Lynchburg, Va.

Lynchburg, Virginia
Independent city
City of Lynchburg
The downtown Lynchburg skyline in the late 2000s
Seal Coat of arms Police patch
Nickname(s): "The Hill City"; "City of Seven Hills"
Location within the Commonwealth of Virginia
Lynchburg Location within the contiguous United States of America
Coordinates: 37°24′13″N 79°10′12″W / 37.40361°N 79.17000°W / 37.40361; -79.17000Coordinates: 37°24′13″N 79°10′12″W / 37.40361°N 79.17000°W / 37.40361; -79.17000
Country	United States
State	Virginia
Founded	1786
Incorporated (town)	1805
Incorporated (city)	1852
Named for	John Lynch
Government
• Type	Council–Manager
• Mayor	Joan Foster
• Vice Mayor	Treney Tweedy
• Council	Lynchburg City Council
Area
• Independent city	128 km2 (49.6 sq mi)
• Land	127 km2 (49.1 sq mi)
• Water	1 km2 (0.5 sq mi)
Elevation	192 m (630 ft)
Population (2016)
• Independent city	80,212(US: 416th)
• Density	594/km2 (1,539/sq mi)
• Urban	116,636 (US: 271st)
• Metro	260,320 (US: 184th)
• Demonym	Lynchburgian, Lynchburger
Time zone	EST (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP code(s)	24501, 24502, 24503, 24504, 24551
Area code(s)	434
FIPS code	51-47672
GNIS feature ID	1479007
Major airport	LYH
Website	lynchburgva.gov

Lynchburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 75,568. The 2016 census estimates an increase to 80,212. Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the banks of the James River, Lynchburg is known as the "City of Seven Hills" or the "Hill City". In the 1860s, Lynchburg was the only major city in Virginia that was not recaptured by the U.S. before the end of the American Civil War.

Lynchburg is the principal city of the Metropolitan Statistical Area of Lynchburg, near the geographic center of Virginia. It is the fifth largest MSA in Virginia with a population of 260,320 and hosts several institutions of higher education. Other nearby cities include Roanoke, Charlottesville, and Danville.

Monacan people and other Siouan Tutelo-speaking tribes had lived in the area since at least 1270, well before English settlers arrived in Virginia. They had driven the Virginia Algonquians eastward. Explorer John Lederer visited one of the Siouan villages (Saponi) in 1670, on the Staunton River at Otter Creek, southwest of the present-day city, as did the Thomas Batts and Robert Fallam expedition in 1671. Siouans occupied the area until about 1702, when, weakened by illness, the Seneca people (who spoke an Iroquois-related language) and hunted along the Shenandoah valley to the West conquered them. Beginning in 1718, certain Iroquois ceded control to the Colony of Virginia, as later did others at the Treaty of Albany in 1721 and Treaty of Lancaster in 1744.