Loudoun County, Virginia

Loudoun County (pronounced "LOUD-un"; : ) is a located in the  of, a  of the , and is part of the. , the county is estimated to be home to 268,817 people, a 58 percent increase over the 2000 figure of 169,599. That increase makes the county the fastest growing in the during that period. Its is. , the town had been county seat for 249 of the last 250 years.

Loudoun County briefly emerged as the wealthiest jurisdiction in the nation, when in 2005 household median income surpassed $98,000, exceeding neighboring at $94,610. However, Loudoun fell back to second next year when Fairfax County's household median reached $100,318 compared to Loudon's $99,371.

History
Loudoun County was established in 1757 from. The county is named for, Fourth and  from 1756–59. Western settlement began in the 1720s and 1730s with, , and others moving south from Pennsylvania and Maryland and by  and  moving upriver from.

By the time of the, it was the most populous county in Virginia. During the, important Federal documents and government archives were evacuated from and stored at  for safe keeping. Local tradition holds that these documents were stored at Rokeby House and thus that Leesburg was briefly the capitol of the United States.

Early in the, the took place near Leesburg on ,. Future jurist was critically wounded in that battle along the. During the in June 1863,    and   clashed in the battles of, , and. Confederate  based his operations in Loudoun and adjoining  (for a more in-depth account of the history of Loudoun County during the Civil War, see ).

Notable people from Loudoun County
constructed and resided at near  after his presidency. ( under ) was a native of Loudoun County. general resided at  in Leesburg. Entertainer  lived near historic. Loudoun County is also notable for being the birthplace of, mother of , and , mother of the.

Law and government
Like all counties in Virginia, Loudoun is governed by a. The Chairman of the Board is elected by the voters at-large while the remaining supervisors are elected from each of eight election districts in the county. All nine members serve concurrent terms of four years. While the board handles policy issues and sets the budget, day-to-day operations of the county government are handled by a County Administrator appointed by the board. As of 2006, six of the supervisors are members of the : Vice-Chairman Bruce E. Tulloch, Lori Waters, Stephen J. Snow, Jim Clem, Eugene Delgaudio, and Mick Staton. One supervisor, Sally R. Kurtz, is of the, while the remaining two, Jim Burton and Chairman Scott K. York, are Independents. Due to the chairman being elected separately, Chairman York does not command a majority support. Because of this, after the most recent election the Republican members moved to strip much of the authority and power from the chairman and give it to Vice-Chairman Tulloch. The current board, among other officials in Loudoun, is the subject of a federal investigation of possible corruption relating to land deals.

2007 Election
On November 6, 2007, voters in Loudoun County voted to remove four incumbent Republicans from the existing Board of Supervisors. Vice-Chairman Bruce E. Tulloch (Potomac) and Supervisors Stephen J. Snow (Dulles), Jim Clem (Leesburg), and Mick Staton (Sugarland Run) lost their re-election bids. Democratic challengers Andrea McGimsey, Stevens R. Miller, C. Kelly Burk, and Susan Climek Buckley will replace them respectively, at the beginning of the new term in January 2008. Chairman Scott K. York (I-At Large) and Supervisors Lori Waters (R-Broad Run), Eugene Delgaudio (R-Sterling), Sally Kurtz (D-Catoctin), and Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge) will all retain their seats for the new term. The make-up of the incoming Board of Supervisors is five Democrats, two Republicans, and two Independents.

Geography
According to the, Loudoun County has a total area of 1,350 (521 ). 1,346 km² (520 mi²) of it is land and 3 km² (1 mi²) of it (0.24%) is water. It is bounded on the North by the ; across the river are and  Counties in Maryland; it is bounded on the south by  and  Counties, on the west by watershed of the  across which are,  and  County, and on the east by  County. The and  bisect the county. To the west of the range is the. Bisecting the Loudoun Valley from to the  is.

Street addresses
in the unincorporated areas of Loudoun County, with the exception of older Sterling Park and the community of CountrySide, are assigned in the following manner: on north-south streets, block numbers increase from north to south and range from 10000 to 29900; on east-west streets, block numbers increase from west to east and range from 30000 to 49900.

