Roanoke, Virginia
Encyclopedia
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. It is the largest municipality in Southwest Virginia
, and is the principal municipality of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). In 2009 the Roanoke MSA had an estimated population of 303,418 residents. It is composed of the independent cities of Roanoke and Salem
, and the counties of Botetourt
, Craig
, Franklin
and Roanoke
. Bisected by the Roanoke River
, Roanoke is the commercial and cultural hub of much of the surrounding area of Virginia and southern West Virginia
.
. In 1882 it became the town of Roanoke, and in 1884 it was chartered as the independent city of Roanoke. The name Roanoke is said to have originated from an Algonquian
word for shell "money". This was also the name of the river that bisected it (probably where shells had come from) and the county. The city grew frequently through annexation
through the middle of the twentieth century. The last annexation was in 1976. The state legislature has since prohibited cities from annexing land from adjacent counties. Roanoke's location in the Blue Ridge Mountains
, in the middle of the Roanoke Valley
between Maryland
and Tennessee
, made it the transportation hub of western Virginia and contributed to its rapid growth.
, one of the most heavily travelled roads of eighteenth century America, ran from Philadelphia through the Shenandoah Valley to the future site of the City of Roanoke, where the Roanoke River passed through the Blue Ridge. The Roanoke Gap proved a useful route for immigrants to settle the Carolina Piedmont region. At Roanoke Gap, another branch of the Great Wagon Road, the Wilderness Road
, continued southwest to Tennessee.
(V&T) which linked Lynchburg
with Bristol
on the Virginia-Tennessee border.
After the American Civil War
(1861–1865), William Mahone
, a civil engineer
and hero of the Battle of the Crater
, was the driving force in the linkage of 3 railroads, including the V&T, across the southern tier of Virginia to form the Atlantic, Mississippi & Ohio Railroad
(AM&O), a new line extending from Norfolk
to Bristol
, Virginia in 1870. However, the Financial Panic of 1873 wrecked the AM&O's finances. After several years of operating under receiverships, Mahone's role as a railroad builder ended in 1881 when northern financial interests took control. At the foreclosure auction, the AM&O was purchased by E.W. Clark & Co.
, a private banking firm in Philadelphia which controlled the Shenandoah Valley Railroad
then under construction up the valley from Hagerstown
, Maryland
. The AM&O was renamed Norfolk and Western Railway
(N&W).
Frederick J. Kimball
, a civil engineer and partner in the Clark firm, headed the new line and the new Shenandoah Valley Railroad. For the junction for the Shenandoah Valley and the Norfolk and Western roads, Kimball and his board of directors selected the small Virginia village called Big Lick, on the Roanoke River
. Although the grateful citizens offered to rename their town "Kimball", at his suggestion, they agreed to name it Roanoke after the river. As the N&W brought people and jobs, the Town of Roanoke quickly became an independent city in 1884. In fact, Roanoke became a city so quickly that it earned the nickname "Magic City".
Kimball's interest in geology
was instrumental in the development of the Pocahontas coalfield
s in western Virginia
and West Virginia
. He pushed N&W lines through the wilds of West Virginia, north to Columbus
, Ohio
and Cincinnati, Ohio
, and south to Durham
, North Carolina
and Winston-Salem, North Carolina
. This gave the railroad the route structure it was to use for more than 60 years.
The Virginian Railway
(VGN), an engineering marvel of its day, was conceived and built by William Nelson Page
and Henry Huttleston Rogers
. Following the Roanoke River, the VGN was built through the City of Roanoke early in the twentieth century. It merged with the N&W in 1959.
The opening of the coalfields made N&W prosperous and Pocahontas bituminous coal
world-famous. Transported by the N&W and neighboring Virginian Railway (VGN), local coal fueled half the world's navies. Today it stokes steel mills and power plants all over the globe.
The Norfolk & Western was famous for manufacturing steam locomotive
s in-house. It was N&W's Roanoke Shops
that made the company known industry-wide for its excellence in steam power. The Roanoke Shops, with its workforce of thousands, is where the famed classes A, J, and Y6 locomotives were designed, built, and maintained. New steam locomotives were built there until 1953, long after diesel-electric had emerged as the motive power of choice for most North American railroads. About 1960, N&W was the last major railroad in the United States to convert from steam to diesel power.
The presence of the railroad also made Roanoke attractive to manufacturers. American Viscose opened a large rayon
plant in Southeast Roanoke in October 1917. This plant closed in 1958, leaving 5,000 workers unemployed. When N&W converted to diesel, 2,000 railroad workers were laid off.
Local Colors is a multi-cultural program which recognizes people of diverse origins, races and ethnic backgrounds and sponsors the annual Local Colors Festival in the third weekend of May.
Roanoke's festivals and cultural events include the Chili Cook-Off, Festival in the Park, Local Colors Festival, Henry Street Festival, Big Lick Blues Festival, Strawberry Festival, and the large red, white, and blue illuminated Mill Mountain Star
(formerly illuminated in red following drunk driving fatalities in the Roanoke Valley; temporarily illuminated in white on April 22, 2007 in remembrance of the Virginia Tech Massacre
of April 16, 2007) on Mill Mountain, which is visible from many points in the city and surrounding valley.
is responsible for the day to day operation of the city's government and has the authority to hire and fire city employees. The mayor has little, if any, executive authority and essentially is the "first among equals" on the city council. The mayor, however, has a bully pulpit
as Roanoke media frequently cover the mayor's appearances and statements. The current mayor of Roanoke is David A. Bowers
and the current city manager is Christopher P. Morrill. City council has six members, not counting the mayor, all of whom are elected on an at-large basis. A proposal for a ward based council, in which the mayor and vice mayor would continue to be elected at-large, was rejected by Roanoke voters in 1997, but ward system advocates still contend that the at-large system results in a disproportionate number of council members coming from affluent neighborhoods and that electing some or all council members on a ward basis would result in a more equal representation of all areas of the city. The four year terms of city council members are staggered, so there are biannual elections. The candidate who receives the most votes is designated the vice mayor for the following two years.
The city's African-American and professional class voting blocs have made the Democratic Party
the city's leading party in recent years.
Independent candidate David A. Bowers, a former Democrat, defeated incumbent Democrat Nelson Harris
for Mayor in the May 2008 election with 53% of the vote. In both the 2000 election, Republican Ralph K. Smith
and in the 2004 election Nelson Harris won with less than 40% of the vote in competitive three way races.
In the May 2008 council elections, Democrats Court Rosen, Anita Price, and Sherman Lea defeated a slate of loosely allied independent city council candidates including incumbent Brian Wishneff. In the May 2006 council elections, a slate of three former Democrats running on an independent slate backed by Harris defeated the candidates of the Democratic and Republican parties. This election ended the city's long running debate about the fate of Victory Stadium
.
Roanoke is represented by two members of the Virginia House of Delegates
, Onzlee Ware
(D-11th) and William H. Cleaveland (R-17th), and one member of the Virginia Senate, John Edwards (D-21st). Former Roanoke mayor Ralph Smith
won the 2007 election in the neighboring 22nd Senate district after defeating incumbent Brandon Bell for the Republican nomination in the primary election and Democrat Michael Breiner in the general election.
The City of Roanoke lies within the 6th Congressional District of Virginia, which also includes Lynchburg and much of the Shenandoah Valley
. Current representative Bob Goodlatte
resides in Roanoke as have many of those who have held the seat. The 9th Congressional District of Virginia, represented by Morgan Griffith
, has traditionally covered southwest Virginia but has expanded into parts of Roanoke County and counties to the north of Roanoke to make up for population losses in the rest of the district. Robert Hurt
represents much of the area to south and east of Roanoke, including nearby Franklin County, in the 5th Congressional District of Virginia, which also stretches north to Charlottesville
. There is speculation that the lines of the three districts could be significantly redrawn in the next redistricting
cycle after the 2010 Census, especially if Democrats gain control of the Virginia General Assembly
, to account for rapid growth in the northern parts of the 5th and 6th districts and slower growth in the southern parts of the districts and population loss in much of the 9th.
of Virginia immediately west of the Blue Ridge Mountains
and east of the Allegheny Mountains
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the city has a total area of 42.9 square miles (111.1 km²), of which, 42.9 square miles (111.1 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square mile (0.1035995244 km²) of it (0.07%) is water.
Within the city limits is Mill Mountain
, which stands detached from surrounding ranges. Its summit features the Roanoke Star, Mill Mountain Zoo, the Discovery Center interpretive building, and an overlook of the Roanoke Valley
. The Appalachian Trail
runs through the northern section of Roanoke County several miles north of the city, while the Blue Ridge Parkway
runs just to the south of the city. Carvins Cove
, the second-largest municipal park in America at 12700 acres (51.4 km²), lies in northeast Roanoke County and southwest Botetourt County. Smith Mountain Lake
is several miles southeast of the city. The Jefferson National Forest is nearby. Roanokers and visitors to the area enjoy hiking, mountain biking, cross-country running, canoeing, kayaking, fly fishing, and other outdoor pursuits.
The city is located in the North Fork of Roanoke
winemaking
region. The "North Fork of Roanoke" appellation
is a designated American Viticultural Area
, recognizing the unique grape
growing conditions present in the area. Valhalla Vineyards
is located just outside the city limits of Roanoke.
The Roanoke River
flows through the city of Roanoke. Some stretches of the river flow through parks and natural settings, while others flow through industrial areas. Several tributaries join the river in the city, most notably Peters Creek, Tinker Creek, and Mud Lick Creek.
, Roanoke lies in the transition zone between the Humid subtropical climate
zone and the Humid continental climate
zone, with four distinct, but generally mild, seasons. Temperatures may reach over 100 °F (38 °C) in summer or dip below 0 °F (-18 °C) in winter, but neither occurs in a typical year. Roanoke's all time record high of 105 °F (40.5 °C) occurred on August 21, 1983, and the all time record low of −11 °F) occurred on January 21, 1985
.
The city averages 23 inches (58.4 cm) of snow per winter. Roanoke experienced something of a snow drought in the 2000s until December 2009 when 17" of snow fell on Roanoke in a single storm. Roanoke's snowiest winter on record occurred in 1986−1987 when 72.9 inches (185 cm) fell. The largest single storm dumped approximately three feet from December 16, 1890 through December 18, 1890.
Flood
ing is the primary weather related hazard faced by Roanoke. Heavy rains, most frequently from remnants of a hurricane, drain from surrounding areas to the narrow Roanoke Valley. The most recent significant flood was in the fall
of 2004, caused by the remains of Hurricane Ivan
. The most severe flooding in the city's history occurred on November 4, 1985 when heavy storms from the remnants of Hurricane Juan
stalled over the area. Ten people drowned in the Roanoke Valley, and others were saved by rescue personnel.
Many residents complain that they are prone to allergies because of pollen
from trees in the surrounding mountains. Most famously, the family of Wayne Newton
moved from Roanoke to the dry climate of Phoenix, Arizona
because of his childhood asthma
and allergies. However, there have not been clinical studies to establish that these conditions are more prevalent in Roanoke than other cities with similar vegetation and climate.
The following table shows Roanoke's average monthly temperatures and rainfall totals.
http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/winter-storm-aiming-for-mid-atlantic_2009-12-17
, Virginia
and Greensboro
, North Carolina
. The proposed Interstate 73 would generally parallel Route 220 between Roanoke and Greensboro and would likely be a concurrency with I-581 through the city. The primary east-west roadway is U.S. Route 460, named Melrose Avenue and Orange Avenue. Route 460 connects Roanoke to Lynchburg
. 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. Other major roads include U.S. Route 221, State Route 117 (known as Peters Creek Road), and State Route 101 (known as Hershberger Road). The Blue Ridge Parkway
also briefly runs adjacent to the city border.
Roanoke is divided into four quadrants: Northwest (NW), Northeast (NE), Southwest (SW), and Southeast (SE). The mailing address for locations in Roanoke includes the two letter quadrant abbreviation after the street name. For example, the Center in the Square complex in downtown Roanoke has the address "1 Market Square SE."
Roanoke Regional Airport
is located in the northern part of the city and is the primary passenger and cargo airport for Southwest Virginia
.
stops in Lynchburg
and Clifton Forge
, Virginia
. Roanoke would be a stop in the proposed Transdominion Express
passenger rail system currently under study by the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Roanoke remains a major hub in Norfolk Southern's freight rail system. In 2006, the railroad announced plans to construct an intermodal rail yard
in the community of Lafayette, Virginia
of neighboring Montgomery County; however, opposition by local residents prompted Norfolk Southern to consider other potential sites. In 2007, former Roanoke mayor David A. Bowers
urged Roanoke to offer a site for the yard. Shortly thereafter, neighboring Salem proposed a site in an industrial area of the city. In 2008, Norfolk Southern determined that the Lafayette location was the only practical site. The Commonwealth of Virginia may also upgrade Norfolk Southern's rail line parallel to Interstate 81 from Roanoke through the Shenandoah Valley
to encourage more freight to be shipped by rail.
bus system serves the city of Roanoke and surrounding areas. Nearly all routes originate or terminate at the Campbell Court bus station in downtown Roanoke, which is also served by Greyhound
. Valley Metro also offers bus service to Blacksburg
, Christiansburg
and Virginia Tech.
of 2000, there were 94,911 people, 42,003 households, and 24,235 families residing in the city. By 2006, the city's population was estimated to be 92,328 by the census bureau; however, the Cooper Center of the University of Virginia projected the city's population at July 1, 2007, to have increased to 93,504. By 2009, the city had grown close to its 2000 level, with 94,482 residing within the city. The population density
was 2,213.2 people per square mile (854.6/km²). There were 45,257 housing units at an average density of 1,055.3 per square mile (407.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 69.38% White, 26.74% African American, 0.20% Native American, 1.15% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.72% from other races
, and 1.78% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.48% of the population.
There were 42,003 households out of which 25.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.1% were married couples
living together, 16.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.3% were non-families. 35.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.86.
In the city the population was spread out with 22.6% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 30.5% from 25 to 44, 22.3% from 45 to 64, and 16.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 88.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $30,719, and the median income for a family was $37,826. Males had a median income of $28,465 versus $21,591 for females. The per capita income
for the city was $18,468. About 12.9% of families and 15.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 24.4% of those under age 18 and 11.3% of those age 65 or over.
discovered that Roanoke’s rates of rape
and aggravated assault were the highest in the state of Virginia in 2004. Roanoke had seen a total increase in violent crime
s from 1985 until 2003, surpassing every Virginia city, only Portsmouth had seen a larger increase in crime. Van Patten is not suggesting that Roanoke's overall violent crime rate was the highest in the state over the 18-year period, just that it saw the largest total increase. According to the FBI data, the crime rates in Roanoke for murder
, rape
, aggravated assault and motor vehicle theft
all decreased from 2006 to 2007, while the rates of robberies and burglaries increased. In 2007, Roanoke was ranked as Virginia’s second most dangerous city; in 2008 the city was ranked as the fifth worst city in Virginia
.
Part of the argument in favor of acknowledging Roanoke's neighborhood groups as gangs comes from state politicians, like former attorney general
Jerry Kilgore, part of it comes from the groups themselves who actively proclaim their legitimate existence as criminal and violent gangs in a DVD
released for sale in the local area. In 2007, a DVD titled "Real Talk" appeared in Roanoke convenience stores depicting gang life in Roanoke. The 95-minute video includes references to the "Lincoln Terrace Posse" ("LTP"), "Villa Heights", and "Southwest" ("SW"). The local NAACP president, while outraged by the content of the DVD, disagreed that there were "full-fledged" gangs in Roanoke and felt that the presence of a camera played a big part in encouraging the behavior displayed.
The two general enrollment public high schools in Roanoke City are Patrick Henry High School
, located in the Raleigh Court area, and William Fleming High School
, located in Northwest Roanoke. The six public middle schools in Roanoke City are Woodrow Wilson, James Madison Middle School
, and Stonewall Jackson, that feed into Patrick Henry High School; and Lucy Addison, William Ruffner, and James Breckinridge, that feed into William Fleming High School. The Noel C. Taylor
learning academy is a combined middle and high school that serves students with individual educational needs.
