Raleigh Court, Roanoke, Virginia
Encyclopedia
Raleigh Court is a Roanoke
Roanoke, Virginia
Roanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...

, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

 neighborhood located in southwest Roanoke along U.S. 11 (Memorial Avenue/Grandin Road). It borders the neighborhoods of Greater Deyerle
Greater Deyerle, Roanoke, Virginia
Greater Deyerle is a Roanoke, Virginia neighborhood located in extreme southwest Roanoke. It borders the neighborhoods of Raleigh Court on the east, Cherry Hill on the north, the city of Salem on the west and Roanoke County on the south...

 on the west, Wasena
Wasena, Roanoke, Virginia
Wasena is a Roanoke, Virginia neighborhood located in south, central Roanoke bisected by U.S. Route 221 , immediately to the south of the Roanoke River...

 on the east, Cherry Hill
Cherry Hill, Roanoke, Virginia
Cherry Hill is a Roanoke, Virginia neighborhood located in far western Roanoke. It borders the neighborhoods of Ridgewood Park and Wilmont on the north, Greater Deyerle, Raleigh Court, Norwich and Hurt Park to the south and Shenandoah West on the east. The western border is shared with the city of...

, Mountain View
Mountain View, Roanoke, Virginia
Mountain View is a Roanoke, Virginia neighborhood located in central Roanoke north of the Roanoke River. It borders the neighborhoods of Norwich on the west, West End on the east, Hurt Park on the north and Raleigh Court and Wasena on the south....

 and Norwich
Norwich, Roanoke, Virginia
Norwich is a Roanoke, Virginia neighborhood located in west central Roanoke, immediately south of the Roanoke River. It borders the neighborhoods of Mountain View on the east, and Raleigh Court on the south. The northern and western reaches of the neighborhood are bound by the Roanoke River...

 on the north and Franklin-Colonial
Franklin-Colonial, Roanoke, Virginia
Franklin-Colonial is a Roanoke, Virginia neighborhood located southwest Roanoke that is bisected by the three primary arterials of Franklin Road, the Roy L. Webber Expressway and Colonial Avenue. It borders the neighborhoods of Wasena and South Jefferson on the north, Grandin Court and Raleigh...

 and Grandin Court
Grandin Court, Roanoke, Virginia
Grandin Court is a Roanoke, Virginia, neighborhood located in southwest Roanoke. It borders the neighborhoods of Raleigh Court on the north and Franklin-Colonial to the south and east. The southwestern border is shared with Roanoke County. As of the 2000 U.S...

 on the south. Today the neighborhood is accessed from the downtown areas via the Memorial Bridge
Memorial Bridge (Roanoke, Virginia)
The Memorial Bridge is a two-lane, long bridge spanning the Roanoke River along Memorial Avenue in Roanoke, Virginia. The bridge serves as a connection between the southwestern areas of the city with central Roanoke. Built by contractor W.W. Boxley, the bridge consists of five spans, with...

 across the Roanoke River
Roanoke River
The Roanoke River is a river in southern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina in the United States, 410 mi long. A major river of the southeastern United States, it drains a largely rural area of the coastal plain from the eastern edge of the Appalachian Mountains southeast across the Piedmont...

. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, Raleigh Court has a population of 11,200 residents.

History

The Raleigh Court area saw its first residents in the 18th century as part of the Scotch-Irish migration into the area. Remaining relatively rural in character, by 1906 a land development company was formed to subdivide and develop the area. Development of the area would occur quickly, with the streetcar reaching the area in 1915 its subsequent growth resulted in its annexation by the city from Roanoke County
Roanoke County, Virginia
Roanoke County is a county located in the U.S. state of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is part of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area and located within the Roanoke Region of Virginia. As of the 2000 census, the population was 85,778. As of 2010, the population was 92,376...

 in 1919.

The development of the neighborhood would reach its peak in the 1920s with the completion of the Memorial Bridge and the full emergence of the Grandin Village as the commercial center of the neighborhood. It was also during this time the name Raleigh Court emerged as the name of the area, taking its name from the Raleigh Court Corporation that bought and sold the majority of the land in the neighborhood.

On July 31, 1948, streetcar service to the area was abandoned, which also marked the end of streetcar transit altogether within the city of Roanoke. With the closure of the streetcar, the area continued to develop and evolved for the accommodation of the automobile. With threats to the viability and quality of life within the neighborhood by the 1970s, the Greater Raleigh Court Civic League was formed and in 1981. As a result of their advocacy efforts and collaboration with city agencies, Raleigh Court was declared Neighborhood of the Year by Neighborhoods USA in 1992.

External links

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