Harrison Phoebus

Harrison Phoebus was an American 19th century entrepreneur who became the leading citizen and namesake of the town of Phoebus in Elizabeth City County, near Fort Monroe, which is now part of the independent city of Hampton, Virginia.

A native of Maryland who served in the Union Army during the Civil War, Harrison Phoebus moved to Virginia in 1866 and became an agent for the Adams Express Company.

Over time, he acquired property, including the luxurious 1000-room Hygeia Hotel, which predated the Hotel Chamberlin at Old Point Comfort. Phoebus built additions to his hotel, chartered boats to bring visitors, and soon Old Point Confort was on its way to becoming a place where diplomats and government officials mingled with the elite of Baltimore, Philadelphia, Richmond and the Deep South.

Harrison Phoebus is credited with persuading Collis Huntington's Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad to extend its tracks from Newport News to the community. The railroad named its station and post office after him, and, after the community of Chesapeake City became incorporated in 1900, it was renamed, as the century turned in 1901, the town of Phoebus in his honor.

References

*1911