Editing Stuarts Draft, Virginia (section)

== History ==
Before the arrival of European settlers, the area was the territory of the [[Shawnee|Shawanee]]; none of their settlements are known to have existed in Stuarts Draft.<ref name=":10">{{Cite book |last=Peyton |first=J. Lewis |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofaugusta00peytuoft/page/268/mode/2up?q=stuarts+draft |title=History of Augusta County, Virginia |publisher=Samuel M. Yost & Son |year=1882 |location=Staunton, Virginia |language=en |access-date=November 28, 2022 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Two non-residents tribes were frequent visitors to the area: the [[Delaware tribe|Delaware]] from the north and the [[Catawba people|Catawba]] from the south.<ref name=":10" /> When European settlers first moved into Augusta County in 1732, these three tribes were in the midst of a war.<ref name=":10" /> As a result, armed war parties were a common sight in the white settlements.<ref name=":10" />

In 1736, [[William Beverley|William Beverly]] received a patent from Virginia's [[Sir William Gooch, 1st Baronet|Governor William Gooch]] for {{Convert|118,491|acre|km2_ha}} in what became Augusta County.<ref name=":11">{{Cite book |last=Brooks |first=Faye |title=Stuarts Draft |language=en}}</ref> At the time, this was the "outermost limits of Virginia".<ref name=":10" /> Beverly sold parcels of land to settlers, including property that is now in Stuarts Draft. One settler was Archibald Stuart, a Scotch Presbyterian, who arrived in the area in 1738.<ref name=":10" /><ref name=":12">{{Cite web |title=Historical Background of the Community {{!}} Stuarts Draft Baptist Church 75th Anniversary |url=http://stuartsdraft.homestead.com/History.html |access-date=November 28, 2022 |website=Stuarts Draft Homestead |publication-date=November 2, 2020}}</ref><ref name=":14">{{Cite news |last=Critzer |first=Ben |date=August 11, 1972 |title=Stuarts Draft Goes Way Back: History Begins in 1736 |volume=1 |pages=1 |work=Stuarts Draft Hub |issue=1 |publisher=News Virginia |url=http://stuartsdraft.homestead.com/History1736.pdf |via=Stuarts Draft Homestead}}</ref> Stuart settled about three miles east of [[Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church]] which he helped found in 1744.<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":14" /> This property became known as the Pratt Farm and is located on what is now U.S. 340 near Northgate Avenue.<ref name=":14" /> Other early settlers who purchased land from Beverly in what is now Stuarts Draft include  Robert Alexander, James Bell, John Black, John Christian, John Colter, Samuel Davidson, William Long, Finley McClure, Joseph Mills, Robert Moffet, and James Patton.<ref name=":10" /><ref name=":14" /><ref name=":13" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=August 2020 |title=The Beverly Patent |url=https://www.usgenwebsites.org/vagenweb/augusta/BeverlyPatent.html |access-date=2022-11-29 |website=www.usgenwebsites.org}}</ref>

These early settlers built houses and cleared the land for farming.<ref name=":12" /> The most successful crops were hemp, corn, wheat, and flax which was mixed with wool to make [[linsey-woolsey]] clothes.<ref name=":14" /> Farmers experimented with tobacco and cotton but found hemp the most successful cash crop, supplying raw material for naval rope.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":14" /> Robert Stuart operated a chopping mill in Stuarts Draft.<ref name=":13" />

In 1749, Archibald Stuart's son Thomas purchased a patent {{convert|353|acre|km2_ha}} near the [[South River (Shenandoah River)|South River]].<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":14" /> The tract was bound by Robert Stuart's patent to the north, Samuel Davidson's patent to the south, John Black's patent to the west, and James Patton's patent to the east.<ref name=":12" /> There, Thomas lived with his wife Elizabeth (née Moore) and their nine children.<ref name=":10" /> The property had a small valley or cove, regionally called a draft.<ref name=":9" />{{Efn|Other theories abound as urban legend. One says that draft refers to the document drafting the land sale. However, this document was called a patent by Virginia at the time. Another theory says that draft is an old term for river or creek. A third theory says draft refers to a river crossing on Stuart’s land or the South River itself. However, according to the Beverly Patent map, Stuart's land did not extend to or cross the river. Another theory is that the plain on the south side of the river tends to channel the wind, thus forming a constant breeze or draft.}}

