1607History
When the English arrived in Virginia in 1607, the region was occupied by the Appamatuck, a significant tribe of the Powhatan Confederacy.
1635History
By 1635 they had patented land along the south bank of the Appomattox River as far west as present-day Sycamore Street, and about 1 mile (1.6 km) inland.
1645Military
In 1645, the Virginia House of Burgesses ordered Fort Henry built, which attracted both traders and settlers to the area.
1646Military
In 1646, the Virginia Colony established Fort Henry a short distance from the Appamatuck town, near the falls.
1675Military
Around 1675, Wood's son-in-law, Peter Jones, who then commanded the fort and traded with the Indians, opened a trading post nearby, known as Peter's Point.
1748Government
The Town of Petersburg, chartered by the Virginia legislature in 1748, incorporated three early settlements, and in 1850 the legislature elevated it to city status.
1749Government
Wittontown, north of the river, was settled in 1749, and became incorporated as Pocahontas in 1752.
1762History
Petersburg was enlarged slightly in 1762, adding 28 acres (110,000 m2) to "Old Town".
1767Architecture
Among the city's most architecturally refined properties is Battersea, a Palladian-style house built in 1767–1768.
1774Government
=== Petersburg's Free Black Community ===
Petersburg Blacks established the First Baptist (1774) and Gillfield Baptist Church (1797), the first and second oldest black congregat...
1775Military
=== Revolutionary War Period ===
During the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), the final British drive to regain control of the colony led to the Battle of Blanford in Apri...
1781Military
In October 1781, Lord Cornwallis surrendered to the superior allied Continental Army's General George Washington and French General comte de Rochambeau.
1784Military
After the war, in 1784 Petersburg annexed the adjacent towns of Blandford (also called Blanford), Pocahontas and the outlying town of Ravenscroft, which became neighborhoods of ...
1798Government
An area known as Gillfield was annexed in 1798.
1813Culture
Starting in 1813, the city paved its streets, which helped attract business.
1816Disaster
It was the final destination on the Upper Appomattox Canal Navigation System, which opened in 1816, to a city mostly rebuilt after a devastating 1815 fire.
1818Architecture
The Gillfield Baptist Church obtained title to its land in 1818 and in 1859 completed a $7000 brick structure; the Petersburg African Baptist Church also owned its own sanctuary...
1838Architecture
When its Appomattox River port silted up, investors built an 8-mile railroad to City Point on the James River, which opened in 1838 (and was acquired by the city and renamed the...
1846Government
The legislature in 1846 chartered Southside Railroad to Farmville and Lynchburg to the west.
1850History
Between 1850 and 1860, Petersburg's free black community increased 24%, although industrial growth fueled an even greater increase in the white population.
1851Government
In 1851 the city introduced gaslights and by 1857 installed a new municipal water system.
1854Military
It would run 124 miles westward and supersede the technologically outdated Upper Appomattox Canal and acquire the Appomattox Railroad in 1854.
1858Government
Petersburg business interests for years managed to block a charter for the last major line, the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad, which was completed in 1858.
1860Infrastructure
In 1860, the city's industries and transportation combined to make it the state's second largest city (after Richmond).
1861Military
During the American Civil War (1861–1865), because of this railroad network, Petersburg became critical to Union plans to capture the Confederate States national capital establi...
1862History
== Media ==
Petersburg was home to The Daily Express and The Weekly Express newspaper from 1862 to 1869.
1864Disaster
The 1864–65 Siege of Petersburg, which included the Battle of the Crater and nine months of trench warfare devastated the city.
1865Military
In early April 1865, Union troops finally managed to push their left flank to the railroad to Weldon, North Carolina and the Southside Railroad.
1866Architecture
Petersburg rebuilt its railroads, including a connecting terminal by 1866, although it never quite regained its economic position because much shipping traffic would continue to...
1868Government
Saint John's Episcopal Church was founded in Petersburg in 1868.
