Leesburg

Leesburg is a historic town within and the county seat of Loudoun County, Virginia. Leesburg is 33 miles (53 km) west-northwest of Washington, D.C. along the base of Catoctin Mountain and adjacent to the Potomac River.  Its population according to the 2010 Census is 42,616.  The town is also the northwestern terminus of the Dulles Greenway, a private toll road that connects to the Dulles Toll Road at Washington Dulles International Airport.

Leesburg, like the rest of Loudoun, has undergone considerable growth and development over the last 30 years, transforming from a small, rural, piedmont town to a suburban bedroom community for commuters to the national capital. Growth in the town and its immediate area to the east (Lansdowne/Ashburn) concentrates along the Dulles Greenway and State Route 7, which roughly parallels the Potomac River between Winchester to the west and Alexandria to the east.

The Federal Aviation Administration's Washington Air Route Traffic Control Center is in Leesburg.

Leesburg currently has four public high schools operated by the Loudoun County Public School system; Loudoun County High School, which serves the western portion; Heritage High School, which serves the eastern portion; Tuscarora High School, which serves the northern portion; and Riverside High School, which serves the community of Lansdowne. Leesburg is also served by several private schools, including Dominion Academy, a K–8 non-denominational Christian school; Leesburg Christian School, a K–12 non-denominational Christian school; and pre-K-8 Loudoun Country Day School.

The Leesburg Volunteer Fire Company provides fire protection services.  The Loudoun County Volunteer Rescue Squad provides rescue and emergency medical services.  Both the fire company and rescue squad are volunteer organizations supplemented with partial staffing from the Loudoun County Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Management.  The fire company can trace its roots back to 1863; the rescue squad was formed in 1952.

Leesburg is also served by a town police department.

Leesburg operates the Leesburg Executive Airport at Godfrey Field, which serves Loudoun County with private and corporate aircraft operations.  A designated reliever airport for Dulles International, the airport accounts for nearly $78 million per year in economic impact according to a 2011 study by the Virginia Department of Aviation.  It is home (as of 2005) to over 240 aircraft, and hosts 20–30 jet operations per day.  The airport was built in 1963 to replace the original Leesburg airport, which Arthur Godfrey owned and referred to affectionately as "The Old Cow Pasture" on his radio show.  Godfrey, who, by the early 1950s, had purchased the Beacon Hill Estate west of Leesburg, used a DC-3 to commute from his farm to studios in New York City every Sunday night during the 1950s and 1960s.  His DC-3 was so powerful and noisy that Godfrey built a new airport, funding it through the sale of the old field.  Originally named Godfrey Field, it is now known as Leesburg Executive Airport at Godfrey Field.

Also located near Leesburg is the National Conference Center, which the Xerox Corporation built in the 1970s.  Government entities and private business use the Conference Center for meetings and conferences.  Three main focal points connect this maze of underground buildings, one of which is currently the headquarters of Civilian Police International, a government sub-contract company.

*Wikipedia