A sign reading “James Chapman Way” now sits atop the Quail Street signpost in Smithfield’s Lakeside Heights neighborhood off Great Spring Road.

The March 19 unveiling of the town’s tribute to its first African American mayor occurred on the three-year anniversary of Chapman’s death.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Smithfield Mayor Mike Smith.

The Town Council voted last year to rename Quail Street to honor Chapman. Quail, according to the Times’ archives, was among the first streets in Lakeside Heights to be paved under an initiative Chapman spearheaded during his time as mayor with the help of state grants.

The town opted for the honorary brown metal sign while keeping the official Quail Street designation to avoid affecting the 22 residences that would otherwise have seen their addresses change. The city of Newport News did the same in 2024 when it unveiled an honorary sign designating the intersection of 16th and Walnut streets as “Allen Iverson Way” in honor of the Hampton Roads native and NBA star.

Chapman’s three decades in town government began in 1972, when he was appointed as a member of Smithfield’s Planning Commission. He made history in 1978, when he was elected as the town’s first Black councilman, and again in 1990 when his fellow council members voted to name him mayor – a role he would hold for the next 19 years.

Being a trailblazer like Chapman “opens the door for others to achieve,” said the Rev. James Harrison of Main Street Baptist Church, among the speakers to give remarks before the unveiling.

Town Councilwoman Valerie Butler, Chapman’s cousin, is among his successors. She was given the honor of unveiling the sign.

“His leadership was a beacon of light that guided us to a more just and inclusive future,” Butler said.

Smith said Chapman, in addition to his advocacy for Lakeside Heights, was instrumental in the construction of the town-owned Smithfield Center, which was funded with a partial grant from Smithfield Foods and completed in 2000 at the site of a former shopping center on North Church Street. The council chamber inside the event center is also named in Chapman’s honor.

Chapman’s tenure also saw the town receive its first $1.4 million state Community Development Block Grant to begin the process of relocating residents of the Pinewood Heights neighborhood behind Smithfield Foods’ meatpacking plant in preparation to gradually transform the area into a town-owned industrial park – a project that’s still ongoing.

State Sen. Emily Jordan, R-Isle of Wight, also referenced the visible results of Chapman’s leadership.

In 2016, Smithfield’s Rotary and Ruritan clubs jointly honored Chapman with the Citizen of the Year award they bestow annually on an outstanding area resident.

“Mayor Chapman was a very active member of the town’s community and we are in a better place because of him,” Smith said.

“James loved this town,” Butler said.

Chapman, a World War II Navy veteran who died at age 96 in 2022, was born in 1926 in a house that once stood where the Route 10 Bypass now crosses through town, and lived much of his life in Lakeside Heights on Hillcrest Drive. According to the Times’ archives, Chapman completed mortuary school upon his Navy discharge and went to work for his cousin Richard Pretlow’s funeral home, which would later become Pretlow & Chapman Funeral Home. He continued running his business until retiring at age 91 in 2017.