 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Princess Anne County, Virginia" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(July 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
County of Princess Anne is a formercounty in the BritishColony of Virginia and theCommonwealth of Virginia in theUnited States, first incorporated in 1691. The county was merged into theindependent city ofVirginia Beach[1] on January 1, 1963, ceasing to exist.
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1790 | 7,793 | — | |
| 1800 | 8,859 | 13.7% | |
| 1810 | 9,498 | 7.2% | |
| 1820 | 8,768 | −7.7% | |
| 1830 | 9,102 | 3.8% | |
| 1840 | 7,285 | −20.0% | |
| 1850 | 7,669 | 5.3% | |
| 1860 | 7,714 | 0.6% | |
| 1870 | 8,273 | 7.2% | |
| 1880 | 9,394 | 13.6% | |
| 1890 | 9,510 | 1.2% | |
| 1900 | 11,192 | 17.7% | |
| 1910 | 11,526 | 3.0% | |
| 1920 | 13,626 | 18.2% | |
| 1930 | 16,282 | 19.5% | |
| 1940 | 19,984 | 22.7% | |
| 1950 | 42,277 | 111.6% | |
| 1960 | 77,127 | 82.4% | |
| 1790-1960 Population as Princess Anne County | |||
When AdmiralChristopher Newport and the colonists of theVirginia Company arrived in 1607, George Percy and his fellow Englishmen's "first landing" was atCape Henry in what was to become Princess Anne County. They named the spot in honor of Henry Frederick Stuart, the elder of two surviving sons of KingJames I of England. A few days later, they travelled up theJames River and establishedJamestown. During the early 17th century, English settlers explored and began settling the areas adjacent to Hampton Roads. By 1610, the English colonists had established a permanent settlement in theKecoughtan area of what was to becomeElizabeth Cittie (sic) in 1619. Today a part ofHampton, it is the oldest known continuously occupied English settlement in North America.
Adam Thoroughgood was an early leader in the area which became Princess Anne County, settling along theLynnhaven River. In 1634, the King of England directed the formation of eightshires (orcounties) in the colony of Virginia. One of these wasElizabeth City Shire, which included land area on both sides ofHampton Roads.
New Norfolk County was formed in 1636 from Elizabeth City Shire. New Norfolk County included all the area inSouth Hampton Roads. Only a year later, New Norfolk was split roughly in half intoUpper Norfolk County (most of which is now the present-day city ofSuffolk) andLower Norfolk County. In 1691, Lower Norfolk was split roughly in half. The western half becameNorfolk County, while the eastern half became Princess Anne County. The latter was named forAnne Stuart prior to her accession to the throne in 1702.
Princess Anne County was governed by a Board of Supervisors. Each Supervisor represented one of six Magisterial Districts.
After the American coloniesdeclared their independence in 1776,Loyalist opposition in various forms with different motives was present for the duration of the war. In Princess Anne and Norfolk Counties, organized criminals took advantage of the sudden power vacuum created in part by the ineffectiveness of the newly formed local authorities.[2]Josiah Philips, a native of Princess Anne County, led one such group. His group used intimidation, the county's rough, swampy terrain, and disaffected local sympathizers to rob, kill, and terrorize the area for several years.[3] After Philips' capture and subsequent escape, awrit of attainder, perhaps drafted byThomas Jefferson, was passed by the Virginia General Assembly naming Philips and his followers in an effort to end what it described as an "insurrection" in the counties. Philips was tried and executed in June 1778.[4]
Beginning in the late 19th century, the small resort area of Virginia Beach along the Atlantic Ocean at the north eastern portion of the county's vast expanse of shoreline grew, particularly after 1888 with the arrival of rail service and electricity. It was incorporated as a town in 1906 and became an independent city on January 1, 1963, but Princess Anne (Courthouse) remained the county seat.
However, in the mid 20th century, the western borders of Princess Anne County lost territory to annexation suits byNorfolk, Virginia which adjoined it after annexing all of the northern portion ofNorfolk County. A merger with the tiny city of Virginia Beach became seen as a way to prevent the independent City of Norfolk from annexing more (or potentially all) of Princess Anne County.
The original western border of Princess Anne County started in East Beach (present day Norfolk, Virginia) where 1st Bay Street meets the Chesapeake Bay. The county line traveled south down the inlet to Bi-County Road and continued between Moose Avenue and Buffalo Avenue, across East Little Creek Road, between the trailer park and Higby Street to meet North Military Highway. Follow North Military Highway south to Azalea Garden Road and Miller Store Road intersect. Travel southeast on Miller Store Road, to the end of Pritchard Street and follow the river under Interstate 64, to Cornick Road. From here simply follow the Broad Creek south.
| Year | Republican | Democratic | Third party(ies) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| 1880 | 604 | 40.29% | 895 | 59.71% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1884 | 971 | 49.62% | 986 | 50.38% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1888 | 1,004 | 54.15% | 844 | 45.52% | 6 | 0.32% |
| 1892 | 409 | 37.73% | 623 | 57.47% | 52 | 4.80% |
| 1896 | 687 | 46.26% | 790 | 53.20% | 8 | 0.54% |
| 1900 | 327 | 30.50% | 743 | 69.31% | 2 | 0.19% |
| 1904 | 109 | 20.53% | 420 | 79.10% | 2 | 0.38% |
| 1908 | 99 | 19.30% | 403 | 78.56% | 11 | 2.14% |
| 1912 | 40 | 7.62% | 422 | 80.38% | 63 | 12.00% |
| 1916 | 67 | 11.49% | 515 | 88.34% | 1 | 0.17% |
| 1920 | 105 | 14.64% | 610 | 85.08% | 2 | 0.28% |
| 1924 | 137 | 15.97% | 690 | 80.42% | 31 | 3.61% |
| 1928 | 1,040 | 55.29% | 841 | 44.71% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1932 | 432 | 22.71% | 1,451 | 76.29% | 19 | 1.00% |
| 1936 | 436 | 18.41% | 1,925 | 81.29% | 7 | 0.30% |
| 1940 | 445 | 20.82% | 1,689 | 79.04% | 3 | 0.14% |
| 1944 | 993 | 33.63% | 1,959 | 66.34% | 1 | 0.03% |
| 1948 | 1,329 | 35.77% | 2,008 | 54.05% | 378 | 10.17% |
| 1952 | 3,180 | 51.04% | 3,037 | 48.75% | 13 | 0.21% |
| 1956 | 4,675 | 50.52% | 4,342 | 46.93% | 236 | 2.55% |
| 1960 | 4,844 | 44.67% | 5,954 | 54.91% | 45 | 0.42% |
In 1963, after a successful referendum in both Virginia Beach and Princess Anne County, and with the approval of theVirginia General Assembly, Virginia Beach and Princess Anne County merged to form the present-day independent city of Virginia Beach. About the same time, Norfolk County merged with the small independentCity of South Norfolk. The independent city that resulted from that merger,Chesapeake, became Virginia Beach's new neighbor to the southwest.
Most of the area formerly in the County of Princess Anne when it was formed in 1691 is now located within the independent City of Virginia Beach. The only exceptions are some territory of the northwestern portion which became part of the City of Norfolk through annexation and a land swap agreement between the two cities in 1988.
Magisterial District of Bayside
Magisterial District of Black Water
Magisterial District of Kempsville
Magisterial District of Lynnhaven
Magisterial District of Pungo
Magisterial District of Seaboard
36°45′06″N76°03′15″W / 36.751689°N 76.054028°W /36.751689; -76.054028