Newport News

Newport News, Virginia 

Newport News is a self-governing city in the U.S. state of Virginia (/nuprt -, -prt -/). There were 186,247 people living there as of the 2020 Census. It is the fifth-most populated city in Virginia and the 140th-most populous city in the country. It is situated in the Hampton Roads area. 

The metropolitan area of Hampton Roads includes Newport News. It is located on the northern shore of the James River, which runs southeast from Skiffe's Creek through several miles of waterfront to the river's mouth at Newport News Point on the bay of Hampton Roads. It is at the southernmost point of the Virginia Peninsula. In the past, Warwick County included the region that is today known as Newport News. One of Virginia's eight original shires, Warwick County was established in 1634 by King Charles I's edict to the House of Burgesses in the British Colony of Virginia. 

Under the direction of Collis P. Huntington, fifteen years of rapid development started in 1881. His new Peninsula Extension of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway from Richmond opened up transportation options along the Peninsula and gave the railroad a new route to transport West Virginia bituminous coal to port for coastal shipping and global export. A terminal and coal piers where the colliers were loaded came along with the new train. Huntington and his friends quickly constructed a sizable shipyard as well. With 9,000 residents, Newport News, a newly established town, temporarily took Denbigh's place as Warwick County's administrative center in 1896. By mutual agreement through a referendum, Newport News and Warwick County (which had been a separate city from 1952 to 1958) were combined in 1958, returning the two communities to roughly their pre-1896 geographic size. As they combined to form what was then Virginia's third-largest independent city in terms of population, the more well-known name of Newport News was chosen. 

The city's economy is heavily dependent on the military, with many citizens working at the sizable Newport News Shipyard, the joint U.S. Air Force-Army station at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, as well as other military facilities and suppliers. A sizable boating sector can benefit from the area's numerous miles of waterfront thanks to its location on the harbor and along the James River. With the Newport News Marine Terminals situated at the East End of the city, Newport News also functions as a crossroads between the railways and the sea. It is connected to neighboring Hampton Roads cities by the circumferential Hampton Roads Beltway, which spans the bay on two bridge-tunnels and is served by important east-west Interstate Highway 64. Inside the city borders is a portion of the Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport. 

Etymology 

As early as 1621, Newportes Newes was the name given to the ancient region near the mouth of the James River. 

Although being the oldest English city name in the Americas, the exact origin of the name "Newport News" is unknown. There are other versions documented, and there is much local rumor about it. The most widely accepted theory states that an early group of Jamestown colonists encountered a second 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 when they left to return to England after the Starving Time during the winter of 1609–1610 aboard a ship of Captain Christopher Newport. They were told to turn around and head back to Jamestown by the new governor. According to this theory, the community was named after the "good news" of Newport. Another idea is that the name of the community came from an old English word called "news," which meant "new town." According to at least one source, the previous settlement's reconstruction following a fire is how the "New" came to be. 

According to a different version, the town's original name was New Port Newce, after a person by that name and the town's status as a new harbor. Sir William Newce, the namesake, was an English soldier who first landed in Ireland. He had founded Newcestown there in County Cork, not far from Bandon. In October 1621, he set ship for Virginia with Sir Francis Wyatt and received a land grant of 2,500 acres (1,012 ha). Two days later, he passed away. Capt. Thomas Newce, his brother, received "600 acres at Kequatan, now named Elizabeth Cittie." Daniel Gookin, a partner, finished establishing the community. uncertain - discuss] 

American historian John Fiske states in his two-volume work Old Virginia and her Neighbors from 1897: 

Several antique maps have Newport Ness listed as the name, which is simply another way for sailors to say Newport Point. 

Several ancient papers and maps, as well as local lore, attest to the name's former appearance as "Newport's News." Use led to the name changing to Newport News; in 1851, the Post Office Department approved the name "New Port News" (written as three words) for the first post office. It adopted the name in its current form, "Newport News," in 1866. 

