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Although the first land grant in the area was issued by Lord Fairfax of Cameron in 1740, it was not until 1764 that Purcellville’s first known settler, James Dillon from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, arrived.

The early ox cart track which wound westward from Leesburg towards the Blue Ridge, known later as the “Great Road,” served as the town’s nucleus, although farms existed in the area, and Ketoctin Baptist Church had been founded nearby by 1752.

The first recorded business, an ordinary (a combined store and inn), was established by Abraham Vickers in 1799. This was followed by a second ordinary, established by Stacey Taylor in 1804, and later by “Purcel’s Store” and Post Office, established by Valentine Vernon Purcell (from whom the town’s name is derived). A blacksmith’s shop, established around 1848, was also among Purcellville’s earliest businesses. On July 9, 1853, the village officially adopted the name Purcellville