Newport News, Virginia

District-free city

51-56000

Newport News is an independent city in eastern Virginia in the United States.

It extends along the river the James River between Williamsburg and Norfolk and is north of the Hampton Roads region.

Newport News is about 175 square kilometers, the fourth largest city by area in Virginia and had 180 719 inhabitants in 2010, making it the fifth largest city in Virginia.

The city was founded in 1621. The origin of the name is not clearly understood. An interesting explanation is the following: when the first English settlers of Jamestown after a starvation period in 1610 wanted to sail back to England, they met at today's Newport News on the ship of Captain Christopher Newport, who arrived with supplies and reinforcements. They therefore did not have to give up due to positive Newport News ( Newport 's good news) Jamestown. A more mundane explanation is rooted in the Old English word news, the new town means. The town was originally called Newport 's News. Since 1866, the name is out of the American post as Newport News.

The shipyard Newport News Shipbuilding has their headquarters here after Christopher Newport University of the city was named.

After the city three U.S. Navy ships have been named: the freighter USS Newport News (AK -3), the heavy cruiser USS Newport News (CA -148 ) and the currently located in service nuclear -powered submarine USS Newport News (SSN -750 ).

In Newport News is located in the Mariners' Museum, the largest maritime museum in North America and one of the largest in the world.

Population Development

¹ 1980-2010: census results

Twinning

  • Japan Neyagawa, Japan
  • China People's Republic of Taizhou, People's Republic of China
  • Germany Greifswald, Germany since 2007

Sons and daughters of the town

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