Phoebus, Virginia
Phoebus Historic District | |
 Historic Phoebus in 2013, viewed from East Mellen Street | |
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| Location | Roughly bounded by VA 64, Mallory St., E. County St. and Willard Ave., Hampton, Virginia |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 37°01′18″N 76°19′05″W / 37.02167°N 76.31806°W |
| Area | 86 acres (35 ha) |
| Built | 1874 |
| Architect | Holtzclaw, Charles Taylor; Wenderoth, Oscar |
| Architectural style | Late Victorian, Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals |
| NRHP reference No. | 06001098[1] |
| VLR No. | 114-5002 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | December 1, 2006 |
| Designated VLR | September 6, 2006[2] |
Phoebus (known as Chesapeake City from 1871–1899) is a formerly incorporated town now part of the present-day city of Hampton, Virginia on the Virginia Peninsula. 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. Phoebus is now an important historic neighborhood of Hampton and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
History
Captain
Mill Creek was located in
English colonists soon built defensive fortifications at
During the
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 10 miles (16 km) toward Fort Monroe. The tracks were completed about 9 miles (14 km) to the town, which became Phoebus in December 1882.[4] 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 2,800-foot-long (850 m) 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.[5] 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.[6]
At Old Point Comfort, in addition to the Army base at Fort Monroe, the Hampton Branch served both the older
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.[7][8]
Recent decades
Phoebus has an area listed as an historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. The Phoebus National Historic District is a 86-acre (350,000 m2) 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. (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, (1915–2013), Negro league baseball player
- George R. E. Shell, (1908–1996), Ninth superintendent of Virginia Military Institute, Brigadier general in the United States Marine Corps
See also
- Former counties, cities, and towns of Virginia
- List of former United States counties
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ "Virginia Landmarks Register". Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
- ^ "Articles and op-eds". Archived from the original on March 10, 2007. Retrieved January 30, 2007.
- ^ "FindArticles.com – CBSi". findarticles.com. Retrieved June 12, 2018.
- ^ "The Zero Mile Post Historical Marker". www.hmdb.org. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
- ^ "Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, Table 1". Official Guide of the Railways. 72 (10). National Railway Publication Company. March 1940.
- ^ "Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, Condensed Through Schedules". Official Guide of the Railways. 86 (7). National Railway Publication Company. December 1953.
- ^ "Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, Condensed Through Schedules". Official Guide of the Railways. 87 (7). National Railway Publication Company. December 1954.
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 117–125.
External links
- Phoebus community website
- Phoebus official website
- Virginia Places educational website
- Hampton Fire Dept history
- "Harrison Phoebus". Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography. Vol. 4. 1915. pp. 289–292.
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