The General Assembly established an Act in October 1786 stating that forty-five acres of land, the property of John Lynch, and lying contiguous to Lynch’s Ferry, in the county of Campbell, are hereby vested in…gentlemen trustees, to be laid off into lots of half an acre each, with convenient streets, and established a town by the name of Lynchburg.

The Campbell County sheriff’s office provided law enforcement for Lynchburg until January 1805, when the Virginia General Assembly enlarged the town’s size and established its local government.

The first recorded law enforcement officer for Lynchburg was John Davis, who was made City Sergeant.  The common council then established a watch or patrol and a jail was built just beyond town limits, which would have been just to the rear of where the 'old courthouse' now stands.

John Davis served as City Sergeant

Following John Davis: