Roanoke (city, Virginia) is a city, located within, yet independent of, Roanoke County, southwestern Virginia, around the Roanoke River; incorporated as a city 1884. Found amongst the Blue Ridge and the Allegheny Mountains at the southern end of the Shenandoah Valley, Roanoke is a commercial, financial, manufacturing, and transportation hub of western Virginia. Products consist of transportation equipment, furniture, fiber optics, electric and electronic items, cosmetics, fabricated metal items, as well as medical equipment. Hollins College (1842) as well as a junior college are right here. Settled about 1740, the community remained small until 1882, when it became an important junction of two railroad lines. Noted by many names, such as Big Lick (for nearby salt licks), it had been called Roanoke in the early 1880s.
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