Private non-parochial schools in Roanoke City include Community High School, that provides classes from ninth to twelfth grade; and New Vista Montessori, that provides classes from third through ninth grade. Private non-parochial schools outside of Roanoke City, but in the Roanoke Metropolitan Area, include North Cross School, which provides education from pre-kindergarten through the twelfth grade.
Private parochial schools in Roanoke City include North Cross and Roanoke Catholic, that provide classes from kindergarten through twelfth grade; and Roanoke Adventist Preparatory, that provides classes from kindergarten through eighth grade. Private parochial schools outside of Roanoke City, but in the Roanoke Metropolitan Area, include Roanoke Valley Christian Schools, Faith Christian School, Mineral Springs Christian School, Parkway Christian Academy, and Life Academy, all in Roanoke County.
Two four-year private institutions are situated in neighboring localities - Roanoke College
in the city of Salem
, and Hollins University
in Roanoke County. Virginia Tech is located in neighboring Montgomery County. It has opened a higher education center in downtown Roanoke in cooperation with other colleges and universities, and the Virginia Tech Foundation owns the Hotel Roanoke
. Virginia Tech is also opening a new medical school in South Roanoke in cooperation with Carilion Clinic, the regional non-profit health care organization based in Roanoke. Virginia Western Community College
is located in the city of Roanoke, as is the Jefferson College of Health Sciences
.
Roanoke's economy developed around the Norfolk and Western Railroad, with a strong emphasis on manufacturing. Roanoke's economic history also includes Sun Belt
characteristics as it was once a center for the garment industry. Surrounding areas have traditionally relied on traditional industries of the rural South such as textiles and furniture manufacturing, which have lost jobs to offshore outsourcing. Despite Virginia's being a right to work
state, unions
have traditionally represented workers at many large employers in the Roanoke area and southwest Virginia.
Roanoke was formerly the headquarters of Norfolk and Western Railway
until its merger with the Southern Railway
created the Norfolk Southern Railway
in 1982. Norfolk Southern continues to operate its marketing headquarters and some maintenance facilities in Roanoke. Wachovia Bank, then known as First Union, acquired Roanoke based Dominion Bank in 1993 and maintains an operations and customer service center in Roanoke. Other firms such as Roanoke Electric Steel and architectural and engineering firm Hayes, Seay, Mattern and Mattern, (HSMM) have also been acquired by companies headquartered elsewhere. Roanoke's rates of economic and population growth have been less than the state and national averages since the 1960s. The immediate Roanoke area has a low unemployment rate, but a brain drain
of workers unable to find satisfactory employment and underemployment
are sometimes cited as explanations.
The City of Roanoke has created initiatives to address the brain drain of the region such as a database to match job seekers who wish to reside in the Roanoke area with employers looking for candidates. Additionally, a career and lifestyle fair has been held shortly after Christmas in recent years to show the professional and social opportunities in the area to those visiting family for the holidays.
Also, organizations of young professionals such as Valley Forward and Newva Connects have emerged.
However, Roanoke's economy has areas of strength. The city is the health care and retail hub of a large area, driving the expansion of Carilion Health System
and Valley View Mall. Advance Auto Parts
is headquartered in Roanoke and has expanded through the acquisition of other chains to become one of the largest auto parts retailers in the country. Norfolk Southern remains a major employer. FreightCar America
hired several hundred persons to assemble rail cars in shops leased from Norfolk Southern and has closed a plant in Johnstown, Pennsylvania
in part because of the lower costs for the Roanoke facility. Recently though, the company laid off its Roanoke employees and said it plans to temporarily close the plant. The corporate office of Virginia Transformer Corporation
(the leading transformer manufacturing company of USA) is situated in this city. General Electric
and TMEIC GE
manufacture large drive systems for electrical generation stations and factories at their joint facility in Salem. ITT
manufactures night vision goggles
at its plant in Roanoke County, and some of its employees have started other firms such as Optical Cable Corporation
. The proximity of automotive assembly plants in the South has attracted manufacturers including Dynax, Koyo, Metalsa, and Yokohama, formerly Mohawk Tire. Roanoke's location allows for delivery within one day to most markets in the southeast, northeast, mid-atlantic, and Ohio Valley, which has made it a distribution center for such companies as Orvis
, Elizabeth Arden
, and Hanover Direct. United Parcel Service
(UPS) maintains a major facility at the Roanoke Regional Airport. While the city of Roanoke has lost population, suburbs in Roanoke County, southern Botetourt County, and areas of Bedford County and Franklin County near Smith Mountain Lake
have grown.
Kroger
operates its Mid-Atlantic regional offices at 3631 Peter's Creek Road NW in Roanoke.
Print
Roanoke is the media hub for much of Southwestern Virginia
and parts of Southern West Virginia
.
The city's daily newspaper, The Roanoke Times
, has been published for 120 years and edited for many years in the twentieth century by famed editor John W. Eure. The newspaper's current owner is Landmark Communications
. Weekday circulation averages a little over 90,000 with Sunday circulation around 103,000. In 2002, it was designated the best-read daily newspaper in the country, according to the 2002 Scarborough Report. Of 162 newspapers in top U.S. metropolitan areas, The Roanoke Times ranked first in the percentage of adults who read their daily newspaper. It ranked first again in 2006. The Roanoke Times established a web site in 1995 and has developed a web portal
at Roanoke.com.
The Roanoke Times also owns the Blue Ridge Business Journal which publishes 25 issues per year that focus on the business community in Roanoke and the surrounding region. The weekly Roanoke Tribune covers the city's African-American community. Main Street Newspapers publishes weekly newspapers for surrounding communities such as Salem, Vinton, southwest Roanoke County, and Botetourt County.
The Roanoke Star-Sentinel is a weekly newspaper which covers the city of Roanoke. The South Roanoke Circle is an independent monthly newspaper for the neighborhood of South Roanoke.
The Roanoker is the area's bi-monthly lifestyle magazine and is published by Leisure Publishing, which also publishes the bi-monthly Blue Ridge Country magazine.
are grouped in the same television market, which currently ranks #67 in the United States with 440,398 households. There are affiliates for all networks as well as independent stations. Local CBS
affiliate WDBJ-7
, led by its 6 PM newscast, has been the traditional ratings leader, regardless of the national ratings for CBS, although local NBC
affiliate WSLS-10
has gained ratings in recent years. While WDBJ-7 and WSLS-10 are in Roanoke, local ABC
affiliate WSET-13
is in Lynchburg and its news coverage focuses on the eastern portion of the market.
Other stations in the market include Fox affiliate WFXR Fox 21/27 in Roanoke, PBS
affiliate WBRA-15 in Roanoke, Liberty University
's WTLU-19
in Lynchburg, independent WDRL-24
in Pelham
, North Carolina
, and ION Television affiliate WPXR-38
in Roanoke.
. The Science Museum maintains a permanent installation of neon sign
art featuring the work of local Mark Jamison, the subject of Slash Coleman
's PBS
special "The Neon Man and Me."
Formerly housed in Center in the Square, the Taubman Museum of Art has now vacated the Center and opened a new facility at 110 Salem Avenue SE. The art museum features nineteenth and twentieth century American art, contemporary and modern art, decorative arts, and works on paper, and presents exhibitions of both regional and national significance. The new 75000 square feet (6,967.7 m²) facility was designed by Los Angeles based architect Randall Stout, who earlier in his career worked under Frank Gehry
. The new space opened on November 8, 2008. The facility's design sparked debate in the community between those who feel it is a bold, refreshing addition to Roanoke and those who feel its unusual, irregular design featuring sharp angles contrasts too strongly with the existing buildings. Some are also concerned about the facility's cost at a time when many Roanoke area artistic organizations face financial challenges. The Taubman Family, which established Advance Auto Parts
contributed $15.2 million to the project. As a result, the museum was renamed The Taubman Museum of Art.
The Virginia Museum of Transportation
houses many locomotives that were built in Roanoke, including the Norfolk and Western J class #611
and Norfolk & Western 1218
steam engines, and other locomotives and rolling stock
. The museum also houses exhibits covering aviation
, automobiles, and buses.
Roanoke's landmark former passenger rail station hosts the O. Winston Link Museum
dedicated to the late steam-era railroad photography of O. Winston Link
since 2004.
The Harrison Museum of African-American Culture is dedicated to the history and culture of Roanoke's African-American community and is currently located at a former school in the Gainsboro section of Roanoke. Gainsboro, originally Gainesborough for founder Major Kemp Gaines, was originally a separate community that petitioned for township status in 1835. The Harrison Museum will move to Center in the Square when the Art Museum of Western Virginia occupies its new facility.
Mill Mountain Theatre
, a regional theatre, is located on the first floor of Center in the Square. As the name implies, the theatre was originally located on Mill Mountain from 1964 until 1976 when its original facility was destroyed by fire. The theatre has both a main stage for mainstream performances and a smaller black box theatre called Waldron Stage which hosts both newer and more experimental plays along with other live events. The best known events are an annual festival of new plays and the "No Shame Theatre" every Friday at 11 PM which is open to any performance that is "original, five minutes or less, and doesn’t break anything – people, the space, or laws." Mill Mountain Theatre has an atelier
for visiting actors in a former downtown hotel. The Theatre is currently closed, citing mounting debts and flagging donations,
The Roanoke Civic Center's auditorium and newly renovated theatre, now known as the Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre, host concerts, touring Broadway theatre
performances, the Miss Virginia pageant, and other events. The City's first permanent artwork funded by the Percent for Art ordinance stands before the theater. Dedicated in 2008, the 30 feet (9.1 m) stainless steel sculpture, "In My Hands," by Baltimore artist Rodney Carroll is one of more than 100 works in the City's public art catalogue.
The Shaftman Performance Hall, which opened in May 2001 and is located at the Jefferson Center, has become a prominent part of Roanoke's performing arts scene. Shaftman Hall hosts a regular season of concerts and other performances from the fall through the spring as well as other entertainment events and lectures. The Jefferson Center formerly served Roanoke as Jefferson High School and now also houses offices and display spaces for cultural organizations.
In November 2006, the former Dumas Hotel was reopened as the Dumas Center for Artistic and Cultural Development. The hotel is located on a segment of First Street NW commonly known as Henry Street. Located literally across the railroad tracks from the center of downtown Roanoke, Henry Street served as the commercial and cultural center of Roanoke's African American community prior to desegregation
. The Dumas Hotel hosted such guests as Louis Armstrong
, Ethel Waters
, Count Basie
, Duke Ellington
and Nat King Cole
when they performed in Roanoke. The renovated Dumas Center houses an auditorium with more than 180 seats, the Downtown Music Lab: a recording studio and music education center for teens, the Dumas Drama Guild, and the offices of Opera Roanoke.
The Roanoke Symphony Orchestra has performances at Shaftman Hall, the Salem Civic Center
, and the Roanoke Civic Center. Current conductor David Wiley and his predecessor Victoria Bond have made the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra nationally respected.
The Grandin Theatre in the Grandin Village of Southwest Roanoke regularly screens art house films, family features, and mainstream movies. The Grandin Theatre was the home of Mill Mountain Theatre from 1976 until 1983.
Virginia Western Theatre has performances in Whitman Auditorium at Virginia Western Community College, and has been performing original and well known theatrical productions since 1968.
Roanoke has also been home to the Showtimers Community Theatre since 1951. The Star City Playhouse began performances in 2007 at its theatre on Williamson Road
.
of the ABA were the only major league
sports team to regularly play home games in Roanoke. During the 1971-1972 season, the Squires split home games between Richmond, Norfolk, Hampton Roads, and Roanoke. Julius Erving
played his professional rookie season with the Squires in 1971-1972.
Minor league baseball
has been more successful in building and maintaining a fan base than have the Roanoke Valley's other minor league sports teams. In the 1940s and early 1950s, Roanoke was home to a class B farm team of the Boston Red Sox
. Since 1955, neighboring Salem has hosted the local minor league baseball team, currently the Salem Red Sox
of the high Class A Carolina League
. The team had previously been affiliated with the Houston Astros
and Colorado Rockies
and known as the Avalanche until becoming an affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, whose ownership group purchased the Avalanche in 2007, for the 2009 season.
Minor league hockey has a history in the Roanoke Valley dating to the 1960s. It reached a zenith of popularity in the mid- to late-1990s with the Roanoke Express
of the ECHL
. The team's attendance declined due to a lack of post-season success and management turmoil. The Express folded after the 2003-2004 season.
The 2005-2006 revival by the UHL's Roanoke Valley Vipers
failed after one season. The team had a losing record and the midwestern-based league was unable to rekindle the interest of the local fanbase. The team was formed to provide a travel partner for a UHL franchise in Richmond which also folded after the 2005-2006 season. The southeastern-based Southern Professional Hockey League
, nearly all of whose teams are located in cities with former ECHL teams, may bring hockey back to the Roanoke Valley.
The Roanoke Dazzle
of the NBDL and the Roanoke Steam
of the af2
(Arena Football) folded after never developing consistent followings. The Dazzle's attendance was similar to other inaugural franchises in the league. It was one of the last two teams to remain in its original city. Over the years, Roanoke has also had teams in soccer and men's and women's semi-professional football
.
game between the Virginia Cavaliers
and Virginia Tech Hokies
. During most of the 1970s through 1990s, the University of Virginia
dominated the rivalry and as such tended to have significantly greater fan representation, despite Roanoke's closer proximity to Virginia Tech's home in Blacksburg. In the late 1990s, the schools started holding these games in their own campus facilities.
The Virginia Tech Hokies
ice hockey
team has used the Roanoke Civic Center as its regular season home venue, from 2006 to the present season. In 2010, the Roanoke College
ice hockey
team began using the Roanoke Civic Center as its home venue as well.
From the 1940s through the late 1960s, Roanoke's Victory Stadium
hosted an annual Thanksgiving Day
game between Virginia Tech and the Virginia Military Institute
and other high profile college football games. From 1946 to 1950, Victory Stadium also hosted the South's Oldest Rivalry between the University of Virginia
and the University of North Carolina.
. The Patriots won Group AAA state titles in men's basketball in 1988 and 1992, football in 1973, and men's tennis in 2004. George Lynch and Curtis Staples are among the athletes who have attended the school.
William Fleming High School is also a member of the AAA Western Valley District
. The Colonels have established strong programs in men's basketball and football with a Group AA state championship in men's basketball in 2007 and two state runner-up seasons in both sports over the last 15 years. Lee Suggs graduated from Fleming.
Roanoke Catholic High School is a member of the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association. The Celtics won a VISAA football state championship in 1994 and have recently fielded strong men's basketball teams, often with foreign players, and have produced college players such as Virginia's J.R. Reynolds
. The Celtics have won 3 VIS Basketball championships in the past years.
North Cross School is also a member of the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association. The Raiders won a VISAA soccer state championship in 2007, a VISAA football state championship in 2008, and a VISAA wrestling state championship in 2009. The Raiders have won 3 basketball championships, 4 football championships, and many other state awards in the past years.
The city has constructed separate on-campus football stadiums at the schools to replace Victory Stadium, which was demolished in summer 2006. Patriot Stadium was opened for the 2007 season and a currently unnamed stadium on the William Fleming campus will open for the 2008 season. The field at Patriot Stadium was named after Merrill Gainer, who coached Patrick Henry to the 1973 state championship.
is scheduled to be held in the city.
is a U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in Virginia as defined by the United States
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as of June, 2003.
Note: Since a state constitutional change in 1871, all cities in Virginia
are independent cities
and they are not legally located in any county. The OMB considers these independent cities to be county-equivalent
s for the purpose of defining MSAs in Virginia. Each MSA is listed by its counties, then cities, each in alphabetical order, and not by size.
