NORFOLK

Norfolk, Virginia, was established in 1680, making it one of the first towns established in the colony. It received a royal charter in 1736, making it an independent borough with local governance and allowing property holders to elect a representative to the assembly. During the decades leading to the American Revolution, Norfolk was a primary commercial port for the colonies. Because of its geographical location and spacious harbor as well as its many docks, warehouses, and commercial agents it dominated the colonial trade with the West Indies. Products such as beef, pork, tobacco, lumber, and especially grains such as wheat and corn were exported through Norfolk.

In 1791 the town's total population was 2,959, with 1,604 whites, 1,294 slaves, and 61 free blacks. By the turn of the nineteenth century, Norfolk's population had surged to 6,926 residents, including 3,850 whites, 2,724 slaves, and 352 free blacks. In 1810 the population increased to 9,193, with 4,776 whites, 3,825 slaves, and 592 free blacks. Over the next decade, the number of Norfolk inhabitants decreased to 8,608, comprising 4,748 whites, 3,261 slaves, and 599 free blacks. In 1830 the borough could boast of 9,814 residents, including 5,130 whites, 3,756 slaves, and 928 free blacks.

During the Revolutionary era, Norfolkians protested the Stamp Act of 1765, formed their own Sons of Liberty, and in 1774 established a committee of public safety in response to the Intolerable Acts of that year. Support for the Patriots had diminished by the fall of 1775, however, when Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of Virginia, took control of the borough with little resistance as thousands pledged their oath of allegiance to the king. But at the Battle of Great Bridge, eight miles south of Norfolk, Virginia militiamen on 9 December 1775 defeated the British under Dunmore's command and forced their evacuation from the borough. Seeking revenge, on 1 January 1776 Dunmore bombarded the port. Before leaving Norfolk, militiamen set fires to Loyalist businesses and houses, contributing to the destruction of 90 percent of the town.

By the turn of the century the citizens had rebuilt Norfolk, maintaining its place as the largest town in Virginia and prospering in what was a primary commercial port. In 1801 the federal government established a navy yard at nearby Gosport. Navigation, nonintercourse, and embargo laws over the next two decades damaged Norfolk's economic prosperity by restricting trade to foreign ports. In the years following the War of 1812, Norfolk's role in the national economy markedly diminished, with New York emerging as the country's dominant commercial port. Although Norfolk would not regain its colonial trade preeminence, residents worked to expand the city's economic fortunes with internal improvements by investing in railroads, completing the Dismal Swamp Canal in 1829, and building the first dry dock in America at the Gosport Naval Yard in 1833.

See alsoCity Growth and Development .

bibliography

Bogger, Tommy L. Free Blacks in Norfolk, Virginia, 1790–1860: The Darker Side of Freedom. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1997.

Parramore, Thomas C., Peter C. Stewart, and Tommy Bogger. Norfolk: The First Four Centuries. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1994.

Squires, W. H. T. Through the Years in Norfolk: Historical Norfolk—1636–1936. Norfolk: Norfolk Advertising Board, 1936.

John G. Deal