Timeline of Hampton, Virginia explained

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

17th century

• 1607 - April 30: European settlers arrive at Old Point Comfort and establish settlement of Mill Creek (later Phoebus) just outside the Algonquin village of Kecoughtan
• 1610
  • July 9 - European settlers permanently drive out the Native Americans from Kecoughtan.
  • Fort Charles and Fort Henry built.
  • St. John's Church founded.
• 1619
  • Mill Creek settlement becomes part of newly formed Elizabeth Cittie.
  • August: 1619 First enslaved Africans brought to the Virginia Colony, landing at Point Comfort. A few days later additional enslaved Africans are brought to Point Comfort. Resource www.Hampton.gov
• 1630 – Trading post established.^[1]
• 1634 – Settlement becomes part of newly formed Elizabeth City County.
• 1680 – Town of Hampton established per "Act of Cohabitation."

18th century

• 1705 – Hampton becomes a "port of entry."
• 1715 – Hampton designated seat of Elizabeth City County.
• 1718 – Head of dead pirate Blackbeard displayed on a pole at place later known as "Blackbeard's Point."
• 1727 – St John’s church was re-built.
• 1755 – "1,000 Acadian" travellers stay temporarily in Hampton.
• 1788 – Hampton becomes part of the new U.S. state of Virginia.

19th century

• 1805 – Hampton Academy active.
• 1813 – Hampton taken by British forces during the War of 1812.
• 1823 – U.S. Fort Monroe built.
• 1849
  • March: Town of Hampton incorporated.
  • December: Town incorporation repealed.
• 1852 – Town incorporated again.
• 1857 – Chesapeake Female College built.
• 1860
  • Town incorporation repealed again.
  • Population: 1,848.
• 1861 – August: Residents set fire to town in order to repel Union forces during the American Civil War.
• 1865 – February 3: U.S.-Confederate Hampton Roads Conference held aboard the steamboat River Queen to discuss terms to end the American Civil War.
• 1868 – Hampton Agricultural and Industrial Institute and its museum established.^[2]
• 1870 – National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers Southern Branch begins operating.https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/veterans_affairs/Southern_Branch.htmlhttps://archive.org/details/OpticViewsAndImpressionsOfTheNationalSoldiersHomeSouthBranchN.H
• 1871 – Hampton Institute Press founded.
• 1872 – Hampton Institute's Southern Workman journal begins publication.^[3]
• 1875 – Booker T. Washington graduates from Hampton Institute.
• 1876
  • Hampton Monitor newspaper begins publication.^[4]
  • County courthouse built.
• 1878 – Little England Chapel built.
• 1882 – Railroad begins operating.
• 1884
  • Fire.
  • Bulletin newspaper begins publication.^[5]
• 1887 – Town incorporated again once more.
• 1889
  • Citizens Railway (trolley) begins operating.
  • People's Building and Loan Association in business.^[6]
• 1890 – Population: 2,513.
• 1891 – Dixie Hospital nursing school established.^[7]
• 1897 – Annual Hampton Negro Conference held at the Hampton Institute begins.^[8]
• 1900 – Population: 2,764.

20th century

• 1903 – Hampton Institute's Huntington Memorial Library built.^[9]
• 1908
  • March 4: City of Hampton incorporated.
  • B’nai Israel synagogue built.^[10]
• 1912 – American Theatre built.
• 1915 – Apollo Theatre in business.^[11]
• 1916 – Braddock monument erected.
• 1917 – U.S. military Langley Field (airfield) and its Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory (later NASA Langley Research Center) begin operating.
• 1920
  • Scott Theatre opens.
  • Population: 6,138.
• 1922 – February 21: U.S. military airship Roma explodes during test flight.^[12]
• 1926 – Taylor Memorial Library opens.^[13]
• 1928 – Chamberlin Hotel built.
• 1930 – "Hampton Veterans' Facility" begins operating.
• 1937 – Aberdeen Gardens (housing) built by U.S. Interior Department's Subsistence Homesteads Division.
• 1939 – Hampton City Hall built.^[14]
• 1943 – U.S. Langley Research Center's racially segregated West Area Computers begins operating.
• 1948
  • WVEC radio begins broadcasting.
  • Green Acres Auto Theatre (drive-in cinema) in business.
• 1950 – Population: 5,966.
• 1952
  • July 1: Elizabeth City County (including Phoebus) consolidated into city of Hampton.
  • Fort Wool historic site established.
• 1954 – October: Hurricane Hazel occurs.^[15]
• 1957 – Hampton Roads Bridge–Tunnel to Norfolk opens.
• 1960
  • Interstate 64 highway construction completed.
  • Population: 89,258.
• 1962
  • Kecoughtan High School founded.
• 1964 – WHOV radio begins broadcasting.
• 1968
  • Thomas Nelson Community College founded.
  • Bethel High School built.
• 1970 – Hampton Coliseum opens.
• 1973 – Coliseum Mall in business.
• 1979 – September: Hurricane David occurs.
• 1982 – Finite element machine invented at NASA Langley Research Center (approximate date).
• 1984 – Hampton University active.
• 1987 – Hampton Public Library new building opens.
• 1992 – Virginia Air and Space Center established.
• 1993 – Bobby Scott becomes U.S. representative for Virginia's 3rd congressional district.^[16]
• 1994 – Hampton Roads Voice newspaper begins publication.
• 1996
  • July: Hurricane Bertha (1996) occurs.
  • City website online (approximate date).^{[17] [18]}

21st century

• 2003 – Hampton History Museum opens.^[19]
• 2008 – Molly Joseph Ward becomes mayor.
• 2010
  • U.S. military Joint Base Langley–Eustis in operation near city.
  • Population: 137,436.^[20]
• 2011
  • Fort Monroe decommissioned by the U.S. military
• 2016
  • Donnie Tuck becomes mayor.
  • Hidden Figures movie released, partially set in Hampton.

