Warwick is an extinct

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 ...

which was located in the state of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

from 1952 until 1958. Formed by a political conversion of the former Warwick County (1634–1952), it is now part of the independent city of Newport News.

History

Warwick River Shire, named for the Warwick River, was established in the British

Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia was a British Empire, British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776. The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colo ...

by order of King Charles I in 1634. Soon thereafter, it was renamed Warwick County, and eventually became one of the smaller and lesser populated counties in Virginia as the colony grew and after Virginia became a state. Warwick County remained a primarily farming area until the arrival of the Peninsula Extension of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in late 1881. At rural Newport News Point, 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 ...

, a small community of farms was transformed into a major port for shipping

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

. Virginia has had an

political subdivision since 1871. Newport News became an independent city in 1896 from Warwick County by an act of the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, and the first elected legislative assembly in the New World. It was established on July 30, ...

, one of the few cities in Virginia to have never been first incorporated as a town. An important feature of independent city status was that it guaranteed protection against annexation of territory by adjacent communities. In 1952, the remaining 71 sq mi (184 km²) of Warwick County became an

. On July 1, 1958, after approval of voters in both jurisdictions, the City of Warwick was consolidated with the independent city of Newport News, reuniting the two communities legally and assuming the latter's name. At a ribbon cutting ceremony, the widow of Philip W. Hiden, the first mayor of Newport News to serve under a new City Council-City Manager form of government from 1920 to 1924 whose family developed the Hidenwood community Hidenwood Historical Marker in Newport News, VA
/ref> joined the widow of Homer L. Ferguson, who had been a President of Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company and is credited with initiating development of

Hilton Village Hilton Village is a planned English-village-style neighborhood in Newport News, Virginia. Recognized as a pioneering development in urban planning, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The neighborhood was built between 191 ...

, as the Guests of Honor. These elderly ladies helped formalize the reunification of the area which had previously been one single unit of local government from 1634 to 1896. The union formed the third largest city in Virginia at the time with a area. With the exception of several minor boundary adjustments with Elizabeth City County and York County, and the annexation by Newport News of the

incorporated town An incorporated town is a town that is a municipal corporation. Canada Incorporated towns are a form of local government in Canada, which is a responsibility of provincial rather than federal government. United States An incorporated town o ...

of Kecoughtan (formerly in Elizabeth City County) in the 1920s, the boundaries of the city of Newport News as of 2008 are essentially those of Warwick River Shire when it was established in 1634.

References

{{Authority control Former municipalities in Virginia History of Newport News, Virginia Neighborhoods in Newport News, Virginia

History

See also

References