It convened in Richmond for one session, which started on January 12, 1916, and ended on March 18, 1916.

[1][2] The 1916 General Assembly took place during the latter half of Henry Carter Stuart's governorship.

It was the last full session during which J. Taylor Ellyson served as lieutenant governor and president of the state senate; as of 2013, he is the only person in Virginia history to have served three terms in that office.

On November 1, 1916, seven months after the body adjourned, statewide prohibition went into effect.

Senator G. Walter Mapp and temperance advocate James Cannon, Jr. (not to be confused with Senator James E. Cannon) drafted the final bill after voters endorsed a referendum in September 1914.