frequently changed hands over the course of the war as both armies traversed the area during theMaryland andGettysburg campaigns.
TheBattle of Mile Hill was fought just north of the town prior to its occupation byRobert E. Lee in September 1862.[12] Leesburg also served as a base of operations for Col.John S. Mosby and his partisanRaiders. The local courthouse is among the few courthouses in Virginia that was not burned during the Civil War; the present one was built in 1894.
In 1889, a 14-year-old black American,Orion Anderson, was killed by a white mob at the town's freight depot; his murder would be the second of three recorded lynchings inLoudoun County, Virginia, between 1880 and 1902.[13]
In the 20th century, Leesburg was the home ofWorld War II GeneralGeorge C. Marshall, architect of the famousMarshall Plan that helped re-buildEurope after the war, and radio personalityArthur Godfrey, who donated land for the town's first airport.
Leesburg continued to serve as the center of government and commerce for Loudoun County. The town'shistoric district was placed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 1970 and cited as one of the best preserved and most picturesque downtowns in Virginia.[14]
In the 21st century, Downtown merchants have recently labeled themselves "Loudoun's Original Town Center", largely in response to the growing number of mixed-use shopping areas in proximity.[15] Leesburg has served Loudoun'scounty seat continuously since the county's formation in 1757.[16]
The Leesburg area contains twenty-one entries on theNational Register of Historic Places, including:
At least sixty-three historic markers are located in and near Leesburg.[24]
Leesburg is located northeast of the center ofLoudoun County, Virginia, at39°6′56″N77°33′52″W / 39.11556°N 77.56444°W /39.11556; -77.56444 (39.1155, −77.5644),[25] It is part of the northern VirginiaPiedmont and sits at the base of the easternmost chain of theBlue Ridge Mountains,Catoctin Mountain. The town lies in theCulpeper Basin (an inland sea during theJurassic period) and is adjacent to the valley of thePotomac River, so that the localrelief is less pronounced than in other Virginia Piedmont towns.[citation needed] Elevation in town ranges from about 350 to 400 feet (110 to 120 m), with the ridge of Catoctin Mountain rising to 670 feet (200 m) just west of the town limits. The Town Branch of Tuscarora Creek passes through the center of town, flowing east toGoose Creek, a tributary of the Potomac.
According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 12.4 square miles (32 km2), of which 0.06 square miles (0.16 km2), or 0.54%, are water.[2]
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1850 | 1,691 | — | |
| 1860 | 1,130 | −33.2% | |
| 1870 | 1,144 | 1.2% | |
| 1880 | 1,726 | 50.9% | |
| 1890 | 1,650 | −4.4% | |
| 1900 | 1,513 | −8.3% | |
| 1910 | 1,597 | 5.6% | |
| 1920 | 1,545 | −3.3% | |
| 1930 | 1,640 | 6.1% | |
| 1940 | 1,698 | 3.5% | |
| 1950 | 1,703 | 0.3% | |
| 1960 | 2,869 | 68.5% | |
| 1970 | 4,821 | 68.0% | |
| 1980 | 8,357 | 73.3% | |
| 1990 | 16,202 | 93.9% | |
| 2000 | 28,311 | 74.7% | |
| 2010 | 42,616 | 50.5% | |
| 2020 | 48,250 | 13.2% |
Census estimates as of July 1, 2018, showed the population of Leesburg at 53,917 people. According to the2010 census, there were 42,616 people including 14,441 households, and 10,522 families residing in the town. The population density was 3,673 inhabitants per square mile (1,418/km2). There were 15,119 housing units at an average density of 1,220.2 per square mile (471.1/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 71.1%White, 9.5%African American, 0.4%Native American, 7.1%Asian, 0.0%Pacific Islander, 7.5% fromother races, and 4.3% from two or more races.Hispanic orLatino of any race were 17.4% of the population.
Of all households, 44.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.8% weremarried couples living together, 10.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.1% were non-families. 21.1% were made up of individuals, and 4.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.93 and the average family size was 3.42.
By age, the population was 30.7% under the age of 18, 5.5% from 18 to 24, 32.9% from 25 to 44, 23.4% from 45 to 64, and 6.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33.3 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.7 males. For every 100 females aged 18 and over, there were 93.6 males.
The median income of the households in the town was $68,861, and the median income of the families was $78,111 (these figures had risen to $87,346 and $105,260 respectively as of a 2007 estimate). Males had a median income of $51,267 versus $35,717 for females. Theper capita income for the town was $30,116. About 2.4% of families and 3.6% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 3.8% of those under age 18 and 8.2% of those age 65 or over.
Leesburg has four public high schools operated byLoudoun County Public Schools:Loudoun County High School,Heritage High School,Tuscarora High School, andRiverside High School.[26]
Leesburg is also served by several private schools, including Providence Academy, a K–8 non-denominational Christian school; Leesburg Christian School, a K–12 non-denominational Christian school; and pre-K-8Loudoun Country Day School.
