On July 1, 2005, the city merged with 11 surrounding cities and towns.

In the late 1970's, the city merged its public hospital with private institutions.

One day, it is thought, the two cities will merge into one.

It was as though, for a moment, the two cities had merged into an art conglomerate.

The old city and the settlement outside the walls merged in 1852.

Rather, the city unilaterally merged them into its work force.

In 1965, the city merged with some nearby towns and villages.

But the city and county school boards merged on 1 July 1987.

They needed to do this because of Virginia law states that a city and a county can not merge.

On December 25, 2010, the county and city merged to form a single special municipality.