Wikipedia:Today's featured article/September 5, 2010

Stephens City, Virginia, is the second-oldest municipality in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, United States. It is located in southern Frederick County, with an estimated population of 1,503 in 2009. The town was founded in the early 1730s by German immigrant Peter Stephens and was chartered by Peter's son, Lewis, on September 21, 1758. A settlement, that became known as Crossroads, was established by free blacks about a mile east of Stephens City in the late 1850s and lasted until the American Civil War began, when some fled but others were forced to fight for the South. In June 1864, Union Major Joseph K. Stearns of the 1st New York Cavalry arrived under orders to burn it down, but spared it after seeing the remaining population consisted mostly of women, children and the elderly. Over the course of its existence, it has been renamed five times, almost winding up as "Pantops". The construction of Interstate 81 passed just to the east of the town in the early 1960s. In 1992, a large section of the town, called the Newtown-Stephensburg Historic District, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Stephens City celebrated its 250th anniversary on October 12, 2008. (more...)

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