SR 13 is the remnant of a much longer route. It was part of the initial system defined in 1918, running from the
West Virginia state line via
Lexington,
Lynchburg,
Farmville, and
Richmond to
State Route 8 near
Tappahannock. This corridor is now generally
U.S. Route 60,
U.S. Route 501,
U.S. Route 460,
State Route 45,
U.S. Route 60, and
U.S. Route 360. This was entirely
concurrent with other routes west of Farmville -
State Route 14 west of Lynchburg and
State Route 10 from Lynchburg to Farmville - and so in the
1923 renumbering it was truncated to Farmville-Tappahannock. The road from southeast of
Warsaw to
Callao was added to the state highway system in 1924, and the next year it was connected to the rest of SR 13 by the addition of the road from Tappahannock to Warsaw. To the west, a short piece of road from
State Route 2 at
Sprouses Corner west to
Buckingham was added in 1923, and later that year it was assigned the
State Route 322 designation as a spur of
State Route 32 (formerly SR 2). Disconnected extensions of SR 322 were added in 1924 on both sides of
Amherst and in 1925 in both directions from both segments. Further extensions of SR 322 were planned in 1926, but, later that year, SR 322 was renumbered as an extension of SR 13; the short piece from
Cumberland southwest to
Farmville became
State Route 133 (renumbered
State Route 310 in the
1928 renumbering, and part of
State Route 45 in the
1933 renumbering). The road from
Buena Vista west to
State Route 14 at McCormick's Gate (now the junction of
U.S. Route 60 and
State Route 608/Pathfinder Drive) was added in 1924. This became part of the SR 13 extension, but in 1928, SR 14 was rerouted to pass through Buena Vista and use that piece of road, and thus SR 13 was truncated to Buena Vista. In 1927 and 1928, the remaining pieces of SR 13 were added, making SR 13 a continuous route from SR 14 in
Buena Vista east to Callao. Until the
1933 renumbering, no significant portions of SR 13 were
concurrent with
U.S. Routes. In 1933,
U.S. Route 60 was shifted north from the
Lynchburg-
Burkeville alignment (now
U.S. Route 501,
U.S. Route 460, and
U.S. Route 360) to replace SR 13 from Buena Vista to Richmond, and
U.S. Route 360 was designated over SR 13 from Richmond to Callao; thus SR 13 was completely eliminated in 1933. However, a new cutoff between
Cumberland and east of
Powhatan was planned as
State Route 13 Alternate. A short piece west of Powhatan had been added to the state highway system in 1932 as part of
State Route 46 (now
State Route 684 in that area), but the main part was added in 1933 and 1934 (specifically as US 60 in the latter year). By 1935, the new US 60 was complete, and the old route reverted to its old designation - State Route 13. ==Major intersections==