Hampton’s Old Wythe Historic District arose as a suburb along the waterfront of Hampton Roads in an area that had seen the oyster and crab industry flourish before the development of Newport News. After the opening of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway and the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, real estate development became a “higher use” for the waterfront land and subdivisions were platted. By the turn of the century, streetcar service was introduced along Electric Avenue (today’s Victoria Boulevard) and Chesapeake Avenue, linking Newport News with Old Point Comfort’s resorts and military facilities in Hampton such as Fort Monroe. Old Wythe subdivisions offered suburban alternatives to the bustle and relative expense of living in Newport News. The Old Wythe Historic District is typical of late-19th- and early-20th-century streetcar neighborhoods, as exemplified in its popular residential architectural styles and grid-pattern of streets.