Timeline of Norfolk, Virginia

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Norfolk, Virginia, United States.

Prior to 1800s

• 1682 - Norfolk Town founded.^[1]
• 1728 - Norfolk Academy chartered.
• 1736 - Town of Norfolk attains borough status.^[2]
• 1739 - Saint Paul's Episcopal Church built.
• 1767 - Gosport Shipyard established near Norfolk.
• 1776 - January 1: Burning of Norfolk.^[2]}^[3]
• 1790 - Population: 2,959.^[4]
• 1795 - Fort Norfolk built.
• 1799 - Fire.^[2]

1800s

• 1804 - Female Orphan Society founded.^[2]
• 1819 - U.S. Customhouse built.^[2]
• 1828 - Christ Church built.
• 1840 - Population: 10,920.^[4]
• 1845 - Norfolk attains city status.^[2]
• 1848 - Norfolk Humane Association active.^[5]
• 1850
  • Norfolk Courthouse built.^[2]
  • Freemason Street Baptist Church dedicated.
• 1853 - "Negro free school"^[2] and Elmwood Cemetery established.
• 1854 - Saint Mary's Catholic Cemetery established.
• 1855 - Yellow fever outbreak.^[1]
• 1857 - U.S. Customhouse built on Main Street.^[2]
• 1858
  • Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad laid out.^[2]
  • Basilica of Saint Mary built.
• 1862 - May 10: Union forces in power.^[2][6]
• 1865 - Colored Monitor Union Club formed.^[7]
• 1870 - Norfolk Library Association founded.^[8]
• 1873 - West Point Cemetery established.
• 1875 - Masonic Temple built.^[2]
• 1877 - Norfolk and Portsmouth Cotton Exchange incorporated.^[9]
• 1880 – Population: 21,966.^[4]
• 1887 - Brambleton becomes part of Norfolk.^[10]
• 1888 - St. John's African Methodist Episcopal Church built.
• 1890
  • Atlantic City becomes part of Norfolk.^[10]
  • Population: 34,871.^[4]
• 1894 - Norfolk Daily Pilot newspaper begins publication.^[11]
• 1898 - Monticello Hotel in business.

1900s

• 1900
  • Zoo opens.^[12]
  • U.S. Post Office and Courts Building constructed.
  • Population: 34,871.^[4]
• 1901 - Norfolk Journal and Guide newspaper in publication.^[13]
• 1902 - Park Place becomes part of Norfolk.^[10]
• 1904 - Freemason Street Library opens.^[8]
• 1906 - Berkley becomes part of Norfolk.^[1]
• 1907
  • Jamestown Exposition held.^[1]
  • Confederate monument erected.^[2]
  • Monticello Arcade built.
• 1910
  • Christ and St. Luke's Church built.
  • Population: 67,452.^[4]
• 1911 - Huntersville and Lambert's Point become part of Norfolk.^[10]
• 1912 - Norfolk Terminal Station built.
• 1917 - U.S. Naval Operating Base^[2] and NAACP branch^[14] established.
• 1918 - Southern Bagging Company building constructed.
• 1919
  • City-manager form of government adopted.^[2]
  • Attucks Theatre opens.
• 1920 – Population: 115,777.^[4]
• 1921 - Virginia Beach Boulevard opens.
• 1922 - U.S. Marine Hospital built.^[2]
• 1923 - Algonquin Park, Cottage Park, Edgewater, Kenilworth, Lafayette Annex, Lakewood, Larchmont, Lenox, Morning Side, Norfolk Naval Base, Ocean View (part), and Willoughby become part of city.^[10]
• 1930
  • College of William & Mary Norfolk Division established.
  • Population: 129,710.^[4]
• 1932 - U.S. Post Office and Courthouse built.
• 1933 - Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences opens.^[2]
• 1938 - Norfolk Municipal Airport^[15] and Norfolk Azalia Garden open.
• 1940 - Norfolk Housing Authority created.^[15]
• 1941 - Merrimack Park dedicated.^[15]
• 1948 - Wilders Drive-In cinema in business.^[16]
• 1952
  • NATO Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic headquartered in Norfolk.^[15]
  • Norfolk–Portsmouth Bridge–Tunnel opens.^[15]
  • WRAP-AM radio begins broadcasting.
• 1954 - Azalea Festival begins.^[15]
• 1955 - Tanners Creek becomes part of city.^[10]
• 1958 - Sister city program established with Moji, Japan.^[15]
• 1959
  • Azalea Gardens, East Ocean View, Janaf, Little Creek, and Military Highway become part of city.^[10]
  • February: School desegregation begins.^[17]
• 1962 - Midtown Tunnel begins operating.
• 1965 - City Hall built.^[15]
• 1966 - Virginia Wesleyan College opens.^[15]
• 1967
  • Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway begins operating.^[15]
  • Virginia National Bank built.
• 1969
  • Norfolk State College active.^[15]
  • Econo-Travel motel in business.
• 1971 - Norfolk Scope conventional hall opens.^[15]
• 1974 - Virginia Opera formed.
• 1983 - Waterside shopping centre in business.
• 1987 - Dominion Tower built.
• 1989 - Norfolk Southern Tower built.
• 1990 - Population: 261,229.^[4]
• 1993
  • Harbor Park stadium opens.
  • Bobby Scott becomes U.S. representative for Virginia's 3rd congressional district.^[18]
• 1994 - Paul D. Fraim becomes mayor.
• 1996 - City website online (approximate date).^[19]
• 1998 - Armed Forces Memorial dedicated.^[15]

2000s

• 2000 - Cinemark 18 (cinema) in business.^[16]
• 2002 - 150 West Main Street built.
• 2003 - NATO Allied Command Transformation headquartered in Norfolk.
• 2010 - Population: 242,803.

