Concept

Blacksburg, Virginia

Summary
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 is currently one of the faster-growing MSAs in Virginia. Blacksburg High School, which in 2013 opened a new building, is often ranked among the top schools of the nation for its academics. Its soccer, track, and cross-country teams are also among the top in the state . 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 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 Virginia colonial legislature had authorized Wood to claim it. Accordingly, on September 17, 1671, 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.
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