Newport News is an independent city in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia. It is at the south-western end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the north shore of the James River extending southeast from Skiffe's Creek along many miles of waterfront to the river's mouth at Newport News Point on the harbor of Hampton Roads.
The area known as Newport News was part of Warwick County, one of the eight original shires of Virginia formed by the House of Burgesses in the British Colony of Virginia by order of King Charles I in 1634. The county was largely composed of farms and undeveloped land until almost 250 years later.
In 1881, 15 years of explosive development began under the leadership of Collis P. Huntington, whose new Peninsula Extension of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway from Richmond opened up transportation along the Peninsula and provided a new pathway for the railroad to bring West Virginia bituminous coal to port for coastal shipping and worldwide export. With the new railroad came a terminal and coal piers where the colliers were loaded. Within a few years, Huntington and his associates also built a large shipyard.
In 1896, the new unincorporated town of Newport News, which had briefly replaced Denbigh as the county seat of Warwick County, became an independent city, separating from the county. In 1900, 19,635 people lived in Newport News, Virginia; in 1910, 20,205; in 1920, 35,596; and in 1940, 37,067.
In 1958, by mutual consent by referendum, Newport News was consolidated with the former Warwick County (itself a separate city from 1952 to 1958), rejoining the two localities to approximately their pre-1896 geographic size, The more widely known name of Newport News was selected as they formed what was then Virginia's third largest independent city in population. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 180,150. A more recent 2008 estimate indicates the city's population has slightly declined to 179,614, ranking it as Virginia's fifth largest incorporated city by population.
With many residents employed at the expansive Northrop Grumman Newport News Shipbuilding, the U.S. Army base at Fort Eustis, and other military bases and suppliers, the city's economy is very connected to the military. The location on the harbor and along the James River facilitates a large boating industry which can take advantage of its many miles of waterfront. Newport News also serves as a junction between the rails and the sea with the Newport News Marine Terminals located at the East End of the city. Served by major east-west Interstate Highway 64, it is linked to others of the Seven Cities of Hampton Roads by the circumferential Hampton Roads Beltway, which crosses the harbor on two bridge-tunnels. Part of the Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport is in the city limits.
Name
The original area near the mouth of the James River was first referred to as "Newportes Newes" as early as 1621.
The source of the name "Newport News" is not known with certainty. Several versions are recorded, and it is subject of popular speculation locally. Probably the best-known explanation holds that when an early group of Jamestown colonists left to return to England after the Starving Time during the winter of 1609–1610 aboard a ship of Captain Christopher Newport, they encountered another fleet of supply ships under the new Governor Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr in the James River off Mulberry Island with reinforcements of men and supplies. The new governor ordered them to turn around, and return to Jamestown. Under this theory, the community was named for Newport's "good news." (It is probable that not all of those intending to depart thought returning to the harsh conditions of Jamestown was "good" news, however). Another possibility is that the community may have derived its name from an old English word "news" meaning "new town." At least one source claims that the "New" arose from the original settlement's being rebuilt after a fire.
According to a 1901 article in the College of William and Mary's Quarterly Magazine, the original name was "New Port Newce", named for a person with the name Newce and the town's place as a new seaport. The namesake, Sir William Newce, was originally an English soldier and settler in Ireland where he had established Newcestown near Bandon in County Cork. Newce sailed to Virginia with Sir Francis Wyatt in October, 1621 and was granted 2,500 acres (1,012 ha) of land, but died two days after. His brother, Capt. Thomas Newce, was given "600 acres at Kequatan, now called Elizabeth Cittie." A partner Daniel Gookin, completed the establishment of the settlement.
Fiske writes of
... several old maps where the name is given as Newport Ness, being the mariner's way of saying Newport Point.
Regardless of the origin of the name, the fact it was formerly written as "Newport's News" is verified by numerous early documents and maps, and by local tradition. The change to Newport News apparently was brought about by usage, for by 1851 the Post Office Department sanctioned "New Port News" (three words) as the name of the first post office, and in 1866 it approved the name as "Newport News", the current form.
History
Main articles: History of Newport News, Virginia and Warwick County, VirginiaDuring the 17th century, shortly after establishment of the Jamestown Settlement in 1607, English settlers explored and began settling the areas adjacent to Hampton Roads. In 1610, Sir Thomas Gates took possession of a nearby Native American village which became known as Kecoughtan. At that time, land along the James River (the navigable part of which was called Hampton Roads), began being cleared for plantations, including the present area of Newport News.
