Leesburg Historic District

Leesburg's historic district takes in the original town of Leesburg, Loudoun County, Virginia, about thirty-six blocks on a rough grid around the court square. The town was established in 1758 when the General Assembly authorized Nicholas Minor to sell lots from a sixty-acre tract around his tavern, to serve as the new county seat. A committee's street plan from the previous year still underlies the layout. King and Market Streets form the commercial core, while the other streets hold townhouses from the late eighteenth century through the twentieth. Growth slowed from the Civil War to the post-World War II era, so many early buildings survive. Notable examples include the Laurel Brigade Inn, Osburn's Tavern, the Old Tavern, the Greek Revival County Office Building built about 1844 as the Leesburg Academy, and the 1895 Classic Revival court house. The site of the Old Stone Church, demolished in 1900, was the first property owned by Methodists in America. Historic zoning protects the district.