The Roanoke, VA MSA includes:
Many businesses and organizations adopted Star City in their names, after the Mill Mountain Star
. The older Magic City is still used, most prominently by Roanoke's Ford dealership. The city's original name of Big Lick is often used in whimsical contexts.
Roanoke's status as the largest city in a mountainous area led to the nickname Capital of the Blue Ridge.
:
Florianópolis
, Brazil
Kisumu
, Kenya
Lijiang, Yunnan, China
Pskov
, Russia
Saint-Lô
, France
Wonju
, South Korea
Opole
, Poland
Raised in Roanoke:
One-time resident:
Independent city
An independent city is a city that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity. These type of cities should not be confused with city-states , which are fully sovereign cities that are not part of any other sovereign state.-Historical precursors:In the Holy Roman Empire,...
in the Mid-Atlantic
Mid-Atlantic States
The Mid-Atlantic states, also called middle Atlantic states or simply the mid Atlantic, form a region of the United States generally located between New England and the South...
U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
state of 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...
and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
. It is located in the Roanoke Valley
Roanoke Valley
The Roanoke Valley in southwest Virginia is an area adjacent to and including the Roanoke River between the Blue Ridge Mountains to the east and the Appalachian Plateau to the west...
of the Roanoke Region of Virginia
Roanoke Region of Virginia
The Roanoke Region is the area of the Commonwealth of Virginia surrounding the city of Roanoke. Its usage may refer to the metropolitan statistical area or the Roanoke Valley, but it sometimes includes areas in the Allegheny Mountains and New River Valley which includes Alleghany county, Montgomery...
. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010. It is the largest municipality in Southwest Virginia
Southwest Virginia
Southwest Virginia, often abbreviated as SWVA, is a mountainous region of Virginia in the westernmost part of the commonwealth. Southwest Virginia has been defined alternatively as all Virginia counties on the Appalachian Plateau, all Virginia counties west of the Eastern Continental Divide, or...
, and is the principal municipality of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). In 2009 the Roanoke MSA had an estimated population of 303,418 residents. It is composed of the independent cities of Roanoke and Salem
Salem, Virginia
Salem is an independent city in Virginia, USA, bordered by the city of Roanoke to the east but otherwise adjacent to Roanoke County. It is part of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 24,802 according to 2010 U.S. Census...
, and the counties of Botetourt
Botetourt County, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 30,496 people, 11,700 households, and 9,114 families residing in the county. The population density was 56 people per square mile . There were 12,571 housing units at an average density of 23 per square mile...
, Craig
Craig County, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 5,091 people, 2,060 households, and 1,507 families residing in the county. The population density was 15 people per square mile . There were 2,554 housing units at an average density of 8 per square mile...
, Franklin
Franklin County, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 47,286 people, 18,963 households, and 13,918 families residing in the county. The population density was 68 people per square mile . There were 22,717 housing units at an average density of 33 per square mile...
and Roanoke
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...
. Bisected by 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...
, Roanoke is the commercial and cultural hub of much of the surrounding area of Virginia and southern West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
.
Incorporation
The town first called Big Lick was established in 1852 and chartered in 1874. It was named for a large outcropping of salt which drew the wildlife to the site near the Roanoke RiverRoanoke 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...
. In 1882 it became the town of Roanoke, and in 1884 it was chartered as the independent city of Roanoke. The name Roanoke is said to have originated from an Algonquian
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...
word for shell "money". This was also the name of the river that bisected it (probably where shells had come from) and the county. The city grew frequently through annexation
Annexation
Annexation is the de jure incorporation of some territory into another geo-political entity . Usually, it is implied that the territory and population being annexed is the smaller, more peripheral, and weaker of the two merging entities, barring physical size...
through the middle of the twentieth century. The last annexation was in 1976. The state legislature has since prohibited cities from annexing land from adjacent counties. Roanoke's location in the Blue Ridge Mountains
Blue Ridge Mountains
The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. This province consists of northern and southern physiographic regions, which divide near the Roanoke River gap. The mountain range is located in the eastern United States, starting at its southern-most...
, in the middle of the Roanoke Valley
Roanoke Valley
The Roanoke Valley in southwest Virginia is an area adjacent to and including the Roanoke River between the Blue Ridge Mountains to the east and the Appalachian Plateau to the west...
between Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
and Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, made it the transportation hub of western Virginia and contributed to its rapid growth.
Colonial influence
During colonial times the site of Roanoke was an important hub of trails and roads. The Great Wagon RoadGreat Wagon Road
The Great Wagon Road was a colonial American improved trail transiting the Great Appalachian Valley from Pennsylvania to North Carolina, and from there to Georgia....
, one of the most heavily travelled roads of eighteenth century America, ran from Philadelphia through the Shenandoah Valley to the future site of the City of Roanoke, where the Roanoke River passed through the Blue Ridge. The Roanoke Gap proved a useful route for immigrants to settle the Carolina Piedmont region. At Roanoke Gap, another branch of the Great Wagon Road, the Wilderness Road
Wilderness Road
The Wilderness Road was the principal route used by settlers for more than fifty years to reach Kentucky from the East. In 1775, Daniel Boone blazed a trail for the Transylvania Company from Fort Chiswell in Virginia through the Cumberland Gap into central Kentucky. It was later lengthened,...
, continued southwest to Tennessee.
Railroads and coal
In the 1850s, Big Lick became a stop on the Virginia and Tennessee RailroadVirginia and Tennessee Railroad
The Virginia and Tennessee Railroad was an historic railroad in the Southern United States, much of which is incorporated into the modern Norfolk Southern Railway...
(V&T) which linked Lynchburg
Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 75,568 as of 2010. Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the banks of the James River, Lynchburg is known as the "City of Seven Hills" or "The Hill City." Lynchburg was the only major city in...
with Bristol
Bristol, Virginia
Bristol is an independent city in Virginia, United States, bounded by Washington County, Virginia, Bristol, Tennessee, and Sullivan County, Tennessee....
on the Virginia-Tennessee border.
After the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
(1861–1865), William Mahone
William Mahone
William Mahone was a civil engineer, teacher, soldier, railroad executive, and a member of the Virginia General Assembly and U.S. Congress. Small of stature, he was nicknamed "Little Billy"....
, a civil engineer
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
and hero of the Battle of the Crater
Battle of the Crater
The Battle of the Crater was a battle of the American Civil War, part of the Siege of Petersburg. It took place on July 30, 1864, between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee and the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Major General George G. Meade The...
, was the driving force in the linkage of 3 railroads, including the V&T, across the southern tier of Virginia to form the Atlantic, Mississippi & Ohio Railroad
Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad
Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad was formed in 1870 in Virginia from 3 east-west railroads which traversed across the southern portion of the state. Organized and led by former Confederate general William Mahone , the 428-mile line linked Norfolk with Bristol, Virginia by way of Suffolk,...
(AM&O), a new line extending from Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
to Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, Virginia in 1870. However, the Financial Panic of 1873 wrecked the AM&O's finances. After several years of operating under receiverships, Mahone's role as a railroad builder ended in 1881 when northern financial interests took control. At the foreclosure auction, the AM&O was purchased by E.W. Clark & Co.
E.W. Clark & Co.
E. W. Clark & Co. was a banking and financial firm founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1837 by Enoch White Clark. Among its partners were American Civil War financier Jay Cooke and West Philadelphia developer Clarence Howard Clark....
, a private banking firm in Philadelphia which controlled the Shenandoah Valley Railroad
Shenandoah Valley Railroad (N&W)
Shenandoah Valley Railroad was a line completed on June 19, 1882 extending down the Shenandoah Valley from Hagerstown, Maryland USA through the West Virginia panhandle into Virginia to reach Roanoke, Virginia and to connect with the Norfolk and Western Railway . The development of this railroad had...
then under construction up the valley from Hagerstown
Hagerstown, Maryland
Hagerstown is a city in northwestern Maryland, United States. It is the county seat of Washington County, and, by many definitions, the largest city in a region known as Western Maryland. The population of Hagerstown city proper at the 2010 census was 39,662, and the population of the...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
. The AM&O was renamed Norfolk and Western Railway
Norfolk and Western Railway
The Norfolk and Western Railway , a US class I railroad, was formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It had headquarters in Roanoke, Virginia for most of its 150 year existence....
(N&W).
Frederick J. Kimball
Frederick J. Kimball
Frederick James Kimball was a civil engineer. He was an early president of the Norfolk and Western Railway and helped develop the Pocahontas coalfields in Virginia and West Virginia....
, a civil engineer and partner in the Clark firm, headed the new line and the new Shenandoah Valley Railroad. For the junction for the Shenandoah Valley and the Norfolk and Western roads, Kimball and his board of directors selected the small Virginia village called Big Lick, on 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...
. Although the grateful citizens offered to rename their town "Kimball", at his suggestion, they agreed to name it Roanoke after the river. As the N&W brought people and jobs, the Town of Roanoke quickly became an independent city in 1884. In fact, Roanoke became a city so quickly that it earned the nickname "Magic City".
Kimball's interest in geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
was instrumental in the development of the Pocahontas coalfield
Pocahontas coalfield
Pocahontas Coalfield, which is also known as the Flat Top-Pocahontas Coalfield, is located in Mercer County/McDowell County, West Virginia and Tazewell County, Virginia. The coal seams—Pocahontas No. 3, No. 4, No. 6, and No...
s in western 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...
and West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
. He pushed N&W lines through the wilds of West Virginia, north to Columbus
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
and Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
, and south to Durham
Durham, North Carolina
Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
and Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Winston-Salem is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina, with a 2010 population of 229,617. Winston-Salem is the county seat and largest city of Forsyth County and the fourth-largest city in the state. Winston-Salem is the second largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region and is home to...
. This gave the railroad the route structure it was to use for more than 60 years.
The Virginian Railway
Virginian Railway
The Virginian Railway was a Class I railroad located in Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The VGN was created to transport high quality "smokeless" bituminous coal from southern West Virginia to port at Hampton Roads....
(VGN), an engineering marvel of its day, was conceived and built by William Nelson Page
William N. Page
William Nelson Page was an American civil engineer, entrepreneur, industrialist and capitalist. He was active in the Virginias following the U.S. Civil War...
and Henry Huttleston Rogers
Henry H. Rogers
Henry Huttleston Rogers was a United States capitalist, businessman, industrialist, financier, and philanthropist. He made his fortune in the oil refinery business, becoming a leader at Standard Oil....
. Following the Roanoke River, the VGN was built through the City of Roanoke early in the twentieth century. It merged with the N&W in 1959.
The opening of the coalfields made N&W prosperous and Pocahontas bituminous coal
Bituminous coal
Bituminous coal or black coal is a relatively soft coal containing a tarlike substance called bitumen. It is of higher quality than lignite coal but of poorer quality than Anthracite...
world-famous. Transported by the N&W and neighboring Virginian Railway (VGN), local coal fueled half the world's navies. Today it stokes steel mills and power plants all over the globe.
The Norfolk & Western was famous for manufacturing steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
s in-house. It was N&W's Roanoke Shops
Roanoke Shops
thumb|250px|[[Norfolk Southern]] Roanoke Shops in 2004.The Roanoke Shops of the Norfolk and Western Railway in Roanoke, Virginia were founded in 1881 as the Roanoke Machine Works. It came under the control of the railroad in 1883. Locomotive production started in 1884 and 152 locomotives were...
that made the company known industry-wide for its excellence in steam power. The Roanoke Shops, with its workforce of thousands, is where the famed classes A, J, and Y6 locomotives were designed, built, and maintained. New steam locomotives were built there until 1953, long after diesel-electric had emerged as the motive power of choice for most North American railroads. About 1960, N&W was the last major railroad in the United States to convert from steam to diesel power.
The presence of the railroad also made Roanoke attractive to manufacturers. American Viscose opened a large rayon
Rayon
Rayon is a manufactured regenerated cellulose fiber. Because it is produced from naturally occurring polymers, it is neither a truly synthetic fiber nor a natural fiber; it is a semi-synthetic or artificial fiber. Rayon is known by the names viscose rayon and art silk in the textile industry...
plant in Southeast Roanoke in October 1917. This plant closed in 1958, leaving 5,000 workers unemployed. When N&W converted to diesel, 2,000 railroad workers were laid off.
Cultural hub
EventZone was created in 2003 by the merger of various existing event organizers. EventZone is also charged with assisting in the creation of new festivals and activities in the Downtown Roanoke "event zone," which is defined as all areas bound by Williamson Road, 6th Street, SW, the Roanoke Civic Center, and Rivers Edge Park.Local Colors is a multi-cultural program which recognizes people of diverse origins, races and ethnic backgrounds and sponsors the annual Local Colors Festival in the third weekend of May.
Roanoke's festivals and cultural events include the Chili Cook-Off, Festival in the Park, Local Colors Festival, Henry Street Festival, Big Lick Blues Festival, Strawberry Festival, and the large red, white, and blue illuminated Mill Mountain Star
Mill Mountain Star
The Roanoke Star, also known as the Mill Mountain Star, is the world's largest freestanding illuminated man-made star, constructed in 1949 at the top of Mill Mountain in Roanoke, Virginia. It was the largest star ever assembled until the El Paso Star was completed in El Paso, Texas...
(formerly illuminated in red following drunk driving fatalities in the Roanoke Valley; temporarily illuminated in white on April 22, 2007 in remembrance of the Virginia Tech Massacre
Virginia Tech massacre
The Virginia Tech massacre was a school shooting that took place on April 16, 2007, on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. In two separate attacks, approximately two hours apart, the perpetrator, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people...
of April 16, 2007) on Mill Mountain, which is visible from many points in the city and surrounding valley.
Government
Roanoke has a weak mayor-city manager form of government. The city managerCity manager
A city manager is an official appointed as the administrative manager of a city, in a council-manager form of city government. Local officials serving in this position are sometimes referred to as the chief executive officer or chief administrative officer in some municipalities...
is responsible for the day to day operation of the city's government and has the authority to hire and fire city employees. The mayor has little, if any, executive authority and essentially is the "first among equals" on the city council. The mayor, however, has a bully pulpit
Bully pulpit
A bully pulpit is a public office or other position of authority of sufficiently high rank that provides the holder with an opportunity to speak out and be listened to on any matter...
as Roanoke media frequently cover the mayor's appearances and statements. The current mayor of Roanoke is David A. Bowers
David A. Bowers
David A. Bowers is the mayor of Roanoke, Virginia; his current term began on July 1, 2008. He previously served as mayor of the city from 1992 to 2000. A Democrat, he was elected mayor after serving on the city council. Bowers' service as mayor fulfilled a lifelong ambition for the Roanoke...
and the current city manager is Christopher P. Morrill. City council has six members, not counting the mayor, all of whom are elected on an at-large basis. A proposal for a ward based council, in which the mayor and vice mayor would continue to be elected at-large, was rejected by Roanoke voters in 1997, but ward system advocates still contend that the at-large system results in a disproportionate number of council members coming from affluent neighborhoods and that electing some or all council members on a ward basis would result in a more equal representation of all areas of the city. The four year terms of city council members are staggered, so there are biannual elections. The candidate who receives the most votes is designated the vice mayor for the following two years.
The city's African-American and professional class voting blocs have made the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
the city's leading party in recent years.
Independent candidate David A. Bowers, a former Democrat, defeated incumbent Democrat Nelson Harris
Nelson Harris
Nelson Harris is a former mayor of Roanoke, Virginia; his term ended on July 1, 2008. A Democrat, he was elected mayor in 2004 with 37% of the vote in a competitive three way race against Republican Alice Hincker and independent Delvis "Mac" McCadden. Harris had previously served on the school...
for Mayor in the May 2008 election with 53% of the vote. In both the 2000 election, Republican Ralph K. Smith
Ralph K. Smith
Ralph K. Smith is an American politician and businessman. A Republican, he served as mayor of Roanoke, Virginia 2000–04 and was elected to the Senate of Virginia in November 2007. He the 22nd district, made up of Botetourt County, the cities of Radford and Salem, and parts of Montgomery and...
and in the 2004 election Nelson Harris won with less than 40% of the vote in competitive three way races.
