In 1900, agricultural horse exhibitions and local county fairs were held in Bowling Green, Missouri, which were separate from the massive commercial gambling races at the St. Louis Fairgrounds. The Pike County Agricultural and Mechanical Society was formally organized after the Civil War. They established the local fairgrounds in Bowling Green, which featured a dirt track built specifically for agricultural exhibitions and harness/speed racing. By 1900, the annual fair was a major summer event. For a few days every year, horse breeders from across Missouri and neighboring states brought their finest stock to compete in standard harness racing, pacing, and sprinting events. The traditional racing era in Bowling Green effectively ended in 1905.

Depending on which historical generation you are tracing, there are two distinct women named Edith Funkhouser from Rockbridge County, Virginia.

Edith Ellen Funkhouser (March 1, 1884 – January 7, 1964) was the daughter of Elijah Reck Funkhouser and Elizabeth Ringgold Leitch of Lexington, Virginia. Edith Funkhouser married Rex Waldo Dunnington in 1904 in Virginia. By May 1910, she was already legally recorded as Edith Dunnington in a Rockbridge County property deed, where her parents gifted a corner lot at Jackson Avenue and White Street in Lexington to their daughters. The couple had a son, Guy Waldo Dunnington, born in St. Louis, Missouri, who grew up to become a prominent mathematical biographer and academic. Edith passed away in Natchitoches, Louisiana, and is buried in Bowling Green, Missouri.

Edith Miller Funkhouser (1921–1999) married Francis Donald Major on April 13, 1960. She was the daughter of Wilton Leitch Funkhouser and Martha McCormick Snider and a niece of Edith Funkhouser Dunnington. She lived in the Natural Bridge/Fancy Hill area of Rockbridge County and was buried at the Falling Springs Cemetery. Together with her husband, she had a son, Lawrence "Butch" Major, who later went by Lawrence "Butch" Funkhouser.

Bessie Funkhouser, a sister of Edith Ellen Funkhouser, married George William Rader in 1907 in Rockbridge County, Virginia.

Nannie and daughter Evelyn Lackey boarded with Edith Major's parents Wilton Leitch Funkhouser and Martha McCormick Snider, and the Funkhousers boarded with Nannie in the Fancy Hill/Natural Bridge area of Rockbridge County, Virginia. Evelyn Lackey is the daughter of James and Nannie Lackey, and was born blind in 1872. She passed in 1941.

Elijah Rex Funkhouser was a prominent late 19th and early 20th century resident, merchant, and civic figure in Lexington, Virginia, who served as an active early member of the Lexington Fire Department. Born on May 15, 1844, and married to Elizabeth Ringold Leitch, his civic engagement spanned multiple local departments and businesses before his death in the early 1920s. During the late 1800s, he was an active participant in Lexington's early organized firefighting and town volunteer efforts, helping establish municipal protections during a period when the town heavily relied on prominent local business owners to manage fires. Beyond his fire service, Funkhouser operated a local grocery business and worked as a deputy treasurer under Rockbridge County Treasurer S. R. Moore in the late 1890s. He later spent years working as a head bookkeeper for local firm B. Irwin & Company until his retirement from that role in 1913.

Bettie McGuffin lived just outside of Lexington, Virginia in the rural area of Fancy Hill. In 1900 Bettie McGuffin married William Snider in Rockbridge County, Virginia.

Mattie Miller married Davis Snider in 1873.

General John J. Pershing visited Lexington, Virginia, on June 18, 1920, to participate in commencement exercises at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI). John Joseph Pershing (13 September 1860 – 15 July 1948), nicknamed "Black Jack", was an American army general, educator, and founder of the Pershing Rifles. He served as the commander of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) during World War I from 1917 to 1920.

George Rader and Bessie Funkhouser were married on April 24, 1907.

Ivan Snider and Walton Snider were brothers of Martha Snider, who married Wilton Funkhouser. They were all children of Davis Snider and Mattie Snider. Martha and Wilton Funkhouser were parents of Edith Funkhouser Major.

