After the General Assembly’s action in March 1871 establishing the Corporation of the Town of Blacksburg, the town’s Board of Trustees convened to organize under the granted town charter. The inaugural town election occurred on the fourth Tuesday in May 1871, resulting in the election of Thomas W. Jones as Blacksburg’s first mayor along with six council members. Since then, the town has seen up to thirty two mayors, serving terms ranging from one month to thirty-four years.
- Thomas W. Jones – 1871-1872
- John Lybrook – 1872-1874,1882-1884,1889-1891
- Giles D. Thomas – 1874-1876,1884-1885
- W. Francis Henderson – 1876-1877, 1880-1882
- Robert T. Ellett – 1877-1880
- William B. Conway – 1882 (3 mos)
- Thomas Nelson Conrad – 1882 (3 mos), 1887 (1 mos)
- Tipton B. Evans – 1885-1887
- Stewart Argabright – 1887-1888, 1889 (nine mos)
- A. T. Keister – 1888 (4 mos)
- Charles Wesley Gardner – 1891-1893
- Edward D. Bodell – 1893-1894, 1895-1896
- D. O. Matthews – 1894-1895
- Allen Coperton Pack – 1896 (5 mos)
- Wirt Dunlap – 1896-1899, 1902-1904
- George W. Walker – 1899-1902
- Thomas A. Helms – 1904
- J. F. Cook – 1904-1905 (acting mayor, 11 mos)
- J. P. Harvey – 1905-1906
- records not available1907-1909
- William O. Frith – 1909
- Frank Waylon Eheart – 1910-1918, 1930-1940, 1940-1942
- V. C. Austin – 1940 (mayor pro tem, 4 mos)
- D. H. Keister – 1918-1919
- John Davis Stanger – 1919-1924
- Henry E. Argabrite – 1924 (mayor pro tem, 1 month)
- W. G. Chrisman – 1924 (4 mos)
- William L. Lancaster – 1924-1930
- William Wesley Argabrite – 1942-1943 (7 mos)
- John M. Barringer – 1943 – 1978
- Arthur J. Walrath – 1978 – 1982
- Roger E. Hedgepeth – 1982 – 2005
- Ron Rordam – 2005 – 2017
- Leslie Hager-Smith – 2017 – present
“Since Blacksburg’s incorporation in 1871, the town government has undergone significant changes. For almost eighty years, the mayor and fellow councilmen made all the decisions regarding town business. Numerous town sergeants were hired during the early years to carry out necessary-and sometimes unpopular-tasks of day to day operations. Eventually some departments were established to carry out particular functions, such as public safety, finance and tax collection, and public utilities. In 1952 the town council appointed the first town manager to oversee and manage Blacksburg’s government services. With the hiring of a full-time administrator, town council could then concentrate more on setting policy and adopting legislation, while the town manager focused on town operations.”
Compiled by Donna Boone-Caldwell, retired town clerk for Blacksburg.
Gathering Blacksburg History 