There was fighting in Augusta County during the [[French and Indian War]] (1754–1763), smaller conflicts with Native Americans in 1764 and 1774, and minor skirmishes through 1794.<ref name=":10" /> When Thomas Stuart died, his sons were not living nearby, and his widow left the patent or land grant, making it available for resale.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Waddell |first=Joseph A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rZbEC1kEdpcC |title=Annals of Augusta County, Virginia from 1720 to 1871 |publisher=C. J. Carrier Company |year=1902 |edition=2nd |location=Harrisonburg, Virginia |language=en |access-date=November 28, 2022 |via=Google Books}}</ref> The Stuart property was purchased by John Harper in 1800, with some parts being owned by Joseph McComb and Jacob Farror at a later date.<ref name=":9" />{{Efn|According to Catlett and Fishburne, the draft was located in the Harper and Farror properties in 1928.}}

Before 1800, the roads to Stuarts Draft were poor, limiting travel to horseback or sleds rather than wheeled wagons.<ref name=":14" /> The settlement did not have a post office until 1837.<ref name=":11" /> The first post office was in the former Thomas Stuart cabin, a hewed-pine log structure then on the Harper property.<ref name=":11" />{{Efn|According to Catlett and Fishburne, the Thomas Stuart cabin survived on the Harper farm as later as 1881. The Harper family used it for storage.}} As a result, the name Stuarts Draft was chosen for the post office and the community. Later, the post office moved three miles west of town and was operated by postmaster James M. Hall.<ref name=":9" />

In the 1850s, the Howardsville Turnpike was built through Stuarts Draft.<ref name=":13" /> Funded by stock as a commercial venture, the turnpike allowed Stuarts Drafts' farmers to take their wheat and other goods by horse-drawn wagons to the trading post in [[Howardsville, Albemarle County, Virginia|Howardsville, Virginia]].<ref name=":14" /><ref name=":13" /> The trip took a week but yielded trade goods such as flour, sugar, and other staples.<ref name=":14" /> Howardsville was located in [[Albemarle County, Virginia|Albemarle County]] on the [[James River]]; from there, trade goods went to [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]] by [[barge]].<ref name=":13" />

In 1856, Stuarts Draft's first doctor arrived; James M. Watson was a graduate of the [[University of Virginia]]'s medical school in nearby Charlottesville.<ref name=":12" /> Watson traveled on horseback to visit patients.<ref name=":12" /> Other families moving to Stuarts Draft include Caldwell, Churchman, Forrer, Grass, Harnsberger, Hicks, Johnson, Kindig, Patterson, Prior, Van Lear, and Wilson.<ref name=":13" /><ref name=":15">{{Cite web |year=1885 |title=S. River Magist. Dist. |url=https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~32979~1171432:S--River-Magist--Dist- |access-date=2022-11-29 |website=David Rumsey Map Collection |publisher=Watermen, Watkins & Co. |location=Chicago |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":14" />

During the Civil War, Stuarts Draft's residents provided supplies and men to the Confederate Army.<ref name=":12" />  The community's first school was established before the Civil War in Barterbrook, four miles from Stuarts Draft.<ref name=":14" /> This one-room schoolhouse was replaced by another schoolhouse behind today's Finley Memorial Presbyterian Church in Stuarts Draft.<ref name=":14" /> The new school started with one room but later was expanded to five rooms as the number of students grew.<ref name=":14" />

The post office moved back to town in 1881 when the [[Shenandoah Valley Railroad (1867–1890)|Shenandoah Valley Railroad]] was under construction.<ref name=":9" /> The railroad began stopping in Stuarts Draft in 1882 and connected the town with [[Roanoke, Virginia|Roanoke]] and [[Hagerstown, Maryland|Hagerstown]].<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":14" /> The railroad brought growth and prosperity to the farming community, making it one of the wealthiest sections of August County.<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":10" /> A village or commercial area formed along the railroad track, expanding to about a mile south of the tracks.<ref name=":14" /> A train depot was constructed in 1891 (and demolished in 1975).<ref name=":13" /> By 1885, Charles H. Cohron opened C. H. Cohron's Store alongside the tracks, while Fox's Store was located on Howardsville Turnpike.<ref name=":15" /><ref name=":13" /> In 1886, the J. B. McChesney Store opened beside the railroad.<ref name=":14" /> Cohron built the Stuarts Draft Mill along the railroad tracks in 1893, followed by a warehouse.<ref name=":13" /> In 1891, the Shenandoah Valley Railroad was purchased by the [[Norfolk and Western Railway]], further expanding Stuart Draft's reach.<ref name=":11" />