See also

• Hampton history
• List of mayors of Hampton, Virginia
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Hampton, Virginia
• History of Hampton Roads area
• Timelines of other cities in Virginia: Alexandria, Lynchburg, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Richmond, Roanoke, Virginia Beach

Bibliography

• • Book: Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Directory . Richmond . J.H. Chataigne . 1882. Elizabeth City County. https://books.google.com/books?id=z45QAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA106. (Includes information about Hampton)
• Book: Thomas Whitehead. Virginia State Board of Agriculture. Virginia: a Hand-Book . 1893. Richmond. Elizabeth City. https://books.google.com/books?id=UvcRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA240. (Includes information about Hampton)
  • • • 1917 ed.
• Hampton (Virginia) . 12 . 906 . 1910 . . 1.
• Book: History of Hampton and Elizabeth City County, Virginia . Lyon G. Tyler . Board of Supervisors of Elizabeth City County . 1922 .
• Book: Story of an Old Town: Hampton, Virginia . Gillie Cary McCabe . Richmond, Va. . Old Dominion Press . 1929 .
  • Book: Parke Rouse Jr. . Good Old Days in Hampton and Newport News . Richmond . Dietz Press . 13983158 . 1986 .
• Book: Hampton, Virginia . Colita Nichols Fairfax . Arcadia . Charleston, South Carolina . Black America . 2005.
• Book: Paul T. Hellmann. Historical Gazetteer of the United States. 2006. Taylor & Francis. 1-135-94859-3. Virginia: Hampton. .

External links

• Items related to Hampton, Virginia, various dates (via Digital Public Library of America)

Notes and References

1. Encyclopedia: Cities of Virginia: Hampton . Encyclopedia Virginia . Virginia Foundation for the Humanities . May 10, 2017 .
2. Book: Directory of Historical Organizations in the United States and Canada . 2002 . 15th . 0759100020 . American Association for State and Local History . Virginia . 822 . Rowman Altamira .
3. Book: Donald F. Joyce . Black Book Publishers in the United States: A Historical Dictionary of the Presses, 1817-1990. 1991. Greenwood . 978-0-313-26783-3.
4. Web site: US Newspaper Directory . Washington DC . . Library of Congress . May 10, 2017 .
5. Book: American Newspaper Directory . 1900 . . New York . Virginia: Hampton . 2027/umn.31951002273861a?urlappend=%3Bseq=1071 . https://hdl.handle.net/2027/umn.31951002273861a?urlappend=%3Bseq=1071 . HathiTrust .
6. Web site: Encyclopedia Virginia . . Charlottesville . May 10, 2017 .
7. Book: Everett Jenkins Jr.. Pan-African Chronology II . Black quest for freedom in Africa, the Americas, Europe and Asia, 1865-1915 . 1998. . 978-0-7864-4506-6.
8. Book: Wedin, Carolyn. Finkelman . Paul . Paul Finkelman . Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present: from the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-first Century. Hampton Negro Conferences. 2009. 359. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-516779-5. 312624445.
9. Book: American Library Annual, 1917-1918 . 1918 . New York . R.R. Bowker Co. . https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015013751220?urlappend=%3Bseq=431 . Virginia . 7 v . 2027/mdp.39015013751220?urlappend=%3Bseq=431 .
10. Encyclopedia: Newport News/Hampton, Virginia . Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities . . Jackson, Mississippi . May 12, 2017 .
11. Web site: Movie Theaters in Hampton, VA . CinemaTreasures.org . Cinema Treasures LLC . Los Angeles . May 10, 2017 .
12. Book: Ernie Gross. This Day in American History. registration. 1990. Neal-Schuman . 978-1-55570-046-1.
13. Web site: History of the Hampton Public Library, 1926-2006 . City of Hampton . May 11, 2017 .
14. Web site: Hampton . City or County Listings: Virginia Landmarks Register & National Register of Historic Places . . Richmond . May 10, 2017 .
15. Web site: Hurricane History of Central and Eastern Virginia . . May 10, 2017 .
16. Book: Official Congressional Directory . Official Congressional Directory . Washington, D.C. . Government Printing Office . 1993 . Virginia . 1991/1992- : S. Pub. . 2027/uc1.l0072691827?urlappend=%3Bseq=348 . https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.l0072691827?urlappend=%3Bseq=348 . .
17. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/19961221084359/http://www.hampton.va.us/ . dead . City of Hampton Online! . December 21, 1996 . .
18. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20000824034910/http://officialcitysites.org/Virginia/Cities/H/ . United States of America: Virginia . dead . August 24, 2000 . Official City Sites . Kevin Hyde . Tamie Hyde . Utah . 40169021 .
19. Web site: Hampton History Museum: History & Vision . Hampton.gov . City of Hampton . May 11, 2017 .
20. Web site: Hampton city, Virginia (County) . QuickFacts . U.S. Census Bureau . May 10, 2017 .