Editing Gainesville, Virginia (section)

== History ==
[[File:Gainesville United Methodist Church Cemetery - graves of the original Gaines family - cropped and darkened using GIMP.jpg|thumb|Graves of the Gaines family in Gainesville United Methodist Church cemetery; among them is that of Thomas Brawner Gaines, namesake of the community]]
[[File:Gvilleinterchange.jpg|thumb|Aerial view north along [[U.S. Route 29|US 29]] before the Gainesville interchange was completed, dated November 2011. The current roadway layout is significantly different from that depicted here.]]
Gainesville was once a changing point for [[stagecoach]] horses on the Fauquier and Alexandria Turnpike. In earlier times, the village that became known as “Gainesville” actually had two other names, though only briefly. In the [[Colonial history of the United States|colonial]] era, the region was known as the "Middle Grounds", a reference to its location between [[Broad Run (Occoquan River tributary)|Broad Run]] and [[Bull Run (Occoquan River tributary)|Bull Run]]. 

===19th century===
In the early 1800s, Samuel Love of Buckland Hall started work on the Warrenton-Alexandria Turnpike. In the hamlet where the turnpike passed through the Middle Grounds, a new stable was erected for stagecoach drivers to switch horses. Other businesses followed, and the settlement became known as New Stable. 

In 1846, a post office by that name was opened there in Richard Graham's hotel and store. Mr. Graham also operated a large stable that catered to the drovers and stage drivers and other less pretentious travelers. The person responsible for bringing the railroad through the village was Thomas Brawner Gaines (1814-1856), who had begun buying up property in the area as early as 1835, and later became a major landowner.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://piedmontlifestyle.com/uncategorized/history-gainesville-forever-on-the-beaten-path/|title=History: Gainesville–forever on the beaten path|last=Toler|first=John|date=October 31, 2017}}</ref>

In 1850, Thomas Brawner Gaines (1814-1856) sold to the [[Manassas Gap Railroad]] a right-of-way through his land along the Warrenton Turnpike ([[US Route 29]]). After the railroad was completed to [[Strasburg, Virginia]] in 1854, Gaines conveyed additional land for a train depot with the condition that the rail stop take his name. By 1856, a small community with a post office flourished around the Gainesville depot.<ref>Prince William County Historical Commission, 2017 (Historical Marker)</ref>

After the Civil War, emancipated former slaves bought land along [[U.S. Route 29]] and developed a small community that came to be known as "The Settlement". Residents founded the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, which would serve as a central community meeting place for over a century. Many current residents of the area can trace their lineage back to this period.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sides |first=Emily |date=2019-05-30 |title=Preserving 'The Settlement' |url=https://www.insidenova.com/news/prince_william/preserving-the-settlement/article_f26d2084-8305-11e9-9c34-a3ae4e3ba1df.html |access-date=2025-05-19 |website=INSIDENOVA.COM |language=en}}</ref>

===20th century===
Gainesville became a shipping point for [[grain]], [[timber]], and [[cattle]] and remained a major cattle shipping point into the early 1960s. During the [[American Civil War]], Gainesville was occupied by both Confederate and Union armies and nearby Thoroughfare Gap in the [[Bull Run Mountains]] served as a path for soldiers to reach the [[First Battle of Bull Run|First]] and [[Second Battle of Bull Run|Second]] battles of Bull Run. Into the early 1940s the [[Southern Railway (US)|Southern Railway]] operated passenger service from [[Harrisonburg, Virginia|Harrisonburg]] and Strasburg Junction through Gainesville, to Manassas and Washington's Union Station.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Southern Railway, Table 13 |journal=Official Guide of the Railways |publisher=National Railway Publication Company |volume=74 |issue=1 |date=June 1941}}</ref> In 1994, the groundbreaking for Gainesville's first townhome community began; it was named Crossroads.  This marked the beginning of mass-development for Gainesville.

===21st century===
In 2006, the [[Virginia Department of Transportation|VDOT]] began working on the [[U.S. Route 29 in Virginia#Gainesville Interchange|Gainesville Interchange]] improvement project, with construction officially starting in July 2011, in order to ease the traffic in the rapidly growing Gainesville-[[Haymarket, Virginia|Haymarket]] area. It was completed on July 9, 2015.