Editing Newport News, Virginia (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of Newport News, Virginia|Timeline of Newport News, Virginia|Warwick County, Virginia}}

===European settlement===
[[File:Warwick county va 1895.jpg|thumb|Warwick County (shaded in orange on this 1895 map) was originally one of the eight shires created in [[Colony of Virginia|colonial Virginia]] in 1634]]
During the 17th century, shortly after founding of [[Jamestown, Virginia]], in 1607, English settlers explored and began settling the areas adjacent to Hampton Roads. In 1610, Sir [[Thomas Gates (governor)|Thomas Gates]] seized a nearby [[Native Americans of the United States|Native American]] village, which became known as [[Kecoughtan, Virginia|Kecoughtan]]. At that time, settlers began clearing land along the James River (the eastern most section of which was called [[Hampton Roads]]) for plantations, including the present area of Newport News.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

In 1619, the area of Newport News was included in one of four huge corporations of the [[Virginia Company of London]]. It became known as [[Elizabeth City (Virginia Company)|Elizabeth Cittie]] and extended west all the way to [[Skiffe's Creek]] (currently the border between Newport News and [[James City County, Virginia|James City County]]). Elizabeth Cittie included all of present-day [[South Hampton Roads]].<ref>''The Virginia Company of London, 1606–1624'', by Wesley Frank Craven, Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1957; {{ISBN|0-8063-4555-1}}</ref>

By 1634, the English colony of Virginia consisted of a population of approximately 5,000 inhabitants. It was divided into eight [[shires of Virginia]], which were renamed as [[County (United States)|counties]] shortly thereafter. The area of Newport News became part of [[Warwick River Shire]], which became [[Warwick County, Virginia|Warwick County]] in 1637.  The first courthouse was located near the shores of the James River at [[Denbigh Plantation Site#Warwick Town|Warwick Town]] near [[Denbigh Plantation]].  In 1810, the [[county seat]] was at [[Denbigh, Virginia|Denbigh]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.discoverourtown.com/VA/local-54079.html |title=Old Warwick County Courthouse |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080620081444/http://www.discoverourtown.com/VA/local-54079.html |archive-date=June 20, 2008 |work=Discover Our Town |access-date=April 25, 2008}}</ref> 

===Build-up to Incorporation===
[[File:Lee Hall.jpg|thumb|[[Lee Hall, Virginia|Lee Hall]], built in 1859 by Richard Lee]]
Newport News was a rural area of plantations and a small fishing village until after the [[American Civil War]]. The area that formed the present-day southern end of Newport News had long been established as an unincorporated town. After [[Reconstruction era in the United States|Reconstruction]] (the period after the American Civil War) the new City of Newport News was essentially founded by California merchant [[Collis P. Huntington]]. Huntington, one of the [[Big Four (Central Pacific Railroad)|Big Four]] associated with the [[Central Pacific Railroad]], in California, formed the western part of the country's [[First transcontinental railroad]]. He was recruited by former [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] General [[Williams Carter Wickham]] to become a major investor and guiding light for a southern railroad. He helped complete the [[Chesapeake and Ohio Railway]] to the [[Ohio River]] in 1873.<ref>[http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/published/vt/viblbv00240.bioghist "Collis Huntington"], University of Virginia Library website; accessed July 24, 2015.</ref> 

Huntington knew the railroad could transport coal eastbound from West Virginia's untapped natural resources. His agents began acquiring land in Warwick County in 1865. In the 1880s, he oversaw extension of the C&O's new [[Peninsula Subdivision]], which extended from the [[Church Hill Tunnel]] in [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]] southeast down the peninsula through [[Williamsburg, Virginia|Williamsburg]] to Newport News, where the company developed [[coal pier]]s on the harbor of Hampton Roads.<ref>[http://www.cohs.org Chesapeake and Ohio Historical Society]; accessed April 3, 2008.</ref>On October 19, 1881, the first train to ever depart from Newport News left [[Lee Hall Depot]] on temporary tracks and arrived at [[Yorktown, Virginia|Yorktown]] for the 'Cornwallis Surrender Centennial Celebration", a commemoration of the British defeat at the [[Battle of yorktown|Battle of Yorktown]].<ref>Lash Jester, Annie (1961). Newport News Virginia, 1607-1960. City of Newport News.</ref>

