A Brief History On Radford

Two Centuries ago, an enterprising settler built a tavern on the stagecoach route running between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny mountains at a spot near the New River. The tavern, called Lovely Mount, was the beginning of Radford, Virginia.

The name Radford was acquired in 1887 from the surname of one of the prominent families in the area before the railroad came. Boom times in the 1880's and early 1890's caused the city to prosper and a promising iron industry brought a "furnace" to the west end of town. The Norfolk & Western railroad made Radford a rail yard center when it built a spur to the Pocahontas coalfield near the West Virginia line. Incorporated in 1892, Radford was a somewhat rough town until the arrival of a state teachers' college for women in 1913, the germ of today's Radford University. Radford University today is a comprehensive state University with over 9000 students, and it plays a dynamic role in the City's economic and cultural life.

There are a number of diverse industries located in Radford, and it is a center for health care professions. "The Long Way Home," Virginia's Official Outdoor Historical Drama of the Commonwealth", has been a fixture in the community for over twenty eight years.

Home to two former governors, Radford's small town quality, offers some big city cultural and educational opportunities.