See also

• History of Norfolk, Virginia
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Norfolk, Virginia
• Timeline of Virginia^[20][21]

Other cities in Virginia

• Timeline of Alexandria, Virginia
• Timeline of Richmond, Virginia
• Timeline of Virginia Beach, Virginia

References

1. Britannica 1910.
2. Federal Writers' Project 1941.
3. Ernie Gross (1990). This Day in American History. Neal-Schuman. ISBN 978-1-55570-046-1.
4. Population of the 100 Largest Cities and Other Urban Places in the United States: 1790 to 1990, US Census Bureau, 1998
5. Deal 2011.
6. Chambers 1965.
7. Hucles 1992.
8. Peggy Haile McPhillips. "History of the Norfolk Public Library Timeline". Norfolk Public Library. Retrieved August 12, 2014.
9. Lamb 1888.
10. Norfolk Public Library. "List of Norfolk & Portsmouth City Annexations". Retrieved August 12, 2014.
11. "US Newspaper Directory". Chronicling America. Washington DC: Library of Congress. Retrieved August 12, 2014.
12. Vernon N. Kisling, Jr., ed. (2001). "Zoological Gardens of the United States (chronological list)". Zoo and Aquarium History. USA: CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-4200-3924-5.
13. American Newspaper Annual, N. W. Ayer & Son, 1921
14. H. Lewis Suggs (1983). "Black Strategy and Ideology in the Segregation Era: P. B. Young and the Norfolk Journal and Guide, 1910-1954". Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 91. JSTOR 4248629.
15. Norfolk Public Library. "Chronology of Norfolk". Retrieved August 12, 2014.
16. "Movie Theaters in Norfolk, VA". CinemaTreasures.org. Los Angeles: Cinema Treasures LLC. Retrieved August 12, 2014.
17. "Notable dates in Virginia history". Virginia Historical Society. Retrieved May 30, 2015.
18. "Virginia". Official Congressional Directory. Washington DC: Government Printing Office. 1993.
19. "City of Norfolk: Official Web Site". Archived from the original on December 1996 – via Internet Archive, Wayback Machine.
20. "Notable dates in Virginia history". Virginia Historical Society.
21. Benjamin Vincent (1910), "Virginia", Haydn's Dictionary of Dates (25th ed.), London: Ward, Lock & Co. – via Hathi Trust

Bibliography

Published in the 1800s

• Forest, ed. (1851). Norfolk Directory – via Norfolk Public Library.
• H. W. Burton (1877), History of Norfolk, Virginia, Norfolk Virginian
• Robert W. Lamb, ed. (1888). Our Twin Cities of the Nineteenth Century (Norfolk and Portsmouth). Barcroft.
• Norfolk; the Marine Metropolis of Virginia. Norfolk, Va.: Geo. I. Nowitzky. 1888.

Published in the 1900s

• Illustrated Standard Guide to Norfolk and Portsmouth, Norfolk, Va: Standard Lithographing and Publishing Co., 1907
• "Norfolk", Encyclopaedia Britannica (11th ed.), New York, 1910, OCLC 14782424 – via Internet Archive
• Hill's Norfolk and Portsmouth (Virginia) City Directory. 1931 – via Norfolk Public Library.
• Thomas J. Wertenbaker. Norfolk, Historic Southern Port (Durham NC, 1931).
• Federal Writers' Project (1941), "Norfolk", Virginia: a Guide to the Old Dominion, American Guide Series, Oxford University Press, OL 24223083M
• Lenoir Chambers (1965). "Notes on Life in Occupied Norfolk, 1862-1865". Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 73. JSTOR 4247102.
• Michael Hucles (1992). "Many Voices, Similar Concerns: Traditional Methods of African-American Political Activity in Norfolk, Virginia, 1865-1875". Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 100. JSTOR 4249313.
• Thomas C. Parramore (1994). Norfolk: The First Four Centuries. University of Virginia Press. ISBN 978-0-8139-1988-1.
• Antonio T. Bly (1998). "Thunder during the Storm-School Desegregation in Norfolk, Virginia, 1957-1959: A Local History". Journal of Negro Education. 67. JSTOR 2668221.

Published in the 2000s

• John G. Deal (2011). "Middle-Class Benevolent Societies in Antebellum Norfolk, Virginia". In Jonathan Daniel Wells; Jennifer R. Green. The Southern Middle Class in the Long Nineteenth Century. Louisiana State University Press. pp. 84–104. ISBN 978-0-8071-3851-9.

External links

• "Local History and Genealogy Collection". Norfolk Public Library.
• Items related to Norfolk, Virginia, various dates (via Digital Public Library of America).