William Alexander Anderson "Bigfoot" Wallace (1817–1899) was a famous Texas Ranger, soldier, and frontier folk hero. Born in Lexington, Virginia, he moved to Texas in 1837 after his brother and cousin died in the 1836 Goliad Massacre. He fought in the Texan-Mexican conflicts, the Somervell and Mier Expeditions, and the Mexican-American War. Gained the nickname "Bigfoot" after an Indian tracker misidentified his distinctive large moccasin tracks in Austin. A town in Frio County, Texas, was named Bigfoot in his honor. He is buried in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin.

The last United States forces departed the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress (often referred to as a castle) in Koblenz, Germany, on January 24, 1923. On this day, the American flag (the Stars and Stripes) was officially lowered from the fortress, marking the end of the post-World War I American occupation of the Rhineland.

The Fancy Hill area became famous for seven Federal style brick mansions built by related families. They were known as the "Seven Hills of Rockbridge County." Fancy Hill was the largest of these estates. Built in phases between 1821 and 1831 by Thomas Welch and his wife Sarah, John Grigsby's daughter, the mansion sits on a knoll overlooking the Lee highway, South Route 11. The surrounding landscape included Cherry Hill, Fruit Hill, Rose Hill, Hickory Hill, Clover Hill, and Liberty Hill. Because of its strategic location on the Great Valley Road, the Fancy Hill area served the broader public and not just wealthy landowners. The Fancy Hill estate operated as a prominent stagecoach stop called Welch's Tavern. It featured a unique second floor "transit jail" to hold prisoners or enslaved people being transported along the highway. In 1827, local landowners gathered at Fancy Hill to form the Rockbridge Agricultural Society. This group spearheaded modern farming techniques in Western Virginia. Following the Civil War, the estate transitioned into education. From 1871 to 1883, it housed a classical boarding school for boys, drawing students from across the state.

The old Harper and Agnor frame building and warehouse was located on West Nelson Street at the railroad overpass, but it was torn down in 1974.

The new Ann Smith school building was built on the old Ann Smith academy site between 1909 and 1910. It served as Lexington High School until 1927, and later as Ann Smith Elementary School until 1969. Located at the northwest corner of Nelson Street and Lee Avenue, the property was purchased by Washington and Lee University in 1978. Today, the building serves as the university's Chi Psi fraternity house.

The history of the Lexington Water Reservoir, officially known as the Moores Creek Reservoir and impounded by the Moores Creek Dam, spans nearly a century of evolving municipal water needs. Lexington, Virginia's initial public water systems date back to 1832, utilizing local springs and cast iron pipes. However, severe droughts, such as the one in 1904, routinely forced the city to look further into the surrounding mountains of Rockbridge County for reliable, supplemental water storage. To secure a stable long term supply, the city eventually constructed the Moores Creek Dam, also known historically as the Ad Cox Knob Dam, roughly 11 miles southwest of the city center. The project created the Lexington Reservoir, nestled within what is today the Moore's Creek State Forest. Th Over time, Lexington transitioned its primary drinking water sources elsewhere, rendering the reservoir an alternative backup option. In 1986, the City of Lexington and Rockbridge County signed a formal agreement. The city assumed full financial responsibility for maintaining the dam. In return, the county maintained an irrevocable legal right to withdraw water from the reservoir during public emergencies. In late 2025, engineers discovered a major sinkhole at the base of the Moores Creek Dam. In April 2026, the Lexington City Council unanimously approved a historic agreement with Rockbridge County to fully decommission the dam. To compensate the county for relinquishing its emergency water rights, the city agreed to a series of structured annual financial payments. Today, while the dam prepares for physical removal to improve public safety and restore natural stream flows, the surrounding reservoir footprint remains part of the Moore's Creek State Forest, popular for remote brook trout fishing and hiking.

Founded around 1860 by James Thaddeus (J.T.) McCrum, the drugstore became the ultimate social center for both Lexington, Virginia residents and university students from Washington and Lee University and the Virginia Military Institute. Because Lexington was near the historic intersection of U.S. Route 11 and Route 60, McCrum's served as a central crossroads for nationwide Greyhound buses. At all hours of the night, travelers would flood the store's restaurant section for country ham, Coca-Cola, and ice cream.