George Samuel Etter opened his Etter Funeral Home in Stuarts Draft in 1895.<ref name=":14" />{{Efn|Etter moved his funeral home to Waynesboro in 1918. However, the former funeral home survives the oldest commercial building in Stuarts Draft.}} Other businesses that opened in Stuarts Draft in 1895 include a barrel factory and a chair factory.<ref name=":13" /> Also in 1895, the [[Fishersville, Barterbrook, and Stuarts Draft Telephone Company]] was established.<ref name=":13" /> Its first telephones were operational in May 1897.<ref name=":13" /> In 1904, the Stuarts Draft post office included two delivery routes, serving 1,200 people.<ref name=":13" /> Stuarts Draft School was the first school in Augusta County to operate for a nine-month term in 1906.<ref name=":13" /> The Citizens Educational League raised funds to expand the school building and add a playground, library, and organ.<ref name=":13" />

In 1907, the People's Bank opened in Stuarts Draft and was operated by cashier S. H. Moore.<ref name=":12" /> In 1913, B. B. Kube opened a blacksmith shop in the Stuart Draft village area; he rebuilt his shop after the original structure burned in 1928.<ref name=":14" /> Dr. William Baldwin Dodge, a physician for railroad employees, became Stuart Draft's doctor and a businessman.<ref name=":13" /> He opened the Dodge Inn on Main Street (now Draft Avenue), providing accommodations and packed lunches for travelers.<ref name=":13" />{{Efn|The Dodge Hotel was demolished in 1987.}} Dodge also developed Mountain Lake, now called [[Shenandoah Acres]], in the 1939s.<ref name=":13" />

In the early 20th century, Stuarts Draft was a farming community specialized in livestock and fruit.<ref name=":9" /> In the 1920s, fruit production included apples, peaches, and pears.<ref name=":9" /> At that time, the average apple production from Stuarts Draft was 200 to 400 railroad car loads.<ref name=":9" /> Stuart Drafts' main apple producers were Alta Vista, Robert Black, Cisco Orchards, William Baldwin Dodge, George Harper, Samuel B. Harper, Charles I. Keyt, Linda Vista, and Virginia Valley—with each growing 1,000 to 6,000 barrels each annually.<ref name=":9" /> Dodge was the only large-scale grower of cranberries south of New Jersey, yielding 500 to 1,000 bushels a year.<ref name=":9" /> Cattle was the most common commercial livestock, although farmers in Stuarts Draft also raised hogs, sheep, and poultry. Most of the community's households produced eggs.<ref name=":9" /> There was also a large incubator in Stuarts Draft that produced 50,000 to 75,000 eggs annually.<ref name=":9" />

In the 1940s, a number ofGerman–speaking members of [[Old Order Amish]] moved to Stuart’s Draft from Pennsylvania.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Van Ness |first=Silke |title=German |url=https://artsandsciences.sc.edu/appalachianenglish/node/784 |access-date=2024-03-29 |website=Encyclopedia of Appalachia on Language {{!}} Southern Appalachian English |publisher=University of South Carolina College of Arts and Sciences}}</ref> In the 1960s, Stuarts Draft entered the modern industrial era with the opening of Draftco and the J. K. Porter plant (now NIBCO).<ref name=":13" /><ref name=":16" /> In the 1970s, other manufacturers moved to Stuarts Draft, including Hollister, Mastic Corporation/[[Alcoa]] (now PlyGem Industries), and P. T. Components (now [[Rexnord Corporation|Rexnord]]).<ref name=":13" /><ref name=":17" /><ref name=":18">"Alcoa Completes Sale of Home Exteriors Business to Ply Gem Industries." ''Business Wire'', 31 Oct. 2006. ''Gale General OneFile'', . Accessed 29 Nov. 2022.</ref> This was followed by a [[Hershey Company]] plant and [[McKee Foods]] in the 1980s and 1990s, respectively.<ref name=":13" />

Manufacturing significantly increased the population and development of Stuarts Draft. In 2017 and 2018, the community held a series of public meetings to create a Stuart Draft Small Area Plan.<ref name=":2" /> The process included elected officials and consultants.<ref name=":2" /> Spanning 2019 through 2039, the resulting plan addresses land use, development, and transportation needs.<ref name=":2" /> It also defines areas for urban development (business, industrial, public use, and residential) and agricultural and rural conservation.<ref name=":2" />

=== Notes ===
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