In the May 2008 council elections, Democrats Court Rosen, Anita Price, and Sherman Lea defeated a slate of loosely allied independent city council candidates including incumbent Brian Wishneff. In the May 2006 council elections, a slate of three former Democrats running on an independent slate backed by Harris defeated the candidates of the Democratic and Republican parties. This election ended the city's long running debate about the fate of Victory Stadium
Victory Stadium
- History :Victory Stadium was constructed in 1942. The name was meant to be a rallying cry for Allied victory in World War II. The stadium seated approximately 25,000, which made it the largest football stadium in Virginia when it opened, and regularly hosted games with large crowds during the...
.
Roanoke is represented by two members of the Virginia House of Delegates
Virginia House of Delegates
The Virginia House of Delegates is the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbered years. The House is presided over by the Speaker of the House, who is elected from among the...
, Onzlee Ware
Onzlee Ware
Onzlee Ware is an American politician. A Democrat, he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in November 2003. He the 11th district, made up of parts of the city of Roanoke and surrounding Roanoke County...
(D-11th) and William H. Cleaveland (R-17th), and one member of the Virginia Senate, John Edwards (D-21st). Former Roanoke mayor Ralph Smith
Ralph K. Smith
Ralph K. Smith is an American politician and businessman. A Republican, he served as mayor of Roanoke, Virginia 2000–04 and was elected to the Senate of Virginia in November 2007. He the 22nd district, made up of Botetourt County, the cities of Radford and Salem, and parts of Montgomery and...
won the 2007 election in the neighboring 22nd Senate district after defeating incumbent Brandon Bell for the Republican nomination in the primary election and Democrat Michael Breiner in the general election.
The City of Roanoke lies within the 6th Congressional District of Virginia, which also includes Lynchburg and much of the Shenandoah Valley
Shenandoah Valley
The Shenandoah Valley is both a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , to the north by the Potomac River...
. Current representative Bob Goodlatte
Bob Goodlatte
Robert William "Bob" Goodlatte is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district is based in Roanoke and also includes Lynchburg, Harrisonburg and Staunton.-Early life, education and career:...
resides in Roanoke as have many of those who have held the seat. The 9th Congressional District of Virginia, represented by Morgan Griffith
Morgan Griffith
Howard Morgan Griffith is the U.S. Representative for Virginia's 9th congressional district. He is a member of the Republican Party. He was the majority leader of the Virginia House of Delegates and represented the 8th District, serving from 1994 until 2011...
, has traditionally covered southwest Virginia but has expanded into parts of Roanoke County and counties to the north of Roanoke to make up for population losses in the rest of the district. Robert Hurt
Robert Hurt
Robert Hurt may refer to:*Robert Hurt , United States Representative*Robert L. Hurt, American astronomer...
represents much of the area to south and east of Roanoke, including nearby Franklin County, in the 5th Congressional District of Virginia, which also stretches north to Charlottesville
Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...
. There is speculation that the lines of the three districts could be significantly redrawn in the next redistricting
Redistricting
Redistricting is the process of drawing United States electoral district boundaries, often in response to population changes determined by the results of the decennial census. In 36 states, the state legislature has primary responsibility for creating a redistricting plan, in many cases subject to...
cycle after the 2010 Census, especially if Democrats gain control of the Virginia General Assembly
Virginia General Assembly
The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the oldest legislative body in the Western Hemisphere, established on July 30, 1619. The General Assembly is a bicameral body consisting of a lower house, the Virginia House of Delegates, with 100 members,...
, to account for rapid growth in the northern parts of the 5th and 6th districts and slower growth in the southern parts of the districts and population loss in much of the 9th.
Politics
| Year | DEM Democratic Party (United States) The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous... |
GOP Republican Party (United States) The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S... |
Others |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 61.2% 24,934 | 37.8% 15,394 | 1.1% 444 |
| 2004 | 52.4% 18,862 | 46.3% 16,661 | 1.3% 477 |
| 2000 | 53.6% 17,920 | 43.7% 14,630 | 2.7% 892 |
| 1996 | 54.0% 17,282 | 38.4% 12,283 | 7.7% 2,451 |
| 1992 | 50.4% 17,724 | 38.2% 13,443 | 11.4% 4,014 |
| 1988 | 52.4% 17,185 | 46.9% 15,389 | 0.7% 1,671 |
| 1984 | 47.7 17,300 | 52.1% 19,008 | 0.5% 184 |
| 1980 | 51.9% 18,139 | 43.4% 15,164 | 4.7% 11,643 |
| 1976 | 57.6% 20,696 | 41.0% 14,738 | 1.4% 515 |
| 1972 | 33.1% 9,498 | 64.7% 18,541 | 2.2% 632 |
| 1968 | 30.9% 9,281 | 51.2% 15,368 | 17.9% 5,359 |
| 1964 | 53.7% 15,314 | 46.2% 13,164 | 0.1% 18 |
| 1960 | 37.5% 9,175 | 62.3% 15,229 | 0.2% 49 |
Geography
Roanoke is located in the valley and ridge provinceRidge-and-valley Appalachians
The Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, also called the Ridge and Valley Province or the Valley and Ridge Appalachians, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division and are also a belt within the Appalachian Mountains extending from southeastern New York through northwestern New...
of Virginia immediately west of the Blue Ridge Mountains
Blue Ridge Mountains
The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. This province consists of northern and southern physiographic regions, which divide near the Roanoke River gap. The mountain range is located in the eastern United States, starting at its southern-most...
and east of the Allegheny Mountains
Allegheny Mountains
The Allegheny Mountain Range , also spelled Alleghany, Allegany and, informally, the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the eastern United States and Canada...
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the city has a total area of 42.9 square miles (111.1 km²), of which, 42.9 square miles (111.1 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square mile (0.1035995244 km²) of it (0.07%) is water.
Within the city limits is Mill Mountain
Mill Mountain Star
The Roanoke Star, also known as the Mill Mountain Star, is the world's largest freestanding illuminated man-made star, constructed in 1949 at the top of Mill Mountain in Roanoke, Virginia. It was the largest star ever assembled until the El Paso Star was completed in El Paso, Texas...
, which stands detached from surrounding ranges. Its summit features the Roanoke Star, Mill Mountain Zoo, the Discovery Center interpretive building, and an overlook of the Roanoke Valley
Roanoke Valley
The Roanoke Valley in southwest Virginia is an area adjacent to and including the Roanoke River between the Blue Ridge Mountains to the east and the Appalachian Plateau to the west...
. The Appalachian Trail
Appalachian Trail
The Appalachian National Scenic Trail, generally known as the Appalachian Trail or simply the AT, is a marked hiking trail in the eastern United States extending between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. It is approximately long...
runs through the northern section of Roanoke County several miles north of the city, while the Blue Ridge Parkway
Blue Ridge Parkway
The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road in the United States, noted for its scenic beauty. It runs for 469 miles , mostly along the famous Blue Ridge, a major mountain chain that is part of the Appalachian Mountains...
runs just to the south of the city. Carvins Cove
Carvins Cove Natural Reserve
Carvins Cove Natural Reserve is the second largest city park in the United States, at . It is located in Botetourt County, Virginia and Roanoke County, Virginia....
, the second-largest municipal park in America at 12700 acres (51.4 km²), lies in northeast Roanoke County and southwest Botetourt County. Smith Mountain Lake
Smith Mountain Lake
Smith Mountain Lake is a large reservoir in the Roanoke Region of Virginia, located southeast of the City of Roanoke and southwest of Lynchburg. The lake was created in 1963 by the Smith Mountain Dam impounding the Roanoke River. The majority of the south shore of the lake lies in Franklin County...
is several miles southeast of the city. The Jefferson National Forest is nearby. Roanokers and visitors to the area enjoy hiking, mountain biking, cross-country running, canoeing, kayaking, fly fishing, and other outdoor pursuits.
The city is located in the North Fork of Roanoke
North Fork of Roanoke AVA
The North Fork of Roanoke AVA is an American Viticultural Area located on the eastern slopes of the Allegheny Mountains in the Roanoke and Montgomery counties of Virginia...
winemaking
Winemaking
Winemaking, or vinification, is the production of wine, starting with selection of the grapes or other produce and ending with bottling the finished wine. Although most wine is made from grapes, it may also be made from other fruit or non-toxic plant material...
region. The "North Fork of Roanoke" appellation
Appellation
An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown; other types of food often have appellations as well...
is a designated American Viticultural Area
American Viticultural Area
An American Viticultural Area is a designated wine grape-growing region in the United States distinguishable by geographic features, with boundaries defined by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau , United States Department of the Treasury....
, recognizing the unique grape
Grape
A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...
growing conditions present in the area. Valhalla Vineyards
Valhalla Vineyards
Valhalla Vineyards is a vineyard and winery located in Roanoke County, Virginia, founded by James and Debra Vascik in 1994.-History:The Vasciks paid $1.2 million for the property in 1993. Planting of the Valhalla vineyard began in 1994 on of converted peach orchard...
is located just outside the city limits of Roanoke.
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...
flows through the city of Roanoke. Some stretches of the river flow through parks and natural settings, while others flow through industrial areas. Several tributaries join the river in the city, most notably Peters Creek, Tinker Creek, and Mud Lick Creek.
Climate
Being located along the Blue Ridge MountainsBlue Ridge Mountains
The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. This province consists of northern and southern physiographic regions, which divide near the Roanoke River gap. The mountain range is located in the eastern United States, starting at its southern-most...
, Roanoke lies in the transition zone between the Humid subtropical climate
Humid subtropical climate
A humid subtropical climate is a climate zone characterized by hot, humid summers and mild to cool winters...
zone and the Humid continental climate
Humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot summers and cold winters....
zone, with four distinct, but generally mild, seasons. Temperatures may reach over 100 °F (38 °C) in summer or dip below 0 °F (-18 °C) in winter, but neither occurs in a typical year. Roanoke's all time record high of 105 °F (40.5 °C) occurred on August 21, 1983, and the all time record low of −11 °F) occurred on January 21, 1985
January 1985 Arctic outbreak
The 1985 Arctic outbreak was a meteorological event, the result of the shifting of the polar vortex further south than is normally seen. Blocked from its normal movement, polar air from the north pushed into nearly every section of the eastern half of the United States and Canada, shattering record...
.
The city averages 23 inches (58.4 cm) of snow per winter. Roanoke experienced something of a snow drought in the 2000s until December 2009 when 17" of snow fell on Roanoke in a single storm. Roanoke's snowiest winter on record occurred in 1986−1987 when 72.9 inches (185 cm) fell. The largest single storm dumped approximately three feet from December 16, 1890 through December 18, 1890.
Flood
Flood
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...
ing is the primary weather related hazard faced by Roanoke. Heavy rains, most frequently from remnants of a hurricane, drain from surrounding areas to the narrow Roanoke Valley. The most recent significant flood was in the fall
Autumn
Autumn is one of the four temperate seasons. Autumn marks the transition from summer into winter usually in September or March when the arrival of night becomes noticeably earlier....
of 2004, caused by the remains of Hurricane Ivan
Hurricane Ivan
Hurricane Ivan was a large, long-lived, Cape Verde-type hurricane that caused widespread damage in the Caribbean and United States. The cyclone was the ninth named storm, the sixth hurricane and the fourth major hurricane of the active 2004 Atlantic hurricane season...
. The most severe flooding in the city's history occurred on November 4, 1985 when heavy storms from the remnants of Hurricane Juan
Hurricane Juan (1985)
Hurricane Juan was a hurricane that formed in October 1985 and looped twice near the Louisiana coast, causing torrential flooding for several days. Juan was the costliest hurricane of the 1985 Atlantic hurricane season, and at the time was among the costliest of all historical U.S. hurricanes...
stalled over the area. Ten people drowned in the Roanoke Valley, and others were saved by rescue personnel.
Many residents complain that they are prone to allergies because of pollen
Pollen
Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...
from trees in the surrounding mountains. Most famously, the family of Wayne Newton
Wayne Newton
Wayne Newton is an American singer and entertainer based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He performed over 30,000 solo shows in Las Vegas over a period of over 40 years, earning him the nicknames The Midnight Idol, Mr. Las Vegas and Mr. Entertainment...
moved from Roanoke to the dry climate of Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
because of his childhood asthma
Asthma
Asthma is the common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and bronchospasm. Symptoms include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath...
and allergies. However, there have not been clinical studies to establish that these conditions are more prevalent in Roanoke than other cities with similar vegetation and climate.
The following table shows Roanoke's average monthly temperatures and rainfall totals.
http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/winter-storm-aiming-for-mid-atlantic_2009-12-17
Neighborhoods
Within its boundaries, Roanoke is divided into 49 individually defined neighborhoods.Roads
Interstate 581 is the primary north-south roadway through the city. It is also the only interstate highway as Interstate 81 passes north of the city limits. Interstate 581 is a concurrency with U.S. Route 220, which continues as the Roy L. Webber Expressway from downtown Roanoke, where the I-581 designation ends, south to State Route 419. Route 220 connects Roanoke to MartinsvilleMartinsville, Virginia
Martinsville is an independent city which is surrounded by Henry County, Virginia, United States. The population was 13,821 in 2010. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Martinsville with Henry County for statistical purposes...
, 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...
and Greensboro
Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city by population in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. According to the 2010 U.S...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
. The proposed Interstate 73 would generally parallel Route 220 between Roanoke and Greensboro and would likely be a concurrency with I-581 through the city. The primary east-west roadway is U.S. Route 460, named Melrose Avenue and Orange Avenue. Route 460 connects Roanoke to Lynchburg
Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 75,568 as of 2010. Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the banks of the James River, Lynchburg is known as the "City of Seven Hills" or "The Hill City." Lynchburg was the only major city in...
. 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. Other major roads include U.S. Route 221, State Route 117 (known as Peters Creek Road), and State Route 101 (known as Hershberger Road). The Blue Ridge Parkway
Blue Ridge Parkway
The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road in the United States, noted for its scenic beauty. It runs for 469 miles , mostly along the famous Blue Ridge, a major mountain chain that is part of the Appalachian Mountains...
also briefly runs adjacent to the city border.
Roanoke is divided into four quadrants: Northwest (NW), Northeast (NE), Southwest (SW), and Southeast (SE). The mailing address for locations in Roanoke includes the two letter quadrant abbreviation after the street name. For example, the Center in the Square complex in downtown Roanoke has the address "1 Market Square SE."
Airports
Roanoke Regional Airport
Roanoke Regional Airport , also known as Woodrum Field, is a public airport located approximately north of downtown Roanoke, Virginia, United States. It has two runways and over 60 scheduled flights each day...
is located in the northern part of the city and is the primary passenger and cargo airport for Southwest Virginia
Southwest Virginia
Southwest Virginia, often abbreviated as SWVA, is a mountainous region of Virginia in the westernmost part of the commonwealth. Southwest Virginia has been defined alternatively as all Virginia counties on the Appalachian Plateau, all Virginia counties west of the Eastern Continental Divide, or...
.
Rail
Ironically for a city known for its rail history, Roanoke has not had passenger rail service since 1979. AmtrakAmtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
stops in Lynchburg
Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 75,568 as of 2010. Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the banks of the James River, Lynchburg is known as the "City of Seven Hills" or "The Hill City." Lynchburg was the only major city in...
and Clifton Forge
Clifton Forge, Virginia
Clifton Forge is a town in Alleghany County, Virginia, United States which is part of the Roanoke Region. The population was 3,884 at the 2010 census. The Jackson River flows through the town, which as a result was once known as Jackson's River Station....
, 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...
