HISTORY

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Summary Historic Context

Round Hill, a small town that initially formed in the 1850s as a postal stop and trade center along the Leesburg- Snicker's Gap Turnpike, gained prominence with the expansion of the W&OD Railroad in the last quarter of the 19th century. The railroad reached Round Hill in 1875 and sparked the town's development as a summer destination for vacationers from Washington, DC. By the late 19th century, the primarily residential town had developed a small commercial district that served local farmers and visitors. Officially incorporated in February 1900, Round Hill maintained its role as a small commercial center of a productive agricultural area until the mid- twentieth century when, with the loss of railroad service and Loudoun County's changing demographics, the town became predominantly residential with a population who commuted to non-agricultural jobs outside Loudoun County.

Historical Background

Formed in 1757 from Fairfax County, Loudoun County was part of the western frontier of colonial Virginia during the early 18th century. Early settlement in the western portions of the Virginia colony was spurred by land speculation, an ever-increasing number of immigrants from Europe and from other English colonies, and the exhaustion of farming soils in many parts of the Virginia's more settled Tidewater region. (l) Alexander Spotswood, Virginia's royal governor between 1710 and 1722, further promoted frontier settlement in Virginia by negotiating the Treaty of Albany with the Iroquois Nation in 1722. The treaty effectively removed the Native American tribes that had previously claimed the area.

By 1725, the area that would become Loudoun County had begun to be settled by a variety of ethnic groups, including English Quakers; the descendents of the German and Scotch-Irish settlers from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York; and descendents of English settlers from the Tidewater region of the Virginia colony. Generally, the latter group settled in the southeastern portion of Loudoun and established large tobacco-producing plantations, similar to those that they had left in the Tidewater region. They brought the institution of slavery with them. The presence of slaves in southeastern Loudoun contrasted with the settlements of the German-descended groups who settled in the northern section of Loudoun and differed as well with the Quakers who built a substantial agricultural community near the south-central portion of the county. (2) Quakers, non-Quaker English, and German immigrants all settled in the area that would become Round Hill.

By the 18th century, three main roads connected Tidewater's ports to the inland counties of the piedmont region of which Loudoun was a part. The three major routes led inland from the sites of major tobacco inspection warehouses through the piedmont region and crossed the Blue Ridge Mountain at natural gaps. (3) By 1750, two of these main western connectors extended through latter-day Loudoun County. One crossed the mountains at William's Gap at the south end of the county; the other crossed the mountains at Vestal's Gap at the north end.

After Loudoun County formed in 1757, settlement in the western section of the county continued. In 1758, the Virginia Assembly established the town of Leesburg on the eastern side of the county as the county seat. Between 1759 and 1770, in order to facilitate travel to the courthouse, residents of the western sections of the county built and maintained roads that connected them to Leesburg. (4) Two routes led from Williams' Gap to Leesburg. Both roads paralleled present-day Route 7; one paralleled the present route to the south; the other to the north. Prior to the opening of the Leesburg and Snicker's Gap Turnpike in 1835, these two east-west routes served as the central arteries of transportation and trade within the county. The hamlet of Woodgrove developed along the northernmost of the two at a point where it intersected with a road that led from William's Gap to John Hough's mill at the present site of the town of Hillsboro.

Opened in 1835, the Leesburg and Snicker's Gap (formerly Williams' Gap) Turnpike generally followed the route of present-day Route 7. Because of its modern improvements and more reliable maintenance, it quickly became the major route for commercial traffic through Loudoun County. The new route bypassed the village center at Woodgrove. The new center of activity would develop at the point where the old road to Hillsboro intersected with the new turnpike, approximately two miles south of Woodgrove. (5)

Until the 1850s, this part of western Loudoun County remained sparsely populated by small rural farms. From 1827 to 1834, there was a post office located at Woodgrove; however, after 1834 and until 1858, local residents had to travel to Purcell's Store (now Purcellville) for mail. In 1858, a post office opened in Round Hill in a building that was owned by Guilford Gregg and stood near the Leesburg and Snicker's Gap Turnpike. (6) Located approximately three miles east of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the new crossroads was named for the 910-foot high "round hill" that stood southwest of town and had long served as a landmark for travelers and inhabitants in the area. (7)

During the Civil War (1861-1865), skirmishing between Union and Confederate troops took place near to but not within the present day boundaries of Round Hill. Throughout the war, Loudoun County was successively occupied by both armies. As a border area, the county witnessed significant troop movements through its boundaries, one major battle, and numerous minor skirmishes. Raids on Union forces by Confederate partisan groups, including the band led by John Singleton Mosby, were common. Both armies destroyed or confiscated foodstuffs, livestock and personal property of the county's residents in order to support their troops or to insure that these supplies did not benefit enemy forces. (8)

