Robert Adams completed a town survey in November of that year, dividing the area into half-acre lots.

[7] Two years later, in October 1792, the town was officially named Evansham, for prominent local citizen Jesse Evans.

[7] In 1926, the last documented lynching in Virginia took place here, when Raymond Byrd, an African-American man, was murdered by a large group of masked and costumed men while under arrest in the local jail.

The two older sisters, both of whom bore Byrd's children, were of age and revealed that the relationship was consensual and thus did not constitute a crime.

Then his dead body was dragged a few miles behind a truck, placed in the boot of a car, and then hanged from a tree on Charley Brown's land near St. Paul Lutheran Church.

[9] Byrd's death was a catalyst for Virginia's passing an anti-lynching law in 1928, largely because of a campaign led by Louis I. Jaffé, editor of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot.

It was supported by Governor Harry Flood Byrd Sr., who linked the bill to his efforts to attract new businesses to the state.

[11] From the beginning of June until the end of August, parents kept children inside, and large gatherings were cancelled to diminish the chance of infection.

[12] As the epidemic progressed, ambulances drove victims approximately 80 miles (130 km) to Memorial Crippled Children's Hospital in Roanoke, Virginia.

[13] The Town Council erected billboards at all five entrances to the county, warning potential visitors of the epidemic and urging tourists to return the following year.

The nearby community of Fort Chiswell is the control city for the northbound traffic on I-77 coming from Charlotte, Statesville, Elkin, and Mount Airy, North Carolina.

Due to its elevation, the climate of Wytheville is either classified as mountain temperate or humid subtropical (Köppen Cfb or Cfa, respectively), and the town straddles the border between USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 6B and 7A.

Blue Ridge Media Partners owns WYVE and its sister stations, WXBX and WLOY with towers in Wythe County and studio space adjacent to Downtown Wytheville.