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This project is a table of contents for all projects relating to this City of Virginia. Please feel free to add profiles of anyone who was born, lived or died in this city.
The town is named for Galax urceolata, an evergreen groundcover plant found throughout the Blue Ridge Mountains. At the time, the plant was gathered and sold by many people in southwestern Virginia and northwestern North Carolina as an ornamental plant; a Norfolk and Western Railway Company official suggested that the town be named for the plant. The first Galax Agricultural Fair took place in September 1908, when Galax had 600 residents.
In the past, Galax was an industrial town; by the 1960s, Galax was home to six furniture factories, a mirror factory, at least four textile companies, two large department stores, a lumber company, Carnation Milk, Coca-Cola Bottling Company, and Clover Creamery.
The Town of Galax was separated from Carroll and Grayson counties and became an independent city on December 6, 1953.
In the 2000s, Galax and other small neighboring communities in southwestern Virginia joined with private businesses to create the Wired Road Authority, a public-private partnership that in 2009 created open-access, integrated regional broadband network with 100-megabit connections and in 2013 created gigabit connections. This was part of an economic-development effort.
The Old Grayson County Courthouse and Clerk's Office, Dr. Virgil Cox House, Gordon C. Felts House, Galax Commercial Historic District and A. G. Pless Jr. House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.