In December 1874, the Washington and Ohio Railroad (W&O) extended its line from Alexandria, Virginia to Round Hill. Despite the financial instability of the railroad industry in Virginia during the late 19th century, (9) Round Hill began to develop into a town. As a reporter observed in a 1883 article, "before the Railroad was completed to this point, Round Hill consisted of a post office and a store. It now has two stores doing a lucrative business, a shoe shop, a livery stable, a blacksmith shop, a church, and one school in the Town and three others within a mile. (10)

In the 1870s and 1880s, cities throughout the United States, experienced rapid and unprecedented growth. The rapidity of urban growth sparked anti-urban sentiment that depicted cities as dirty, noisy, disease-ridden, and immoral. This sentiment was particularly strong among members of the middle class. In Washington, DC, a particularly large proportion of the late-19th-century, urban middle-class consisted of government employees and the merchants who served them. Driven by a desire to escape the unhealthy summer air in the city and myriad urban ills, many of these middle-class Washingtonians sought what was regarded as the restorative powers of rural life and the outdoors in the surrounding countryside. Paid vacation time, along with transportation improvements that provided easy access to vacation spots, made it possible for middle-class men and women to flee the city in the summers for short visits to hotels or resorts or to take up longer residences in rural villages along the railroads. (1l)

By 1883, Round Hill had two boarding houses that lodged these Washington vacationers. The same reporter who noted the commercial growth of Round Hill in that year remarked how the town's two boarding houses made "things quite lively in summer season.” (12) By the early 20th century, as many as nine lodging establishments in the town accommodated summer vacationers.

Property owners in Round Hill capitalized on middle-class Washingtonians' interest in Loudoun County as a summer vacation destination and as a place where they could escape from urban life. Also, thanks to the daily runs of the W&OD, towns such as Round Hill were now within the reach of government employees and business people who could not leave the city for the entire season but who could commute weekly or even daily, while their families remained in the countryside. (13)

By 1900, the year that the Virginia General Assembly incorporated Round Hill, it had become the second largest town in Loudoun County with a population of over 300. (14) In 1908, one author described the town as "a thriving railroad town," that stood, "in the midst of a rich farming region.”(15) A mayor and town council established and enforced ordinances that addressed the town's finances, street improvements, and sanitation.

By 1920, more Americans lived in the nation's cities than in its rural areas. Despite this population shift, Loudoun County remained primarily a farming community that was served by localized market towns scattered across the rural countryside. (16) Round Hill thrived on the twin economic engines of the surrounding agricultural industry and the seasonal influx of commuting vacationers from Washington, DC. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a number of small industries also flourished in the town. These included Peterson and Poulson's spoke and handle factory, the Howell Brothers cabinetmaking shop (built 1886, 6 West Loudoun Street), Chip Logan's harness and paint shop, and Clayton L. Everhart's marble and granite works. By the late 1880s, two flourmills operated in Round Hill. (17) The Rogers family ran a steam-powered flourmill operation on Main Street, one of five Rogers' family mills that stood along the W&OD tracks between Paeonian Springs and Bluemont in Loudoun County. (18)

Organized in 1912, the Loudoun Light and Power Company installed electricity in Round Hill as well as in the towns of Purcellville and Hamilton. Electric power quickly revolutionized residential life and commerce. By 1915, the town had installed a modern water system, further enhancing the town's amenities. By 1920, the Round Hill National Bank was established. Washingtonians continued to travel to Round Hill to take advantage of its "wide popularity as a summer resort,” (19) and agriculture and the dairy industry continued to thrive throughout the decade. One author maintained that "Round Hill is one of the ideal residential towns in Loudoun. Its houses are substantial, well kept, and pretty .... The clean streets and excellent shade trees are a further attraction of the town. The town has many advantages which claim the attention of those seeking homes in Loudoun County.” (20)

The Great Depression that followed the 1929 financial crash in the United States profoundly affected Round Hill residents. Drought conditions in the early 1930s and a decade-long, world economic depression drastically reduced agricultural prices and exacerbated rural labor shortages as more Americans migrated to the cities in search of work. In addition to a drastic decline in passenger revenue during the 1920s and 1930s, the railroad suffered from the loss of freight revenue in western Loudoun County. (21) In 1939, with the rise of the automobile as a means of transportation, the W&OD ceased all rail service to Round Hill.

Though labor shortages continued during World War II (1941-1945), war mobilization drastically slashed unemployment rates and reduced farm surpluses. Loudoun County's income and farm production doubled during the war years. (22) In Round Hill, this meant that local merchants and mechanics continued to provide essential goods and services to surrounding farmers. Five years after the war, Round Hill still contained significant local commerce - three general stores, one hardware store, two grocery stores, and "a modern pharmacy," in addition to Round Hill National Bank. Despite the loss of the railroad, the draw of the cities, and the decline in summer time visitors, one 1950s commentator claimed that, "the productive farming country of which the town is the center still serves to make Round Hill a good place for business."

