Editing Blacksburg, Virginia (section)

===Incorporation, modernization (1871–1951)===
[[File:Coal Breaker near Blacksburg, Virginia (1904).jpg|thumb|A coal breaker at the Virginia Anthracite Coal Company at Merrimac Mines near Blacksburg in 1904]]
In 1871, the village that became known as Blacksburg was [[municipal corporation|incorporated]]<ref name=":0" /> and Thomas W. Jones became the first mayor.<ref name="sidebar">{{cite web|url=http://spec.lib.vt.edu/bicent/recoll/histbook/sidebar.htm|title=Blacksburg's Mayors and the Evolution of Town Government|last=Boone-Caldwell|first=Donna|editor-last=Cox|editor-first=Clara B.|website=A Special Place for 200 Years|publisher=The Town of Blacksburg, Virginia, and Virginia Tech Special Collections|archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20180521230309/https://spec.lib.vt.edu/bicent/recoll/histbook/sidebar.htm|archive-date=May 21, 2018|access-date=January 2, 2013}}</ref>

One year later, the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College opened on October 2, 1872, with a faculty of three members.<ref name=":0" /> The college grew and became known as Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI), later, "and State University" was added to the name, which shortly afterward became informally referred to as Virginia Tech.  It is now officially called Virginia Tech. It is Virginia's [[land-grant university]].

A [[fire fighters|fire-fighting]] unit was organized within the university in 1899.<ref name="bodell"/> The town bought its first fire truck 43 years later.<ref name="timeline"/> The Blacksburg First Aid and Life Saving Crew was founded in 1951 and renamed [[Blacksburg Volunteer Rescue Squad]] in another addition to the growing amount of emergency services.<ref name="timeline"/>

The first automobile came through the town in 1901. Three years later the train entered Blacksburg from Christiansburg using the [[Virginia Anthracite & Coal Railroad]], which later became known as the "Huckleberry."<ref name="chap7">{{cite web|url=http://spec.lib.vt.edu/bicent/recoll/histbook/chapter7.htm|title=Chapter 7, Blacksburg Transported: From Wagons to Jet Planes|last=Neumann|first=Patricia S.|editor-last=Cox|editor-first=Clara B.|website=A Special Place For 200 Years|publisher=The Town of Blacksburg, Virginia, and Virginia Tech Special Collections|archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20180521230304/https://spec.lib.vt.edu/bicent/recoll/histbook/chapter7.htm|archive-date=May 21, 2018|url-status=live|access-date=January 2, 2013}}</ref> Traffic in Blacksburg increased sufficiently enough that by January 1913 the town voted against allowing cows to continue to roam in town. The first [[filling station]] was opened in 1919 and at the time was the only one between [[Roanoke, Virginia]], and [[Bluefield, West Virginia]].<ref name="chap7"/> The town's first landing strip was built in 1929 and was 1,800 feet (548.64 m) in length. The grass landing strip was given airport status in 1931 and later became [[Virginia Tech Montgomery Executive Airport|Virginia Tech Airport]]. Local buses began to make their rounds for the first time in 1947.<ref name="timeline"/>

The town's first theater was built in 1909. It was a precursor to the Lyric Theatre on College Avenue.<ref name="lyric">{{cite web|url=http://spec.lib.vt.edu/specgen/lyr/lyrhist.htm|title=History and Early Homes of the Lyric|date=July 25, 1997|website=The Lyric Theatre: A Look Back at the Beginnings|publisher=Virginia Tech Special Collections, in collaboration with The Department of Housing, Interior Design and Resources Management at Virginia Tech|archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20170907202425/http://spec.lib.vt.edu/specgen/lyr/lyrhist.htm|archive-date=September 7, 2017|url-status=dead|access-date=January 2, 2013}}</ref>

In the spring of 1935, Main Street was strung with ten street lights from Roanoke Street northward to the top of the hill, where it now intersects the Alumni Mall. By October the town's second stoplight was installed on Main Street at Roanoke Street and was synchronized with the original one at Main and College.<ref name="chap7"/> The establishment of official law enforcement began in 1937 when Officer Dave "Highpockets" Sumner became the first Blacksburg police officer. The first police car was purchased nine years later.<ref name="timeline"/>