His next project was to develop [[Northrop Grumman Newport News|Chesapeake Dry Dock & Construction Company]], known from 1890 as the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. The shipbuilding was originally intended to build boats to transition goods from the rails to the seas, but would quickly grow from additional work from the US Navy, including building the two [[Kearsarge-class battleship|Kearsarge class]] battleships and the [[USS Illinois (BB-7)]] by 1900.  With time, it would become the world's largest shipyard.

Construction of the railroad and establishment of the great shipyard brought thousands of workers and associated development.  A rapid building boom occurred, including [[Hotel Warwick]], [[First Baptist Church (Newport News, Virginia)|churches]], a [[Daily Press (Virginia)|newspaper]], banks, and a courthouse. From 1888 to 1896, the county seat of [[Warwick County, Virginia]] was moved to Newport News area, reflecting the growing importance of the area.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.discoverourtown.com/VA/local-54079.html |title=Old Warwick County Courthouse |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080620081444/http://www.discoverourtown.com/VA/local-54079.html |archive-date=June 20, 2008 |work=Discover Our Town |access-date=April 25, 2008}}</ref> On January 16, 1896 Newport News incorporated as an [[Administrative divisions of Virginia#Independent cities|independent city]], fully separate of Warwick County.<ref name=VFH-cities>{{cite encyclopedia |url= http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Cities_of_Virginia |title=Cities of Virginia: Newport News |encyclopedia= Encyclopedia Virginia |publisher=[[Virginia Foundation for the Humanities]] |location=Charlottesville |access-date=May 11, 2017 }}</ref><ref name=ODLCrecords /> 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 (United States)|independent city]] political subdivision since 1871.) [[Walter A. Post]] served as the city's first mayor.<ref name="nntimeline">{{cite web|title=Newport News History Timeline |url=http://www.nngov.com/library/nnhistory |website=Newport News Public Library System |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714190229/http://www.nngov.com/library/nnhistory |archive-date=July 14, 2011 |access-date=April 3, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===1900s===

In 1907 President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] sent the [[Great White Fleet]] on its round-the-world voyage. NNS had already built seven of that fleet's 16 battleships. In 1906 the revolutionary [[HMS Dreadnought]] launched a great additional naval buildup worldwide, and the Newport News would directly benefit from that work, leading all the way up to World War I.

From 1912 to 1914, Collis Huntingon's nephew, [[Henry E. Huntington]], assumed leadership of the shipyard. [[Huntington Park (Newport News, Virginia)|Huntington Park]], developed after [[World War I]] near the northern terminus of the [[James River Bridge]], is named for him.<ref>[http://www.nn.northropgrumman.com/about/history.html "History"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051216183327/http://www.nn.northropgrumman.com/about/history.html |date=December 16, 2005 }}, Northrop Grumman Newport News Shipbuilding. Accessed April 3, 2008.</ref>

Albert Lloyd Hopkins, president of Newport News Shipbuilding at that time, was killed May 7, 1915 while traveling to England on shipyard business aboard [[RMS Lusitania]], which was torpedoed by a German submarine. [[Homer L. Ferguson]] became president of the company, and would see it through both World Wars.  During [[World War I]], Newport News was headquarters to the [[Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation]].  Between 1918 and 1920 NNS delivered 25 destroyers to the US Navy.

The city grew in territory through the annexation of parts of Warwick County and also of the town of [[Kecoughtan, Virginia|Kecoughtan]] in adjoining [[Elizabeth City County, Virginia|Elizabeth City County]] in 1927.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bains |first=David R. |date=2022-08-17 |title=Town of Kecoughtan, Virginia |url=https://chasingchurches.com/2022/08/17/town-of-kecoughtan-virginia/ |access-date=2022-08-19 |website=Chasing Churches |language=en}}</ref>