The Leesburg Volunteer Fire Company provides fire protection services.[27] The Loudoun County Volunteer Rescue Squad provides rescue andemergency medical services.[28] Both the fire company and rescue squad are volunteer organizations supplemented with partial staffing from the Loudoun County Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Management.[29] The fire company can trace its roots back to 1803; the rescue squad was formed in 1952.[30]
Leesburg is served by a town police department.[31] The Leesburg Police Department (LPD) has an authorized strength of 90 sworn officers and provides 24/7 patrol service to the town, as well as handling criminal investigations, traffic control, and special operations within the town. The department is completely separate from theLoudoun County Sheriff's Office, which is Loudoun County's primary law enforcement agency and provides security for the courthouse in Leesburg. The LPD was formed in 1758.
TheLoudoun Times-Mirror is a Leesburg-based weekly newspaper serving Loudoun County. There are no longer any local radio stations after the former WAGE (nowWTSD) was shut down in 2007. Leesburg is assigned to theWashington, D.C. media market, and is covered by its major television and radio stations; broadcasters fromBaltimore,Frederick, andWinchester are also readily available.
_from_the_overpass_for_Sycolin_Road_Southeast_in_Leesburg%2c_Loudoun_County%2c_Virginia.jpg)
The primary highways serving Leesburg includeU.S. Route 15,Virginia State Route 7 andVirginia State Route 267.
US 15 enters Leesburg from the southwest, following King Street, then joins the Leesburg Bypass to pass southeast of downtown. It rejoins King Street as it leaves the bypass on the northeast end of town on its way toward Maryland. The old alignment of US 15 is nowU.S. Route 15 Business. Via US 15, travelers can reachWarrenton 34 miles (55 km) to the southwest andFrederick, Maryland, 25 miles (40 km) to the northeast.
SR 7 enters Leesburg from the west along Market Street and immediately joins the Leesburg Bypass to pass southwest of downtown. It rejoins Market Street as it leaves the bypass southeast of downtown. The old alignment of SR 7 is nowVirginia State Route 7 Business. SR 7 37 miles (60 km) west toWinchester and 35 miles (56 km) southeast toAlexandria.
SR 267 enters Leesburg from the south along the Dulles Greenway and terminates at the Leesburg Bypass (US 15 and SR 7). SR 267 functions as a high-speed bypass of SR 7 southeast of Leesburg but is also a toll road.
Loudoun County Transit provides public transportation services in Leesburg, including commuter routes toWashington, D.C. and a connector toPurcellville.
TheWashington and Old Dominion Railroad previously provided rail service to Leesburg. TheWashington and Old Dominion Railroad Regional Park, a rail trail, now runs on the line.
Leesburg operates theLeesburg Executive Airport at Godfrey Field, which serves Loudoun County with private and corporate aircraft operations. A designated reliever airport for Dulles International, the airport accounts for nearly $78 million per year in economic impact according to a 2011 study by the Virginia Department of Aviation.[32] It is home (as of 2005) to over 240 aircraft and hosts 20–30 jet operations per day. The airport was built in 1963 to replace the original Leesburg airport, which Arthur Godfrey owned and referred to affectionately as "The Old Cow Pasture" on his radio show.[citation needed] Godfrey, who, by the early 1950s, had purchased the Beacon Hill Estate west of Leesburg, used aDC-3 to commute from his farm to studios in New York City every Sunday night during the 1950s and 1960s. His DC-3 was so powerful and noisy that Godfrey built a new airport, funding it through the sale of the old field.[citation needed] Originally named Godfrey Field, it is now known asLeesburg Executive Airport at Godfrey Field.
Also located near Leesburg is the National Conference Center,[33] which theXerox Corporation built in the 1970s. Government entities and private business use the Conference Center for meetings and conferences. Three main focal points connect thismaze of underground buildings, one of which is currently the headquarters ofCivilian Police International,[34] a government sub-contract company.
Market Station, located in the southeastern portion of Leesburg's Historic District, contains a number of high-tech and legal offices, retail shops, andrestaurants that are housed within seven restored historic buildings (arailroad freight station, a railroadstationmaster's house, alog house, twobarns and twogristmills), some of which were reconstructed in or relocated to the site.[35] A plaza on the east side of the site contains several structures painted in the yellow and green colors of the stations of theWashington and Old Dominion Railroad, which served the town until 1968.
Iridium Communications Inc. (formerly Iridium Satellite LLC) system of satellites is "guided from the basement of a featureless two-story office building" located in Leesburg.[36]
According to Leesburg's FY 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report,[37] the top employers in the town are:
| # | Employer | # of Employees |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Loudoun County Government | 2,500-5,000 |
| 2 | Loudoun County Public Schools | 1,000-1,500 |
| 3 | Federal Aviation Administration | 500-1,000 |
| 4 | Town of Leesburg | 250-500 |
| 5 | Wegmans | 250-500 |
| 6 | Commonwealth of Virginia | 250-500 |
| 7 | Target | 250-500 |
| 8 | Stryker Corporation | 250-500 |
| 9 | Costco | 250-500 |
| 10 | Loudoun Medical Group | 100-250 |
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