 The area that later became Galax was part of an land grant given to James Buchanan in 1756 by the English Crown.The first plat map for Galax is dated December 1903; The town founders selected the site for the city on a wide expanse of meadowland bisected by Chestnut Creek and sitting at an altitude of 2,500 feet on a plateau.The Virginia General Assembly officially chartered the town of Galax in 1906.