In 1611, Sir Thomas Dale founded the Citie of Henricus, the second settlement in the Colony of Virginia, which later became Henrico County. Named for Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales and son of King James I, Henrico became one of Virginia’s original eight shires in 1634. The county originally included land on both sides of the James River from Charles City County west to the Blue Ridge Mountains, and it was later divided into ten additional counties and three cities. In 1934, exactly 300 years after becoming one of the original shires, Henrico became the first county in Virginia to adopt the county manager form of government. That year, the Board of Supervisors appointed Willard F. Day county manager, and since then the board has been responsible for policy making while the county manager has handled the day-to-day operations of county services.