Morrison was a small

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

Warwick County, Virginia Warwick County was a county in Southeast Virginia that was created from Warwick River Shire, one of eight created in the Virginia Colony in 1634. Located on the Virginia Peninsula on the northern bank of the James River between Hampton Roads ...

. After a municipal consolidation in 1958, it became a neighborhood of the

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 ...

of Newport News.

History

Originally known as Gum Grove, the town of Morrison was located in Warwick County east of the longtime

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

Denbigh Denbigh ( ; ) is a market town and a community (Wales), community in Denbighshire, Wales. It was the original county town of the Denbighshire (historic), historic county of Denbighshire created in 1536. Denbigh's Welsh name () translates to ...

. In 1881, the community was made a station on the

Chesapeake and Ohio Railway The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis Potter Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Rich ...

Peninsula Extension The Peninsula Extension which created the Peninsula Subdivision of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) was the new railroad line on the Virginia Peninsula from Richmond to southeastern Warwick County. Its principal purpose was to provide ...

which was completed from

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

east down the Virginia Peninsula. It was renamed Morrison for Colonel J.S. Morrison, a construction engineer for the new railroad.Camp Morrison history marker-WWI-Newport News VA
At Newport News Point in the extreme southeastern edge of Warwick County, on the harbor of

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond, and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point near whe ...

, new

coal pier A coal pier is a transloading facility designed for the transfer of coal between rail and ship. The typical facility for loading ships consists of a holding area and a system of conveyors for transferring the coal to dockside and loading it into ...

s were built for the export shipment of

bituminous coal Bituminous coal, or black coal, is a type of coal containing a tar-like substance called bitumen or asphalt. Its coloration can be black or sometimes dark brown; often there are well-defined bands of bright and dull material within the coal seam, ...

from

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

. Soon, a new

was created there as Newport News in 1896. Morrison post office was established February 2, 1883, and a public school was recorded in a deed dated August 16, 1906. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Camp Morrison was located nearby about one mile from the

James River The James River is a river in Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows from the confluence of the Cowpasture and Jackson Rivers in Botetourt County U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowli ...

. With 24 supply warehouses, Camp Morrison was used for the U.S. Army Air Corps and Balloon Corps personnel. Morrison High School was built in the community after World War I, in 1926. It was renamed Warwick High School in 1948. Warwick County, which included Morrison, became an independent city itself in 1952. Six years later, in 1958, by mutual agreement the

City of Warwick The City of Warwick was a Local government in Australia, local government area administering the regional centre of Warwick, Queensland, Warwick in the Darling Downs region of Queensland. The City covered an area of , and existed as a local gov ...

was politically consolidated with the independent City of Newport News, assuming the latter's better-known name. Morrison gradually became a neighborhood area of Newport News as the portion which had been Warwick County became developed. As a primarily residential area, Morrison, which is also known locally as Harpersville,http://www.ci.newport-news.va.us/planning/downloads/ch9.pdf offers quiet tree-lined streets with easy access to shopping, recreation and schools. Camp Morrison Industrial Park is nearby.

References

Unincorporated communities in Virginia Neighborhoods in Newport News, Virginia {{NewportNewsVA-geo-stub

History

See also

References