After World War II, Loudoun's population began to rise. Though it was most notable in the eastern part of the County, all of Loudoun's towns, including Round Hill, began to witness a new demographic pattern as residents from nearby cities like Washington, DC began to make their homes in Loudoun even as they commuted to their jobs in the region's larger urban areas. Improvements to local roads and the ever-increasing use and affordability of automobiles caused a fundamental shift in the way Loudouners lived and worked. By 1960, 28 percent of the county's residents commuted to jobs outside the county. By 1970, that figure had increased to 40 percent. (23) Though it no longer serves as the commercial core for area agriculture, Round Hill remains a flourishing residential hub with a population of more than 500 citizens.

1 Emily J. Salmon and Edward D.C. Campbell, Jr., editors, The Hornbook of Virginia History, (Richmond, VA: The Library of Virginia, Fourth Edition, 1994), p. 25.

2 Charles P. Poland, Jr. From Frontier to Suburbia (Marceline, MO: Walsworth Publishing Company, 1976), p. 6.

3 Fairfax Harrison, Landmarks of Old Prince William County (Berryville, VA: Chesapeake Book Company, 1964), pp. 466-467.

4 In his book The Historian's Guide to Loudoun County, Virginia, Volume I (Leesburg, VA: Goose Creek Productions, 1996), John T. Phillips, II reports from the county land records that on May 8, 1759 three commissioners reported on a route for a new road "from Williams' Gap to the Town of Leesburgh ... by John Palmers and by Isaac Nichols' ... thence to the [Shenandoah] Road where Samuel Davis formerly lived ... thence to the Town .... "(Book A, p. 235), Phillips, p. 337. By August 1759, the commissioners had established the route at its western end (Book A, p. 304), Phillips, p. 224. Phillips reports that on June 10, 1765, three county residents were appointed to "view the route for a 'Road from Williams' Gap to ... Leesburg.'" (Book B, p. 626), Phillips, p. 338.

5 Harrison, p. 68; Poland, pp. 117-118.

6 Gregg served as Round Hill's postmaster until 1866. Bulletin of the Historical Society of Loudoun County, 1957-1976, "The Post Offices of Loudoun" by Andrew A. Rowberg and Marie C. Rowberg, p. 89-92.

7 Phillips, p. 224.

8 For a thorough discussion of Loudoun County's position during the Civil War see Charles Preston Poland, Jr. From Frontier To Suburbia (Marceline, MO: Walsworth Publishing Company, 1976) Chapter 5, pp. 183-220.

9 In 1878, the Washington & Ohio Rail Road (W&O) declared bankruptcy. In 1882, the Washington and Western (W & W) Railroad Company took over the W & O's line that terminated in Round Hill. In 1884, the Washington and Western Railroad was consolidated into the Washington, Ohio, and Western Railroad Company. In 1894, the Southern Railway Corporation assumed operation of the Washington, Ohio, and Western line and would continue to do so until 1912. Ames W. Williams, The Washington and Old Dominion Railroad (Alexandria, Virginia: Meridian Sun Press, 1984), pp. 27-42.

l0 "Round Hill Flashes," Loudoun Telegraph, 16 February 1883. n Cindy S. Aron, Working at Play: A History of Vacations in the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), pp. 4648, 64-65.

12 "Round Hill Flashes."

13 On middle-class men establishing their families at a summer home or resort and commuting periodically into the city, see Aron, pp. 57-61.

14 In 1900, the population of Leesburg, Loudoun's county seat and largest town, was five times that of Round Hill. Poland, p. 66.

15 During the first decade of the 20th century, Loudoun became one of Virginia's top dairy-producing counties. Taking advantage of improved roads and new railroad facilities, Loudoun County farmers prospered as they organized to meet the demand for fresh dairy products in nearby Washington, DC. James W. Head, History and Comprehensive Description of Loudoun County, Virginia (Baltimore, MD: Reprinted for Clearfield Company, Inc., 1989), pp. 74-75, 89-90. Also see Patrick A. Deck and Henry Heaton, "An Economic and Social Survey of Loudoun County" in the University of Virginia Record Extension Series (Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia, 1926), pp. 88-89.

16 For a discussion of Loudoun County's town-country structure see Poland, pp. 66-73.

17 Chataigne's Virginia Gazetteer and Classified Business Directory, 1888-1889.

18 Town of Round Hill website [accessed May 8, 2003] at http://www.roundhillva.org/about/index.html.

19 Deck and Heaton, p. 32.

20 Ibid., p. 34.

21 Williams, p. 93.

22 Poland, pp. 336-337.

23 Ibid., p. 342."