Hampton - Virginia - History

Located on the southeastern tip of the Virginia peninsula on the Chesapeake Bay, Hampton is the oldest continuously settled English community in the United States. As an Indian village called Kecoughtan, the first English colonists had visited it before they sailed up the James River to settle in Jamestown.

In 1610 the construction of Fort Henry and Fort Charles at the mouth of Hampton Creek marked the beginnings of Hampton. In 1619, the settlers chose an English name for the community, Elizabeth City. The settlement was known as Hampton as early as 1680, and in 1705 Hampton was recognized as a town. The City of Hampton was first incorporated in 1849 and classified as a city of the second class in 1908. In 1952 Hampton, the independent town of Phoebus and Elizabeth City County, encompassing Buckroe and Fox hill, were consolidated under one municipal government and classified as city of the first class.  

Hampton is the site of Hampton University, established in 1868 to educate  freed slaves, and Thomas Nelson Community College. St. John's Episcopal parish was founded in 1610, making it the oldest in the country. Fort Monroe, the only active moat-encircled fort in the country, dates from 1819. For a long period during the American Civil War the fort was the only Union outpost in the Confederacy. The famous battle between the first ironclad battleships, the Monitor and the Merrimac, was fought just offshore. During the Civil War the city was burned down by its own troops rather than surrender to Federalist troops in 1861. Before the fire, Hampton had 30 businesses and over 100 homes. Fewer than six buildings remained intact after the fire. In 1884 fire again besieged Hampton and almost completely destroyed the downtown business district.