Newspapers / The Waynesville Mountaineer (Waynesville, … / Nov. 19, 1946, edition 1 / Page 12
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r ' THE WAYNES VILLE MOUNTAINEER PAGE FOUR (Second Section) Railroad Head Founded Newport News Y a 9 a ti. M a e e a- IS "t rs a1 3 I if I Foresight Of Collis Huntington Built City After Buying C. & 0. Railroad, Huntington Builds Line To Mouth of River By E. O. Smith Historical consideration of the Shipyard on the sixtieth anniver sary of the charter date invites at tention, first, to some background circumstances that led to its estab lishment and, later, to some salient events and conditions which re sulted in its becoming one of the leading shipbuilding institutions of the nation; and continuous owner ship by the same interests for more than fifty years renders pertinent especial reference to the founder. Collis V. Huntington, through whose exceptional experience and constructive foresight the project was conceived. After completing the first trans continental railroad in 1869 in as sociation with California partners in the Central Pacific Kailroad Company. Mr. Huntington of New York, in the same year, became in terested in the industries of Vir ginia through the purchase of the Chesapeake and Ohio Kailroad Company. This company, then new ly chartered as a consolidation of several incomplete lesser lines, was purchased under an agreement to complete the line through the mountains of Virginia and build a connecting line through West Virginia to traffic centers on the Ohio River. While the connection of the line for through traffic west ward from Richmond barely escap ed the severe business depression of 1873. the then proposed easter ly extension to deep water on the York River, on account of the shorter trackage required for that route, was deferred until "finally," says competent authority, "Mr. pany was organized in the follow- Huntington, with his admirable vision, chose the mouth of the James" at Newport News. This pivotal decision was to af fect profoundly the future use of the level acres of farm and pasture lands lying at a comfortable height above tide levels and where the deep channel of the river swept near the shore, but where, after repeated efforts, the maintenance of a country post office had failed for lack of patronage. By this de cision Mr. Huntington's construc tive interests reached Newport News after a veritable vista of years, for, as a Connecticut youth of sixteen, he had first visited the place in 1837. In a later reflective mood he said he had thought then that there was no better place in the country for a city. To facilitate extension of the railroad to Newport News a real estate and land development com pany was organized in 1880 whose charter authorized not only the acquisition of available titles to land along the proposed route of the railroad extensions but the building of a city on the line. In 1881 an outline map for Newport News showing numbered streets, named avenues, lot and block numbers was filed in the county records. Karly in the following year the railroad extension was opened for through traffic to coal and mer chandise piers on the world's high way at Newport News. While these were notable and far-reaching developments in Vir ginia, tliey were closely contem porary with larger railroad affairs j in which, with California associates. Mr. Huntington had a leading part and which, considered as a whole, illustrate his saying that he plan ned and measured his achievemnts not by years but by decades. Dur ing ten years of operation of the Central Pacific Railroad, connect ing lines in California were built, other lines and Pacific steamship interests acquired, and construc tion through the Southwest com menced. These extensions reached New Orleans in 1883 and for con solidating the management of these properties, and others to be ac quired, the Southern, Pacific com- Sailing Ships In the 90s Built and Repaired at Newport News ' '4"j ''i-' it v' v ' I ' I J JSLM ' Vv :SlM m-M' wr M, ft M I 4teJii it'll, 55X3 continued steadiness of its growth in his measure by decades New port News was to become a : from "- " m insuiia Dy an place aui ui mtui auuu passed by the General Assembly, January 16 1896. a ( i,,t,..i Vwhliru, . cy gaEem..,,i . ', . W the "I J Here are two tvpical sailing ships which went to sea at the turn of the century. They are seen here in the first dry dock built in the Newport News yard. This dock is still in use and unnumbered ships of all types and all nations have been docked there for refitting and repair. This dock, which is now dwarfted by two 1,000 foot sunken shipways has been the scene of important ship repair work for over 50 years and was put to probably its greatest use during World War II, when the Newport News yard