. Roanoke would be a stop in the proposed Transdominion Express
Transdominion Express
thumb|450px|right|Map of proposed stations and routes of Virginia Transdominion ExpressThe Transdominion Express is a proposed passenger rail transportation project in Virginia in the United States....
passenger rail system currently under study by the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Roanoke remains a major hub in Norfolk Southern's freight rail system. In 2006, the railroad announced plans to construct an intermodal rail yard
Intermodal freight transport
Intermodal freight transport involves the transportation of freight in an intermodal container or vehicle, using multiple modes of transportation , without any handling of the freight itself when changing modes. The method reduces cargo handling, and so improves security, reduces damages and...
in the community of Lafayette, Virginia
Elliston-Lafayette, Virginia
Elliston-Lafayette was a census-designated place in Montgomery County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,241 at the 2000 census; in 2010, Elliston and Lafayette were split into separate CDPs...
of neighboring Montgomery County; however, opposition by local residents prompted Norfolk Southern to consider other potential sites. In 2007, former Roanoke mayor David A. Bowers
David A. Bowers
David A. Bowers is the mayor of Roanoke, Virginia; his current term began on July 1, 2008. He previously served as mayor of the city from 1992 to 2000. A Democrat, he was elected mayor after serving on the city council. Bowers' service as mayor fulfilled a lifelong ambition for the Roanoke...
urged Roanoke to offer a site for the yard. Shortly thereafter, neighboring Salem proposed a site in an industrial area of the city. In 2008, Norfolk Southern determined that the Lafayette location was the only practical site. The Commonwealth of Virginia may also upgrade Norfolk Southern's rail line parallel to Interstate 81 from Roanoke through the Shenandoah Valley
Shenandoah Valley
The Shenandoah Valley is both a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , to the north by the Potomac River...
to encourage more freight to be shipped by rail.
Buses
The Valley MetroValley Metro (Roanoke)
Valley Metro, the operational name for the Greater Roanoke Transit Company, is a local government-owned urban-suburban bus line based in Roanoke, Virginia with First Transit providing the general and assistant general managers. The staff is employed by Southwest Virginia Transit Management Company...
bus system serves the city of Roanoke and surrounding areas. Nearly all routes originate or terminate at the Campbell Court bus station in downtown Roanoke, which is also served by Greyhound
Greyhound Lines
Greyhound Lines, Inc., based in Dallas, Texas, is an intercity common carrier of passengers by bus serving over 3,700 destinations in the United States, Canada and Mexico, operating under the well-known logo of a leaping greyhound. It was founded in Hibbing, Minnesota, USA, in 1914 and...
. Valley Metro also offers bus service to Blacksburg
Blacksburg, Virginia
Blacksburg is an incorporated town located in Montgomery County, Virginia, United States, with a population of 42,620 at the 2010 census. Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Radford are the three principal jurisdictions of the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford Metropolitan Statistical Area which...
, Christiansburg
Christiansburg, Virginia
Christiansburg is a town in Montgomery County, Virginia, United States. The population was 21,041 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Montgomery County...
and Virginia Tech.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 94,911 people, 42,003 households, and 24,235 families residing in the city. By 2006, the city's population was estimated to be 92,328 by the census bureau; however, the Cooper Center of the University of Virginia projected the city's population at July 1, 2007, to have increased to 93,504. By 2009, the city had grown close to its 2000 level, with 94,482 residing within the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 2,213.2 people per square mile (854.6/km²). There were 45,257 housing units at an average density of 1,055.3 per square mile (407.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 69.38% White, 26.74% African American, 0.20% Native American, 1.15% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.72% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 1.78% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.48% of the population.
There were 42,003 households out of which 25.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.1% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 16.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.3% were non-families. 35.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.86.
In the city the population was spread out with 22.6% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 30.5% from 25 to 44, 22.3% from 45 to 64, and 16.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 88.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $30,719, and the median income for a family was $37,826. Males had a median income of $28,465 versus $21,591 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the city was $18,468. About 12.9% of families and 15.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 24.4% of those under age 18 and 11.3% of those age 65 or over.
Crime
The studies of Dr. Isaac Van Patten, a criminologist from Radford UniversityRadford University
Radford University is one of Virginia's eight doctoral-degree granting public universities. Originally founded in 1910, Radford offers comprehensive curricula for undergraduates in more than 100 fields, and graduate programs including the M.F.A., M.B.A...
discovered that Roanoke’s rates of rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
and aggravated assault were the highest in the state of Virginia in 2004. Roanoke had seen a total increase in violent crime
Violent crime
A violent crime or crime of violence is a crime in which the offender uses or threatens to use violent force upon the victim. This entails both crimes in which the violent act is the objective, such as murder, as well as crimes in which violence is the means to an end, such as robbery. Violent...
s from 1985 until 2003, surpassing every Virginia city, only Portsmouth had seen a larger increase in crime. Van Patten is not suggesting that Roanoke's overall violent crime rate was the highest in the state over the 18-year period, just that it saw the largest total increase. According to the FBI data, the crime rates in Roanoke for murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
, rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
, aggravated assault and motor vehicle theft
Motor vehicle theft
Motor vehicle theft is the criminal act of stealing or attempting to steal a motor vehicle...
all decreased from 2006 to 2007, while the rates of robberies and burglaries increased. In 2007, Roanoke was ranked as Virginia’s second most dangerous city; in 2008 the city was ranked as the fifth worst city in 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...
.
Gangs
The presence of genuine gang activity in Roanoke is a strongly debated subject. While some neighborhoods have gang-like organizations, many of which are engaged in drug distribution, like the Lincoln Terrace Posse and Villa Heights 1, some law enforcement officers say that they are "mostly for show" as compared to the more militant and dangerous gangs that have a presence in multiple cities.Part of the argument in favor of acknowledging Roanoke's neighborhood groups as gangs comes from state politicians, like former attorney general
State Attorney General
The state attorney general in each of the 50 U.S. states and territories is the chief legal advisor to the state government and the state's chief law enforcement officer. In some states, the attorney general serves as the head of a state department of justice, with responsibilities similar to those...
Jerry Kilgore, part of it comes from the groups themselves who actively proclaim their legitimate existence as criminal and violent gangs in a DVD
DVD-Video
DVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVD discs, and is currently the dominant consumer video format in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia. Discs using the DVD-Video specification require a DVD drive and a MPEG-2 decoder...
released for sale in the local area. In 2007, a DVD titled "Real Talk" appeared in Roanoke convenience stores depicting gang life in Roanoke. The 95-minute video includes references to the "Lincoln Terrace Posse" ("LTP"), "Villa Heights", and "Southwest" ("SW"). The local NAACP president, while outraged by the content of the DVD, disagreed that there were "full-fledged" gangs in Roanoke and felt that the presence of a camera played a big part in encouraging the behavior displayed.
Education
The local public school division is Roanoke City Public Schools.The two general enrollment public high schools in Roanoke City are Patrick Henry High School
Patrick Henry High School (Roanoke, Virginia)
Patrick Henry High School is a public high school located in the Grandin Court neighborhood of Roanoke, Virginia. It is one of the two general enrollment high schools for the Roanoke City Public Schools.-History:...
, located in the Raleigh Court area, and William Fleming High School
William Fleming High School
William Fleming High School is a public high school in the Miller Court/Arrowood neighborhood of Roanoke, Virginia, U.S.A.. It is one of the two general enrollment high schools for the Roanoke City Public Schools.-History:...
, located in Northwest Roanoke. The six public middle schools in Roanoke City are Woodrow Wilson, James Madison Middle School
James Madison Middle School, Roanoke
James Madison Middle School located in the Franklin-Colonial neighborhood of Roanoke, Virginia, USA, is situated on a large hill with a view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Opened in 1970, it is a magnet school for technology and is part of the Roanoke City Public Schools...
, and Stonewall Jackson, that feed into Patrick Henry High School; and Lucy Addison, William Ruffner, and James Breckinridge, that feed into William Fleming High School. The Noel C. Taylor
Noel C. Taylor
Noel Calvin Taylor was the mayor of Roanoke, Virginia from 1975 to 1992. He was widely considered one of the most influential leaders in the city's history....
learning academy is a combined middle and high school that serves students with individual educational needs.
Private non-parochial schools in Roanoke City include Community High School, that provides classes from ninth to twelfth grade; and New Vista Montessori, that provides classes from third through ninth grade. Private non-parochial schools outside of Roanoke City, but in the Roanoke Metropolitan Area, include North Cross School, which provides education from pre-kindergarten through the twelfth grade.
Private parochial schools in Roanoke City include North Cross and Roanoke Catholic, that provide classes from kindergarten through twelfth grade; and Roanoke Adventist Preparatory, that provides classes from kindergarten through eighth grade. Private parochial schools outside of Roanoke City, but in the Roanoke Metropolitan Area, include Roanoke Valley Christian Schools, Faith Christian School, Mineral Springs Christian School, Parkway Christian Academy, and Life Academy, all in Roanoke County.
Two four-year private institutions are situated in neighboring localities - Roanoke College
Roanoke College
Roanoke College is an private, coeducational, four-year liberal-arts college affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The college is located in Salem, Virginia, a suburban independent city adjacent to Roanoke, Virginia...
in the city of Salem
Salem, Virginia
Salem is an independent city in Virginia, USA, bordered by the city of Roanoke to the east but otherwise adjacent to Roanoke County. It is part of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 24,802 according to 2010 U.S. Census...
, and Hollins University
Hollins University
Hollins University is a four-year institution of higher education, a private university located on a campus on the border of Roanoke County, Virginia and Botetourt County, Virginia...
in Roanoke County. Virginia Tech is located in neighboring Montgomery County. It has opened a higher education center in downtown Roanoke in cooperation with other colleges and universities, and the Virginia Tech Foundation owns the Hotel Roanoke
Hotel Roanoke
The Hotel Roanoke is a luxury hotel located in the Gainsboro neighborhood of Roanoke, Virginia. Originally built in 1882, the hotel has been renovated many times. It is currently owned by Virginia Tech and operated under the Doubletree Hotels brand...
. Virginia Tech is also opening a new medical school in South Roanoke in cooperation with Carilion Clinic, the regional non-profit health care organization based in Roanoke. Virginia Western Community College
Virginia Western Community College
Chartered in 1966, Virginia Western Community College is a two-year public college located on a 70 acre campus in the Franklin-Colonial neighborhood of Roanoke, Virginia, United States. It is the third-largest college in the Virginia Community College System.-Students:In the fall 2006 semester,...
is located in the city of Roanoke, as is the Jefferson College of Health Sciences
Jefferson College of Health Sciences
Jefferson College of Health Sciences is an independent, private, coeducational, health sciences college located in Downtown Roanoke, Virginia, U.S.A....
.
Economy
Sun Belt
The Sun Belt or Spanish Belt is a region of the United States generally considered to stretch across the South and Southwest . Another rough boundary of the region is the area south of the 36th parallel, north latitude. It is the largest region which the U.S government does not recognize officially...
characteristics as it was once a center for the garment industry. Surrounding areas have traditionally relied on traditional industries of the rural South such as textiles and furniture manufacturing, which have lost jobs to offshore outsourcing. Despite Virginia's being a right to work
Right to work
The right to work is the concept that people have a human right to work, or engage in productive employment, and may not be prevented from doing so...
state, unions
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
have traditionally represented workers at many large employers in the Roanoke area and southwest Virginia.
Roanoke was formerly the headquarters of Norfolk and Western Railway
Norfolk and Western Railway
The Norfolk and Western Railway , a US class I railroad, was formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It had headquarters in Roanoke, Virginia for most of its 150 year existence....
until its merger with the Southern Railway
Southern Railway (US)
The Southern Railway is a former United States railroad. It was the product of nearly 150 predecessor lines that were combined, reorganized and recombined beginning in the 1830s, formally becoming the Southern Railway in 1894...
created the Norfolk Southern Railway
Norfolk Southern Railway
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I railroad in the United States, owned by the Norfolk Southern Corporation. With headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, the company operates 21,500 route miles in 22 eastern states, the District of Columbia and the province of Ontario, Canada...
in 1982. Norfolk Southern continues to operate its marketing headquarters and some maintenance facilities in Roanoke. Wachovia Bank, then known as First Union, acquired Roanoke based Dominion Bank in 1993 and maintains an operations and customer service center in Roanoke. Other firms such as Roanoke Electric Steel and architectural and engineering firm Hayes, Seay, Mattern and Mattern, (HSMM) have also been acquired by companies headquartered elsewhere. Roanoke's rates of economic and population growth have been less than the state and national averages since the 1960s. The immediate Roanoke area has a low unemployment rate, but a brain drain
Brain drain
Human capital flight, more commonly referred to as "brain drain", is the large-scale emigration of a large group of individuals with technical skills or knowledge. The reasons usually include two aspects which respectively come from countries and individuals...
of workers unable to find satisfactory employment and underemployment
Underemployment
Underemployment refers to an employment situation that is insufficient in some important way for the worker, relative to a standard. Examples include holding a part-time job despite desiring full-time work, and overqualification, where the employee has education, experience, or skills beyond the...
are sometimes cited as explanations.
The City of Roanoke has created initiatives to address the brain drain of the region such as a database to match job seekers who wish to reside in the Roanoke area with employers looking for candidates. Additionally, a career and lifestyle fair has been held shortly after Christmas in recent years to show the professional and social opportunities in the area to those visiting family for the holidays.
Also, organizations of young professionals such as Valley Forward and Newva Connects have emerged.
However, Roanoke's economy has areas of strength. The city is the health care and retail hub of a large area, driving the expansion of Carilion Health System
Carilion Health System
Carilion Clinic, formerly known as Carilion Health System, is a Roanoke, Virginia-based not-for-profit health care organization. Carilion owns and operates eight hospitals in the western part of Virginia...
and Valley View Mall. Advance Auto Parts
Advance Auto Parts
Advance Auto Parts , headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, is the second-largest retailer of automotive replacement parts and accessories in the United States. AAP was founded in 1932 and had 2008 sales of approx. $5.1B...
is headquartered in Roanoke and has expanded through the acquisition of other chains to become one of the largest auto parts retailers in the country. Norfolk Southern remains a major employer. FreightCar America
FreightCar America
FreightCar America is a manufacturer of freight cars for the railway industry.The company began operations in 1901, and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It is engaged in the business of building, repairing, and leasing freight cars, largely for the transportation of bulk materials like coal,...
hired several hundred persons to assemble rail cars in shops leased from Norfolk Southern and has closed a plant in Johnstown, Pennsylvania
Johnstown, Pennsylvania
Johnstown is a city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States, west-southwest of Altoona, Pennsylvania and east of Pittsburgh. The population was 20,978 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Cambria County...
in part because of the lower costs for the Roanoke facility. Recently though, the company laid off its Roanoke employees and said it plans to temporarily close the plant. The corporate office of Virginia Transformer Corporation
Virginia Transformer Corporation
Virginia Transformer Corp is the 4th largest power transformer manufacturer in North America. The company supplies custom-made transformers to Power generating and distributing companies, heavy industries and other businesses. The company has 3 manufacturing facilities in North America...
(the leading transformer manufacturing company of USA) is situated in this city. General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
and TMEIC GE
TMEIC GE
TMEIC Corporation designs, develops and engineers advanced automation systems, large rotating machinery, and variable speed drives specializing in serving metals, material handling, oil and gas, mining, testing and other industrial markets. It carries out research and development for the latest...
manufacture large drive systems for electrical generation stations and factories at their joint facility in Salem. ITT
ITT Corporation
ITT Corporation is a global diversified manufacturing company based in the United States. ITT participates in global markets including water and fluids management, defense and security, and motion and flow control...
manufactures night vision goggles
Night vision goggles
A night vision device is an optical instrument that allows images to be produced in levels of light approaching total darkness. They are most often used by the military and law enforcement agencies, but are available to civilian users...
at its plant in Roanoke County, and some of its employees have started other firms such as Optical Cable Corporation
Optical Cable Corporation
Optical Cable Corporation , headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, manufactures fiber optical cable. The company's cable is largely used for telecommunications and is sold both in the US and seventy other countries worldwide, notably China. OCC also manufactures military land tactical fiber optic...
