Town lots were laid out beginning in 1754, and on September 21, 1758, Lewis Stephens petitioned the colonial government of Virginia in Williamsburg for a town charter. The Virginia General Assembly approved the charter for the town of "Stephensburgh" on October 12, 1758. The mostly German-speaking residents soon left off the "h"; the town was usually spelled "Stephensburg". By the start of the Revolutionary War, Stephensburg was often called simply "New Town" or "Newtown", as the new settlement on the Great Wagon Road south of Winchester.