Timeline of Newport News, Virginia

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Newport News, Virginia, United States.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

19th century

• 1862 – Naval Battle of Hampton Roads fought near Newport News village during the American Civil War.
• 1880 – Old Dominion Land Company created by Collis Potter Huntington "to secure railway right-of-ways" on the Virginia Peninsula.[1]
• 1882 – Chesapeake and Ohio Railway begins operating.[2]
• 1883 – Hotel Warwick in business.[3]
• 1884 – Courthouse built.
• 1886 – Chesapeake Dry Dock and Construction Company (later Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co.) in business.[4]
• 1888 – Warwick County seat moves temporarily to Newport News from Denbigh.
• 1889
  • Newport News Light & Water Company in business.[1]
  • YMCA branch organized.[5]
• 1890
  • Citizens Railway (Hampton-Newport News) begins operating.[6]
  • Horse-drawn Newport News Street Railway begins operating (approximate date).[6]
  • Population: 4,449.
• 1891
  • Courthouse built.[7]
  • First National Bank established.[7]
• 1894 – Adath Jeshurun synagogue built.[8]
• 1896
  • January 16: City of Newport News incorporated, independent of Warwick County.[9][1]
  • Daily Press newspaper begins publication.[10]
  • Fire station built.[11]
• 1897 – First Baptist Church rebuilt.[7]
• 1900 – Population: 19,635.

20th century

• 1901 – Star and Times-Herald newspapers begin publication.[10]
• 1904 – U.S. Custom House and Post Office built.[7]
• 1906 – Buxton Hospital established.[7]
• 1908
  • Virginia State School for Colored Deaf and Blind Children opens.[2]
  • Chamber of Commerce formed.[12]
• 1910 – Olympic Theatre in business.[13]
• 1914 – Curtis Flying Field begins operating near Newport News.[12]
• 1917
  • U.S. military Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation headquartered in Newport News during World War I.[12]
  • U.S. War Department Camp Alexander, Camp Hill, and Camp Stuart begin operating in vicinity of Newport News (approximate date).[14]
• 1918
  • Jefferson Avenue Park (housing) established.[1]
  • U.S. military Camp Eustis (later Fort Eustis) begins operating near Newport News.[12]
  • Influenza outbreak.[12]
• 1919
  • Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company's Apprentice School established.
  • Hilton Village (housing) built.[7]
  • Newport News Victory Arch erected.[7]
• 1920
  • Council–manager form of government begins.[12]
  • Philip W. Hiden becomes mayor.[12]
• 1923 – WNEW radio begins broadcasting.[12]
• 1924 – Collis P. Huntington High School built.[7]
• 1927 – Kecoughtan becomes part of Newport News.
• 1928
  • James River Bridge opens.[12]
  • WGH (AM) radio begins broadcasting.[15]
• 1929 – Newport News Public Library built.
• 1930
  • Dodge Boat & Plane Co. in business.[4]
  • Mariners' Museum founded.[12]
• 1932 – James River Country Club founded.
• 1933
  • August 23: Hurricane.[12]
  • U.S. military aircraft carrier USS Ranger launched at Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company.[16]
• 1937 – Aberdeen Gardens (housing) built in nearby Hampton for shipworkers.
• 1942 – U.S. military Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation headquartered in Newport News during World War II.[12]
• 1945 – Citizens Rapid Transit Co. founded.[12]
• 1946 – Electric streetcar stops operating.[12]
• 1947 – WTID radio begins broadcasting.
• 1949 – Patrick Henry Airport begins operating.[12]
• 1950 – Population: 42,358.
• 1952
  • Anchor Drive-In cinema in business.[13]
  • Warwick County becomes the City of Warwick.
• 1954 – October 15: Hurricane Hazel occurs.[12]
• 1956 – Newmarket Shopping Center in business.[12]
• 1958 – July 1: City of Warwick consolidated into city of Newport News.[9]
• 1959 – U.S. Army Transportation Museum established in nearby U.S. military Fort Eustis.
• 1960
  • Interstate 64 highway construction completed.[12]
  • Population: 113,662.
• 1961 – Christopher Newport College opens.
• 1967 – Todd Stadium opens.
• 1968 – Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society Hampton Roads branch formed.[17]
• 1971 – September: School "court-ordered busing" begins.[12]
• 1972 – City Hall built.[12]
• 1975 – Newmarket North Mall in business.
• 1979 – September: Hurricane David occurs.[18]
• 1980 – Population: 144,903.
• 1981 – Amtrak Newport News station built.
• 1982 – Virginia Port Authority's affiliate Virginia International Terminals begins operating the Newport News Marine Terminal.
• 1984 – U.S. Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (later Jefferson Lab) established.[12]
• 1987 – Patrick Henry Mall in business.
• 1992
  • Monitor–Merrimac Memorial Bridge–Tunnel opens.[12]
  • Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport new terminal built.[12]
• 1993 – Bobby Scott becomes U.S. representative for Virginia's 3rd congressional district.[19]
• 1996
  • July: Hurricane Bertha occurs.[18]
  • Warwick SRO housing created.[12]
  • City website online (approximate date).[20][21]

21st century

• 2005 – Ferguson Center for the Arts opens.
• 2010
  • McKinley L. Price becomes mayor.
  • U.S. military Joint Base Langley–Eustis in operation near city.
  • Warwick County Historical Society active.[22]
  • Population: 180,719 in city;[23] 1,676,822 in Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC Metropolitan Statistical Area.

