Thousands of visitors are descending upon Farmville and Longwood University for the only U.S. Vice Presidential Debate of the year. But what about the town and university caught the attention of the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), ultimately making its members choose them for the auspicious occasion?

Earlier this month, Longwood hosted a Media Day event, welcoming some representatives of the many newspapers, television stations and other news outlets to meet with officials.

During that meeting, Farmville Mayor David Whitus cited several reasons the CPD may have chosen the town. Whitus said “there is a uniqueness” to Farmville being the first two-college town in America as the home of both Longwood and Hampden-Sydney College. He noted Longwood started as an all-female school while Hampden-Sydney is an all-male school. Longwood is public, Hampden-Sydney private, he pointed out.

Whitus also cited the town’s unique history from the Civil War to the civil rights movement, as well as being a “furniture mecca” thanks to Green Front Furniture, and home of the High Bridge Trail.

Longwood University President W. Taylor Reveley IV also touched on Farmville history.

“On the north wall of this (meeting) room, we’ve got pictures from around Farmville and the region from the close of the Civil War. The Civil War came to a close, quite literally, along High Street (where) both Lee and Grant’s troops marched,” he said during the Media Day event. “Then on the southern wall in this room you have pictures of what was Moton High School and pictures from around town of the student-led strike in 1951 … (which) resulted in Brown v. Board of Education. So, it is fair to say the civil rights movement took its first strides in Farmville.”

Reveley also said he felt the CPD’s visits to campus helped cement its choice by seeing the energy of the university’s students.

Reveley’s chief of staff, Justin Pope, said the process to host the debate at Longwood started nearly two years ago. Since being chosen,  the university has focused on three goals: engaging students by incorporating the debate into the syllabi of more than 30 classes and having hundreds of students as part of “an army of volunteers”; making the Longwood name better known throughout the country and the world; and to “leave a legacy” through both a new curriculum and physical makeovers on campus.

When the CPD put out requests for proposals for debate sites, including the Vice Presidential Debate, it laid out the following criteria, according to a news release on its website:

• A debate hall of at least 17,000 square feet that is air-conditioned.

• A large parking area close to the debate hall for 40 television remote trucks, trailers and/or satellite trucks up to 53 feet long.

• A media filing center, located either in the same facility as the debate hall or extremely close to the debate hall that is a minimum of 20,000 square feet (may be a tent).  This space must be air-conditioned.

• A media parking lot, located approximately 1/4- to 1 mile away from the media filing center, that can accommodate approximately 500 passenger vehicles.

• An accreditation center of at least 3,000 square feet, located 1/2- to 1 mile away from the debate hall, with parking for 75 vehicles.

• Nearby hotels that can provide 3,000 rooms for the event.

• Good air and ground transportation networks.

• The host’s guarantee of complete city services, including public safety personnel.

A special guest during Longwood’s Media Day was former PBS NewsHour anchor Jim Lehrer, who has moderated 12 presidential debates.

“From this point on … what happens here on that night will be known forever as ‘The Longwood Debate,’” Lehrer said. “Whatever happens — good, bad or indifferent — it will always be labeled as ‘it happened at Longwood,’ which is a terrific thing.”