City of Manassas, Virginia

City of Manassas Education, Geography, and History

Manassas (formerly Manassas Junction) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010, the population was 37,821. The city is surrounded by Prince William County and the independent city of Manassas Park. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Manassas (along with Manassas Park) with Prince William County for statistical purposes.

The City of Manassas is part of the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area and it is situated in the Northern Virginia region.

Etymology - Origin of City of Name

Manassas, in Prince William County, began in 1852 as the Manassas junction of the Manassas Gap Railroad and the Orange and Alexandria Railroad.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: City of Manassas

City History

In 1861, the First Battle of Manassas - also widely known as the First Battle of Bull Run - the first major land battle of the American Civil War, was fought near here. Second Manassas (or the Second Battle of Bull Run) was fought near here on August 28-30, 1862. At that time, Manassas Junction was little more than a railroad crossing, but a strategic one, with rails leading to Richmond, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and the Shenandoah Valley. Despite these two Confederate victories, Manassas Junction was in Union hands for most of the war.

The crossroads grew into the town of Manassas following the war, incorporated in 1873. In 1892, it became the county seat of Prince William County, replacing Brentsville. In 1975, Manassas became an independent city.

Manassas, Virginia was incorporated as a town in 1874. In 1852 it was the junction of the Manassas Gap Railroad and the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. Located in Prince William County, Virginia and its county seat. In 1975 it became a city by court order. [Virginia Genealogy, Sources & Resources, by Carol McGinnis, Genealogical Publishing Inc., Baltimore, MD, 1993.]

Manchester, Virginia chartered as an independent city in 1874. Merged with Richmond (city) in 1910. [County Courthouse Book, by Elizabeth Petty Bentley, Genealogical Publishing Inc., Baltimore, MD, 1990.]

Geography: Land and Water

As reported by the Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 10.0 square miles (25.8 km²), of which, 9.9 square miles (25.7 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (0.20%) is water.

Neighboring Counties

Bordering counties are as follows:

• Prince William County, Virginia - northwest, west, south, east
• Manassas Park, Virginia - northeast

Education

The City of Manassas is served by the Manassas City Public Schools.

Also in the vicinity of Manassas are branch campuses of American Public University System, George Mason University, Northern Virginia Community College, ECPI College of Technology and Strayer University. Despite that some of these may in fact be just outside the city limits in Prince William County, NVCC and Strayer call these branches their "Manassas Campuses."

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