The tightly-developed, twenty-two-block residential North End Historic District, paralleling the James River northwest of downtown Newport News, evolved in three major phases between 1900 and 1935. The 1881 extension of the Chesapeake and Ohio tracks to the deepwater terminal, and the founding of the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. in 1886 spurred a need for housing. The area was subsequently laid out by the Old Dominion Land Co. In the early period, 1900-10, both shipyard managers and skilled workmen resided here. The more affluent built architecturally distinguished houses along Huntington Avenue overlooking the James River. Many more dwellings were erected for the swelling population during World War I. Prominent residents of the North End Historic District have included shipyard presidents Homer L. Ferguson and Walter A. Post, who also was the city’s first mayor; Samuel R. Buxton and Phillip A. Hiden, later mayors of Newport News; and Saxon W. Holt, Virginia lieutenant governor from 1938-1940.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia