Charles Barney Borland (8 January 1886–3 March 1972), city manager of Norfolk, was born in Norfolk, the son of Thomas Roscius Borland, a Norfolk attorney, and his second wife, Caroline Barney Borland. He was educated in private schools in Norfolk, including the Norfolk Academy, and at Horner Military School in Oxford, North Carolina, from which he graduated in 1903.
From 1903 to 1917 Borland worked in Norfolk in a series of clerkships, for a law office, a cotton broker, and a railroad, and as local agent of the United States Casualty Company. Borland joined the Virginia National Guard in 1903 and went on active duty when the United States entered World War I in April 1917. On 4 August 1917, while in New York, he married Grace Odend'hal, of Norfolk. They had no children. Borland embarked for Europe on 28 June 1918, served in the 112th Field Artillery, 29th Division, in France during the final months of the war, and was discharged with the rank of major on 25 August 1919. He remained affiliated with the Virginia National Guard and on 20 January 1923 was commissioned a lieutenant colonel. Thereafter he was often referred to as Colonel Borland.
On 18 October 1919 Borland was appointed the first inspector of the Norfolk Police Division, and on 29 September 1920 he became chief of police. He was promoted to director of public safety on 17 July 1922, with authority to lead the police and fire departments and supervise the city's public buildings. In April 1934 Borland resumed the title of chief of police but retained the office of director of public safety. He was active in local Democratic Party politics and ran unsuccessfully for city treasurer in 1933. Five years later he supported a slate of reform candidates for city council. They defeated the incumbent councilmen and on 1 September 1938 appointed Borland city manager of Norfolk.
Borland again relinquished his job as police chief but remained director of public safety. When he took office the city devoted more than 40 percent of its revenue to debt service. Borland took on the job of director of finance and with the aid of the council and the General Assembly refinanced the city's bonds and ended deficit financing. He restored the salaries of municipal employees to pre-Depression levels and created a pension system. He also instituted policy changes that enabled the city to hire its first African American police officer in 1941. Borland had served as president of the League of Virginia Municipalities from 1928 to 1929, and he was elected president a second time in 1944.
A population explosion that occurred during World War II brought with it Borland's greatest challenges. Norfolk spent millions of dollars to improve its municipal water system, construct a new municipal airport, and provide housing and schools. Borland helped establish the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, and he cooperated closely with the military authorities during the war years. From December 1943 until June 1946 he served on and often chaired the Hampton Roads Sanitation District Commission. Borland was director of civilian defense for Norfolk from 1942 to 1945 and acted as temporary chairman of the Norfolk War Price and Rationing Board from February to June 1943. His military style of management and scandals within the police department drew criticism, but he cited a meddlesome city council as his reason for resigning from all of his city jobs effective 31 December 1945.
Borland became executive vice president of the Jamestown Corporation in June 1946 and supervised the construction of the open-air theater used to stage a drama called The Common Glory. He was executive director of the Norfolk chapter of the American Red Cross from September 1947 to May 1949, when he returned to public service as general manager of the Hampton Roads Sanitation District Commission. Borland retired on 30 June 1958 but remained active in the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Norfolk and in several fraternal, service, and veterans' organizations. His first wife died on 10 May 1959, and on 15 November 1960 Borland married Cornelia McBlair Stribling. They moved to Virginia Beach the following summer. Charles Barney Borland died of congestive heart failure in the Virginia Beach General Hospital on 3 March 1972 and was buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Norfolk.
Sources Consulted:
Biography in Rogers Dey Whichard, ed., The History of Lower Tidewater Virginia (1959), 3:59–61; Virginian-Pilot and the Norfolk Landmark, 5 Aug. 1917; Borland's military service record with a portrait and some transcription errors in Virginia War History Commission, Individual Service Records (Questionnaires), 1919–1924, Accession 37219, Library of Virginia; Borland city manager scrapbooks, Norfolk Public Library; "With Steady and Capable Hands at the Helm Norfolk Looks to the Future with Confidence" and "Resume of Norfolk Municipal Accomplishments—1939–1944," Know, publication of Norfolk Advertising Board (July 1945): 90–92, 93–95, 167–169; Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, 16 Nov. 1960; Phyllis A. Hall, "Crisis at Hampton Roads: The Problems of Wartime Congestion, 1942–1944," Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 101 (1993): 416, 421, 426; obituaries in Norfolk Ledger-Star and Norfolk Virginian-Pilot (portrait), both 4 Mar. 1972; memorial in Virginia Municipal Review 50 (1972): 47–48.