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==History== [[File:Galaxmarker.jpg|thumb|left|Historical marker at Galax]] The area that later became Galax was part of an {{convert|800|acre|adj=on}} [[land grant]] given to James Buchanan in 1756 by the British Crown. The first [[plat]] map for Galax is dated December 1903;<ref>Nunn & Alley, p. 11.</ref> The town founders selected the site for the city on a wide expanse of [[meadow]]land bisected by Chestnut Creek and sitting at an altitude of {{convert|2500|feet}} on a plateau.<ref>John Nunn & Judith Nunn Alley, ''Images of America: Galax'' (Arcadia Publishing: 2010), p. 7.</ref> The [[Virginia General Assembly]] officially chartered the town of Galax in 1906.<ref name="Ellison">George Ellison, ''Blue Ridge Nature Journal: Reflections on the Appalachian Mountains in Essays and Art'' ([[The History Press]], 2006), p. 39.</ref> The town is named for ''[[Galax urceolata]]'', an [[evergreen]] [[groundcover]] plant found throughout the [[Blue Ridge Mountains]]. At the time, the plant was gathered and sold by many people in southwestern Virginia and northwestern [[North Carolina]] as an [[ornamental plant]]; a [[Norfolk and Western Railway Company]] official suggested that the town be named for the plant.<ref name="Ellison"/> The first Galax Agricultural Fair took place in September 1908, when Galax had 600 residents.<ref name="Nunn & Alley, p. 8">Nunn & Alley, p. 8.</ref> In the past, Galax was an industrial town; by the 1960s, Galax was home to six furniture factories, a [[mirror]] factory, at least four textile companies, two large department stores, a lumber company, [[Carnation Milk]], [[Coca-Cola Bottling Company]], and Clover Creamery.<ref name="Nunn & Alley, p. 8"/> The Town of Galax was separated from Carroll and Grayson counties and became an independent city on December 6, 1953.<ref>''Estimates of the Population of Virginia Counties and Cities''. [[University of Virginia]] Bureau of Population and Economic Research (1955).</ref> In the 2000s, Galax and other small neighboring communities in southwestern Virginia joined with private businesses to create the Wired Road Authority, a [[public-private partnership]] that in 2009 created open-access, integrated regional broadband network with 100-megabit connections and in 2013 created [[gigabit]] connections. This was part of an economic-development effort.<ref>Michael Grass, [http://www.govexec.com/state-local/2014/07/roanoke-broadband-authority-open-access-fiber-network/89210/ Virginia Counties May Withdraw From Open-Access Broadband Initiative], ''Government Executive'' (July 21, 2014).</ref> The [[Old Grayson County Courthouse and Clerk's Office]], [[Dr. Virgil Cox House]], [[Gordon C. Felts House]], [[Galax Commercial Historic District]] and [[A. G. Pless Jr. House]] are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>
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