Chesterfield County, Virginia

Chesterfield County is a located in the  of, a  of the. As of the 2006 population estimate, the county's population has risen to 306,000. From 2000 to 2006, the county added over 35,000 new residents and Chesterfield County is now the fourth largest municipality in Virginia (behind Fairfax County, Virginia Beach and Prince William County respectively). Its is. It is located in the region and is a portion of the Richmond  (MSA). Much of the northern portion of Chesterfield County accounts for what is referred to as Metropolitan Richmond's.

Part of Henrico Cittie, Henrico Shire, Henrico County
Prior to English colonization, the area was occupied by.

During the 17th century, shortly after establishment of the settlement at in, English settlers and explorers began settling other areas. One of the more progressive developments in the colony was, founded under the guidance of. It was to include a college to help educate Indians, as well as the children of settlers.

1619 was a watershed year for the. Four large citties (sic) were formed, one of which was, and included what is now Chesterfield County. Also beginning in 1619,, the first in what is now the United States, were established slightly west on from its confluence with the. Both were was wiped out by the and not rebuilt.

In, the directed the formation of eight s (or ) in the colony of Virginia. One of these became, which extended to a large area on both sides of the.

Chesterfield County formed
On, , the passed the act that separated Chesterfield from Henrico County and created the new county. The first county seat was established at, across the James River at the fall line from Richmond (which remained in Henrico County.)

Chesterfield County is named for the former British,. Lord Chesterfield was famous for his "good manners and writings."

Many years later, Chesterfield Cigarettes were named after this county due to the region's historical cultivation of.

Early ports, coal, roads, turnpikes and railroads
Prior to the, a thriving port town named was located at the northwestern confluence of Falling Creek and the James River. It was destroyed during that War, and not rebuilt. (It was near the current facility at, and the site is not open to the public.) Another early port town was  on the north shore of the. It was located near the current Point-of-Rocks Park.

mining in the area of Chesterfield County began in the. Around 1701, French settlers to the area discovered the existence of the coalfield. In a 1709 diary entry, who is credited as the founder of , and had purchased 344 acre of land in the area where coal was found, noted that "the coaler found the coal mine very good and sufficient to furnish several generations." It was first commercially mined in the 1730s, and was used to make cannon at Westham (near the present ) during the. 

The in Chesterfield County was the first graveled roadway of any length in Virginia in 1807. The ran between the  mining area of Midlothian near the headwaters of  and, generally following the path of the current  (}.

Created in 1816, the was a governmental agency which oversaw and helped finance the development of Virginia's internal transportation improvements during the 19th century. In that era, it was customary to invest public funds in private companies, which were the forerunners of the of modern times. (1789-1864), a and  who helped found  (VMI), was Principal Engineer and later Chief Engineer for the Board of Public Works. He was involved with the planning and construction of many of the s, s, s and s in Virginia, including the area which is now.

New s, were partially engineered and funded by the Board, and operated by private companies which collected. The which generally followed the path of the current  (U.S. Routes 1-301), was one of these. A canal was built in Manchester section of Chesterfield. Portions are extant, and may be seen near the south end of Richmond's, although it is not as well-known as the much larger which ran along the north bank at Richmond, and extended many miles to the west.

Seeking a better method of transportation so that their markets could be expanded, in, a group of mine owners, including , and , resolved to build a. (The Wooldridge family hailed from and  in, and named their mining company Mid-Lothian, the source of the modern name). In, the was the first  in Virginia, transporting  from mines near  in what is now the  area to the docks at the  at the  of the James River. Later railroad lines included the (R&D) (which put the Chesterfield Railroad out of business) and the, both completed before the  in which they each played key roles.

Another small line through Chesterfield was a. The, later renamed the , extended from  in  to the tiny village of  in far eastern Chesterfield, which was a port on the James River near the mouth of the Appomattox River opposite present-day Hopewell. Although long gone, portions of the old rail bed may been seen along Beach Road near the entrance to.

After the, the R&D eventually became part of the , and is now part of. The Richmond Petersburg Railroad became part of the. In 1900, a mostly parallel line was built by the, with a branch line to. Through the "modern merger era of US railroads" (which began around 1960), portions of each eventually became part of the system.

American Civil War
During the (1861-1865),  became a key defensive point for  forces to block the 's vastly superior Navy from taking Richmond by way of the James River. During the (1864-65), a long defensive works through the county was part of the Confederacy's  line of land defenses. Railroad lines passing through Petersburg finally proved the key to the fall of Richmond in 1865, effectively ending the War.

A founded by the state after the  primarily to help educate  eventually became, located in the  area near Petersburg and Colonial Heights.

