History

Rockingham County was formed from Augusta County in 1778 and named for the Marquis of Rockingham, a British statesman sympathetic with the American Revolution.  Rockingham County is the third largest county in Virginia, encompassing 853 square miles of diverse terrain.

Harrisonburg is the only independent city, and is named in honor of Thomas Harrison, who deeded two and one-half acres of his plantation to the County for a courthouse in 1779.  Harrisonburg was founded in 1780, and recognized by the Virginia General Assembly as a town in 1849 and incorporated as a city in 1916.

As colonial settlers moved west, farming became the primary industry, and by the Civil War, the County and the valley were known as “The Breadbasket of the Confederacy.” It was the site of many battles, and Confederate General "Stonewall" Jackson's successful Civil War Valley Campaign ended in Port Republic in 1862.

Seven years later the railroad was completed between Washington, D.C., and Harrisonburg, which became the focal point for the poultry industry, and saw the development of one of the nation's first incubators in the nearby community of Dayton in 1884.