Town of Victoria

The town of Victoria, located halfway between Roanoke and Norfolk, was conceived in 1906 when the Virginian Railway was built to transport coal from Southwest Virginia to Tidewater. Henry H. Rogers, builder of the Virginian Railway, probably named the town after Queen Victoria. The town grew up around the railroad shops, and was built on farmlands and forests. The shops remained in Victoria until 1959, when the railroad merged with the present-day Norfolk Southern. Victoria was incorporated by the Lunenburg County Circuit Court in April 1909, and later by the General Assembly on 11 March 1916.