History of Newport News, Virginia

"Newport News" has a long history dating back to the days of Jamestown, Virginia. The City has existed under different names and forms including Warwick River Shire, Warwick County, Virginia, Warwick City, and the current City of Newport News.

Newport News in Elizabeth Cittie, Warwick County

During the 17th century, shortly after establishment of the Jamestown Settlement in 1607, English settlers and explorers 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.

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 of 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.

Early Warwick County and Elizabeth City consisted of farms and plantations granted to landholders and settlers. Some of these included Newport News Farm, Bolthorpe plantation, Denbigh Plantation, Windmill Point, Richneck, Lee Hall, and others. In 1704 there were just 125 properties registered in Warwick.

Daniel Gookin, a native of Newcetown, Ireland, arrived in 1621 and is the first documented owner of land in Newport News. Gookin's tract of over 1600 acres ran along the James River from Newport News Point at least four miles to the north. This tract of land had been known by Captain John Smith who had noted that there was a spring with good water here, where ships navigating the James stopped for fresh water. Gookin's land was eventually divided into a number of farms including Newport News Farm, Pumpkin Hall, the Washington Burk tract, the Wilbern tract, and the Hawkins tract. This property comprises all of the land in Newport News along the James River from Newport News Point to the Mariner's Museum.

1896: a new city: 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.

Two Kecoughtans

Native American village, 17th-century "cittie"

Kecoughtan, originally named Kikotan (also spelled Kiccowtan, Kikowtan as well as Kecoughtan), was a Native American village when the English colonists arrived in the Hampton Roads area in 1607.

In 1610, the English colonists under Sir Thomas Gates, Governor, seized their land, and established their own residency there. This land was long known as part of Elizabeth Cittie (sic) and Elizabeth City County (until the county was consolidated with the City of Hampton and the incorporated town of Phoebus in 1952 to form the current independent city of Hampton) and has been continuously occupied ever since, forming the basis of a claim by the City of Hampton as the site of the oldest continually occupied English settlement in the U.S.A. [http://www.wm.edu/wmcar/pentran.html]

Town of Kecoughtan, Virginia

Not to be confused with the original native settlement, many years later, a newer incorporated town of Kecoughtan was developed in the 19th century and existed in the southern edge of Elizabeth City County bordering Newport News. It was annexed by the City of Newport News in 1927, where it currently forms much of the area now known as the city's East End neighborhood.

Consolidation with Warwick

Independent city status guarantees protection against annexation of territory by adjacent communities. After years of resisting annexation efforts by Newport News, in 1952, Warwick County was successful in petitioning the Virginia General Assembly to become the independent City of Warwick.

In 1958, the citizenry of the cities of Warwick and Newport News voted by referendum to consolidate the two cities, choosing to assume the better-known name of Newport News, and forming the third largest city population-wise in Virginia with a convert|65|sqmi|km2|0 area. The boundaries of the City of Newport News today are essentially the boundaries of the original Warwick River Shire and those of Warwick County for most of its existence, with the exception of minor border adjustments with neighbors.

Collis P. Huntington: builder of a new railroad and a shipyard

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, became a major investor and guiding light, and helped complete the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway to the Ohio River. 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.His famous saying is:

::"We shall build good ships here. At a profit - if we can. At a loss - if we must. But always good ships."

The city of Huntington, West Virginia was named in honor of Collis P. Huntington, as was Huntington Avenue in Newport News.

Huntington family, notable community roles

In addition to Collis, other members of the Huntington family also played major roles in Newport News. After his uncle's death, 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 the largest and finest maritime museums in the world.

Official song

In July 1989, Newport News City Council adopted via resolution Newport News' official city song, "Newport News," written by native Ronald W. Bell. The song voices the community's links to both the nation's earliest beginnings and its longstanding maritime heritage:

"

NEWPORT NEWS
Harbor of a thousand ships
Forger of a nation's fleet
Gateway to the New World
Where ocean and river meet
Strength wrought from steel
And a people's fortitude
Such is the timeless legacy (chorus)
Of a place called Newport News
Nestled in a blessed land
Gifted with a special view
Forever home for ev'ry man
With a spirit proud and true
(repeat chorus)

"

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