Collis Huntington's son, [[Archer M. Huntington]] and his wife, sculptor [[Anna Hyatt Huntington]], developed the [[Mariners' Museum]] beginning in 1932. They created a natural park and the community's [[The Mariners' Lake|Mariners' Lake]] in the process. A major feature of Newport News, the Mariners' Museum has grown to become one of the largest and finest [[maritime museum]]s in the world.<ref>[http://www.amnumsoc.org/archives/HuntingtonBio.htm Archer M. Huntington (1870–1955)] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20040625000539/http://www.amnumsoc.org/archives/HuntingtonBio.htm |date=June 25, 2004 }}. Retrieved July 21, 2005</ref>

[[File:Washington Avenue in the 1940s.jpg|thumb|Washington Avenue, downtown, in the 1940s]]
[[File:Launch of USS Birmingham (CL-62) at Newport News Shipbuilding on 20 March 1942 (NH 75592).jpg|thumb|The newly constructed [[USS Birmingham (CL-62)|USS ''Birmingham'']] is launched from the Newport News yards in 1942]]

In [[World War II]], Newport News would again be the headquarters for the reactivated [[Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation]].

Although fashionable housing and businesses developed in downtown, the increase in industry and the development of new suburbs pushed and pulled retail and residential development to the west and north after [[World War II]]. Such suburban development was aided by national subsidization of highway construction and was part of a national trend to newer housing.

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. The merger created the third largest city by population 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 the traditional one of Warwick County, with the exception of minor border adjustments with neighbors.<ref name=":0">Scott, Thomas M. "Metropolitan Governmental Reorganization Proposals", ''The Western Political Quarterly'', Vol. 21, No. 2 (Jun. 1968), pp. 252–261 {{doi|10.2307/446305}}.</ref>

In July 1989, the United States Navy commissioned the third naval vessel named after the city with the entry of the Los Angeles-class nuclear submarine {{USS|Newport News|SSN-750|6}}, built at Newport News Shipbuilding, into active service.  The ship was initially commanded by CDR. Mark B. Keef; the city held a public celebration of the event, which was attended by Vice President of the United States Dan Quayle. In conjunction with this milestone, a song was written by a city native and formally adopted by Newport News City Council in July 1989. The lyrics appear with permission from the author:

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

===2000s===
Despite city efforts at large-scale revitalization, by the beginning of the 21st century, the downtown area consisted largely of the coal export facilities, the shipyard, and municipal offices. It is bordered by some harbor-related smaller businesses and lower income housing.<ref>[http://epa.gov/swerosps/bf/html-doc/snewnews.htm "Brownfields Supplemental Assistance"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030301115211/http://www.epa.gov/swerosps/bf/html-doc/snewnews.htm |date=March 1, 2003 }}, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency website, May 2002.</ref>

The city began to explore [[New Urbanism]] as a way to develop areas midtown. City Center at Oyster Point was developed out of a small portion of the Oyster Point Business Park. It opened in phases from 2003 through 2005. The city invested $82 million of public funding in the project.<ref>[http://www.citycenteratoysterpoint.com/newsletter/pdf/daily_press_editorial.pdf Editorial: "Changing Place"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513192359/http://www.citycenteratoysterpoint.com/newsletter/pdf/daily_press_editorial.pdf |date=May 13, 2008 }}, ''Daily Press'' (Newport News, VA). June 5, 2005, accessed May 9, 2008.</ref> Closely following Oyster Point, Port Warwick opened as an urban residential community in the new midtown business district. Fifteen hundred people now reside in the Port Warwick area. It includes a {{convert|3|acre|ha|1|adj=on}} city square where festivals and events take place.<ref>[http://www.portwarwick.com/portwarwick.html About Port Warwick] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080510140531/http://www.portwarwick.com/portwarwick.html |date=May 10, 2008 }}, PortWarwick.com; accessed May 9, 2008.</ref>

In January 2023, a six-year-old shot his teacher [[Shooting of Abby Zwerner|Abby Zwerner]] in an elementary school in Newport News.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-01-09 |title=Virginia teacher who was shot by six-year-old tried to confiscate gun – report |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/09/virginia-teacher-shot-newport-news-richneck-elementary-abby-zwerner |access-date=2023-01-10 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref>