Newport News, Virginia

Newport News is an independent city located in Virginia. It is on the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the north shore of the James River extending to its mouth Hampton Roads. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 180,150. A more recent 2005 cencus shows the cities population has grown to 195,347.

Related Topics:
Independent city - Virginia - Virginia Peninsula - James River - Hampton Roads - 2000 - 2005

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The name of Newport News has long been a puzzle to those curious about the origin of place names. To this day nobody really knows how the city got its name. Several versions are recorded. One popular explanation holds that when the first Jamestown, Virginia colonists left to return to England after the Starving Time of 1610, they encountered Captain Christopher Newport's ship in the James River off Mulberry Island, and learned that reinforcements of men and supplies had arrived, and that the colonists need not abandon Jamestown. Thus the city was named for Newport's good news. Less dramatically, the city may have derived its name from an old English word "news" meaning "new town." Another theory is that the original name was New Port Neuce, named for a person with the name Neuce and the town's place as a new seaport. That the name was formerly written as Newport's News is verified by numerous early documents and maps, and by local tradition. The change to Newport News apparently was brought about by usage, for by 1851 the Post Office Department sanctioned New Port News as the name of the first post office, and in 1866 it approved the name as Newport News.

Related Topics:
Jamestown, Virginia - Starving Time of 1610 - Christopher Newport's - 1851 - 1866

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