On December 8, 1796, the General Assembly authorized eight commissioners to establish at Boyd’s Ferry on the south side of the Dan River the town of South Boston, named for Boston, Massachusetts. Because this site proved vulnerable to flooding it was eventually abandoned in favor of a new settlement on the north side. By the 1850s the Richmond and Danville Railroad passed through South Boston, which eventually developed into an important market for brightleaf tobacco. In 1884 it was incorporated as a town; in 1960 it became an independent city by court order. South Boston became a town again and rejoined Halifax County on July 1, 1995.
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