Petersburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in
the United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 32,420.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines Petersburg (along with the
city of Colonial Heights) with Dinwiddie County for statistical
purposes. The city is 21 miles (34 km) south of the historic
commonwealth (state) capital city of Richmond.It is located at the
fall line (the head of navigation of rivers on the U.S. East Coast) of
the Appomattox River (a tributary of the longer larger James River
which flows east to meet the southern mouth of the Chesapeake Bay at
the Hampton Roads harbor and the Atlantic Ocean). In 1645, the
Virginia House of Burgesses ordered Fort Henry built, which attracted
both traders and settlers to the area. The Town of Petersburg,
chartered by the Virginia legislature in 1784, incorporated three eary
settlements, and in 1850 the legislature elevated it to city status.It
is located at the fall line (the head of navigation of rivers on the
U.S. East Coast) of the Appomattox River (a tributary of the longer
larger James River which flows east to meet the southern mouth of the
Chesapeake Bay at the Hampton Roads harbor and the Atlantic Ocean). In
1645, the Virginia House of Burgesses ordered Fort Henry built, which
attracted both traders and settlers to the area. The Town of
Petersburg, chartered by the Virginia legislature in 1784,
incorporated three eary settlements, and in 1850 the legislature
elevated it to city status.Petersburg grew as a transportation hub and
also developed industry. 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. 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 Appomattox Railroad in 1847). As discussed below, that
became one of four railroads built (some with government subsidies)
constructed (with separated terminals to the advantage of local
freight haulters) before the American Civil War. In 1860, the city's
industries and transportation combined to make it the state's second
largest city (after Richmond). It connected commerce as far inland as
Farmville, Virginia at the foothills of the Blue Ridge and the
Appalachian Mountains chain, to shipping further east into the
Chesapeake Bay and North Atlantic Ocean. During the American Civil War
(1861â€"1865), because of this railroad network, Petersburg became
critical to Union plans to capture the Confederate States national
capital established early in the war at Richmond. The 1864â€"65 Siege
of Petersburg, which included the Battle of the Crater and nine months
of trench warfare devastated the city. Battlefield sites are partly
preserved as Petersburg National Battlefield by the National Park
Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior. 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 the Norfolk seaport. Still, after the consolidations
of smaller railroads and both the CSX and Norfolk Southern railway
networks serve PetersburgPetersburg had one of the oldest free black
settlements in the state at Pocahontas Island. Two Baptist churches in
the city, whose congregations were founded in the late 18th century,
are among the oldest black congregations and churches in the United
States. In the 20th century, these and other black churches were
leaders in the national Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s-1960s. In
the post-bellum period, a historically black college which later
developed as the Virginia State University was established nearby in
Ettrick in Chesterfield County. Richard Bland College, now a junior
college, was originally established here as a branch of Williamsburg's
famed College of William and Mary. Petersburg, Virginia Top Movies & Young Movies