Charlottesville Town Trustees (1801–1852)

Main article: Charlottesville City Council (History)

See Also: Charlottesville City Council

Charlottesville City Council
Official city seal of Charlottesville
Charlottesville City Council (2022-2023) Type: Unicameral (officially nonpartisan)
Electoral District	Plurality-at-large
Term Start	January 1, 2022
Term End	December 31, 2023
Preceded by	Charlottesville City Council (2020-2021)
Succeeded by	Charlottesville City Council (2024-2025)
Last Election: November 2, 2021
Succeeded by	Charlottesville Town Council (1852–1870)
Next Election: November 7, 2023
Biographical Information
Website	https://www.charlottesville.gov/677/City-Council

The Charlottesville Board of Trustees was the governing body of the town of Charlottesville under state law from 1801 until 1852.

History

In 1762, the town of Charlottesville was founded by an Act of Assembly as the Albemarle County seat. Like most of Virginia’s towns, Charlottesville exercised some functions of self-government but in many respects was a political subdivision of the county in which it was located.

Charlottesville, the county seat of Albemarle County, was incorporated as a town on July 19, 1801. From 1801 to 1852, the town of Charlottesville was governed by a Board of Trustees under general state law. The trustees were appointed by the General Assembly to carry on the local government, hold title to public buildings, layout streets and lots. They were responsible to the Assembly rather than to the residents of the town for the conduct of their duties.

1801

The General Assembly passed an act in 1801 which authorized and appointed a government for the town of Charlottesville to be composed of five trustees "who were to maintain streets, settle boundary disputes, authorize a market, quiet public nuisances, appoint a town clerk, and collect taxes to no more than $200."

1815

An ACT of 1815 (passed by the General Assembly on January 15, 1816) appointed additional Trustees. The act read: “Whereas the Trustees of the Town of Charlottesville, in the county of Albemarle, are so reduced, by death, resignations and removals, that there is not a sufficient number to proceed to business; by which the improvements and regulations of the said Town are much obstructed;...for remedy whereof," the following members of the community were appointed additional Trustees: John Kelly, John H. Craven, John Winn, Twyman Watt, James Leitech, Nicholas Lewis, William Watson, Joseph Bishop, John R. Jones, John C. Ragland, Frank Carr and Alexander Garrett.

1852

Albemarle, with Charlottesville as its county seat, had a population of roughly 14,000 slaves and 12,000 whites, and a town charter was put into effect.

1869

The first state constitutional mention of separate cities and counties came in the Constitution of 1869 and in the enabling legislation passed in the 1869–1870 General Assembly session. The constitution required that each county be divided into townships, and the enabling act stipulated that the commissioners appointed to lay off the townships (later changed to magisterial districts) should not include therein any town or city with a population of 5,000 or more.