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Rare highly detailed town plan of Elkton, Virginia, drawn by A.T. Amiss for the Elkton Improvement Company (A.G. Walker, Civil and Topographical Engineer of Luray, Virginia). The map is almost certainly the first printed map of the town, which was part of a development plan charted in 1891.

This highly detaildd map shows the town of Elkton, Virginia, on the Shenandoah River, with a smaller map in the upper left corner showing the area 150 miles around Elkton. The map includes a long explanatory note from the promoters, advising that the streets shown on the map may not be constructed and are subject to change. The map provides a marvelously elaborate town plan, complete with a waterfront part, bridges, areas reserved for a commercial district, parks, school sites, hotel grounds, etc. Includes contour lines, identifying the topographical details of the town, along with roads into town.

The town of Elkton was the promotional brainchild of the Elktown Improvement Company. The Charter and by-laws of the Elkton Improvement Company, Elkton, Virginia, which was printed in 1891, notes that the company was created "to acquire by purchase, lease or otherwise real and personal estate in the counties of Rockingham, Page, Green and Albemarle in the State of Virginia, to carry on and conduct the business of mining and manufacturing ..., to lay out towns." A 4 page prospectus for the company entitled Prospectus of the Elkton Improvement Company, Elkton, Rockingham County, Virginia, was printed in 1890, although there is no indication from the 2 surviving examples in OCLC that it included a printed map. A broadside advertising the sale of lots entitled Valuation of lots in the town of Elkton, Rockingham County, Virginia, to be offered at public auction on Thursday and Friday, 23d and 24th of Oct. 1890, also survives in the collection of the University of Virginia.

Elkton was original known as Conrads Store, a general store built by George Conrad about 1812. George Conrad was a son of Captain Stephen Conrad who served during the American Revolution. In 1816, Conrads Store became a United States post office with George Conrad as its first postmaster. During the American Civil War (1861-1865), Conrads Store operated as a Confederate post office. In September 1866, postal service was briefly discontinued at Conrads Store, and intermittently resumed and discontinued over the next decade until 1881 when the name, Elkton, was adopted as the name of new passenger station of the Shenandoah Valley Railroad. In January 1881, Elkton, Virginia was established as a post office. The Town of Elkton was officially incorporated on March 14, 1908.