Blacksburg

About Blacksburg

Blacksburg excels in the educational and technical fields. It is home to the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and the State University that is also famous as Virginia Tech. It is one of the Virginia land-grant universities of the USA.

Led by Abraham Wood, European explorers had reached the present-day location of the Blacksburg in 1671. They had wonderful observation then – the site didn’t inhabit any Native American – the explorers inspected the Stroubles Creek area as well. It was named Wood's River. The team of Wood claimed all the lands comprising its drainage on September 17, 1671. It was later renamed to the New River for King Charles II.

Col. James Patton represented The Wood's River Land Company. It attained a large tract of the land within the present-day southwest Virginia in 1740. A portion of this tract became Montgomery County and Pulaski County. They were sold to the settlers entering into this region. Draper and Ingles built homes somewhere between the present locations in this area and the subdivision of Hethwood. This settlement was named Draper's Meadow in the 1748.

This area encountered the brutality of French and Indian War on July 30, 1755. The place is still remembered as Draper's Meadow massacre. A bridge is located near the Duck Pond that was dedicated to this massacre. The Draper's Meadow was deserted by the end of war.

According to the 2000 census, this city has the population of 39,573 people. The United States Census Bureau elaborates that this town has a total area of 19.4 square miles (50.2 km²) of which 19.4 square miles (50.1 km²) is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²) is water. The place is 2,080 feet (634 m) above the sea level. It is one of the 15th largest municipality and the largest town in the commonwealth of Virginia.