Former areas lost to new independent cities
(directly across the James River from the ) was the  of Chesterfield County until 1874, when it was moved to the present location at Chesterfield Court House. The City of Manchester left Chesterfield late in 19th century to become an, and merged with the City of Richmond by mutual agreement in 1910. It is now known as a part of South Richmond.

was formerly an in Chesterfield County, and became an  in 1948. Over half a century later, the two neighbors continued to share provision of some governmental services.

Annexation issues
Chesterfield County shares borders with four independent cities, and was long exposed to annexation suits from any of them under Virginia law. The county lost territory to the City Richmond through several annexations in the 20th century, one in 1944, and most notably, a highly controversial and complicated one in 1970.

The results of the 1970 annexation were exceptionally controversial because, while the annexation lawsuit filed by Richmond in 1965 was being heard, with the city seeking 51 sqmi of the county, the leaders of the two jurisdictions,, Chairman of the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors, and  the Mayor of Richmond, met privately and agreed to a compromise.

In May 1969, the Horner-Bagley Compromise, as it came to be called, was approved by the city and Chesterfield County and incorporated in a court decree of,. This effectively shut out a number of third parties attempting to block the annexation, and felt they had been excluded from the process. An example among these was a small commuter bus company holding an operating rights in the county, whereas the city granted its franchise to a competitor.

The annexation agreement resulted in Richmond receiving 23 sqmi of the county, as well as fire stations, parks, and other infrastructure such as water and sewer lines. Under the agreement, approximately a dozen s, support buildings, and future school sites were conveyed to the City of Richmond to be operated by. Compounding the unhappiness of many of the residents of the annexed area was the fact that Richmond Public Schools was already involved in a  lawsuit in the Federal courts. The schools involved in the annexed area included, , , and eight elementary schools. In 1971, these schools were included in a court-ordered program, which finally ended in the 1990s.

Many of the 47,000 residents who lived in the annexed area of the 1970 compromise had been opposed to the annexation. They fought unsuccessfully for more than 7 years afterwards in the courts to have it reversed. They ruefully called the 23 sqmi zone "Occupied Chesterfield."

At the same time, black plaintiffs who had lived in Richmond city prior to the annexation claimed a violation of the. The claim was that their voting power had been deliberately diminished by the attempts of city leaders to add white voters and dilute the black vote. In 1970 the pre-annexation population of the city was 202,359, of which 104,207 or 52% were black citizens. The annexation added to the city 47,262 people, of whom 1,557 were black and 45,705 were non-black. The post-annexation population of the city was therefore 249,621, of which 105,764 or 42% were Negroes. The plaintiffs prevailed in court. This led to creation of a ward system to ensure blacks did not lose their voting power. Under the ward system, four wards had a predominantly white population, four wards had a predominantly black population, and one ward had a population that was 59% white and 41% black. 

Revisions in state annexation laws
Virginia's annexation laws have long been felt by many leaders to be a barrier to regional cooperation among localities. The problems and hard feelings which arose from the Richmond-Chesterfield case were used as prime examples of obstacles to regional cooperation as the state legislators considered changes.

In 1979, the adopted legislation that allowed any county meeting certain population and density standards to petition the local circuit court to declare the county permanently immune from annexation. In 1981, Chesterfield County and several other counties in the state subsequently sought and received such immunity from further annexation by Richmond.

In 1987, the General Assembly, recognizing the controversy surrounding annexations in Virginia, placed a moratorium on future annexations of any county by any city. However, even when this moratorium expires, as it is currently scheduled to do in 2010, Chesterfield County will remain immune from annexation by Richmond because of the 1981 grant of immunity. However, unless new legislation or revenue sharing or other agreements are reached, the county will potentially be exposed to annexation suits by any of the smaller independent cities of Colonial Heights, Hopewell, and Petersburg which adjoin it.

Highways, transportation, tolls
Beginning especially in the second half of the, Chesterfield grew exponentially, most of all as a of Richmond. The Richmond-Petersburg, local service, and commuter rail service of the Southern Railway to  had all ended by 1957.

Even though some routes extended in to the county from both cities, service was not funded by the county as the large systems in Richmond and Petersburg converted to governmentally-subsidized operations in the 1970s. Privately-owned suburban bus services, such as that operated by could not operate profitably, even when funded with start-up money through state demonstration program grants. Instead, the citizens of Chesterfield were perceived by their county leaders as heavily committed to automobile transportation for most local, commuter, and through transportation of people. The issue of possible county funding for commuter bus services was continuing as of the early 21st century. Further complicating the issue of public transportation in Chesterfield County is that most streets in the county do not have sidewalks, adding to the complete dependence on motor vehicles.

