36°46′14″N76°27′52″W / 36.7706°N 76.4644°W /36.7706; -76.4644
Norfolk County was a county of theSouth Hampton Roads in easternVirginia in theUnited States that was created in 1691. After theAmerican Civil War, for a period of about 100 years, portions of Norfolk County were lost and the territory of the county reduced as they were annexed by the independent and growing cities ofNorfolk,Portsmouth andSouth Norfolk.
In 1963, voters approved by referendum in two jurisdictions to consolidate the remaining portions of Norfolk County with the much smaller city of South Norfolk; they chose the namecity of Chesapeake for the new independent city. Although organized as a city, and one of the larger in Virginia, Chesapeake has both busy suburban and industrial areas, and mostly rural sections. The latter includes a large portion of theGreat Dismal Swamp and large tracts of preserved forest land.
During the 17th century, shortly after establishment of theJamestown Settlement in 1607, English settlers explored and began settling the areas adjacent to what is known asHampton Roads. By 1634, the English colony of Virginia consisted of eightshires orcounties with a total population of approximately 5,000 inhabitants. One of these wasElizabeth City Shire, which included an area on both sides of Hampton Roads. The northern portion becameElizabeth City County in 1643. It is now incorporated into the city limits ofHampton.
In 1636 the southern portion of Elizabeth City Shire becameNew Norfolk County by order of KingCharles I of England. This area was divided again in 1637 into Upper and Lower Norfolk counties.
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1790 | 14,524 | — | |
| 1800 | 19,419 | 33.7% | |
| 1810 | 22,872 | 17.8% | |
| 1820 | 23,936 | 4.7% | |
| 1830 | 24,806 | 3.6% | |
| 1840 | 27,569 | 11.1% | |
| 1850 | 33,036 | 19.8% | |
| 1860 | 36,227 | 9.7% | |
| 1870 | 46,702 | 28.9% | |
| 1880 | 58,657 | 25.6% | |
| 1890 | 77,038 | 31.3% | |
| 1900 | 50,780 | −34.1% | |
| 1910 | 52,744 | 3.9% | |
| 1920 | 57,358 | 8.7% | |
| 1930 | 30,082 | −47.6% | |
| 1940 | 35,828 | 19.1% | |
| 1950 | 99,537 | 177.8% | |
| 1960 | 51,612 | −48.1% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census[1] 1790-1960[2] 1900-1990[3] [1] | |||
In 1691Lower Norfolk County was in turn divided in two to form Norfolk andPrincess Anne counties to accommodate settlement.
CaptainAdam Thoroughgood (1604–1640) is credited with naming Norfolk County. Thoroughgood was a prominent resident of the colony. Like so many others at that time, he had been born in England and immigrated to Virginia. He named the new county after his original "home" county across the Atlantic Ocean.[4]
After 1691, Norfolk County remained more or less intact for over 200 years.Portsmouth became thecounty seat and a major area of commerce, along withNorfolk. Smaller towns were formed atBerkley andSouth Norfolk. In 1871, Portsmouth and Norfolk became independent cities, a jurisdiction in Virginia, and separated from Norfolk County, though Portsmouth remained the county seat. South Norfolk became an independent city in 1919.
In the following years, the county lost additional territory. Theincorporated town ofBerkley as well as the areas ofSewell's Point,Willoughby Spit, andOcean View were annexed successively by Norfolk. By 1960, the entire area of Norfolk County on the east side of theElizabeth River north of Virginia Beach Boulevard had been annexed by other jurisdictions. On other sides, West Norfolk (Churchland) was lost to Portsmouth, and South Norfolk had also annexed a portion of the county.
| Year | Republican | Democratic | Third party(ies) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| 1880 | 2,047 | 56.11% | 1,601 | 43.89% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1884 | 2,913 | 61.57% | 1,818 | 38.43% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1888 | 3,741 | 65.37% | 1,969 | 34.41% | 13 | 0.23% |
| 1892 | 2,452 | 47.74% | 2,587 | 50.37% | 97 | 1.89% |
| 1896 | 3,475 | 61.24% | 2,137 | 37.66% | 62 | 1.09% |
| 1900 | 3,024 | 55.55% | 2,415 | 44.36% | 5 | 0.09% |
| 1904 | 977 | 41.86% | 1,345 | 57.63% | 12 | 0.51% |
| 1908 | 739 | 45.67% | 879 | 54.33% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1912 | 422 | 24.20% | 1,089 | 62.44% | 233 | 13.36% |
| 1916 | 684 | 29.27% | 1,612 | 68.98% | 41 | 1.75% |
| 1920 | 813 | 30.43% | 1,824 | 68.26% | 35 | 1.31% |
| 1924 | 289 | 21.11% | 1,000 | 73.05% | 80 | 5.84% |
| 1928 | 1,922 | 57.54% | 1,418 | 42.46% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1932 | 1,072 | 26.41% | 2,926 | 72.09% | 61 | 1.50% |
| 1936 | 652 | 14.80% | 3,734 | 84.75% | 20 | 0.45% |
| 1940 | 639 | 14.28% | 3,821 | 85.39% | 15 | 0.34% |
| 1944 | 1,527 | 21.78% | 5,467 | 77.98% | 17 | 0.24% |
| 1948 | 1,830 | 25.81% | 4,696 | 66.24% | 563 | 7.94% |
| 1952 | 5,614 | 45.30% | 6,766 | 54.60% | 12 | 0.10% |
| 1956 | 4,558 | 41.74% | 6,026 | 55.18% | 336 | 3.08% |
| 1960 | 3,769 | 42.18% | 5,101 | 57.08% | 66 | 0.74% |
In Virginia, cities are immune from annexation by each other. In the early 1960s, the most recent attempt by the City of Norfolk to annex another portion of Norfolk County threatened to completely surround the tinyCity of South Norfolk. That failed annexation would have threatened South Norfolk's viability as an independent entity. Since Norfolk County residents also feared future annexation suits, in this battle of municipalities, the residents of Norfolk County and the city of South Norfolk became allies.
A strategy successfully used about 10 years earlier byElizabeth City County, theTown of Phoebus, and theCity of Hampton offered a solution. In 1963, after a referendum of South Norfolk and of Norfolk County's voters, and the approval of theVirginia General Assembly, South Norfolk and almost all of remaining Norfolk County consolidated and reorganized as the newCity of Chesapeake, with the name chosen by the voters.