Loudoun County, Virginia

  • Loudoun County is a dynamic county with an outstanding quality of life, located just 25 miles from Washington, D.C.
  • The home of Dulles International Airport, Loudoun has established a reputation as an international center for technology, communications and transportation.
  • Bordered by the Blue Ridge Mountains and Potomac River, Loudoun is widely known for its beautiful scenery, rich history and strong sense of community.
  • The county also enjoys a reputation for high quality services, including a first-rate educational system.
  • Loudoun County constitutes a part of the five million acre Northern Neck of Virginia Proprietary granted by King Charles II of England to seven noblemen in 1649. This grant, later known as the Fairfax Proprietary, lay between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers. Between 1653 and 1730, Westmoreland, Stafford and Prince William Counties were formed within the Proprietary, and in 1742 the remaining land was designated Fairfax County.
  • In 1757, by act of the Virginia House of Burgesses, Fairfax County was divided. The western portion was named Loudoun for John Campbell, Fourth Earl of Loudoun, a Scottish nobleman who served as Commander-in-Chief for all British armed forces in North America and titular Governor of Virginia from 1756 to 1768.
  • Leesburg has served continuously as the County Seat since 1757.
  • For more than two centuries, agriculture was the dominant way of life in Loudoun County, which had a relatively constant population of about 20,000. That began to change in the early 1960s, when Dulles International Airport was built in the southeastern part of the county. The airport attracted new businesses, workers and their families to the area.
  • At the same time, the Metropolitan Washington, DC area began a period of rapid growth. Major road improvements made commuting from Loudoun County much easier, attracting more and more people to the eastern part of the county. In the last three decades, the population of Loudoun County nearly quadrupled.
  • Today, Loudoun County is a growing, dynamic county of about 200,000 people. Loudoun is known for its beautiful scenery, rich history, healthy diversity of expanding business opportunities, comfortable neighborhoods, and high quality public services.