. The proximity of automotive assembly plants in the South has attracted manufacturers including Dynax, Koyo, Metalsa, and Yokohama, formerly Mohawk Tire. Roanoke's location allows for delivery within one day to most markets in the southeast, northeast, mid-atlantic, and Ohio Valley, which has made it a distribution center for such companies as Orvis
Orvis
Orvis is a family-owned retail and mail-order business specializing in high-end fly fishing, hunting and sporting goods. Founded in Manchester, Vermont in 1856 by Charles F. Orvis to sell fishing tackle, the company has changed hands only twice and has had only five CEOs in its 150-year history...
, Elizabeth Arden
Elizabeth Arden
Florence Nightingale Graham , who went by the business name Elizabeth Arden, was a Canadian-American businesswoman who built a cosmetics empire in the United States. At the peak of her career, she was one of the wealthiest women in the world.-Biography:Arden was born in 1884 at Woodbridge, Ontario,...
, and Hanover Direct. United Parcel Service
United Parcel Service
United Parcel Service, Inc. , typically referred to by the acronym UPS, is a package delivery company. Headquartered in Sandy Springs, Georgia, United States, UPS delivers more than 15 million packages a day to 6.1 million customers in more than 220 countries and territories around the...
(UPS) maintains a major facility at the Roanoke Regional Airport. While the city of Roanoke has lost population, suburbs in Roanoke County, southern Botetourt County, and areas of Bedford County and Franklin County near Smith Mountain Lake
Smith Mountain Lake
Smith Mountain Lake is a large reservoir in the Roanoke Region of Virginia, located southeast of the City of Roanoke and southwest of Lynchburg. The lake was created in 1963 by the Smith Mountain Dam impounding the Roanoke River. The majority of the south shore of the lake lies in Franklin County...
have grown.
Kroger
Kroger
The Kroger Co. is an American supermarket chain founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It reported US$ 76.7 billion in sales during fiscal year 2009. It is the country's largest grocery store chain and its second-largest grocery retailer by volume and second-place general retailer...
operates its Mid-Atlantic regional offices at 3631 Peter's Creek Road NW in Roanoke.
Top employers
According to Roanoke's 2009 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:| # | Employer | # of Employees |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carilion Clinic | 1,000+ |
| 2 | Roanoke City Public Schools | 1,000+ |
| 3 | City of Roanoke | 1,000+ |
| 4 | Carilion Professional Service | 1,000+ |
| 5 | United Parcel Service United Parcel Service United Parcel Service, Inc. , typically referred to by the acronym UPS, is a package delivery company. Headquartered in Sandy Springs, Georgia, United States, UPS delivers more than 15 million packages a day to 6.1 million customers in more than 220 countries and territories around the... |
500 to 999 |
| 6 | Advance Auto Parts Advance Auto Parts Advance Auto Parts , headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, is the second-largest retailer of automotive replacement parts and accessories in the United States. AAP was founded in 1932 and had 2008 sales of approx. $5.1B... |
500 to 999 |
| 7 | Wal-Mart Wal-Mart Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000... |
500 to 999 |
| 8 | United States Postal Service United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States... |
500 to 999 |
| 9 | Anthem Anthem (insurance) Anthem was an insurance company which began in the 1980s as a spin-off of the group insurance operations of American General Insurance. From its move to a publicly-traded company in 2001 until its final merger in 2004, it merged the Blue Cross Blue Shield organizations of several states to achieve... Blue Cross Blue Shield Blue Cross Blue Shield Association The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association is a federation of 39 separate health insurance organizations and companies in the United States. Combined, they directly or indirectly provide health insurance to over 100 million Americans. The history of Blue Cross dates back to 1929, while the history of... |
500 to 999 |
| 10 | Virginia Western Community College Virginia Western Community College Chartered in 1966, Virginia Western Community College is a two-year public college located on a 70 acre campus in the Franklin-Colonial neighborhood of Roanoke, Virginia, United States. It is the third-largest college in the Virginia Community College System.-Students:In the fall 2006 semester,... |
500 to 999 |
Southwest Virginia
Southwest Virginia, often abbreviated as SWVA, is a mountainous region of Virginia in the westernmost part of the commonwealth. Southwest Virginia has been defined alternatively as all Virginia counties on the Appalachian Plateau, all Virginia counties west of the Eastern Continental Divide, or...
and parts of Southern West Virginia
Southern West Virginia
Southern West Virginia is a culturally and geographically distinct region in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Generally considered the heart of Appalachia, Southern West Virginia is known for its coal mining heritage and southern affinity...
.
The city's daily newspaper, The Roanoke Times
The Roanoke Times
The Roanoke Times is the primary newspaper in Southwestern Virginia and is based in Roanoke, Virginia, United States. It is published by Landmark Media Enterprises...
, has been published for 120 years and edited for many years in the twentieth century by famed editor John W. Eure. The newspaper's current owner is Landmark Communications
Landmark Communications
Landmark Media Enterprises LLC is a privately held media company headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia specializing in cable television, broadcast television, print publishing, and internet publishing...
. Weekday circulation averages a little over 90,000 with Sunday circulation around 103,000. In 2002, it was designated the best-read daily newspaper in the country, according to the 2002 Scarborough Report. Of 162 newspapers in top U.S. metropolitan areas, The Roanoke Times ranked first in the percentage of adults who read their daily newspaper. It ranked first again in 2006. The Roanoke Times established a web site in 1995 and has developed a web portal
Web portal
A web portal or links page is a web site that functions as a point of access to information in the World Wide Web. A portal presents information from diverse sources in a unified way....
at Roanoke.com.
The Roanoke Times also owns the Blue Ridge Business Journal which publishes 25 issues per year that focus on the business community in Roanoke and the surrounding region. The weekly Roanoke Tribune covers the city's African-American community. Main Street Newspapers publishes weekly newspapers for surrounding communities such as Salem, Vinton, southwest Roanoke County, and Botetourt County.
The Roanoke Star-Sentinel is a weekly newspaper which covers the city of Roanoke. The South Roanoke Circle is an independent monthly newspaper for the neighborhood of South Roanoke.
The Roanoker is the area's bi-monthly lifestyle magazine and is published by Leisure Publishing, which also publishes the bi-monthly Blue Ridge Country magazine.
Television
Roanoke and LynchburgLynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 75,568 as of 2010. Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the banks of the James River, Lynchburg is known as the "City of Seven Hills" or "The Hill City." Lynchburg was the only major city in...
are grouped in the same television market, which currently ranks #67 in the United States with 440,398 households. There are affiliates for all networks as well as independent stations. Local CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
affiliate WDBJ-7
WDBJ
WDBJ is the CBS television network affiliate station serving the Roanoke/Lynchburg television market. It transmits its digital signal on UHF channel 18. It is owned by Schurz Communications of South Bend, Indiana...
, led by its 6 PM newscast, has been the traditional ratings leader, regardless of the national ratings for CBS, although local NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
affiliate WSLS-10
WSLS-TV
WSLS-TV, channel 10 , is the NBC-affiliated television station in Roanoke, Virginia. Its transmitter is located on Poor Mountain in Roanoke County. The station is owned by Media General who also owns local newspapers The News & Advance and Danville Register & Bee...
has gained ratings in recent years. While WDBJ-7 and WSLS-10 are in Roanoke, local ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliate WSET-13
WSET-TV
WSET-TV is the ABC television network affiliate for the Roanoke/Lynchburg, Virginia market. The station is licensed to Lynchburg, and transmits its digital signal on VHF channel 13. WSET is owned by the Allbritton Communications Company. Its transmitter is located near Thaxton, Virginia...
is in Lynchburg and its news coverage focuses on the eastern portion of the market.
Other stations in the market include Fox affiliate WFXR Fox 21/27 in Roanoke, PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
affiliate WBRA-15 in Roanoke, Liberty University
Liberty University
Liberty University is a private Christian university located in Lynchburg, Virginia. Liberty's annual enrollment is around 72,000 students, 12,000 of whom are residential students and 60,000+ studying through Liberty University Online...
's WTLU-19
WTLU-CA
WTLU-CA is an independent television station owned by Liberty University with studios and offices located at the university's campus in Lynchburg, Virginia. WTLU first came on the air in January of 1991 as a translator station for the FamilyNet Television Network...
in Lynchburg, independent WDRL-24
WDRL-TV
WDRL-TV, is an independent television station licensed to Danville, Virginia and serving the Roanoke/Lynchburg, Virginia market.WDRL-TV broadcasts its digital signal on channel 24 from a tower on Smith Mountain, giving predicted city grade coverage of Lynchburg and Roanoke, New River Valley and all...
in Pelham
Pelham, North Carolina
Pelham is an unincorporated community in northwest Caswell County, North Carolina at the North Carolina/Virginia border. It is often considered a suburb of nearby Danville, Virginia. Pelham is located along Pelham Loop Road near the eastern terminus of NC 700 at US 29 . It was named for Confederate...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, and ION Television affiliate WPXR-38
WPXR
WPXR-TV is the Ion Television affiliate for Roanoke, Virginia. The station is owned by Ion Media Networks, and operates in digital on UHF channel 36. The station broadcasts from atop Poor Mountain.- History :...
in Roanoke.
Radio
The following is a partial list of radio stations in the Roanoke-Lynchburg market, which has a population of 412,300 and is ranked #115 in the US. For a more complete list see radio stations in the Roanoke area.| FM FM broadcasting FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"... stations |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| call letters | frequency | format | location | Owner |
| WVTF | 89.1 | Public Radio | Roanoke | Virginia Tech Foundation |
| WRXT | 90.3 | Christian Contemporary | Roanoke | Positive Alternative Radio |
| WPAR | 91.3 | Christian Contemporary | Salem | Positive Alternative Radio |
| WXLK WXLK-FM WXLK is a Contemporary Hit Radio formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Roanoke, Virginia, serving the New River Valley and Southwest Virginia. WXLK is owned and operated by Mel Wheeler, Inc.-Coverage:... |
92.3 | Top-40 Radio | Roanoke | Wheeler Broadcasting |
| WSNV | 93.5 | Adult Contemporary | Salem | Clear Channel |
| WSLC WSLC-FM WSLC-FM is a Country formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Roanoke, Virginia, serving the New River Valley. WSLC-FM is owned and operated by Mel Wheeler, Inc.-WDBJ-FM:... |
94.9 | Country | Roanoke | Wheeler Broadcasting |
| WROV WROV-FM WROV-FM is an Album Oriented Rock formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Martinsville, Virginia, serving the New River Valley and the Southside of Virginia... |
96.3 | Classic Rock | Martinsville/Roanoke | Clear Channel |
| WSLQ | 99.1 | Adult Contemporary | Roanoke | Wheeler Broadcasting |
| WVBE WVBE-FM WVBE-FM is an Urban Contemporary formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Lynchburg, Virginia, serving Metro Lynchburg. WVBE-FM is owned and operated by Mel Wheeler, Inc.. and is simulcast in Roanoke, Virginia on co-owned WVBE 610 AM.-History:... |
100.1 | Urban Adult Contemporary Urban Adult Contemporary Urban adult contemporary is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have rap music on their playlists. The format was designed by Barry Mayo when he, Lee S. Simonson and Bill Pearson organized Broadcast... |
Lynchburg | Wheeler Broadcasting |
| WZZI | 101.5 | Rock | Vinton | Centennial |
| WJJX | 102.7 | Rhythmic Top-40 | Lynchburg | Clear Channel |
| WSNZ | 101.7 | Adult Contemporary | Appomattox/Lynchburg | Clear Channel |
| WSFF | 106.1 | Adult Contemporary | Roanoke | Clear Channel |
| WJJS WJJS WJJS and WJJX are Rhythmic contemporary formatted broadcast radio stations.WJJS is licensed to Roanoke, Virginia, serving the Metro Roanoke area... |
104.9 | Rhythmic Top-40 | Vinton | Clear Channel |
| WYYD | 107.9 | Country | Amherst | Clear Channel |
| AM AM broadcasting AM broadcasting is the process of radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation. AM was the first method of impressing sound on a radio signal and is still widely used today. Commercial and public AM broadcasting is carried out in the medium wave band world wide, and on long wave and short wave... stations |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| call letters | frequency | format | location | Owner |
| WVBE | 610 | Urban Contemporary | Roanoke | Wheeler Broadcasting |
| WWWR | 910 | Gospel Music | Roanoke | Perception Media |
| WFIR WFIR WFIR is a News/Talk formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Roanoke, Virginia, serving the Roanoke Valley. WFIR is owned and operated by Mel Wheeler, Inc.-Programming:... |
960 | News/Talk | Roanoke | Wheeler Broadcasting |
| WGMN | 1240 | Sports | Roanoke | Clear Channel |
| WRIS | 1410 | Religious | Roanoke | |
| WTOY | 1480 | Urban Contemporary | Salem | |
Arts, history, and culture in Roanoke
Roanoke is the home to several artistic, cultural, and historical organizations.Museums
Center in the Square was opened in downtown Roanoke on December 9, 1983 near the city market as part of the city's downtown revitalization effort. The Center, a converted warehouse, houses the History Museum of Western Virginia, which contains exhibits and artifacts related to the area's history and has a library of materials available to scholars and the public. The Center also houses the Science Museum of Western Virginia and the Hopkins PlanetariumPlanetarium
A planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation...
. The Science Museum maintains a permanent installation of neon sign
Neon sign
Neon signs are made using electrified, luminous tube lights that contain rarefied neon or other gases. They are the most common use for neon lighting, which was first demonstrated in a modern form in December, 1910 by Georges Claude at the Paris Motor Show. While they are used worldwide, neon signs...
art featuring the work of local Mark Jamison, the subject of Slash Coleman
Slash Coleman
Slash Coleman is an American storyteller, producer, and writer. He is best known for his one-man performance-based storytelling shows which combine clever wordplay, music, and poetic observations about family, spirituality, romantic relationships, and struggles to find a sense of home common with...
's PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
special "The Neon Man and Me."
Formerly housed in Center in the Square, the Taubman Museum of Art has now vacated the Center and opened a new facility at 110 Salem Avenue SE. The art museum features nineteenth and twentieth century American art, contemporary and modern art, decorative arts, and works on paper, and presents exhibitions of both regional and national significance. The new 75000 square feet (6,967.7 m²) facility was designed by Los Angeles based architect Randall Stout, who earlier in his career worked under Frank Gehry
Frank Gehry
Frank Owen Gehry, is a Canadian American Pritzker Prize-winning architect based in Los Angeles, California.His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions...
. The new space opened on November 8, 2008. The facility's design sparked debate in the community between those who feel it is a bold, refreshing addition to Roanoke and those who feel its unusual, irregular design featuring sharp angles contrasts too strongly with the existing buildings. Some are also concerned about the facility's cost at a time when many Roanoke area artistic organizations face financial challenges. The Taubman Family, which established Advance Auto Parts
Advance Auto Parts
Advance Auto Parts , headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, is the second-largest retailer of automotive replacement parts and accessories in the United States. AAP was founded in 1932 and had 2008 sales of approx. $5.1B...
contributed $15.2 million to the project. As a result, the museum was renamed The Taubman Museum of Art.
The Virginia Museum of Transportation
Virginia Museum of Transportation
The Virginia Museum of Transportation is a museum devoted to the topic of transportation located in Downtown Roanoke, Virginia, U.S.A..- History :...
houses many locomotives that were built in Roanoke, including the Norfolk and Western J class #611
Norfolk and Western 611
Norfolk and Western Railway's J class steam locomotives were a class of 4-8-4 locomotives built by the Norfolk and Western Railway's East End Shops in Roanoke, Virginia, between 1941 and 1950 Norfolk and Western Railway. The first batch, numbered 600 to 604, were built in 1941–42 and were delivered...
and Norfolk & Western 1218
Norfolk & Western 1218
Norfolk & Western 1218 is a steam locomotive that at one time was the strongest-pulling operational steam locomotive in the world. It is a four-cylinder simple articulated locomotive with a 2-6-6-4 wheel arrangement. The Norfolk & Western Railway built it in 1943 at its Roanoke Shops in Roanoke,...
steam engines, and other locomotives and rolling stock
Rolling stock
Rolling stock comprises all the vehicles that move on a railway. It usually includes both powered and unpowered vehicles, for example locomotives, railroad cars, coaches and wagons...