Adjacent counties

 * (east)
 * (southeast)
 * (south)
 * (west)
 * (west)
 * (northwest, across the )
 * (north, across the )
 * (northeast, across the )

Major Highways

 * [[Image:US 15.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:US 50.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:Virginia 7.svg‎|20px]]
 * [[Image:Virginia 28.svg‎|20px]]
 * [[Image:Virginia 267.svg‎|25px]] (Dulles Greenway)
 * [[Image:Iowa 606.svg|20px]]

Economy
Traditionally a rural county, Loudoun's population has grown dramatically since the 1980s. Having undergone heavy suburbanization in the past few decades, Loudoun has a full-fledged. It is home to world headquarters for several Internet-related and  companies, including, , and. Like Fairfax County's, Loudoun County has economically benefited from the existence of , the majority of which is located in the county along its border with Fairfax. Loudoun does retain a strong rural economy in the western part of the county. The Equine Industry has an estimated revenue of $78 Million dollars. It is home to the International Equestrian Center which hosts national horse trials. Loudoun has 12 wineries and over 25 active farms. Loudoun has rich soil and was in the late 1800s the fourth-largest producer in the U.S.

Recent development
In recent years, Loudoun has become one of the fastest-growing counties in the nation. The once rural county now has a mecca of industry centered around. $1,000,000+ homes are springing up throughout the countryside. In light of this, the county has placed many building restrictions in an attempt to retain the rural feel.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 169,599 people, 59,900 households, and 45,044 families residing in the county. The was 126/km² (326/mi²). There were 62,160 housing units at an average density of 46/km² (120/mi²). The racial makeup of the county was 82.79%, 6.89% or , 5.35% , 0.21% , 0.06% , 2.26% from , and 2.44% from two or more races. 5.95% of the population were or  of any race.

In 2005 69.7% of Loudoun County's population was non-Hispanic whites. 7.5% of the population was African-American. 0.3% were Native Americans. The percentage of Asians in the overall population had more than doubled to 11.3%, which meant the number of Asians in Loudoun County was increasing a lot faster than the population overall. The Asian population in the county had increased over 150%. Loudoun County also had seen a very slight increase in the percentage of people reporting two or more races, to 2.5%, despite the fact that the figures for 2005 were doctored and everyone who marked "Some other race" was lumped under white, and those who had marked "some other race" and "white" were removed from the list of people marking more than one race. Latinos were 9.3% of the population, still a number that meant they had more than doubled in five years, but not increasing as fast in numbers as the Asians were.

As of 2000 there were 59,900 households out of which 43.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.30% were living together, 7.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.80% were non-families. 18.40% of all households were made up of individuals and 3.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.82 and the average family size was 3.24.

In the county, the population was spread out with 29.80% under the age of 18, 5.70% from 18 to 24, 38.90% from 25 to 44, 20.00% from 45 to 64, and 5.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 97.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.50 males.

In August 2007, a survey concluded that Loudoun County has the second highest median income in the country at just over $99,000.

Education
The county is served by. LCPS currently serves over 50,000 students from Kindergarten through 12th grade and is currently the fifth largest school system in Virginia. While there is a growing trend towards home schooling in the county, the vast majority of school age children in Loudoun County attend LCPS schools. Loudoun County schools recently ranked 11th in the United States. Loudoun County also sends students to, a in.

Loudoun County is home to six private schools:, a Pre-K–8 independent school located in Leesburg; , a day high school in ; the , a boarding school for girls located in Middleburg; , a , K–8 located in Leesburg; Leesburg Christian School, a K–12 school located in Leesburg; and Christian Faith & Fellowship School a PreK–12 non-denominational Christian school.

In terms of post-secondary education, Loudoun County is home to a variety of colleges and universities, including: ; a branch of in Sterling;  (satellite campus);  (satellite campus);  (satellite campus);  (satellite campus);  (satellite campus); and  (satellite campus).

Famous people from Loudoun County

 * (1794-1884) – Baptist theologian, pastor, educator, and president of Mercer University, GA (1844-54)
 * (1811-1843) – First governor of Michigan (Democrat, 1837-40)
 * (1925- ) – Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Growing Up (1983, Autobiography)
 * Colin Dunning – Production Assistant to Christopher Nolan
 * – One-time confidante to
 * – A political candidate who has resided in Round Hill since 1983.