Martinsburg

Martinsburg, a town and the county-seat of Berkeley county, West Virginia, U.S.A., about 74 m. W.N.W. of Washington, D.C. Pop. (18go) 7226; (I goo) 7564 (678 negroes); (1910) 10,698. It is served by the Baltimore & Ohio and the Cumberland Valley railways; the former has repair shops here. It lies in the Lower Shenandoah Valley at the foot of Little North mountain, in the midst of a fruit-growing region, peaches and apples being the principal crops. Slate and limestone also abound in the vicinity. The town has a fine Federal Building and a King's Daughters' hospital. There are grain elevators, and various manufactures, including hosiery, woollen goods, dressed lumber, &c. Martinsburg owns its waterworks, the supply being derived from a neighbouring spring. A town was laid out here a short time before the War of Independence and was named Martinstown in honour of Colonel Thomas Bryan Martin, a nephew of Thomas, Lord Fairfax (1692-1782)'; in 1778 it was incorporated under its present name. During the Civil War Martinsburg was occupied by several different Union and Confederate forces.