This reflected the political reality at the time of the Census. In Virginia, cities are co-equal levels of government to counties, but towns are part of counties. For some counties, for statistical purposes, the Bureau of Economic Analysis combines any independent cities with the county that it was once part of before the legislation creating independent cities took place in Many county seats are politically not a part of the counties they serve; under Virginia law, all municipalities incorporated as cities are independent cities and are not part of any county.
These cities are no longer county seats, since the counties ceased to exist once the cities were completely formed, but are functionally equivalent to counties. It is also worthy of note that there are several counties and cities which have the same name, but are separate politically. These currently include Fairfax, Franklin, Richmond, and Roanoke.
In the past they also included Norfolk and Alexandria, whose counties changed their names, ostensibly to end some of the confusion; as well as Bedford, where a city was surrounded by a county of the same name from until , when the city reverted to town status.
The population in Southeastern Virginia grew rapidly with urbanization after Newport News was selected as the major embarkation depot for sending troops to Europe in World War I. The population boom triggered local land use decisions to permit new subdivisions, new strip commercial centers along highways, and new suburban malls outside city boundaries. Annexations by the cities transferred land and voters away from county officials, and typically the parcels "lost" to the city had generated higher-than-average property taxes for the counties.
Elected officials in once-rural counties, places that traditionally provided few government services, were forced to make suburban planning decisions. Racial segregation was required by Virginia laws into the 's, and the high percentage of non-white residents within the cities exacerbated political differences with the counties.
The stress of coping with rapid development revealed parochial thinking and counter-productive rivalries between different jurisdictions.
Only rarely did multiple jurisdictions unite to take advantage of opportunities to build cost-effective public infrastructure. In Hampton Roads, competition and conflict were relieved by only occasional cooperation and substantive partnerships between jurisdictions.
Proposals by cities to annex tax-generating areas of counties were viewed as "land grabs" by county officials. Virginia's unique separation of cities and counties created a zero-sum game, since annexation of land by a city removed voters and tax revenue from the county.
World War II demonstrated how the Federal government could use its authority to implement large initiatives without excessive delay. Consolidation of fragmented jurisdictions in Hampton Roads would allow comparable efficiencies in regional efforts, by eliminating the potential for a single jurisdiction to block a proposal. Regional leaders with a long-range perspective, especially from large corporations where worker residences and jobs were in different jurisdictions, sought regional rather than local solutions.
Those leaders anticipated "build out" of small rural counties in Hampton Roads, as farmland and forests were converted to residential and retail uses. If the fragmented jurisdictions took a regional approach with coordinated long-term planning to provide services for new development, new infrastructure would cost less. One simple way to eliminate jurisdictional conflicts was to merge different jurisdictions, eliminating the artificial boundaries created by the General Assembly between cities and counties.
Consolidation would also prevent the piecemeal dismemberment of counties by cities, as population expanded and the cities annexed land to provide a full set of city services. The most ambitious proposal to consolidate was in All jurisdictions except Hampton approved the proposal, but the rejection n Hampton killed the deal. That same year, Warwick County converted into the City of Warwick.
Having two cities on its boundaries blocked any future efforts by the City of Newport News to annex county territory. Regional leaders made another effort in to create a unified government on the eastern end of the Peninsula, to be called "Port City.
Newport News and Warwick voters endorsed the proposal, but Hampton now enlarged with residents of the former Elizabeth City County voted it down again. After the voters in Hampton narrowly rejected the proposal, Warwick and Newport News merged two years later. That merger combined into one jurisdiction the shipbuilding job center of Newport News with the housing of the shipyard workers in Warwick County.
The tax base of Newport News could finance expansion of the suburbs into Warwick County. Consolidation streamlined the decision process and reduced costs for providing urban services, especially construction of schools, drinking water plants, and wastewater facilities. The merger of the City of Warwick into the City of Newport News was a controversial issue in , even though voters in those two jurisdictions had endorsed consolidation proposals in and again in As described by Newport News: 2.
The campaign was heated. Opposition in Warwick by older residents, who did not favor "progress" was stiff. Political cartoons depicted the square-mile city as a wolf ready to pounce on the naive Warwick and swallow it up.
The unification was hard pushed in the press with each campaign pointing out the benefits and disadvantages of the issue. The referendum was decided on July 16, , passing by overwhelming vote in Newport News 4, to and by a closer margin in Warwick 3, to 3, In addition to Newport News and Hampton, Poquoson is the third independent city on the eastern edge of the Peninsula. Poquoson became a separate town within York County in , and got a city charter in The General Assembly was preparing to impose a moratorium on the creation of new cities in Poquoson, like Manassas and Manassas Park, chose under deadline pressure to become an independent city.
Status as a town had allowed Poquoson to retain its high school. The only high school in York County was established there in , but by the county was proposing to build a new high school in a more-central location. Creating a separate town with its own school system kept a high school in Poquoson, and also allowed Poquoson to manage the desegregation process.
Today, there is still a very clear distinction in the demographics of Poquoson vs. In , a separate City of South Norfolk was incorporated. Conversion of counties to cities was largely a reaction against expansion efforts by the City of Norfolk. The population of Norfolk grew from , to , between and , but expansion of the city boundaries was opposed by its neighbors.
Rural areas surrounding Norfolk, with a low percentage on non-white residents, were not inclined to join into a voluntary metropolitan partnership. Rural county residents would have to contribute extra taxes for development of urban services which would benefit non-whites in the city of Norfolk.
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