The M. J. Weaver store was located on South Main Street, Lexington, Virginia. It operated as a long standing cornerstone of the town's commercial center. The store was founded by M. J. Weaver and was a well known establishment in Lexington dating back to the late 19th century. By 1920, South Main Street was transitioning out of the dirt road, horse and buggy era. The storefronts were adapting to the age of early automobiles, serving local residents, farmers, and students from nearby Washington and Lee University and the Virginia Military Institute. During this era, general merchants like M. J. Weaver were highly versatile, though historical directory records categorize the Weaver business primarily under Dry Goods. In the 1920s, a dry goods merchant supplied the community with rolls of cotton, wool, linen, and sewing notions essential for households making their own garments. Also avilable were basic clothing items, stockings, hats, footwear, blankets, linens, and everyday household textiles.

The original Grace Episcopal Church building, a smaller church structure was completely torn down in 1881 so that the current, much larger stone Gothic Revival sanctuary could be built on the exact same footprint. In 1903 to honor the former general's extensive service to the congregation and local universities, the church was renamed R.E. Lee Memorial Episcopal Church. In 2017, following years of internal dialogue regarding the legacy of Confederate memorialization, which intensified after national protests, the church vestry voted 7–5 on September 18, 2017, to officially drop the memorial name. It became Grace Episcopal Church again.

Rockbridge Alum Springs is a historic property located in western Rockbridge County, Virginia, near Goshen, that evolved from a premier 19th century mineral spring resort into a massive, modern youth camp operated by Young Life. Developed heavily in the 1850s, it was one of Virginia's most prestigious and exclusive antebellum spa complexes, ranking second in popularity only to White Sulphur Springs. The resort was famous for its rare, highly astringent aluminum-sulfate mineral waters, believed to cure chronic skin diseases, digestive ailments, and scrofula. The original complex featured a sprawling landscape centered around a columned pavilion, topped by a statue of Hygeia, the Greek goddess of health, built directly over the mineral spring. Guests stayed in grand brick hotels or long, uniform rows of cottages like "Baltimore Row".

The Virginia Mourning Her Dead monument has stood in two specific locations on the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) campus since its dedication. The original location was The Cadet Cemetery. When Moses Ezekiel dedicated the monument on June 23, 1903, it was initially placed near the northwest corner of the VMI Parade Ground. This area served as the campus cadet cemetery, where the remains of five New Market cadets had been reinterred in 1878. In 1912, the statue was moved across the campus to its present location facing the VMI Parade Ground in front of the Nichols Engineering Building. The remains of the six fallen cadets were moved from the old cemetery and placed directly into a copper box inside the foundation of the monument, making it an official grave site. Moses Jacob Ezekiel, a prominent sculptor and the first Jewish cadet to graduate from the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), dedicated the iconic Virginia Mourning Her Dead bronze monument on June 23, 1903 on the grounds. Ezekiel was a Corporal in the VMI Color Guard and fought in the Battle of New Market on May 15, 1864. Cast in Rome, the monument features Lady Virginia slumped over a cannon, holding a shield customized with the state coat of arms.

ThE Furr's Mill site, historically known as Leyburn's Mill, on the Maury River in Lexington, Virginia, were in operational existence from 1830 until 1962. The first mill on the site was constructed by Dr. Alfred Leyburn, a founder of VMI and rector of Washington and Lee. The initial dam structure diverted water from the Maury River, then known as the North River, to power the millrace. From 1925–1931, historical geological and state survey records note that the Furr's Mill Dam was still actively used to gauge water levels and map the river. The mill officially ceased operations in 1962, leaving the mill building and remnants of the river infrastructure abandoned. The catastrophic Election Day Flood of 1985 heavily damaged the remaining structures in the Furr's Mill area. What was left of the historic mill complex was completely demolished around 2007.

Mandated by the Board of Trustees, the Founders Day Convocation university holiday and commemoration occurred annually on or about January 19, Robert E. Lee's birthday. It brought the student body and faculty together to honor the university's history.