. The museum also houses exhibits covering aviation
Aviation
Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...
, automobiles, and buses.
Roanoke's landmark former passenger rail station hosts the O. Winston Link Museum
O. Winston Link Museum
thumb|250px|[[Norfolk & Western Railway]]'s [[Roanoke, Virginia]] depotThe O. Winston Link Museum is a museum dedicated to the photography of O...
dedicated to the late steam-era railroad photography of O. Winston Link
O. Winston Link
Ogle Winston Link , known commonly as O. Winston Link, was an American photographer. He is best known for his black-and-white photography and sound recordings of the last days of steam locomotive railroading on the Norfolk & Western in the United States in the late 1950s...
since 2004.
The Harrison Museum of African-American Culture is dedicated to the history and culture of Roanoke's African-American community and is currently located at a former school in the Gainsboro section of Roanoke. Gainsboro, originally Gainesborough for founder Major Kemp Gaines, was originally a separate community that petitioned for township status in 1835. The Harrison Museum will move to Center in the Square when the Art Museum of Western Virginia occupies its new facility.
Arts
Roanoke Children's Theatre is Roanoke's professional children's theatre. It can be found within the new Taubman Museum of Art in downtown Roanoke. The theatre delivers four shows a year that are geared towards a family audience. The theatre extends their programming in various arts outreach programs throughout the valley and surrounding areas.Mill Mountain Theatre
Mill Mountain Theatre
Mill Mountain Theatre has served for more than 40 years as a nationally recognized professional, regional performing arts theatre committed to producing the highest quality theatre in Southwest Virginia, actively promoting and developing new theatre works, strengthening the artistic influence in...
, a regional theatre, is located on the first floor of Center in the Square. As the name implies, the theatre was originally located on Mill Mountain from 1964 until 1976 when its original facility was destroyed by fire. The theatre has both a main stage for mainstream performances and a smaller black box theatre called Waldron Stage which hosts both newer and more experimental plays along with other live events. The best known events are an annual festival of new plays and the "No Shame Theatre" every Friday at 11 PM which is open to any performance that is "original, five minutes or less, and doesn’t break anything – people, the space, or laws." Mill Mountain Theatre has an atelier
Studio
A studio is an artist's or worker's workroom, or the catchall term for an artist and his or her employees who work within that studio. This can be for the purpose of architecture, painting, pottery , sculpture, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, radio or television...
for visiting actors in a former downtown hotel. The Theatre is currently closed, citing mounting debts and flagging donations,
The Roanoke Civic Center's auditorium and newly renovated theatre, now known as the Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre, host concerts, touring Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
performances, the Miss Virginia pageant, and other events. The City's first permanent artwork funded by the Percent for Art ordinance stands before the theater. Dedicated in 2008, the 30 feet (9.1 m) stainless steel sculpture, "In My Hands," by Baltimore artist Rodney Carroll is one of more than 100 works in the City's public art catalogue.
The Shaftman Performance Hall, which opened in May 2001 and is located at the Jefferson Center, has become a prominent part of Roanoke's performing arts scene. Shaftman Hall hosts a regular season of concerts and other performances from the fall through the spring as well as other entertainment events and lectures. The Jefferson Center formerly served Roanoke as Jefferson High School and now also houses offices and display spaces for cultural organizations.
In November 2006, the former Dumas Hotel was reopened as the Dumas Center for Artistic and Cultural Development. The hotel is located on a segment of First Street NW commonly known as Henry Street. Located literally across the railroad tracks from the center of downtown Roanoke, Henry Street served as the commercial and cultural center of Roanoke's African American community prior to desegregation
Desegregation
Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups usually referring to races. This is most commonly used in reference to the United States. Desegregation was long a focus of the American Civil Rights Movement, both before and after the United States Supreme Court's decision in...
. The Dumas Hotel hosted such guests as Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, Ethel Waters
Ethel Waters
Ethel Waters was an American blues, jazz and gospel vocalist and actress. She frequently performed jazz, big band, and pop music, on the Broadway stage and in concerts, although she began her career in the 1920s singing blues.Her best-known recordings includes, "Dinah", "Birmingham Bertha",...
, Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
, Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
and Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres...
when they performed in Roanoke. The renovated Dumas Center houses an auditorium with more than 180 seats, the Downtown Music Lab: a recording studio and music education center for teens, the Dumas Drama Guild, and the offices of Opera Roanoke.
The Roanoke Symphony Orchestra has performances at Shaftman Hall, the Salem Civic Center
Salem Civic Center
The Salem Civic Center is a 6,820-seat multi-purpose arena in Salem, Virginia. It was built in 1967 and is part of the James E. Taliaferro Sports and Entertainment Complex , which also includes the Salem Football Stadium and the Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium...
, and the Roanoke Civic Center. Current conductor David Wiley and his predecessor Victoria Bond have made the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra nationally respected.
The Grandin Theatre in the Grandin Village of Southwest Roanoke regularly screens art house films, family features, and mainstream movies. The Grandin Theatre was the home of Mill Mountain Theatre from 1976 until 1983.
Virginia Western Theatre has performances in Whitman Auditorium at Virginia Western Community College, and has been performing original and well known theatrical productions since 1968.
Roanoke has also been home to the Showtimers Community Theatre since 1951. The Star City Playhouse began performances in 2007 at its theatre on Williamson Road
Williamson Road
Williamson Road is an approximately 8.0 mi long road in Roanoke City and Roanoke County, Virginia. The road runs from downtown Roanoke in the south through the Botetourt County line in the north. For the majority of its length Williamson Road carries U.S. Route 11...
.
Professional
The 1971-1972 Virginia SquiresVirginia Squires
The Virginia Squires were a basketball franchise in the former American Basketball Association from 1970 until just before the ABA-NBA merger in 1976.-In Oakland :...
of the ABA were the only major league
Major professional sports leagues of the United States and Canada
The major professional sports leagues, or simply major leagues, in the United States and Canada are the highest professional competitions in team sports...
sports team to regularly play home games in Roanoke. During the 1971-1972 season, the Squires split home games between Richmond, Norfolk, Hampton Roads, and Roanoke. Julius Erving
Julius Erving
Julius Winfield Erving II , commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is a retired American basketball player who helped launch a modern style of play that emphasizes leaping and play above the rim....
played his professional rookie season with the Squires in 1971-1972.
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...
has been more successful in building and maintaining a fan base than have the Roanoke Valley's other minor league sports teams. In the 1940s and early 1950s, Roanoke was home to a class B farm team of the Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
. Since 1955, neighboring Salem has hosted the local minor league baseball team, currently the Salem Red Sox
Salem Avalanche
The Salem Red Sox are a minor league baseball team in Salem, Virginia, USA, an independent city adjacent to Roanoke, Virginia. They are a Class High-A team in the Carolina League and are a farm team of the Boston Red Sox...
of the high Class A Carolina League
Carolina League
The Carolina League is a minor league baseball affiliation which operates in the South Atlantic Coast of the United States. Before 2002, it was classified as a "High A" league, indicating its status as a Class A league with the highest level of competition within that classification, and the fifth...
. The team had previously been affiliated with the Houston Astros
Houston Astros
The Houston Astros are a Major League Baseball team located in Houston, Texas. They are a member of the National League Central division. The Astros are expected to join the American League West division in 2013. Since , they have played their home games at Minute Maid Park, known as Enron Field...
and Colorado Rockies
Colorado Rockies
The Colorado Rockies are a Major League Baseball team based in Denver, Colorado. Established in 1991, they started play in 1993 and are in the West Division of the National League. The team is named after the Rocky Mountains...
and known as the Avalanche until becoming an affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, whose ownership group purchased the Avalanche in 2007, for the 2009 season.
Minor league hockey has a history in the Roanoke Valley dating to the 1960s. It reached a zenith of popularity in the mid- to late-1990s with the Roanoke Express
Roanoke Express
The Roanoke Express were a team in the ECHL from 1993 until 2004. Home games were played at the Roanoke Civic Center in Roanoke, Virginia.-History:...
of the ECHL
ECHL
The ECHL is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Princeton, New Jersey with teams scattered across the United States...
. The team's attendance declined due to a lack of post-season success and management turmoil. The Express folded after the 2003-2004 season.
The 2005-2006 revival by the UHL's Roanoke Valley Vipers
Roanoke Valley Vipers
The Roanoke Valley Vipers were a professional ice hockey team located in Roanoke, Virginia. They were formed for the 2005-06 season, mainly to fill the gap after the ECHL's Roanoke Express disbanded and to provide a travel partner near the Richmond RiverDogs. They were a member of the United...
failed after one season. The team had a losing record and the midwestern-based league was unable to rekindle the interest of the local fanbase. The team was formed to provide a travel partner for a UHL franchise in Richmond which also folded after the 2005-2006 season. The southeastern-based Southern Professional Hockey League
Southern Professional Hockey League
The Southern Professional Hockey League is a low-level professional ice hockey league based in Charlotte, North Carolina, with teams located in the southeastern United States.- History :...
, nearly all of whose teams are located in cities with former ECHL teams, may bring hockey back to the Roanoke Valley.
The Roanoke Dazzle
Roanoke Dazzle
The Roanoke Dazzle were an NBA Development League team based in Roanoke, Virginia, U.S.A.. In operation from the inaugural D-League season of 2001-02 through the 2005-06 season, the Dazzle marked the return of professional basketball to Roanoke since the Virginia Squires called Roanoke home in the...
of the NBDL and the Roanoke Steam
Roanoke Steam
The Roanoke Steam is a now-defunct af2 charter member franchise. They played their home games at the Roanoke Civic Center in Roanoke, Virginia. The Steam were unable to get into the playoffs during their only three years in the league...
of the af2
Af2
AF2 was the name of the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football rules and style of play. League seasons ran from April through July with the postseason and ArenaCup...
(Arena Football) folded after never developing consistent followings. The Dazzle's attendance was similar to other inaugural franchises in the league. It was one of the last two teams to remain in its original city. Over the years, Roanoke has also had teams in soccer and men's and women's semi-professional football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
.
College
For a number of years, Roanoke, with Richmond and Norfolk, was one of the nominally neutral sites for the annual basketballBasketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
game between the Virginia Cavaliers
Virginia Cavaliers
The Virginia Cavaliers, also known as Wahoos or Hoos, are the athletic teams officially representing the University of Virginia in college sports. The Cavaliers compete in 25 NCAA Division I varsity sports and are members of the Atlantic Coast Conference...
and Virginia Tech Hokies
Virginia Tech Hokies
The Virginia Tech Hokies are the athletic teams officially representing Virginia Tech in college sports. The Hokies participate in the NCAA's Division I Atlantic Coast Conference in 19 varsity sports. Virginia Tech's men's sports are football, basketball, baseball, cross country, golf, soccer,...
. During most of the 1970s through 1990s, the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
dominated the rivalry and as such tended to have significantly greater fan representation, despite Roanoke's closer proximity to Virginia Tech's home in Blacksburg. In the late 1990s, the schools started holding these games in their own campus facilities.
The Virginia Tech Hokies
Virginia Tech Hokies
The Virginia Tech Hokies are the athletic teams officially representing Virginia Tech in college sports. The Hokies participate in the NCAA's Division I Atlantic Coast Conference in 19 varsity sports. Virginia Tech's men's sports are football, basketball, baseball, cross country, golf, soccer,...
ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
team has used the Roanoke Civic Center as its regular season home venue, from 2006 to the present season. In 2010, the Roanoke College
Roanoke College
Roanoke College is an private, coeducational, four-year liberal-arts college affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The college is located in Salem, Virginia, a suburban independent city adjacent to Roanoke, Virginia...
ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
team began using the Roanoke Civic Center as its home venue as well.
From the 1940s through the late 1960s, Roanoke's Victory Stadium
Victory Stadium
- History :Victory Stadium was constructed in 1942. The name was meant to be a rallying cry for Allied victory in World War II. The stadium seated approximately 25,000, which made it the largest football stadium in Virginia when it opened, and regularly hosted games with large crowds during the...
hosted an annual Thanksgiving Day
Thanksgiving (United States)
Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. It has officially been an annual tradition since 1863, when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday,...
game between Virginia Tech and the Virginia Military Institute
Virginia Military Institute
The Virginia Military Institute , located in Lexington, Virginia, is the oldest state-supported military college and one of six senior military colleges in the United States. Unlike any other military college in the United States—and in keeping with its founding principles—all VMI students are...
and other high profile college football games. From 1946 to 1950, Victory Stadium also hosted the South's Oldest Rivalry between the University of Virginia
Virginia Cavaliers football
Virginia Cavaliers football is a college football program that competes in the NCAA Division I-FBS and the Coastal Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference...
and the University of North Carolina.
Preps
Patrick Henry High School is a member of the AAA Western Valley DistrictAAA Western Valley District
The AAA Western Valley District is a high school conference in the state of Virginia that includes schools in Central & Southwest Virginia. AAA is the largest enrollment class of the Virginia High School League and also typically the most competitive level in Virginia high school sports.The...
. The Patriots won Group AAA state titles in men's basketball in 1988 and 1992, football in 1973, and men's tennis in 2004. George Lynch and Curtis Staples are among the athletes who have attended the school.
William Fleming High School is also a member of the AAA Western Valley District
AAA Western Valley District
The AAA Western Valley District is a high school conference in the state of Virginia that includes schools in Central & Southwest Virginia. AAA is the largest enrollment class of the Virginia High School League and also typically the most competitive level in Virginia high school sports.The...
. The Colonels have established strong programs in men's basketball and football with a Group AA state championship in men's basketball in 2007 and two state runner-up seasons in both sports over the last 15 years. Lee Suggs graduated from Fleming.
Roanoke Catholic High School is a member of the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association. The Celtics won a VISAA football state championship in 1994 and have recently fielded strong men's basketball teams, often with foreign players, and have produced college players such as Virginia's J.R. Reynolds
J.R. Reynolds
James Richard "J. R." Reynolds is an American basketball guard with the Maine Red Claws of the NBA Development League.He was born in Roanoke, Virginia to parents Laverne Alexander and Warren Reynolds. He has one sister. Reynolds stands at ....
. The Celtics have won 3 VIS Basketball championships in the past years.
North Cross School is also a member of the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association. The Raiders won a VISAA soccer state championship in 2007, a VISAA football state championship in 2008, and a VISAA wrestling state championship in 2009. The Raiders have won 3 basketball championships, 4 football championships, and many other state awards in the past years.
The city has constructed separate on-campus football stadiums at the schools to replace Victory Stadium, which was demolished in summer 2006. Patriot Stadium was opened for the 2007 season and a currently unnamed stadium on the William Fleming campus will open for the 2008 season. The field at Patriot Stadium was named after Merrill Gainer, who coached Patrick Henry to the 1973 state championship.
Festivals
Roanoke and surrounding communities host the annual Commonwealth Games of Virginia, an Olympic-style amateur sports festival. Beginning in 2010, the Blue Ridge Marathon on the ParkwayBlue Ridge Marathon on the Parkway
The Blue Ridge Marathon is an annual marathon and half marathon held in both Roanoke and Roanoke County, Virginia, USA. Officially announced on August 12, 2009, the inaugural event occurred on April 24, 2010. The course starts at the Taubman Museum of Art in Downtown Roanoke and finishes at the...
is scheduled to be held in the city.
Economic statistics: Roanoke MSA
The Roanoke, VA MSARoanoke, VA MSA
The Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area is a Metropolitan Statistical Area in Virginia as defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget . The Roanoke MSA is sometimes referred to as the Roanoke Valley, even though the Roanoke MSA occupies a larger area than the Roanoke Valley...
is a U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in Virginia as defined by the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as of June, 2003.
