Roanoke, Virginia
In the 21st century, a robust healthcare industry and the development and increased marketing of its outdoor amenities have helped reverse prior declining population trends.The Roanoke Valley features 26 miles (42 km) of greenways with bicycle and pedestrian trails, and the city's location in the Blue Ridge Mountains provides access to numerous outdoor recreation opportunities.[9] The Roanoke Valley itself was originally home to members of the Tutelo tribe,[9][10] a Siouan-speaking people who were gradually pushed out of the area by advancing European settlers.[15] Growth in the area was stalled by the Civil War; Roanoke County voted 850–0 in favor of secession and lost many of its men in the subsequent fighting.[11]: 71 Eight years later, efforts by town boosters succeeded in securing Big Lick as the junction of the Shenandoah Valley Railroad and the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W).[13]: 65 The new charter also annexed nearly 2.5 square miles (6.5 km2) of additional land, including the Town of Gainesborough (later shortened to Gainsboro), which by that point had already become the center of the area's African American community.[11]: 135 With a population that ballooned from under 700 residents in 1880 to over 16,000 in 1890[19] – and earning itself the nickname "The Magic City" in the process[14]: 1 – Roanoke suffered many of the same difficulties that affected other 19th century boomtowns.[14]: 37 Bond initiatives designed to alleviate these and other issues highlighted racial tensions in the city, as the African American community – roughly 30 percent of Roanoke's population in 1891[14]: 105 – opposed the measures because the money would only be used to improve white neighborhoods.They proceeded to hang him and mutilate his body, which was eventually burned when the mob was deterred from its initial plan to bury it in Mayor Trout's front yard.[14]: 140 The mayor himself was forced to flee the city out of fear for his life and only returned a week later after the national press condemned the riot and praised Trout's courage during the event.[37] Later projects in the largely black Gainsboro neighborhood removed hundreds of homes and businesses there as well, and late-20th and early-21st century revitalization efforts by the city's government have been met with distrust and varied success.[46] The group's partnerships with Virginia Tech and Radford University have created two colleges and a research facility in what was formerly an industrial brownfield area, but has since been termed the city's "innovation corridor".[47][48] These developments, along with the city's decision to improve its parks and recreation amenities and market itself as an outdoor tourism hotspot, have helped reverse its decades-long loss of young adults,[49][50] and in 2020 Roanoke's population passed 100,000 for the first time since 1980.[65] Outdoor pursuits in the region include hiking, mountain biking, cross-country running, canoeing, kayaking, fly fishing, and disc golf.[70] Though located along the Blue Ridge Mountains at elevations exceeding 900 ft (270 m), Roanoke lies in the humid subtropical climate zone (Köppen Cfa), with four distinct, but generally mild, seasons.[75] Winter snowfall has ranged from trace amounts in 1918–19 and 1919–20 to 62.7 inches (159 cm) in 1959–60;[73] unofficially, the largest single storm dumped approximately three feet (0.9 m) from December 16−18, 1890.[82] That incident prompted a major flood reduction effort completed in 2012 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has limited the damage caused by subsequent storms.[47][94] The clinic's expansions have spurred considerable development in the former brownfields located south of Roanoke's downtown,[95] turning the once-abandoned industrial sites into an area called the "innovation corridor" by the city.[99] Transportation manufacturers such as Yokohama Tire,[100] Volvo,[101] Mack Trucks,[102] Metalsa,[103] and Altec[104] contribute to the thousands of people employed in that field regionally.[113] The move was made with the help of a $15.2 million donation from Nicholas and Jenny Taubman, whose family had established Advance Auto Parts in Roanoke in the 1930s.[119][120] Also located downtown is the Virginia Museum of Transportation, which houses many locomotives that were built in Roanoke by the Norfolk & Western Railway, including the 1218 and 611 steam engines.[37][145] The Dumas Hotel hosted such guests as Louis Armstrong, Ethel Waters, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Nat King Cole when they performed in Roanoke.[177] Later in the year, Elmwood Park hosts the Henry Street Heritage Festival, the primary fundraiser for the Harrison Museum of African American Culture.[178] The Go Outside Festival, also known as GO Fest, is a free three-day event every October that celebrates the region's outdoor recreation opportunities,[179] and the city holds the multi-week Dickens of a Christmas each December.[193][194] The USA Cycling Amateur Road National Championships were held in the city and surrounding areas in 2022 and 2023,[195] and an Ironman 70.3 triathlon event brought competitors to the region from 2021–2023.[226] Virginia Tech and Radford University's main campuses are located in the nearby New River Valley, and both of those schools have partnered with Carilion Clinic, the regional nonprofit health care organization based in Roanoke, to create medical colleges in the city.[230] The Roanoke Higher Education Center opened in 2000 in the former Norfolk and Western General Office Building–North, and provides over 150 programs ranging from high school equivalent degrees to doctorates.U.S. Route 11 passes through the city, primarily as Brandon Avenue and Williamson Road, which was a center of automotive-based commercial development after World War II.[90] The railway's Pocahontas Division, consisting of over 2,500 miles (4,000 km) of track, is headquartered just outside of downtown Roanoke,[270] and though the volume of coal passing through the city has declined in recent decades, 70 million tons of freight are shipped on the area's railroads annually.[275] In recent years, the city has put millions of dollars towards pedestrian safety improvements, including lane reductions on busy roads, audible signals, and additional street lighting.
Roanoke ColonyIndependent cityDowntown RoanokeCity market buildingBasilica of St. AndrewHotel RoanokeRoanoke StarVirginiaNamed forRoanoke RiverCouncil–managerDemonymTime zoneUTC−5UTC−4ZIP CodesArea code(s)540, 826FIPS codeSouthwest VirginiaBlue RidgeAppalachian MountainsNorth CarolinaWashington, D.C.Interstate 812020 censusRichmondRoanoke metropolitan areaRoanoke ValleySiouanTuteloScotch-IrishGerman AmericanNative AmericansAmerican frontierNorfolk and Western Railwayrailroad shopsboomtownannexationsRoanoke Countyservice economyhealthcare industrydeclining population trendsTaubman Museum of ArtRandall Stoutfarmer's marketoutdoor recreationGreat Wagon RoadCarolina RoadAppalachiancurrencyRoanoke IslandPlantation of UlsterPennsylvaniaBotetourtMontgomeryVirginia and TennesseeCivil Warsecessiontobacco tradeReconstructionShenandoah Valley RailroadFrederick J. KimballannexedGainsboroQueen AnneTudor Revivalcity charterboomtownsmarshy terraindiphtheriacholeraBond initiativesJim Crow lawslynch justiceHenry S. Troutcasinoroller coasterincline railwayCarilion ClinicAmerican Viscose Corporationregion's primary airportarmoryVictory StadiumfootballVirginia TechVirginia Military Institutesuburbanilluminated starshopping centersTanglewood MallValley View Mallurban renewalBerglund Centerinterstate spurredlinedeminent domainSouthern RailwayNorfolk Southern RailwayNorfolk, VirginiaRadford Universityresearch facilitybrownfieldBlue Ridge MountainsisopreneUnited States Census BureausalamanderPoor Mountain Natural Area Preservepiratebushparasitic plantAppalachian TrailBlue Ridge ParkwayCarvins CoveBotetourt CountySmith Mountain LakeGeorge Washington and Jefferson National Forestsmountain bikingkayakingdisc golfList of neighborhoods in Roanoke, VirginiaGrandin Villagevillage centerDowntownRaleigh CourtNational Register of Historic Placeshumid subtropical climate