Editing Louisa, Virginia (section)

==History==
Louisa Court House was named for the county courthouse constructed in 1742, near the intersection of Courthouse Road (now [[Virginia State Route 208|SR 208]]) and Main Street/Louisa Road (now [[Virginia State Route 22|SR-22]]/[[U.S. Route 33 in Virginia|US-33]]). The village of Louisa Court House had been the county seat for over a century when it became a strategic location during the [[American Civil War]] for Virginia's supply and communication lines.

[[File:Virginia Central Map 1852 cropped.png|thumb|left|upright|1852 Map of the Virginia Central Railroad]]
Chartered in 1836 as the Louisa Railroad by the [[Virginia General Assembly]], the [[Virginia Central Railroad]] mainline passed through the village. On June 10, 1864, thousands of men and horses of Gen. [[Fitzhugh Lee]]'s cavalry division camped around the courthouse prior to the [[Battle of Trevilian Station]].<ref name=hmdb193948>[https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=193948 Historical Marker Database: Louisa Court House – Raiders Intercepted]. Accessed June 19, 2022.</ref> The VCR merged into the [[Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad (1868–1878)|Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad]] in 1868 (reorganized as the [[Chesapeake and Ohio Railway]] in 1878). The C&O operated the mainline through Louisa over one hundred years, until the [[Chessie System]] merged into [[CSX Transportation|CSX]] in the 1980s.

The incorporated '''Town of Louisa''' was created by Act of the General Assembly in 1873.<ref>[https://www.louisatown.org/community/town-of-louisa-rich-in-history/ Town of Louisa: Town History]. Accessed June 19, 2022.</ref> Many businesses found advantage in locating near the mainline, especially heavy industries that could transport using the railroad. As the road infrastructure improved and especially since the 1956 development of the [[interstate highway system]]'s [[Interstate 64 in Virginia|I-64]], local businesses transport mainly via semi-truck using [[U.S. Route 33 in Virginia|US 33]].

East of the Town of Louisa on Jeff Davis Highway is the Cooke Industrial Rail Park, a 1400 acre contiguous tract of land with over 1 mile of rail frontage, served by CSX and [[Buckingham Branch Railroad]].<ref>[https://www.louisacounty.com/1240/Cooke-Industrial-Rail-Park Louisa County: Cooke Industrial Rail Park]. Accessed June 19, 2022.</ref>