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Newport News, Virginia

Newport News, Virginia
Independent city
City of Newport News
The downtown Newport News skyline as seen from 26th Street and I-664 overpass in August 2013
The downtown Newport News skyline as seen from 26th Street and I-664 overpass in August 2013
Official seal of Newport News, Virginia
Seal
Nickname(s): "Bad News"
Location in the Commonwealth of Virginia
Location in the Commonwealth of Virginia
Newport News, Virginia is located in the US
Newport News, Virginia
Newport News, Virginia
Location in the United States
Coordinates: 37°4′15″N 76°29′4″W / 37.07083°N 76.48444°W / 37.07083; -76.48444Coordinates: 37°4′15″N 76°29′4″W / 37.07083°N 76.48444°W / 37.07083; -76.48444
Country  United States
State  Virginia
Incorporated 1896; 121 years ago (1896)
Government
 • Mayor McKinley L. Price (I)
Area
 • Independent city 300 km2 (120 sq mi)
 • Land 180 km2 (69 sq mi)
 • Water 130 km2 (51 sq mi)  42.4%
Elevation 4.5 m (15 ft)
Population (2013)
 • Independent city 183,412
 • Density 1,013/km2 (2,623/sq mi)
 • Urban 1,134,145
 • Metro 1,672,319
Time zone EST (UTC-5)
 • Summer (DST) EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP code 23601-23609
Area code(s) 757
FIPS code 51-56000
GNIS feature ID 1497043
Website www.nnva.gov

Newport News is an independent city located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 180,719. In 2013, the population was estimated to be 183,412, making it the fifth-most populous city in Virginia.

Newport News is included in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. It is at the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the northern shore of the James River extending southeast from Skiffe's Creek along many miles of waterfront to the river's mouth at Newport News Point on the harbor of Hampton Roads. The area now known as Newport News was once a part of Warwick County. Warwick County was one of the eight original shires of Virginia, formed by the House of Burgesses in the British Colony of Virginia by order of King Charles I, in 1634. The county was largely composed of farms and undeveloped land until almost 250 years later.

In 1881, 15 years of explosive development began under the leadership of Collis P. Huntington, whose new Peninsula Extension of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway from Richmond opened up transportation along the Peninsula and provided a new pathway for the railroad to bring West Virginia bituminous coal to port for coastal shipping and worldwide export. With the new railroad came a terminal and coal piers where the colliers were loaded. Within a few years, Huntington and his associates also built a large shipyard. In 1896, the new incorporated town of Newport News, which had briefly replaced Denbigh as the county seat of Warwick County, had a population of 9,000. In 1958, by mutual consent by referendum, Newport News was consolidated with the former Warwick County (itself a separate city from 1952 to 1958), rejoining the two localities to approximately their pre-1896 geographic size. The more widely known name of Newport News was selected as they formed what was then Virginia's third largest independent city in population.


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