[HISTORY: There is herein set forth a portion of an act of the legislative body of Virginia, adopted in October 1777, which was the second year of the Commonwealth of Virginia, which portion established the Town of Lexington, Virginia.]
"And be it further enacted, that at the place which shall be appointed for holding courts in the said County of Rockbridge there shall be laid off a town, to be called Lexington, thirteen hundred feet in length and nine hundred in width. And in order to make satisfaction to the proprietors of the said land, the Clerk of the said county shall, by order of the justices, issue a writ directed to the sheriff commanding him to summon twelve able and disinterested freeholders to meet on the said land on a certain day, not under five nor over ten days from the date, who shall upon oath value the said land, in so many parcels as there shall be separate owners, which valuation the sheriff shall return, under the hands and seals of the said jurors, to the Clerk's office, and the justices, at laying their first county levy; shall make provision for paying the said proprietors, their respective proportions thereof, and the property of the said land shall, on the return of such valuation, become vested in the justices and their successors, one acre thereof to be reserved for the use of the said county, and the residue to be sold and conveyed by the said justices to any persons, and the money arising from such sale to be applied towards lessening the county levy; and the public buildings for the said county shall be erected on the lands reserved as aforesaid."