Hampton

History

In 1859, Hampton was first settled as a community called "Crossroads", and was officially incorporated as the "Town of Crossroads" in 1870, but later renamed the "Town of Hampton" in 1882. It had to be reincorporated as a municipality twice for allowing its municipal charter to lapse in 1893 and 1911. In 1925, when it became known as the "City of Hampton". In the mid-1990s, Hampton annexed a short stretch of U.S. Highway 301 west of the city in order to obtain revenue from traffic tickets issued to motorists driving on that highway. At the peak of this time, before its police department was dismantled, it had 1 officer per 25 residents. In November 2013, the city's mayor Barry Layne Moore was arrested for selling oxycodone. The city made $211,328 ticketing people driving its of U.S. Highway 301 during 2012, giving the city an unenviable reputation as a "speed trap". The committee asked State Attorney Bill Cervone to investigate any potential criminal activity and a number of state representatives and senators pursued the dissolution of Hampton. In the wake of the controversy, many city officials resigned. State legislators visited Hampton on March 28, 2014, to see if the issues had been solved. They agreed to let Hampton stay incorporated, because the city retracted the annexation of U.S. Highway 301 and decommissioned its police force. Hampton also accounted for budget shortfalls, and reformed its city council proceedings. In May 2022, the justification for the speed trap was deemed invalid from its inception by Reason magazine, which reported that "Many speed-trap towns defend their aggressive traffic enforcement on ostensible public safety grounds. But Hampton could not even make that sort of claim, since the highway was a mile away."

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land. The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild winters. According to the Köppen climate classification, the City of Hampton has a humid subtropical climate zone (Cfa).

Race & ethnicity