Clog Heroes, the Manassas, VA Plumber for a City Born at a Rail Junction in 1852
In Manassas, Prince William County, Clog Heroes takes plumbing, drain and sewer calls. Manassas began as Manassas Junction when the rail lines were completed in 1852. It was chartered as a town in 1873 and became an independent city in 1975.
Clog Heroes works on plumbing, drains and sewer lines in Manassas homes. Expect a plain-language diagnosis first. If you go ahead on site, the $89 dispatch fee is waived.
Center Street, the Courthouse and the Battlefield
The county seat moved here from Brentsville in 1892, and a new courthouse opened in 1894.
On Thursdays the farmers market sets up at Harris Pavilion, 9201 Center Street, in Historic Downtown Manassas. On the first Saturday in October, the Manassas Fall Jubilee fills Center Street.
Cannon Branch Fort, an earthwork built in 1863, is one of two that remain in the city. Manassas National Battlefield Park covers more than 5,000 acres and preserves the First Battle of Manassas on July 21, 1861 and the Second on August 28-30, 1862.
A National Park Service geology report notes Triassic basins at the battlefield, flatter ground than the rolling Piedmont hills around them.
A City on Routes 28 and 234
Manassas counted 42,772 residents at the 2020 Census, on 9.9 square miles. Route 28, Route 234 and Business Route 234 carry you in and out.
The trains still matter here. Manassas station serves the Virginia Railway Express and three Amtrak routes: the Cardinal, the Northeast Regional and the Crescent.
The old depot is busy too. The Manassas Railroad Depot at 9431 West Street, built in 1914, now houses the Historic Manassas Visitor Center. Right beside it, the Harris Pavilion hosts concerts, dances and farmers markets, and holds 1,000 people standing.
Every June the Manassas Heritage Railway Festival takes over Historic Downtown, with excursion trains to Clifton and back, model railroad displays and live music.
Then comes the big one. Every first Saturday in October, the Manassas Fall Jubilee takes over Center Street and the side streets with more than 100 craft and community booths, live music and food. The 2026 Jubilee, on October 3, is the 43rd.
On the first Friday of every month, downtown turns out for First Friday, with local art and a theme for the night.
Look up and you'll see the city's other traffic. Manassas Regional Airport is the busiest general aviation airport in Virginia, with more than 415 aircraft and 26 businesses based there.
The Manassas Museum, Liberia and Jennie Dean
The Manassas Museum, at 9101 Prince William Street, sits on eight acres. It reopened in 2023 after a renovation, in time for the city's 150th anniversary. Admission is free.
A block from the tracks, the ARTfactory at 9419 Battle Street fills the four-story brick Hopkins Candy Factory. The candy company moved in during February 1908, and a free exhibit downstairs tells the story of the building and its architect, Albert Speiden.
History here also has a gentler date on the calendar. From July 16 to 22, 1911, Manassas held a Peace Jubilee for the 50th anniversary of the First Battle of Manassas.
Liberia, at 8601 Portner Avenue, went up in 1825 for Harriett Bladen Mitchell Weir and William James Weir, on part of the 1,660-acre lower Bull Run Tract. The grounds are free and open from sunrise to sunset.
It's a two-story, five-bay Federal-style house, built of bricks fired on site from Virginia red clay. Jefferson Davis came in 1861 and Abraham Lincoln in 1862, each to confer with his generals. Every June the 18-acre grounds host the city's Bee Festival.
In 1888 the Weirs sold Liberia to Robert Portner, an Alexandria brewer, and the land became a dairy.
Jennie Dean founded the Manassas Industrial School for Colored Youth in 1893. Frederick Douglass dedicated its first building, Howland Hall, on September 3, 1894.
Students came from 11 states and the District of Columbia. For the 1937–1938 school year, the Prince William, Fairfax and Fauquier school boards agreed to buy it as a regional high school.
The four-acre Jennie Dean Memorial at 9601 Wellington Road keeps her story in view: a bronze statue of Dean, outlines of the old campus buildings and a bronze model of the campus. It's free, sunrise to sunset.
Lake Manassas Water, Bull Run Drainage
The city runs its own water utility. It draws from Lake Manassas, treats up to 14 million gallons a day and sends it out through 168 miles of water line.
About 123 miles of sanitary sewer carry wastewater to the Upper Occoquan Service Authority plant, and Manassas is one of its four member jurisdictions.
Rain off your roof ends up in Broad Run, Bull Run or Cub Run, all tributaries of the Occoquan River. The typical home here dates to 1985, and about 72% of the city's 14,041 households own their home.