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Timelines of Important Events in the County
1900's — Growth with the Nation

Early 1900s Electricity, telephones, automobiles and other modern conveniences (such as the flush toilet) begin to make their way into Loudoun homes and businesses.
1900 The first train arrives in Snickersville, making 26 stops in two and a half hours from Washington, D.C. In anticipation of the tourist trade, Snickersville is renamed Bluemont.
1903 E.E. Lake opens a store in Bluemont.
1909 The annual horse and colt show was held in Leesburg June 9 and 10 with a daily attendance of about 5,000 people.
1909 Loudoun is one of 65 dry counties in Virginia.
1911 Leesburg & Washington Good Roads Association takes over the Leesburg Turnpike, with the goal of repairing, reconstructing and paving the turnpike from Leesburg to Fairfax.
1912 In January, Loudoun County suffers with the rest of the state through a severe cold wave, which lasted until mid-February. Lowest temperature recorded in Loudoun was minus 25 degrees F.
1912 Loudoun Light and Power is organized by a group of Purcellville businessmen.
1914 The Virginia legislature passed an act to protect sheep in Loudoun by demanding dogs be licensed and using the money from dog taxes to pay back those whose stock was hurt or killed by dogs. It was 75 cents per dog or $1.50 for unspayed females
1917-18 Loudoun County citizens answer the call to fight in World War I. Thirty men lose their lives in the war.
1917 The Foxcroft School head mistress organizes the Women's Land Army during WWI to pick the county's peaches and apples while the men were away at war'-:
1918 By the middle of September, 2,224 men in the county between 18 and 45 had registered in accordance with the draft law. By the end of the war, 591 men were drafted
1922 Loudoun ranks first in the state for total corn production.
1924 Leesburg Pike no longer a toll road, after the state highway department takes over and renames the road "Route 54."
1930 Loudoun County suffers through the worst drought in its history, with temperature reaching over 100 degrees for three straight weeks. Loudoun fields received one-fifth or less of the average rainfall. One issue of the Times-Mirror lists 415 properties for public auction. Goose Creek and Beaver Dam are dry, and you can walk across the Potomac without getting your feet wet.
1932 Loudoun County receives its first official road map from the state, with all roads within the county given a name.
1938 Blue Ridge Airport is the first in the county to be chartered; it would close four years later.
1939 Arcola School opens, built with Public Works Administration funds. The new building consolidates four smaller schools in the area.
1940 Local NAACP chapter is formed in Loudoun. Marie Medley, a Leesburg beautician, serves as the first president. Thirty black parents appear at the Loudoun County School Board to obtain "equal education opportunities for Negro children in the public schools of Loudoun."
1941 Dr. Claude Moore purchases the old Bridges place, where present-day Claude Moore Park in Sterling is located.
1941-45 Loudoun men and women fight in World War II; 68 lose their lives in the conflict.
1942 More women than men are buying war bonds in Loudoun thanks to the Women's Committee
1944 Cornelius family moves to Loudoun, starting a large dairy operation at Arcola.
1945 Soldiers are welcomed home with rallies. White soldiers are welcomed in Leesburg High School's auditorium, and black veterans were welcomed at the "Douglass Colored High School."
1945 October: Guilford Park, a subdivision near Old Sterling, is started by James and Nellie Ryder. It was later renamed Sterling Park the following month.
1946 Following World War II, Delmas Glascock completes his airfield at U.S. 50 and Gum Spring Road.
1946 Built from aircraft scrap metal, the Mighty Midget Kitchen opens in Leesburg. Popcorn is now offered at the Pitts Tally-Ho theater.
1948 The modern, four-room Oak Grove Elementary School for African American students opens in Eastern Loudoun.
1950-53 Loudoun sends men and women to fight in the Korean War; two lives are lost.
1951
1951-52 Robert Young begins to subdivide his property, the old Miskel Farm in Eastern Loudoun, creating Broad Run Farms.
1954 The county's four white high schools are consolidated into one.
1958 Construction of Dulles International Airport begins on 12,500 acres south of Sterling.
1959 Acquisition of property in Loudoun County begins in preparation of building Dulles International Airport. Ultimately, 11,600 acres would be taken, at the average price of $500 per acre. The village of Willard, established in 1900 at the site of the future airport, disappears.
1961 From April to December, the Broyhill Land Corporation bought up 14 parcels of land totaling over 1,760 acres in Eastern Loudoun, paying an average of $1,000 per acre. They then began marketing a “planned community” called “Broyhill’s Addition to Sterling Park.” A final agreement on density and other issues was reached on Oct. 22, 1962, and “Sterling Park” became a reality.
1962 Dulles International Airport opens.
1962 Two black students apply to County High School and 10 to Loudoun Valley High School. Four were admitted to the white high schools, eight were denied because of "lack of academic qualification." Eight blacks would bring a lawsuit to desegregate county schools.
1963 Leesburg Municipal Airport started with a grant from the FAA.
1966 The courts issue an injunction ordering Leesburg's firemen's swimming pool to desegregate. The firemen permanently close the pool.
1967 A judge orders that all Loudoun schools be integrated on both pupil and staff levels by the 68-69 school year. They had been partially integrated before.
1968 Washington & Old Dominion Railway ceases operation in August; dismantling of the line started in 1969. The right-of-way is later developed into a park.
1969 Application to develop Sugarland Run in Eastern Loudon gets final approval by county; the first homes were ready for occupancy by January 1971.
1970 Loudoun County population reaches 37,150.
1972 Hurricane Agnes stalls for several days east of the Appalachian mountains. Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland receive record rainfall with extensive flooding. Stone Bridge over Broad Run severely damaged by the hurricane; destruction was complete four years later when the remaining section collapsed.
1974 Some 92 people die when a TWA jet plunges into Paris Mountain. Loudoun's fire and rescue volunteers have the grisly task of removing the dead from shattered wreckage.
1980 Loudoun County population reaches 57,427.
1981 The new county court complex opens at a cost of $1.67 million.
1981 Striking air traffic controllers rally in Leesburg, vowing they will be jailed before they will return to work. President Reagan eventually fires the strikers.
1984 The Dulles Toll Road opens. The road is expected to pay for itself by 2009.
1985 America Online (AOL) begins operations. 1986.
1985 Plans to develop Ashburn Farms by Cavalier Land Co. of Chantilly, and Ashburn Village, by Richmarr Corporation of Washington, D.C and Associated Companies of Bethesda, Md. Will eventually lead to an unincorporated community with a population nearly as large as Leesburg (35,000).
1981 Construction of the Round Hill Bypass begins, almost 18 years after the first public hearings were held.
1990 Loudoun County floats $13.7 bond to purchase Lanesmoore, and its 357 acres for a park. County population grows to 86,129.
1994 Two-and-a-half centuries after the first settlers arrived here, Loudoun County's population tops 100,000 residents.
1995 Dulles Greenway opens. Tolls are computed to assure that the owner will recover the original investment plus a return on that investment.
1996 Blizzard of '96 cripples region.
1998 Arcola Slave Quarters donated to Loudoun County.
2000 Population of Loudoun County estimated at 196,000, with 78.3 percent white, 7.5 percent Asian, 7.1 percent Hispanic, and 7.1 percent black.