set production and repair records on allied ships damaged by enemy submarine action. led Delicious Golden Delicious lome Beauty 'layman Winesap A P 11 In Bulk lust Right To Eat Or Cook Several Hundred Bushels Will Sell One Bushel Or Truckload Containers Bring Boiling Mall 0 rchard Just Off Highway 19 and 23 At Saunook, N. C. ing year. In 1885 the Morgan Line of steamers plying to New York was added to complete the south ern transcontinental route between the Pacific and Atlantic seaboards. It was under these general con ditions stated broadly but repre senting many years of arduous ex perience in railroad promotion, financing, construction, and opera tion that the idea of building a dry dock and ship repair plant at New port News was formulated to stim ulate activities of the port in the upturn from the business depres sion of 1884. Efforts to enlist other capital to join with his own being without substantial avail, the pro ject became a personal venture of Mr. Huntington. With characteristic vigor in an era of rapidly increasing tonnage and draft of ocean carriers, the re pair facilities were to be beyond comparable commercial equipment south of Baltimore, and the dry- dock of ample size for any vessel thn afloat. With equally charac teristic foresight the plant was to be laid out in rectilinear order with respect to street and avenue lines, ready access by spur track to the Chesapeake and Ohio main line, access to deep water with a minimum of dredging, and with adequate room for expansion on both sides of the original site. Among the expressed purposes of the founder in establishing the plant at Newport News was to pro vide industrial employment in Vir ginia, where not previously afford ed, in consideration of the cordial relations toward him at the hands of the public in connection with his other interests in the State. The Dockyard Gets Started By an act of incorporation pass ed by the General Assembly of Vir ginia. January 28. 1880. the Ship yard was chartered as the Chesa peake Dry Dock and Construction Company and authorized to build and operate a dry dock in Norfolk, Portsmouth, Berkley, or Newport News maximum c.ipit.il stock, two million dollars, i.iiininaries WE SOLICIT YOUR INQUIRIES FOR Construction, Industrial And Logging Equipment Distributors For Nationally Known Manufacturers International Crawler Tractors, Industrial Wheel Type Tractors, Industrial and Marine Engines, Jaeger Compressors, Mixers, Pumps and Paving Equip ment . . . Heil Scrapers, Cable-Dozers, etc., Euclid Hauling Equipment . . . Northwest Shovels, Cranes, Draglines, Galion Graders, Rollers, Dump Bodies, Bucyrus-Erie Bullgraders, Scrapers, Cedar Rapids Asphalt Plants and Crushers, Rogers Low Bed Trailers, FWD Trucks, Elgin Sweepers, Refuse-Getters, Disston Chain Saws, Lowther C-Saws, Sawmills, Carco Logging Winches, American Preformed Cable. We also handle many other lines of popular equipment as well as an adequate stock of parts and supplies and are prepared to take care of any rebuilding or repair job you . might have Large or Small.. 1 II o r t Ii 6 a rolinaEquipmenlCo. RALEIGH 2101 Hillsboro St. I'hone 8836 - CHARLOTTE Two Miles South Hi. 21 Phone 4-4Mtm ASHEVILLE Sweeten Creek Road Phone 789 thereafter by the incorporators named in the act included the opening of books, after due public notice, for subscription to capital stock and arrangements for a meet ing, after recording the minimum required stock subscribed and paid in, a board of directors was elected consisting of Mr. Huntington and several New York associates, in cluding F. H. Davis and I. E. Gates. The board was authorized to select a site and have proposals prepared for building a dry dock, wharves, and other appurtenant structures. With Mr. Huntington's usual deliberateness, and whatever other sites may have been examined dur ing the following six months, he witnessed the driving of test piles in shoal water opposite high ground about one mile north from the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad piers in preparation for the first meeting of the board to be held in New York on December 1, 1886. FH. Davis was elected president of the company and I. E. Gates secretary treasurer, and under their direction the board was authorized to pro cccd with plans and contracts for construction work on the dock to be commenced in the following spring. The size of the project, unpre cedented in Virginia at that time as a single unit of private enter prise, may be illustrated by the authorization for the issue of $600, 000 in stock to be followed within a few months with an issue of bonds in like amount. The bold ness of this venture was said to have deterred wide public partici pation in the securities. The build ing of the dock was to require about two years for completion. And