In 1963, the new
independent city of Chesapeake was created when the former independent city of
South Norfolk consolidated with
Norfolk County. The consolidation was approved and the new name selected by the voters of each community by referendum, and authorized by the
Virginia General Assembly.
Formed in 1691 in the
Virginia Colony, Norfolk County had originally included essentially all the area which became the towns and later cities of
Norfolk,
Portsmouth,
and South Norfolk. Its area was reduced after 1871 as these cities
added territory through annexations. Becoming an independent city was a
method for the former county to stabilize borders with neighbors, as
cities could not annex territory from each other.
The relatively small city of South Norfolk had become an
incorporated town
within Norfolk County in 1919, and became an independent city in 1922.
Its residents wanted to make a change to put their jurisdiction on a
more equal footing in other aspects with the much larger cities of
Norfolk and Portsmouth. In addition, by the late 1950s, although immune
from annexation by the bigger cities, South Norfolk was close to losing
all the county land adjoining it to the city of Norfolk in another
annexation suit.
The consolidation that resulted in the city of Chesapeake was part of a wave of changes in the structure of local government in
southeastern Virginia which took place between 1952 and 1975.
The Chesapeake region was among the first areas settled in the state's
colonial era, when settlement started from the coast. Along Chesapeake's segment of the
Intracoastal Waterway, where the
Great Bridge locks marks the transition between the
Southern Branch Elizabeth River and the
Chesapeake and Albemarle Canal, lies the site of the
Battle of Great Bridge. Fought on December 9, 1775, in the early days of the
American Revolutionary War, the battle resulted in the removal of
Lord Dunmore and all vestiges of English Government from the Colony and Dominion of Virginia.
Until the late 1980s and early 1990s, much of Chesapeake was either suburban or rural, serving as a
bedroom community of the adjacent cities of
Norfolk and
Virginia Beach
with residents commuting to these locations. Beginning in the late
1980s and accelerating in the 1990s, however, Chesapeake saw significant
growth, attracting numerous and significant industries and businesses
of its own. This explosive growth quickly led to strains on the
municipal infrastructure, ranging from intrusion of saltwater into the
city's water supply to congested roads and schools.
Chesapeake made national headlines in 2003 when, under a court-ordered
change of venue, the community hosted the first trial of alleged
Beltway sniper Lee Boyd Malvo for shootings in 2002. A jury convicted him of murder but spared him a potential
death sentence;
it chose a sentence of "life in prison without parole" for the young
man, who was 17 years old at the time of the crime spree. A jury in
neighboring Virginia Beach convicted his older partner
John Allen Muhammad and sentenced him to death for another of the attacks.
