Blacksburg Map
Blacksburg is an incorporated town located in Montgomery County, Virginia, United States, with a population of 39,284 at the 2000 census, with an estimated increase to 41,796 in 2008. Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Radford are the three principal jurisdictions of the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses those jurisdictions and all of Montgomery, Pulaski, and Giles counties for statistical purposes. The MSA has an estimated population of 158,328 and is currently one of the faster growing MSAs in Virginia. Blacksburg is dominated economically and demographically by the presence of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (better known as Virginia Tech), a Virginia land-grant university. Blacksburg is the largest town in Virginia by population. There are many larger municipalities, but they are incorporated as cities.
When European explorers led by Abraham Wood reached the present-day location of Blacksburg, Virginia in 1671, there were no longer any Native Americans who lived in the area. They followed Stroubles Creek, through the current locations of the town and campus of Virginia Tech to what they named Wood's River. On September 17, 1671, the Wood party claimed all the lands comprising the drainage basin of the river, later renamed the New River, for King Charles II.
During the 1740s, the Wood's River Land Company, which was represented by Col. James Patton, attained a large tract of land within present-day southwest Virginia. Part of the tract became Montgomery County and Pulaski County and was sold to settlers entering the region. The Draper and Ingles families were among those that built their homes somewhere between present locations of the campus and the subdivision of Hethwood. The settlement came to be called Draper's Meadow by 1748.
Nearby cities include Radford, Elliston, Fairlawn, Riner, Pembroke.