 Virginia's independent cities were classified by the Virginia General Assembly in 1871 as cities of the first class and cities of the second class.The Virginia Constitution of 1902 defined first class cities as those having a population of 10,000 or more based upon the last census enumeration while second class cities were those that had a population of less than 10,000.Cities which previously been granted a city charter, but did not have the requisite population, had their status grandfathered in.