In 1619, the area of Newport News was included in one of four huge corporations of the Virginia Company of London, and became known as Elizabeth Cittie, which extended west all the way to Skiffe's Creek (currently the border between Newport News and James City County. Elizabeth Cittie also included all of present-day South Hampton Roads.
By 1634, the English colony of Virginia consisted of a total population of approximately 5,000 inhabitants and was redivided into eight shires of Virginia, which were renamed as counties shortly thereafter. The area of Newport News became part Warwick River Shire, which became Warwick County in 1637. By 1810, the county seat was at Denbigh. For a short time in the mid-19th century, the county seat was moved to Newport News.
Newport News was merely an area of farm lands and a fishing village until the coming of the railroad and the subsequent establishment of the great shipyard. Following a huge growth spurt of railroad and shipyard development, the new "City of Newport News" was formally organized and became independent of Warwick County in 1896 by an act of the Virginia General Assembly. It was one of only a few cities in Virginia to be newly established without earlier incorporation as a town. (Virginia has had an independent city political subdivision since 1871). Walter A. Post served as the city's first mayor.
The area which formed the present-day southern end of Newport News had long been established as an unincorporated town. However, during the period after the American Civil War, the new City of Newport News was essentially founded by Collis P. Huntington. Huntington, who was one of the builders of the country's first transcontinental railroad, was recruited by former Confederate General Williams Carter Wickham to become a major investor and guiding light, and helped complete the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway to the Ohio River in 1873.
With the new railroad complete, Huntington was aware of the potential to ship eastbound coal from West Virginia's untapped natural resources. His agents began acquiring land in Warwick County in 1865, and in the 1880s, he oversaw extension of the C&O's new Peninsula Subdivision, which extended from the Church Hill Tunnel in Richmond southeast down the peninsula through Williamsburg to Newport News, where the company developed coal piers on the harbor of Hampton Roads.
His next project was to develop Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, which became the world's largest shipyard. Opened as Chesapeake Dry Dock & Construction Company, the Shipbuilding was originally meant to build boats to transition goods from the rails to the seas. With President Theodore Roosevelt's declaration to create a Great White Fleet, the company would enter the warship business by building seven of the first sixteen warships. Today, shipbuilding holds a dominant position in the American warship construction business. In addition to Collis, other members of the Huntington family also played major roles in Newport News. From 1912–1914, his nephew, Henry E. Huntington, assumed leadership of the shipyard. Huntington Park, developed after World War I near the northern terminus of the James River Bridge, is named for him.
Collis Huntington's son, Archer Milton Huntington and his wife, sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington, developed the Mariners' Museum beginning in 1932, creating a natural park and the community's Lake Maury in the process. A major feature of Newport News, the Mariners' Museum has grown to become one of th
Virginia Economic Development Partnership - Business Location and Site ...
search tools, VirginiaScan allows you to search for the best location for your business based on workforce needs, sites & buildings specifications and business locations.
Virginia Economic Development Partnership, International Trade
Provides international business expertise to promote Virginia's products and services in world markets. View listing of events and contact information.
Southwest Virginia Economic Development Partnership
Southwest Virginia Economic Development Partnership: As part of the University's Management Agreement with the Commonwealth, U.Va. is partnering with the Virginia Coalfield ...
Virginia Economic Development Partnership Overview - VEDP
Virginia Economic Development Partnership 901 East Byrd Street P.O. Box 798 Richmond, VA 23218-0798 USA Get Directions
Virginia Economic Development Partnership, International Trade ...
Southwest. Diane Thomas Ph: (276) 623-1536 Fax: (276) 623-1542 Email. 16325 Taylor Place Suite 300 Abingdon, Virginia 24211 . South Central
Virginia Economic Development Partnership
Available Property Search Use this simple tool to find available industrial buildings, office buildings, and sites based on location, infrastracture, etc...
Virginia Economic Development Partnership
Regional Profiles Detailed demographic information in 19 profiles that group city and county profiles on a regional basis.
Virginia Economic Development Partnership
Virginia Economic Development Partnership 901 East Byrd Street P.O. Box 798 Richmond, VA 23218-0798 USA Get Directions
Virginia Economic Development Partnership « Economic Development
City of Radford 619 Second Street Radford, Virginia 24141 (540) 731-3603
Virginia Economic Development Partnership - Reports - Auditor of ...
© Auditor of Public Accounts, Commonwealth of Virginia. Web Policy | WAI Level A Compliant