page_title: History of Williamsburg, Virginia
section_title: 18th century
hierarchical_section_title: History of Williamsburg, Virginia / 18th century
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of Williamsburg for Comte de Rochambeau during the Revolutionary War on the road to the Battle of Yorktown.
context_page_description: Williamsburg, Virginia, has had a long history dating to the 17th century. The city was first named Middle
  Plantation and changed its name to Williamsburg in 1699.
context_section_description: Following its designation as the Capital of the Colony, immediate provision was made for construction of a capitol building and for platting the new city according to the survey of Theodorick Bland.
  At the time the main street was rechristened after the Duke of Gloucester, it was a simple horse path that veered through a set of swampy ravines and was obstructed at one point by houses and an oven. On April 27, 1704, Francis Nicholson asked the House of Burgesses to allow purchase of four old homes on the site so they could be demolished. On May 5, Henry Cary and his workers tore the homes down, and gave the owner of the property, Col. John Page, £5 and let him have the bricks from the razed homes. The transaction may be the first documented condemnation proceeding in American history.
  Alexander Spotswood, who arrived in Virginia as lieutenant governor in 1710, had several ravines filled and the streets leveled, and assisted in erecting additional college buildings, a church, and a magazine for the storage of arms. In 1722, the town of Williamsburg was granted a royal charter as a city, now believed to be the oldest in the United States.
  Middle Plantation was included in James City Shire when it was established in 1634, as the Colony reached a total population of approximately 5,000. (James City Shire changed its name and became known as James City County). However, the middle ground ridge line was essentially the dividing line with Charles River Shire, which eventually became York County. As Williamsburg was developed, the boundaries were adjusted slightly, and for most of the colonial period, the border between the two counties ran down the center of Duke of Gloucester Street. During this time, and for almost 100 years after formation of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States, despite some practical complications, portions of the town were located in each of the two counties.
  Williamsburg was the site of the first canal built in the United States. In 1771, Lord Dunmore, Virginia's Royal Governor, announced plans to connect Archer's Creek, which leads to the James River with Queen's Creek, leading to the York River. It would have been a water bridge across the Virginia Peninsula, but was not completed. Portions of the remains of this canal are visible at the rear of the grounds behind the Governor's Palace in Colonial Williamsburg.
  The first psychiatric hospital in the United States was built in the city in the 1770s as the, "Public Hospital for Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds" (known in modern times as Eastern State Hospital), was established by act of the Virginia colonial legislature on June 4, 1770. The act, which intended to, "Make Provision for the Support and Maintenance of Ideots, Lunaticks, and other Persons of unsound Minds," authorized the House of Burgesses to appoint a fifteen-man Court Of Directors to oversee the future hospital's operations and admissions. In 1771, contractor Benjamin Powell constructed a two-story building on Francis Street near the College capable of housing twenty-four patients. The design of the grounds included "yards for patients to walk and take the Air in" as well as provisions for a fence to be built to keep the patients out of the nearby town.
  Beginning in April 1775, the Gunpowder Incident, a dispute between Governor Dunmore and Virginia colonists over gunpowder (stored in the Williamsburg Magazine) evolved into an important event in the run-up to the American Revolution. Dunmore, fearing another rebellion, ordered royal marines to seize gunpowder from the magazine. Virginia militia led by Patrick Henry responded to the "theft" and marched on Williamsburg. A standoff ensued, with Dunmore threatening to destroy the city if attacked by the militia. The dispute was resolved when payment for the powder was arranged.
  Following the Declaration of Independence, the American Revolutionary War broke out in 1776. During the War, in 1780, the capital of Virginia was moved again, this time to Richmond at the urging of then-Governor Thomas Jefferson, who was afraid that Wil
caption: Map of Williamsburg from the American Revolutionary War
exif: {}