Editing Prince William County, Virginia (section)

===Post-Reconstruction era to present===
On March 19, 1892, two caucasian men, Lee Heflin and Joseph Dye, were [[Lynching in the United States|lynched]] in Haymarket. They had been convicted of the murder of a girl and sentenced to death, but the mob did not want to wait for the legal system. The men were hanged from trees at the edge of woods; then the mob shot into their bodies. ''[[The Washington Post]]'' said, "mob law...is a dangerous thing to encourage. There is too much of it already throughout the country, and it spreads like a contagion so long as public sentiment tacitly approves it."<ref>"Swifter than the Law," ''Washington Post'', March 19, 1892, p.1</ref> It was unusual that white men were lynched; in Virginia and the rest of the South, black men were overwhelmingly the victims of lynching, the violence by which whites maintained dominance.<ref>W. Fitzhugh Brundage, ''Lynching in the New South: Georgia and Virginia'' (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1993), 87-92</ref><ref name="histeng">[https://historyengine.richmond.edu/episodes/view/3339 "Mob Carries Out Death Sentence"], ''History Engine'', University of Richmond, 2008-2015</ref><ref name="wapost">[https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2005/07/24/killing-grounds-lynchings-re/385c919d-31f8-4bcc-84c6-e76fa2500b6c/ "Killing Grounds Lynchings re: Haymarket"], ''Washington Post'', July 24, 2005; accessed March 16, 2018</ref>

The county was rural and agricultural for decades. Into the early 20th century, the population was concentrated in two areas, one at Manassas (site of a major railroad junction), and the other near [[Occoquan, Virginia|Occoquan]] and [[Woodbridge, Virginia|Woodbridge]] along the [[Potomac River]], which was an important transportation route. Beginning in the late 1930s, suburban residential development began, and new housing was developed near the existing population centers, particularly in Manassas.

In 1960 the population was 50,164. Continued suburbanization and growth of the [[Washington, D.C.]] metropolitan area caused that to increase rapidly in the following decades. There was expansion of federal, military and commercial activities in Northern Virginia in the late 20th century. By 2000, this was the third-most populous local jurisdiction in Virginia. From 2000 to 2010, the population increased by 43.2%. During this period the county became [[minority-majority]]: the new majority is composed of Hispanic (of any race, largely of Central and South American ancestry), African American, and Asian.<ref name="demo" /> In 2012 it was the seventh-wealthiest county in the country.<ref name=NYT11812/> The estimated population of 2014 is more than 437,000.

In 1994 [[The Walt Disney Company]] bought extensive amounts of land in [[Haymarket, Virginia|Haymarket]] for a proposed [[Disney's America]] theme park.<ref>{{Cite news |issn=0362-4331 |last=Wines |first=Michael |title=A Disneyland of History Next to the Real Thing |work=The New York Times |access-date=May 8, 2016 |date=November 12, 1993 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/12/us/a-disneyland-of-history-next-to-the-real-thing.html}}</ref> Local resistance to the resort, because of its perceived adverse effects on the historic [[Manassas National Battlefield Park|Manassas Battlefield]], led to its end as a viable idea.<ref>{{Cite conference |pages=1–19 |last1=Powell |first1=Elizabeth A. |last2=Stover |first2=Sarah |title=The Third Battle of Bull Run: The Disney's America Theme Park (A) |location=Charlottesville |date=July 26, 2010 |id={{ProQuest|872767379}} }}</ref> William B. Snyder, a local business man convinced Disney to sell the property to him.<ref>[http://www.disneydrawingboard.com/DA%20Haymarket/DAHaymarket.html The Disney Drawing Board – Disney's America] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920215833/http://www.disneydrawingboard.com/DA%20Haymarket/DAHaymarket.html |date=September 20, 2016 }} retrieved October 30, 2013.</ref> Snyder, in turn, sold off most of the land to developers, except for the {{convert|405|acre|km2}} donated to the National Capital Area Council of the Boy Scouts, who used the land to create [[National Capital Area Council#Camp William B. Snyder|Camp Snyder]] for Cub Scouts.<ref name=":01908286">{{Cite news |issn=0190-8286 |pages=–01 |last=Stewart |first=Nikita |title=$17 Million Camp Pledges Cub Scout Nirvana in Va.: [FINAL Edition] |newspaper=The Washington Post |location=Washington, D.C., United States |date=April 5, 2006 |id={{ProQuest|410008043}} }}</ref>

The Marine Corps Heritage Museum and the Hylton Performing Arts Center opened in the 21st century. The American Wartime Museum is also to be located in this county. During the commemoration of the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War, re-enactment of the famous First and Second Battles of Manassas was planned.
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