Geography 

The coordinates of Newport News are 37°4′15′′N 76°29′4′′W (37.071046, 76.484557). The city has a total area of 120 square miles (310 km2), of which 51 square miles (130 km2) (42.4%) is water and 69 square miles (180 km2) is land, according to the United States Census Bureau. 

In Virginia's Tidewater region, close to the Atlantic Ocean, the city is situated on the Peninsula side of Hampton Roads. With a population estimate of 1,716,624 in 2014, the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC MSA, the official name of the Hampton Roads MSA, is the 37th biggest in the US. Along with the North Carolina counties of Currituck and Gates, the region also includes the Virginia cities of Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Poquoson, Portsmouth, Suffolk, and Williamsburg, as well as the counties of Gloucester, Isle of Wight, James City, Mathews, Surry, and York. One of the Peninsula's commercial hubs is Newport News. The Virginia Beach oceanfront resort zone and Williamsburg are predominantly tourist destinations, but the city of Norfolk is acknowledged as the region's primary business district. 

James City County to the northwest, York County to the north and northeast, and Hampton to the east are the counties that Newport News shares land borders with. With Portsmouth to the southeast and Suffolk to the south across the Hampton Roads region, as well as Isle of Wight County to the southwest and west and Surry County to the northwest across the James River, Newport News is bound by water on all sides. 

Cityscape 

The city's core was a portion of the first region to be developed when it was first founded as a separate city in 1896. The "East End" or "Southeast" neighborhood, which was predominately made up of African-Americans, the "North End," as well as the shipyard and coal docks, were also included in the older city areas. In 1927, Newport News annexed the town of Kecoughtan in Elizabeth City County, increasing the city's boundaries from Salter's Creek to Pear Avenue along Hampton Roads. In order to improve housing in what became known as the East End or "The Bottom" by locals, public housing complexes and lower income homes were created after World War II. If there was land available and highways were constructed, the city grew predominantly toward the west. The downtown area experienced a significant decrease, although the shipyard, coal plants, and other minor harbor-related companies have remained active. The adjacent lower-income residential areas have experienced a crime problem. 

Huntington Heights was established in an early part of the city west of the conventional downtown area. Known as the North End in modern times. North End, which was mostly developed between 1900 and 1935, has a diverse range of architectural styles and traditional building types. It includes excellent river vistas and continues west to the approaches to the James River Bridge. The North End is a well-kept neighborhood and a historic area that is listed on both the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places. 

The political boundary that was located next to Mercury Boulevard was eliminated at the 1958 merger with the City of Warwick by mutual consent. Between the James River Bridge and the nearby Hampton neighborhood of Coliseum-Central, this important north-south thoroughfare carries U.S. Route 258. Although Hilton Village was created during World War I as a planned neighborhood along Warwick Boulevard north of the Mercury Boulevard, the county remained primarily rural at the time. West of this point, the city's majority transitions to a suburban setting. Numerous neighborhoods have grown, some of them in the vicinity of several previous small towns. High-end single-family homes can be found along miles of waterfront along the James River and its tributaries, including Deep Creek and Lucas Creek. Subdivisions replaced farmland and wild areas in numerous areas. Even the northernmost parts, which are farthest from the historic downtown center, have seen some residential construction. There is a lot of area that has been set aside for historical, recreational, and natural resource conservation. The reservoirs of the Newport News Water System (which include much of the Warwick River), the vast Newport News Park, a number of public schools, the military installations of Fort Eustis and a small portion of the Naval Weapons Station Yorktown are major features of the northwestern end, along with some newer residential areas. 

The community of Lee Hall is located at the very northwest corner, close to Skiffe's Creek and the boundary with James City County. This area has preserved historical elements, such as the former Chesapeake and Ohio Railway station that provided service to tens of thousands of soldiers stationed at what is now Fort Eustis during World Wars I and II. Rail enthusiasts and train preservationists highly admire the unusually large rural two-story frame depot. 

