Phoebus (known as Chesapeake City from 1871-1899) is a formerly incorporated town located in Elizabeth City County on the Virginia Peninsula in eastern

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

. Upon incorporation in 1900, it was named in honor of local businessman Harrison Phoebus (1840–1886), who is credited with convincing the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) to extend its tracks to the town from Newport News. The town was consolidated by a slim margin during a 1952 public referendum with the independent city of Hampton, and adopted the latter's name. Phoebus is now an important historic neighborhood of Hampton and is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

History

Captain

John Smith John Smith is a common personal name. It is also commonly used as a placeholder name and pseudonym, and is sometimes used in the United States and the United Kingdom as a term for an average person. It may refer to: People :''In chronological ...

landed on a part of Phoebus known as Strawberry Banks on his first voyage up the James River in 1607. The area which became the Town of Phoebus was founded in 1609 as Mill Creek; it was located on the banks of the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the ...

and Hampton Roads, directly across from Norfolk's Willoughby Spit. Mill Creek was located in

Elizabeth Cittie Elizabeth City (or Elizabeth Cittie as it was then called) was one of four incorporations established in the Virginia Colony in 1619 by the proprietor, the Virginia Company of London, acting in accordance with instructions issued by Sir George Yeard ...

ic one of four corporations, termed "citties" ic which were designated in 1619 by the Virginia Company of London, proprietor of the colony, to encompass the developed areas. (The other three were James Cittie, Charles Cittie, and Henrico Cittie). In 1634, the area became part of Elizabeth City Shire, one of the eight original shires of Virginia. It became Elizabeth City County in 1643. English colonists soon built defensive fortifications at Old Point Comfort to protect the entrance to Hampton Roads. In 1819 the United States Army began construction there of Fort Monroe, which until 2011 was the oldest active-duty fort in the nation. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

, numerous slaves escaped to Fort Monroe and Norfolk, which was occupied by Union forces from 1861. The US Army defined them as contraband, to prevent their being returned to slaveholders. They established facilities for the newly free slaves at the Fort Monroe Contraband Camp, located outside the fort. Officials contacted a respected local teacher, Mary S. Peake, and asked her to teach the freedmen and their children. She began by gathering people outside in Phoebus, under a large oak tree. This is where the Emancipation Proclamation was read to numerous citizens in 1863, and it became called the Emancipation Oak. The American Missionary Association (AMA), whose leaders included both black and white ministers, hired her to teach and arranged for her to use the

Brown Cottage Brown Cottage was the first building of the educational institution in Hampton, Virginia now known as Hampton University. Mary S. Peake used the cottage to teach both children and adult freedmen. References See also *Mary S. Peake *Hampton Univ ...

. This is considered the historic start of Hampton University, a historically black college (HBCU) which the AMA founded during the war. Much of the Town of Phoebus was cultivated as Roseland Farm until 1871. It was then divided into lots for sale and developed as Chesapeake City. The streets were named after prominent citizens: Mallory, Curry, Hope, Lancer, and Mellen. When the town was incorporated in 1900, its name was changed to Phoebus in honor of its leading citizen, Harrison Phoebus, who is largely credited with getting the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) to build the Hampton Branch. After the railroad's Peninsula Extension reached the new coal pier at Newport News in late 1881, the same construction crews were put to work on what would later be called the Peninsula Subdivision's Hampton Branch. From the main line at Old Point Junction, tracks were extended easterly a distance of about toward Fort Monroe. The tracks were completed about to the town, which became Phoebus in December 1882. A passenger and freight station was opened, which the railroad designated as "Phoebus". From Phoebus, an extension across Mill Creek to reach Fort Monroe required a trestle, not completed until 1890. At that time, passenger and freight facilities were also added. At Fort Monroe, the U.S. Army built connecting tracks and operated its own locomotive for a number of years. The station at Fort Monroe closed in 1939. Accordingly, the Chesapeake & Ohio moved its Zero Mile Post north from Old Point Comfort to Phoebus, meaning that the town became the origin point for the C&O's trains such as the '' Sportsman'' bound for Cincinnati and Detroit, the '' George Washington,'' as well as other trains due west. At Old Point Comfort, in addition to the Army base at Fort Monroe, the Hampton Branch served both the older Hygeia Hotel and the new

Hotel Chamberlin A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

, popular destinations for civilians. During the first half of the 20th century, excursion trains were operated to reach nearby Buckroe Beach, where an amusement park was among the attractions that brought church groups and vacationers. In 1952 by voter referendum, the residents of Elizabeth City County and the town of Phoebus agreed to consolidation with the independent city of Hampton, Virginia. Between 1953 and 1954, the C&O stopped using Phoebus as the terminus of its Norfolk/Hampton Roads area passenger trains. The company shifted that terminus, by then being for the ''George Washington'' and the ''Sportsman'' to Newport News station.

Recent decades

Phoebus has an area listed as an historic district on the

. The Phoebus National Historic District is a section of Phoebus which encompasses the historic business area on Mellen and Mallory Streets and a significant number of homes.

Notable people

* Ralph Wolfe Cowan (1931-2018), artist * John William "Uncle Jack" Dey (1912–1978), noted and celebrated folk painter *

Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Christopher Columbus Kraft Jr. (February 28, 1924 – July 22, 2019) was an American aerospace and NASA engineer who was instrumental in establishing the agency's Mission Control Center and shaping its organization and culture. His protégé ...

(1924-2019), the original Flight Director for NASA, was born and raised in Phoebus. * Mary S. Peake (1823–1862), first teacher of freedmen and their children in Phoebus (now Hampton) *

William T. Randall William Talton "Sonny" Randall (August 5, 1915 - February 13, 2013) was an American baseball player during the 1940s. Randall played during the segregated era when black baseball players were not allowed to play in either Major League Baseball or ...

, (1915–2013), Negro league baseball player *

George R. E. Shell George Richard Edwin Shell (October 20, 1908 – October 30, 1996) was a decorated officer of the United States Marine Corps with the rank of brigadier general, who is most noted as the commanding officer of 2nd Battalion, 10th Marines during Wo ...

, (1908–1996), Ninth superintendent of Virginia Military Institute, Brigadier general in the United States Marine Corps

References

External links

Phoebus community website

Phoebus official website

* {{authority control Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Former municipalities in Virginia Phoebus Phoebus Neighborhoods in Hampton, Virginia Populated places established in 1609 National Register of Historic Places in Hampton, Virginia 1609 establishments in Virginia