1869Military
The Freedmen's Bureau established new facilities for freedmen, including a mental health hospital in December 1869, at Howard's Grove Hospital, a former Confederate unit.
1870Military
In 1870 the General Assembly incorporated the Central Lunatic Asylum as an organized state institution, as part of an effort by the bi-racial Reconstruction-era legislature to i...
1882Government
In 1882, the legislature founded Virginia State University in nearby Ettrick as Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute.
1885Infrastructure
=== Sports ===
Petersburg was home to the Petersburg Goobers and numerous minor league baseball teams playing in the Virginia League between 1885 and 1951.
1888Government
In 1888, its first president, John Mercer Langston, was elected to the US Congress on the Republican ticket, the first black American to be elected to Congress from Virginia.
1894Disaster
In 1894 a fireworks factory exploded killing eleven people.
1914Sports
Baseball Hall of Fame member Sam Rice played for the 1914–1915 Petersburg Goobers.
1923History
Louis Cardinals (1923) and Cincinnati Reds (1954).
1949Economy
In 1949 Petersburg businessman and politician, Remmie Arnold, the president and owner of the Arnold Pen Company, at the time one of the largest manufacturers of fountain pens, l...
1950Military
In 1950 the camp was designated as Fort Lee, and additional buildings were constructed to house the U.S.
1954Civil Rights
Virginia officials strongly opposed school integration following the 1954 US Supreme Court ruling in Brown v.
1957Government
In 1957 they co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), an important force for leadership of the movement in the South.
1958Civil Rights
In 1958 the City Council closed Wilcox Lake, a popular swimming hole in Petersburg to prevent the lake's public recreational area from being racially integrated.
1959Military
The school board of Prince Edward County closed the public schools for five years, starting in 1959.
1960History
Even after the Great Migration of many blacks to northern jobs and cities, Petersburg was 40 percent black in 1960.
1965Military
A federal judge, citing provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, agreed and ordered the city to be divided into single-member districts, or wards, to enable blacks the oppor...
1968Government
These flared from 1968 until 1980, when black members of the City Council accused the white Mayor of racism over a re-districting plan which they and the ACLU alleged was design...
1971Government
In an attempt to stem its economic decline, in 1971 the city completed steps begun in 1966 to annex 14 square miles of land from adjacent and predominantly white counties of Pri...
1985Economy
Petersburg was hit hard in 1985 when tobacco giant Brown & Williamson, the city's largest manufacturer, closed a cigarette factory in town.
1990Culture
A Miller & Rhoads store in Petersburg closed when the department store chain went out of business in 1990.
1992Infrastructure
Interstate highway I-95 forks with I-85, with the latter highway ending here; these two highways also make up the former routing of the tolled Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike that ...
1993Disaster
During the 1993 Virginia tornado outbreak, Petersburg was struck by an F4 tornado that swept through the downtown area, seriously damaging a number of restored historic building...
2000History
=== 2000 census ===
As of the census of 2000, there were 33,740 people, 13,799 households, and 8,513 families living in the city.
2005Military
The Army's Logistics Branch, Ordnance, Quartermaster, and the Transportation Corps moved there from Fort Eustis following the round of Base Realignment and Closure actions in 2005.
2007History
=== 21st century ===
As of 2007, Petersburg has continued to evolve as a small city, and its commercial activities have changed.
2010History
=== 2010 census ===
As of the 2010 United States census, there were 32,420 people living in the city.
2012Architecture
In September 2012, the online retailer Amazon also opened a fulfilment center in neighboring Dinwiddie County.
2016Economy
In 2016, Petersburg faced the prospect of large-scale cuts to public services after a state audit found a $12 million (~$15.3 million in 2024) budget shortfall and the prospect ...
2020Crime
== Crime ==
In 2020, the city had 24 homicides, giving a homicide rate of 76.5 homicides per 100,000 people, the second highest in the United States.
2022Education
On August 22, 2022, the City of Petersburg and The Commonwealth of Virginia partners up to form "Partnership for Petersburg", which addresses to improve education, public safety...