The Victory Arch, erected in downtown Newport News as a memorial to the Great War, is located there. Womack Foundry, Inc. cast the "Eternal Flame" beneath the arch in the 1960s. Ernest D. Womack, the president and creator of the Foundry, created it by hand. Many notable landmarks and intriguing architectural structures can be found in the downtown region, which for a while was mostly neglected in favor of developing new neighborhoods in the city's northwest (a strategy aided by tax incentives in the postwar years). 

Municipal officials are striving to revitalize this region by remodeling and constructing new residences, as well as luring businesses. With the opening of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel in 1958, which connected the Southside with neighboring Hampton, and the subsequent abolition of the Newport News-Norfolk ferry service, the area's access and through traffic were once again open. Both the reconstructed James River Bridge and the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel, which have greater carrying capacities, have improved accessibility and through traffic in the downtown area. 

With newer planned industrial, commercial, and mixed development like Oyster Point, Kiln Creek, and the City Center, much of the newest commercial construction has been along the Warwick Boulevard and Jefferson Avenue corridors. The city has supported a number of New Urbanism projects, even though the downtown area had long been the region of the city that offered the classic urban form. One is Port Warwick, which was given that name in honor of the made-up city in Lie Down in Darkness by William Styron. Housing options are available in Port Warwick for a wide range of residents, including off-campus accommodation for students at Christopher Newport University and housing for the elderly. Many expensive restaurants and upscale shopping are also included. 

Due to its new geographic prominence on the Virginia Peninsula, its proximity to the city's retail/business core, and other factors, City Center at Oyster Point, a neighborhood close to Port Warwick, has been hailed as the new "downtown." Locally, it is frequently referred to as just "City Center." The Virginia Living Museum in the area just finished a $22.6 million expansion project. 

On Warwick Boulevard, close to the Denbigh area in the northern part of the city, Newport News is also home to a small Korean ethnic community. As the hub of commerce for the Korean population in Hampton Roads, it has been dubbed "Little Seoul" while lacking the density and personality of larger, more established enclaves. 

Climate 

Newport News experiences hot, humid summers and pleasant to mild winters due to its location in the humid subtropical climatic zone. Due to the area's inland location, lows are 1 to 2 °F (0.6 to 1.1 °C) colder and highs are 2 to 3 °F (1.1 to 1.7 °C) warmer than regions to the southeast. The average amount of snowfall is 5.8 inches (15 cm) every season, with the summer months typically being a little wetter. The city's geographic location in relation to the main storm tracks favors fair weather because it is north of the typical paths of hurricanes and other large tropical storms and south of the typical paths of storms coming from higher latitudes. 

Crime 

In 2005, Newport News had 20 murders, with a murder rate of 10.8 per 100,000 residents. With 19 murders in 2006, the city's murder rate was 10.5 per 100,000 residents. 28 murders occurred in the city in 2007 at a rate of 15.8 per 100,000 residents. 

Newport News has a total crime index rate of 434.7, which is higher than the national average of 320.9. Newport News was listed as the 119th most dangerous city with a population more than 75,000 in the "2008 City Crime Rankings: Crime in Metropolitan America" by the Congressional Quarterly Press. The East End of Newport News is the area with the highest crime rates. 

Economy 

Shipbuilding, the military, and aerospace are among of the city's main industries. Huntington Ingalls Industries owns Newport News Shipyard, and CSX Transportation, the current Fortune 500 successor to the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, supplies the massive coal docks there (C&O). Automobiles traveling over the James River Bridge and Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel, which are both parts of the Hampton Roads Beltway that encircles the region's major cities via Interstates 664 and 64, can see miles of the waterfront. In addition to those employed in the shipyard and in other harbor-related fields, various military sites nearby and the city's suppliers to the U.S. defensive industry employ a large number of locals. 

The maritime sector includes Newport News. The Newport News Marine Terminal is located at the terminus of the CSX railroad tracks. The 140-acre (0.57 km2) Terminal contains container cranes, heavy-lift cranes, and warehouse capabilities. 