See also

• History of Newport News, Virginia
• List of mayors of Newport News, Virginia
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Newport News, Virginia
• History of Hampton Roads area
• Timelines of other cities in Virginia: Alexandria, Hampton, Lynchburg, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Richmond, Roanoke, Virginia Beach

References

1. "Guide to the Old Dominion Land Company Records, 1828–1949". Richmond: Library of Virginia. Retrieved May 12, 2017.
2. Federal Writers' Project 1941.
3. "Newport News". City or County Listings: Virginia Landmarks Register & National Register of Historic Places. Richmond: Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Retrieved May 12, 2017.
4. Kenneth J. Blume (2012). Historical Dictionary of the U.S. Maritime Industry. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-7963-8.
5. "City and Town Associations", Year Book of the Young Men's Christian Associations, New York, 1890, pp. 112–141, United States and Dominion of Canada
6. Parke Rowse (April 4, 1993), "Streetcars Traversed Peninsula Before WWII", Daily Press
7. "Old Dominion Land Company and the Development of the City of Newport News". Newport News Public Library System. Retrieved May 12, 2017. Exhibit
8. "Newport News/Hampton, Virginia". Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities. Jackson, Mississippi: Goldring / Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life. Retrieved May 12, 2017.
9. "Cities of Virginia: Newport News". Encyclopedia Virginia. Charlottesville: Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
10. "US Newspaper Directory". Chronicling America. Washington DC: Library of Congress. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
11. "Newport News Fire Department: History". Nnva.gov. City of Newport News. Retrieved May 12, 2017.
12. Simpson 1996.
13. "Movie Theaters in Newport News, VA". CinemaTreasures.org. Los Angeles: Cinema Treasures LLC. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
14. Calhoun 1919.
15. Jack Alicoate, ed. (1939), "Standard Broadcasting Stations of the United States: Virginia", Radio Annual, New York: Radio Daily, OCLC 2459636
16. Ernie Gross (1990). This Day in American History. Neal-Schuman. ISBN 978-1-55570-046-1.
17. "AAHGS-Hampton Roads". Newport News, VA. Retrieved May 11, 2017 – via Blogspot.
18. "Hurricane History of Central and Eastern Virginia" (PDF). National Weather Service. Retrieved May 12, 2017.
19. "Virginia". Official Congressional Directory. 1991/1992- : S. Pub. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. 1993. hdl:2027/uc1.l0072691827 – via HathiTrust.
20. "City of Newport News". Archived from the original on December 24, 1996 – via Internet Archive, Wayback Machine.
21. Kevin Hyde; Tamie Hyde (eds.). "United States of America: Virginia". Official City Sites. Utah. OCLC 40169021. Archived from the original on April 23, 1999.
22. "About". Newport News: Warwick County Historical Society. Retrieved May 12, 2017.
23. "Newport News city, Virginia". QuickFacts. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved May 11, 2017.

Bibliography

• Newport News, Hampton, Phoebus and Old Point, Va. Directory: 1910, Richmond: Hill Directory Company, 1909
  • 1917 ed.
• Greater Newport News 'The Shipbuilding City'. Pen and Picture Sketches. Illustrated Cities. 1915.
• D.A. Calhoun (1919), Report on Municipal Survey of Newport News, Virginia, 1919, Better Newport News Association
• Federal Writers' Project (1941), "Newport News", Virginia: a Guide to the Old Dominion, American Guide Series, Oxford University Press, pp. 259+
• Alexander Crosby Brown (1946). Newport News' 325 Years: A Record of the Progress of a Virginia Community. Newport News Golden Anniversary Corporation. OCLC 6247364.
• City Consolidation in the Lower Peninsula, Charlottesville: University of Virginia, Bureau of Public Administration, 1956, Report on the advantages and disadvantages of consolidating the cities of Hampton, Newport News, and Warwick
• Annie Lash Jester. Newport News, Virginia 1607–1960. Richmond: Whittet & Shepperson, 1961.
• Van Hawkings. Hampton/Newport News: A Pictorial History. Virginia Beach: The Donning Company/Publishers, Inc, 1975.
• Ory Mazar Nergal, ed. (1980), "Newport News, VA", Encyclopedia of American Cities, New York: E.P. Dutton, p. 234, OL 4120668M
• Parke Rouse, Jr. (1986). Good Old Days in Hampton and Newport News. Richmond: Dietz Press. OCLC 13983158.
• John V. Quarstein and Parke S. Rouse Jr. Newport News: A Centennial History. Newport News: City of Newport News, 1996
• Melissa Simpson (June 25, 1996), "Glance At 100 Years: A City's History 1896–Present", Daily Press, archived from the original on January 21, 2011 (Timeline)
• Jane Carter Webb (2003). Newport News. Images of America. Arcadia. ISBN 978-1-4396-2947-5.
• Paul T. Hellmann (2006). "Virginia: Newport News". Historical Gazetteer of the United States. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 1-135-94859-3.

External links

• "Digital Archive". Newport News Public Library System. (Publications about Newport News)
• "City of Newport News". County and City Records. Richmond: Library of Virginia.
• Items related to Newport News, various dates (via Digital Public Library of America)