About

The Blue Ridge Leader was born in 1984, when five local businessmen joined forces and funds to establish a free paper covering western Loudoun County from an office in the basement of the old firehouse on 20th Street. Four years later, during a financial crisis, publisher and editor Philip Hahn informed the paper’s board of directors that he was moving the operation into his home on Main Street. He hoped to keep publishing the paper, “but the advertising base in Leesburg and western Loudoun County is limited,” he reminded the board.

Some 21 years later in April of 2009, the paper found itself back where it started: In the basement of the old firehouse, facing a financial crisis. Phil Hahn passed away in 2008, and Western Loudoun’s advertising base was once again contracting during the worst economic climate since the Great Depression.

The difficult decision was made to say goodbye to The Blue Ridge Leader - at least in its newsprint incarnation. The Leader now lives on in cleaner, greener cyberspace, and we’re glad you stopped by for a visit.