The proximity of Newport News to Hampton Roads and its train system have benefited the city. Two industrial parks in the city have made it possible for manufacturing and distribution to establish themselves there. The 1990s saw a boom in technology-focused businesses, and Newport News developed as a hub for those businesses in the area. 

Ferguson Enterprises and L-3 Flight International Aviation are two additional businesses with their headquarters in Newport News. 

With more than 24,000 employees, Newport News Shipbuilding is the largest employer in the area. With nearly 10,000 employees, Fort Eustis ranks as the second largest employer in the area. The Newport News School System is the third largest employer in the city and generates approximately 5,000 employments. 

The installation at Fort Eustis, which was built on the storied Mulberry Island during World War I, now serves as the home of the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command as well as other operations. Other US military establishments in the vicinity include Langley Air Force Base, Camp Peary, USCG Training Center Yorktown, and the now-deactivated Fort Monroe. The largest military base in the world, Naval Station Norfolk, is situated in South Hampton Roads, across the James River. 

The city's economy is influenced by research and education. Newport News is home to the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF). More than 2,000 experts from all around the world undertake research at TJNAF, which has over 675 employees. Its stated goals are to "provide cutting-edge scientific facilities, opportunities, and leadership essential for determining the fundamental structure of nuclear matter; to partner with industry to apply its advanced technology; and to serve the nation and its communities through education and public outreach." The facility was formerly known as the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF). 

Sports 

The Peninsula Pirates and Peninsula Poseidons of the semi-pro football Mason Dixon League, as well as the Virginia Crusaders, have called Newport News their home. 

Presently, the Division III of the NCAA Capital Athletic Conference is where the Captains of Christopher Newport University compete across fourteen sports. 

High school athletics, particularly football, are very important to the culture of the city. Five high schools' worth of football games are often played at the city's stadium, John B. Todd Stadium, on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Track and field competitions for the schools take place in the stadium. 

In addition, the USL League Two soccer team Lionsbridge FC, which plays its home games at Christopher Newport University during the summer, is based in the city. FC Lionsbridge 

Just outside Newport News, there are more sporting opportunities. NCAA Division I athletics are available at the College of William and Mary, Hampton University, Norfolk State University, and Old Dominion University. NCAA Division III sports are also offered by Virginia Wesleyan College. At War Memorial Stadium in Hampton, which is just outside the city boundaries, the Peninsula Pilots compete. The Coastal Plain League is a summer baseball league where the Pilots compete. The American Hockey League's Norfolk Admirals and the International League's Norfolk Tides both play in Norfolk. Both a men's and a women's professional soccer team is fielded by the Hampton Roads Piranhas in Virginia Beach. Since 2009, Newport News has served as the administrative center for the Atlantic 10 Conference. 

Since 2015, the city has held a marathon each year. Almost in 2021, the One City Marathon was held. The route starts in Newport News Park and runs the entire length of Newport News. The route passes via Mariners' Museum Park, CNU, and Hilton Village before coming to a finish at the Victory Arch in the city center. The route is USTAF recognized and is a Boston Marathon qualifying distance. A half marathon, relay, 8K, and 1-mile fun run are also offered. 

Population 

Virginia is the home of Newport News. It is the 143rd largest city in the United States and the sixth largest in Virginia with a projected population of 187,906 in 2023. Newport News' population has grown by 0.89% from the most recent census, which showed a population of 186,247 in 2020, and is now rising at a pace of 0.3% yearly. With a population spread out over more than 120 miles, Newport News has a density of 2,724 persons per square mile. 

Newport News has a 17.55% poverty rate and a $68,792 average household income. The median monthly cost of rent in recent years has been, and the median value of a home is. In Newport News, the median age is 33.8 years, 31.9 years for men and 35.6 years for women. 

The autonomous city of Newport News is situated along the James River's waterfront in the southeast corner of the Virginia peninsula. The Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News metropolitan region, which has a combined population of 1.74 million, includes Newport News, the fifth-largest city in Virginia.