James Clyde Morris (July 4, 1909 – September 21, 1987) was an American civic leader in the Hampton Roads region of southeastern

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. His career spanned 32 years of public service. Morris served as the only city manager of the short-lived City of Warwick in the

Virginia Peninsula The Virginia Peninsula is a peninsula in southeast Virginia, USA, bounded by the York River, James River, Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay. It is sometimes known as the ''Lower Peninsula'' to distinguish it from two other peninsulas to the n ...

subregion from 1952 to 1958. This was an important and change-filled period for the former Warwick County, one of the original

shires of Virginia The eight Shires of Virginia were formed in 1634 in the Virginia Colony. These shires were based on a form of local government used in England at the time, and were redesignated as counties a few years later. As of 2007, five of the eight original ...

originally established in 1634. In 1952, Warwick made the transition to become an

independent city An independent city or independent town is a city or town that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity (such as a province). Historical precursors In the Holy Roman Empire, and to a degree in its successor states ...

. Then, in 1958, it was consolidated with neighboring City of Newport News, which had become separate from the county after development of the coal piers and the eastern terminus of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway and the massive facilities of the

Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is the largest industrial employer in Virginia, and sole designer, builder and refueler of United States Navy aircraft carriers and one of two providers of U.S. Navy ...

by developer and industrialist Collis P. Huntington. Morris next undertook leadership of the entities which funded, built and operate the

Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Chesapeake often refers to: *Chesapeake people, a Native American tribe also known as the Chesepian * The Chesapeake, a.k.a. Chesapeake Bay *Delmarva Peninsula, also known as the Chesapeake Peninsula Chesapeake may also refer to: Populated plac ...

, completed in 1964. He was the first executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel District. He was also a member of the Hampton Roads Sanitation District Commission for 32 years. In Newport News, a stretch of

U.S. Route 17 U.S. Route 17 or U.S. Highway 17 (US 17), also known as the Coastal Highway, is a north–south United States Highway that spans in the southeastern United States. It runs close to the Atlantic Coast for much of its length, wit ...

from the York County border (to where it turns left onto Jefferson Avenue) then straight through to Warwick Boulevard was named J. Clyde Morris Boulevard in his honor by the Warwick City Council in 1958.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, J. Clyde 1909 births 1987 deaths People from Newport News, Virginia