Note: Since a state constitutional change in 1871, all cities in 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...
are independent cities
Independent city
An independent city is a city that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity. These type of cities should not be confused with city-states , which are fully sovereign cities that are not part of any other sovereign state.-Historical precursors:In the Holy Roman Empire,...
and they are not legally located in any county. The OMB considers these independent cities to be county-equivalent
County-equivalent
A county-equivalent in the United States is a term used by the federal government to describe one of the two following governmental subdivisions:#A unit of local government in certain states which is comparable to a county as found in most states....
s for the purpose of defining MSAs in Virginia. Each MSA is listed by its counties, then cities, each in alphabetical order, and not by size.
The Roanoke, VA MSA includes:
- Botetourt CountyBotetourt County, VirginiaAs of the census of 2000, there were 30,496 people, 11,700 households, and 9,114 families residing in the county. The population density was 56 people per square mile . There were 12,571 housing units at an average density of 23 per square mile...
- Craig CountyCraig County, VirginiaAs of the census of 2000, there were 5,091 people, 2,060 households, and 1,507 families residing in the county. The population density was 15 people per square mile . There were 2,554 housing units at an average density of 8 per square mile...
- Franklin CountyFranklin County, VirginiaAs of the census of 2000, there were 47,286 people, 18,963 households, and 13,918 families residing in the county. The population density was 68 people per square mile . There were 22,717 housing units at an average density of 33 per square mile...
- Roanoke CountyRoanoke County, VirginiaRoanoke 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...
- City of Roanoke
- City of SalemSalem, VirginiaSalem is an independent city in Virginia, USA, bordered by the city of Roanoke to the east but otherwise adjacent to Roanoke County. It is part of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 24,802 according to 2010 U.S. Census...
- Town of Vinton
Nicknames
Mill Mountain Star
The Roanoke Star, also known as the Mill Mountain Star, is the world's largest freestanding illuminated man-made star, constructed in 1949 at the top of Mill Mountain in Roanoke, Virginia. It was the largest star ever assembled until the El Paso Star was completed in El Paso, Texas...
. The older Magic City is still used, most prominently by Roanoke's Ford dealership. The city's original name of Big Lick is often used in whimsical contexts.
Roanoke's status as the largest city in a mountainous area led to the nickname Capital of the Blue Ridge.
Sister cities
Roanoke has seven sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities InternationalSister Cities International
Sister Cities International is a nonprofit citizen diplomacy network that creates and strengthens partnerships between United States and international communities. More than 2,000 cities, states and counties are partnered in 136 countries around the world...
:
Florianópolis
Florianópolis
-Climate:Florianópolis experiences a warm humid subtropical climate, falling just short of a true tropical climate. The seasons of the year are distinct, with a well-defined summer and winter, and characteristic weather for autumn and spring. Frost is infrequent, but occurs occasionally in the winter...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
Kisumu
Kisumu
Kisumu is a port city in western Kenya at , with a population of 355,024 . It is the third largest city in Kenya, the principal city of western Kenya, the immediate former capital of Nyanza Province and the headquarters of Kisumu County. It has a municipal charter but no city charter...
, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
Lijiang, Yunnan, China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
Pskov
Pskov
Pskov is an ancient city and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, Russia, located in the northwest of Russia about east from the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Population: -Early history:...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
Saint-Lô
Saint-Lô
Saint-Lô is a commune in north-western France, the capital of the Manche department in Normandy.-History:Originally called Briovère , the town is built on and around ramparts. Originally it was a Gaul fortified settlement...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Wonju
Wonju
Wonju is the most populous city in Gangwon province, South Korea.Wonju is a city approximately east of Seoul and the capital can be reached within 1hr 30minutes by bus or train. Wonju is home to three major universities which attract many students from Seoul and elsewhere. They provide facilities...
, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
Opole
Opole
Opole is a city in southern Poland on the Oder River . It has a population of 125,992 and is the capital of the Upper Silesia, Opole Voivodeship and, also the seat of Opole County...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Notable residents
Born in Roanoke:- Astrophysicist and Nobel laureate John C. MatherJohn C. MatherJohn Cromwell Mather is an American astrophysicist, cosmologist and Nobel Prize in Physics laureate for his work on the Cosmic Background Explorer Satellite with George Smoot. COBE was the first experiment to measure ".....
, one of TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2009 - United States Ambassador to Romania Nicholas Taubman
- American artist John Alan MaxwellJohn Alan MaxwellJohn Alan Maxwell was an American artist known primarily for his book and magazine illustrations, as well as historical paintings...
- Wrestler Tony AtlasTony AtlasAnthony White better known by his ring name "Tony Atlas" is an American bodybuilder, powerlifter, and professional wrestler who has held multiple titles and championships in each sport. He is also known by his bodybuilding title, "Mr...
- Twin NFL players Ronde BarberRonde BarberJamael Orondé "Rondé" Barber is an American football cornerback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League. He was drafted in the third round of the 1997 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers...
and Tiki BarberTiki BarberAtiim Kiambu Hakeem-Ah "Tiki" Barber is an American football running back who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the New York Giants in the second round of the 1997 NFL Draft. He played college football at Virginia....
(Roanoke County) - MLB outfielder Billy SampleBilly SampleWilliam Amos Sample , is a former professional baseball player who played in the Major Leagues primarily as an outfielder from 1978-1986. Sample played for the Texas Rangers , New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves ....
- modelModel (person)A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....
and actress Tai CollinsTai CollinsTanquil Lisa 'Tai' Collins is a model, actress, screenwriter, and former Miss Virginia USA whose television credits include writing for and acting on Baywatch.... - Singer Ross CoppermanRoss CoppermanRoss Copperman is an American singer-songwriter. He's perhaps most well known for his song "All She Wrote" which was released in the UK in the beginning of 2007.-History:Ross Copperman was born on October 1, 1982 and grew up in Roanoke, Virginia...
(Roanoke County) - Former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Henry H. FowlerHenry H. FowlerHenry Hammill Fowler was an American lawyer and politician.Born in Roanoke, Virginia, he graduated from Roanoke College in 1929 and received his law degree from Yale Law School in 1932....
- Entrepreneur Cameron JohnsonCameron JohnsonCameron Johnson is an author, businessman, entrepreneur, and internationally recognized public speaker. Most recently he was a finalist on Oprah's Big Give which aired on ABC....
- Former United States Secretary of DefenseUnited States Secretary of DefenseThe Secretary of Defense is the head and chief executive officer of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a Defense Minister in other countries...
Louis A. JohnsonLouis A. JohnsonLouis Arthur Johnson was the second United States Secretary of Defense, serving in the cabinet of President Harry S. Truman from March 28, 1949 to September 19, 1950.... - Durell Coleman, Star SearchStar SearchStar Search is a television show that was produced from 1983-95, hosted by Ed McMahon, and created by Alfred Masini. A relaunch was produced in 2003-04. The show was originally filmed at the old Earl Carroll Theatre at 6230 Sunset Blvd...
Winner, recording artist & bandleader - Famous medical patient Henrietta LacksHenrietta LacksHenrietta Lacks was an African-American woman who was the unwitting source of cells from her cancerous tumor, which were cultured by George Otto Gey to create an immortal cell line for medical research...
- NBANational Basketball AssociationThe National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
basketballBasketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
player George LynchGeorge Lynch (basketball)George DeWitt Lynch III is a retired American professional basketball player in the NBA. He holds the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill basketball record for most career steals....
(city) - Actor John PayneJohn Payne (actor)John Payne was an American film actor who is mainly remembered as a singer in 20th Century Fox musical films, and for his leading roles in Miracle on 34th Street and the NBC western television series The Restless Gun.-Background:Payne was born in Roanoke, Virginia...
- Former BasketballBasketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
player Curtis StaplesCurtis StaplesCurtis Staples is a former American basketball player who played from 1994 to 1998 for the University of Virginia. He was a sophomore starter on the State Championship Patrick Henry Patriots team in 1992. He is best known for holding the all-time NCAA record for career three-point field goals, at 413...
(city) - Former NHL Defensemen Eric WeinrichEric WeinrichEric John Weinrich is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman who played 17 seasons in the National Hockey League with the New Jersey Devils, Hartford Whalers, Chicago Blackhawks, Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers, St. Louis Blues and Vancouver Canucks...
- NFL footballAmerican footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player Lee SuggsLee SuggsLee Ernest Suggs, Jr. is a former American football running back in the National Football League. He was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the fourth round of the 2003 NFL Draft. He played college football at Virginia Tech... - Former Arsenal FC soccer player Daniel KarbassiyoonDaniel KarbassiyoonDanny Karbassiyoon is a former Iranian-American footballer who played for English sides Arsenal, Ipswich Town and Burnley...
- Former TennisTennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
Professional K. J. HippensteelK. J. HippensteelK. J. Hippensteel is an American tennis player from Roanoke, Virginia.Hippensteel attended Stanford University, where he was a four-time All-American. He was the #1 ranked player in NCAA tennis his sophomore and senior year. Before attending Stanford, Hippensteel was a US Open Juniors doubles... - NFL footballAmerican footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player John St. ClairJohn St. ClairJohn Bradley St. Clair is an American football offensive tackle who is currently a free agent of the National Football League. He was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the third round of the 2000 NFL Draft. He played college football at Virginia.St...
Raised in Roanoke:
- Singer Wayne NewtonWayne NewtonWayne Newton is an American singer and entertainer based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He performed over 30,000 solo shows in Las Vegas over a period of over 40 years, earning him the nicknames The Midnight Idol, Mr. Las Vegas and Mr. Entertainment...
- McAfeeMcAfeeMcAfee, Inc. is a computer security company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, USA. It markets software and services to home users, businesses and the public sector. On August 19, 2010, electronics company Intel agreed to purchase McAfee for $7.68 billion...
founder John McAfeeJohn McAfeeJohn McAfee is a computer programmer and founder of McAfee. He was one of the first people to design anti-virus software and to develop a virus scanner. He was born in England and raised in Salem, Virginia... - NBA basketballBasketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
player J. J. Redick (Roanoke County) - Wayne LaPierreWayne LaPierreWayne LaPierre , is an American author and Second Amendment advocate. He is best known for his position as the Executive Vice President of the National Rifle Association.-Background:...
, CEO of the National Rifle AssociationNational Rifle AssociationThe National Rifle Association of America is an American non-profit 501 civil rights organization which advocates for the protection of the Second Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights and the promotion of firearm ownership rights as well as marksmanship, firearm safety, and the protection...
One-time resident:
- Former South African TennisTennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
Professional Johan KriekJohan KriekJohan Kriek is a South African American professional male tennis player and founder of the Global Water Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to delivering clean water to the world's neediest communities. Kriek has won two Australian Opens and has reached the semi-finals at the French... - Former Miss AmericaMiss AmericaThe Miss America pageant is a long-standing competition which awards scholarships to young women from the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...
Nicole Johnson BakerNicole Johnson BakerNicole Johnson is an American pageant titleholder from Seminole, Florida who held the Miss America title in 1999. She is now a diabetes advocate, having been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1993.-Pageants:... - Author Nelson S. BondNelson S. BondNelson Slade Bond was an American author who wrote extensively for books, magazines, radio, television and the stage....
- Civil rights attorney Oliver HillOliver HillOliver White Hill, Sr. was a civil rights attorney from Richmond, Virginia. His work against racial discrimination helped end the doctrine of "separate but equal." He also helped win landmark legal decisions involving equality in pay for black teachers, access to school buses, voting rights, jury...
- Mark David ChapmanMark David ChapmanMark David Chapman is an American prison inmate who murdered former Beatles member John Lennon on December 8, 1980. He committed the crime as Lennon and Yoko Ono were outside of The Dakota apartment building in New York City. Chapman aimed five shots at Lennon, hitting him four times in his back...
, killer of John LennonJohn LennonJohn Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music... - PlaywrightPlaywrightA playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
Kermit HunterKermit HunterKermit Houston Hunter American playwright known primarily for writing outdoor historical dramas.Born in McDowell County, West Virginia in 1910, Hunter went on to Ohio State University where he graduated in 1931. After graduation, he held a number of jobs and joined the U.S. Army in 1940... - MathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
and Nobel laureate John Forbes NashJohn Forbes NashJohn Forbes Nash, Jr. is an American mathematician whose works in game theory, differential geometry, and partial differential equations have provided insight into the forces that govern chance and events inside complex systems in daily life... - Movie actress Debbie ReynoldsDebbie ReynoldsDebbie Reynolds is an American actress, singer, and dancer.She was initially signed at age 16 by Warner Bros., but her career got off to a slow start. When her contract was not renewed, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer gave her a small, but significant part in the film Three Little Words , then signed her to...
(metro area) - American National Socialist Workers' Party Commander (neo-Nazi) Bill WhiteBill White (neo-Nazi)William Alexander "Bill" White is the leader of the internet-based American National Socialist Workers' Party, and former administrator of Overthrow.com, a now-defunct website dedicated to anti-communist thought, and far-right interpretations of anti-Zionist and anti-capitalist speech.White came...
- Opera Soprano Elizabeth FutralElizabeth FutralElizabeth Futral is an American coloratura soprano who has won acclaim throughout the United States as well as in Europe, South America, and Japan....
(metro area) - Early 20th century African American filmmaker Oscar MicheauxOscar MicheauxOscar Devereaux Micheaux was an American author, film director and independent producer of more than 44 films...
Landmarks and points of interest
- Blue Ridge ParkwayBlue Ridge ParkwayThe Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road in the United States, noted for its scenic beauty. It runs for 469 miles , mostly along the famous Blue Ridge, a major mountain chain that is part of the Appalachian Mountains...
- Grandin Village
- Hollins UniversityHollins UniversityHollins University is a four-year institution of higher education, a private university located on a campus on the border of Roanoke County, Virginia and Botetourt County, Virginia...
- Hotel RoanokeHotel RoanokeThe Hotel Roanoke is a luxury hotel located in the Gainsboro neighborhood of Roanoke, Virginia. Originally built in 1882, the hotel has been renovated many times. It is currently owned by Virginia Tech and operated under the Doubletree Hotels brand...
- Mill Mountain StarMill Mountain StarThe Roanoke Star, also known as the Mill Mountain Star, is the world's largest freestanding illuminated man-made star, constructed in 1949 at the top of Mill Mountain in Roanoke, Virginia. It was the largest star ever assembled until the El Paso Star was completed in El Paso, Texas...
- Mill Mountain ZooMill Mountain Zoo-External links:* official website...
- O. Winston Link MuseumO. Winston Link Museumthumb|250px|[[Norfolk & Western Railway]]'s [[Roanoke, Virginia]] depotThe O. Winston Link Museum is a museum dedicated to the photography of O...
- Old Southwest Neighborhood
- Roanoke Historic Farmers Market
- Roanoke Weiner Stand
- Roanoke's Historical Fire Station #1Fire Station No. 1 (Roanoke, Virginia)Fire Station No. 1 is a former fire station listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the Downtown neighborhood of the independent city of Roanoke, Virginia, U.S.A. Modeled after Philadelphia's Independence Hall, Fire Station No...
- St. Andrews Catholic Church, State and National Landmark
- Taubman Museum of Art
- Texas Tavern
- Virginia's Explore ParkVirginia's Explore ParkVirginia's Explore Park is a currently closed living history museum; however, recreational facilities are open to the public. The park is located at milepost 115 on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Roanoke County, Virginia...
Further reading
- Dotson, Rand. Roanoke, Virginia, 1882-1912: Magic City of the New South (2008)
External links
- AIR Temporary Exhibition
- The History of the Roanoke Fire Department in progress from the 1880s to present, with current news and links
- A modern history of Roanokers sharing their connection with the Star City
- Old Roanoke - A photographic history of Roanoke Virginia
- Old Roanoke Pictures catalogued by a local family
- A Roanoke family portrait, 1911
- The Lendy's Web Page
- Roanoke - Star City
- The 1240 WROV History Site
- The Kenney's Web Page
- Center in the Square
- Brief history and modern panoramic photos from the Roanoke Civil War Round Table
- Roanoke Wants U!
- Taubman Museum of Art