page_title: Wytheville, Virginia
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Wytheville, Virginia / History
caption_attribution_description: English: "View in Wytheville", an engraving from Henry Howe's Historical Collections of Virginia (1845)
context_page_description: Wytheville is a town in, and the county seat of, Wythe County, in southwestern Virginia, United States. It is named after George Wythe, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, and mentor to Thomas Jefferson. Wytheville's population was 8,211 at the 2010 census. Interstate Highways 77 and 81 were constructed to intersect at the town, long a crossroads for travelers.
  During the American Civil War, Wytheville had a strategic importance. It was attacked in 1863 and 1865. The town is the birthplace of Edith Bolling Wilson, second wife of President Woodrow Wilson.
context_section_description: Wythe County was created in 1789 and named for George Wythe, the "father of American Jurisprudence" and signer of the Declaration of Independence. In May 1790, Chris Simmerman donated 90 acres, along with John Davis's 10 acres, to establish a town and county seat. Robert Adams completed a town survey in November of that year, dividing the area into half-acre lots. The town did not have an official name yet, but was generally known as Wythe Court House.
  Two years later, in October 1792, the town was officially named Evansham, for prominent local citizen Jesse Evans. After a disastrous fire in March 1839, the town was renamed Wytheville. At that time, it was home to about 500 residents.
caption: Wytheville c. 1845
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