City of Norfolk Seal

Norfolk’s official City seal is its fourth. The first was presented to Norfolk Borough on June 24, 1740 by Samuel Smith, on the same day that he took his seat as Mayor of Norfolk. A second seal was given to the Borough the following year by Robert Dinwiddie, Surveyor-General of the Customs of the Colony, in appreciation for being named an honorary Norfolk citizen. One of the two seals survives, but it is unclear which one, as a full description of neither is recorded. The extant seal is English in design, depicting spires, a fortified tower and a ship under construction.

After Norfolk became a city in 1845, the seal was modernized. A raised circle around the margin of the seal was added, with the words “City of Norfolk.” The images inside the circle were changed to depict a ship above a plow and three sheaves of wheat. The ship was described as a steamship, but was actually a hybrid concoction having both sails and paddle wheels.

In 1912, upon a recommendation by Norfolk citizen Barton Myers, Norfolk Common Council and Board of Alderman appointed a committee to improve on the design of the seal. The committee reported back in March 1913, recommending a full-rigged sailing ship to replace the steamship and new text around the seal’s perimeter. The wheat sheaves and plow were retained. The legend “Et terra et mare divitiae tuae” was added over the ship, and the motto “Crescas” under the wheat. The legend was meant to be translated “Both by land and by sea thy riches (are);” and the motto, “Thou shalt grow.” The outer border of the seal gives the dates when Norfolk was incorporated as a Town, Borough and City.