Manassas

According to tradition the name Manassas was derived either from an Indian source or from Manasseh, a Jewish innkeeper at Manassas Gap (35 miles west). The community originated in 1852 at the junction of the Manassas Gap and Orange & Alexandria railroads, which linked northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., with the Shenandoah Valley and central Virginia. During the Civil War the junction's strategic importance led to the battles of First and Second Manassas (Bull Run), both Confederate victories. Manassas was incorporated as a town in 1873 and became a city in 1975.