In the late 1920s, Norfolk's African American citizens sought a strip of land on the Chesapeake Bay for a public bathing beach for the black community, whose access to white facilities was barred by segregation policies and practices. An interracial committee pursued the search, and in January 1930 Norfolk City Council authorized the purchase of eleven acres east of Ocean View from the Pennsylvania Railroad in what was then Princess Anne County. For the next five years, white opponents protested before Norfolk Council, Circuit Court, the State Supreme Court, and the State Corporation Commission, seeking injunctions to stop the beach from opening, while supporters from both races worked to remove obstacles and even raised money for the purchase price in case private funds were needed. With aid from the Civil Works Administration, which provided funds and workers, the public beach known as City Beach opened on Sunday, June 16, 1935, with a bathhouse, boardwalk, and recreation hall. For many years it hosted gatherings by families, church groups, and other organizations, with bathing and basking by day and barbecues in the sand after sunset, and it was especially busy on the Fourth of July. Norfolk Community Hospital operated City Beach from 1938 to 1948, management passed to the Norfolk Recreation Bureau in 1949, and City Beach was annexed to the City of Norfolk in 1959.