During this same time, the interstate, primary and secondary highways which were built by the VDOT (and its predecessor agencies) through the customary funding sources were proving insufficient. Additional roads were built, and funded through collection of.

Opened in, and funded through s, the was a toll  which paralleled  and  between the northern edge of  and the southern limits of , cutting through Chesterfield which had the largest portion of its mileage. Conceived prior to the creation of the, tolls were removed completely in. Today, the former Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike forms a vital portion of in central Virginia, including the northernmost portion of  near Petersburg.

The Powhite Parkway Extension of the in  (a  operated by the ) also tolled and completed in 1973, was built and opened in 1988. The extension in Chesterfield County is operated by and the tolls are collected by VDOT. (The entire route in Richmond and Chesterfield is signed as Virginia State Route 76). The county extension begins at the exit for (Chippenham Parkway), and includes major exits for  west of Richmond, and  in the  area. The southern terminus of State Route 76 is near the development.

Another toll road, the Pocahontas Parkway, also known as, connects the junction of and  in Chesterfield County, with  near  in , forming part of a southeastern bypass of. Due to a quirk in the evolution of the road, the long-planned designation of "Interstate 895" could not be used. The 8.8 mi roadway features the costly high-level over the shipping channel of the navigable portion of the tidal James River downstream from the deep water Port of Richmond to allow ample clearance for ocean-going vessels to pass under.

Although Route 895 had been planned for many years, sufficient state and federal construction funds were not available when the road was finally desired. However, the highway was built without the use of s. In 1995, the passed the Public-Private Transportation Act allowing private entities to propose innovative solutions for designing, constructing, financing and operating transportation improvements. An acceptable proposal was submitted through an innovative and an agreement was reached, with tolls collected to recover costs. The toll collection facility features the Richmond area's only high-speed open lanes, allowing vehicles to travel through the toll facility at highway speeds with a or other compatible  transponder.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,132 (437 ). 1,103 km² (426 mi²) of it is land and 29 km² (11 mi²) of it (2.57%) is water.

Chesterfield County is largely bordered by two rivers which define miles of its boundaries. The major adjoining cities each originated at the head of navigation of these river, called the. There, the sandy and mostly flat eastern region of Virginia turns into the hillier and rockier Piedmont region to the west. Portions of Chesterfield County extend across both regions.

At fall line of the, Richmond and Manchester were formed. Most of the northern portion of Chesterfield County accounts for what is referred to as Metropolitan Richmond's. However, due to the geography in which the approaches Richmond from almost due west, and turns almost due south below the  for about 8 mi before turning east again, the land within  encompasses much of Metropolitan Richmond's, its , and  areas.

Chesterfield County also borders on the to its south. Much of the southern and eastern portions of the county are considered part of the area, which centers on the lower Appomattox River, where the neighboring independent city of  was founded on the fall line.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 259,903 people, 93,772 households, and 72,110 families residing in the county. The was 236/km² (610/mi²).

A more recent 2006 estimate puts the population of Chesterfield County at 306,000 - a growth of over 35,000 people since 2000.

There were 97,707 housing units at an average density of 89/km² (230/mi²). The racial makeup of the county was 65.44%, 32.23% or , 0.33% , 2.37% , 0.04% , 1.34% from , and 1.41% from two or more races. 2.93% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 93,772 households out of which 40.70% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.20% were living together, 11.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.10% were non-families. 18.50% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.73 and the average family size was 3.11.

In the county, the population was spread out with 28.30% under the age of 18, 7.70% from 18 to 24, 31.20% from 25 to 44, 24.90% from 45 to 64, and 8.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 95.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.30 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $58,537, and the median income for a family was $65,058. Males had a median income of $43,030 versus $30,518 for females. The for the county was $25,286. About 3.30% of families and 4.50% of the population were below the, including 5.60% of those under age 18 and 3.40% of those age 65 or over.

Town twinning
On  the agreement will be signed to join the Borough of  in,  with Chesterfield County in a link up between the two communities. The town of, on the is part of the borough, and it was here that Princess  was buried after she had died on board a ship in the river. The village of Matoaca is believed to be her home village. The link is part of the 400th anniversary celebrations in 2007 to mark the founding of.

Recognition
In May of 2004, Chesterfield was named the "17th Best Place to Live in America" by the.

Chesterfield County is also noted as the home town of NASCAR superstar. He spent years racing at many local short tracks, including in.

Roy F. Hoffmann, Chairman of, owns a home in Chesterfield County.

Schools
Chesterfield County Public Schools is the local school system, and has received the U.S. 's Blue Ribbon Award.