before completion a further increase in stock to one million dollars was authorized. The site at first was a small tract of land purchased in February, 1887, fronting on Washington Ave nue running 425 feet north from the northerly line of 39th Street and extending to the river shore between lines parallel to the street lines. The dry dock was built in shoal water opposite this tract of high ground, the reduction of which to shipyard grade level pro vided filling around the dock to the same grade. Before the comple tion of the dock in 1889 additional land was purchased extending the Washington Avenue frontage to the north side of 42nd Street. These land purchases In small parcels illustrate a policy of ac quiring land only as needed for development. The purchases were made from the Old Dominion Land Company in which Mr. Huntington was largely interested. Additional land on both sides of the site was available from the same company as future operations might require. The Town Expands What there was of the city spon sored by the land company consist ed largely of temporary quarters and related small businesses that had grown up in the vicinity of the railroad piers and a nucleus of more permanent buildings north of 23rd Street which Included two brick hotels and a chapel for union church services built by the land company, one or two small churches, and several other build ings. The first hotel, the Lafayette House, was on the corner of 27th Street and Lafayette Avenue (lat er changed to Huntington Avenue). The second and larger hotel, the Warwick, on the corner of 24th Street and West Avenue, had been opened with a memorable recep. uon tn the post-Easter season In April of 1883. This ample hostelry later bocame the center from which many affairs of civic and commercial advancement emanat ed. It was here that the first meet ing of stockholders of the Shipyard was held and board of directors elected in June of 1886. The beginning of work on the dry dock in 1887 had a marked and strengthening effect upon de velopment of the town north of 23rd Street. A bank and locally sponsored business organizations were opened, many of which sur vived later recessions in general economic conditions lodges of fra- It is a fitting tribute to the memory of the founder that the sixtieth anniversary of the Ship yard and the fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the City should be commemorated in January, I94g The Dry Dock Opened In preparation for the opening of the dry dock in the spring of 1889 and its operation thereafter. C. B Orcutt of Elizabeth, New Jersey and New York was elected to the board and became president of the Yard in January, 1889, thereby be coming a manager, among others of Mr. Huntington's far-flung enter prises. He succeeded F. II. Davis whose railroad duties in New York did not permit active interest in affairs at Newport News. On the other hand, by Mr. Orcutt's suc cessful experience in the develop ment oi markets for the shipment of coal through the port, frequent visits, and broad knowledge of Mr. Huntington's other interests in the vicinity, he had become president of the land company in 1888. He continued as chief executive of both companies until his death more than twenty years later. Other preparations had consisted of the purchase of shop equipment ":i.es euiiit.m. . . "I and to u-trt "J I then ,, ' 1 WKrl the ri,.,.l, 'J"nid With l lie ( 'PH 1:4 1 Hi oil i'J Ulth ('Sl U'SM-I l,a-tTS 1, ,uw lias fJV,i.;.' ,' the formal era m ad.lm- i!. also ii-u,, upon !!,.. . oil ''I'ltiiiig !''"l'hiT "' lain the fl'iili'l '. W''I"T tl ,01 S",-!M" w, Mi u . ""M'uuiiinns; tu dry a l)bajl(! "l i' Have bid for a ship; aid lat iu me num'.iT as selws. ;ii;il as faM j altentieii !u IV pu 'niipall 1 t'l.niinued lied on ternal orders were established, and several churches implanted their respective denominations in the growing community. On account of preponderance in population, the seat of Warwick County was mov ed from near the center of the county to its lower tip at Newport News in 1888. In a speculative era of boom towns, mushroom ascendancy dec adence, and wasteful remains, de velopments at Newport News, through the genius and frugal fore sight of its founder, were of a dis tinctly different character in the Drs. Seaver and Lockard OPTOMETRISTS Of Asheville WILL BE IN WAYNESVILLE FRIDAY EA(j Masonic Building . . . Hours 9:00 to 5: tyes examined Glasses Fitt II. M. Seaver, O. D. John C. Lockard, 0, HOME FURNISHINGS AT CAGLE'S Bedroom, livins room, kitchen and Mest all types of heaters. 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The Waynesville Mountaineer (Waynesville, N.C.)
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Nov. 19, 1946, edition 1
12
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