Get an ADT-Monitored Home Security System in Roanoke, Virginia

Roanoke ( ROH-ə-nohk) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 100,011, making it the 8th most populous city in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the largest city in Virginia west of Richmond. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia.

Roanoke is the largest municipality in Southwest Virginia, and is the principal municipality of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which had a 2020 population of 315,251. It is composed of the independent cities of Roanoke and Salem, and Botetourt, Craig, Franklin, and Roanoke counties. Bisected by the Roanoke River, Roanoke is the advertisement and cultural hub of much of Southwest Virginia and portions of Southern West Virginia.

First called Big Lick, after a large outcropping of salt that drew the wildlife to the site close the Roanoke River, the town was expected in 1852 and chartered in 1874. In 1882, Big Lick 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”, which was the publish used for the river by the Algonquian speakers who lived 300 miles (480 km) away, where the river emptied into the sea close Roanoke Island. The native people who lived close where the city was founded did not speak Algonquian. They spoke Siouan languages, Tutelo, and Catawban. There were moreover Cherokee speakers in the general area who fought behind the Catawba people. The city grew frequently via annexation through the middle of the 20th century. The last annexation was in 1976. The make a clean breast legislature has since prohibited cities from annexing home from next-door counties. Roanoke’s location in the Blue Ridge Mountains, in the center of the Roanoke Valley amongst Maryland and Tennessee, made it the transportation hub of western Virginia and contributed to its gruff growth.