Jamestown Exposition - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Jamestown Exposition was one of the many world's fairs and expositions

Trade fair

A trade fair is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products, service, study activities of rivals and examine recent market trends and opportunities...

that were popular in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

in the early part of the 20th century. It was held from April 26 to December 1, 1907, at Sewell's Point

Sewell's Point

Sewells Point is a peninsula of land in the independent city of Norfolk, Virginia in the United States, located at the mouth of the salt-water port of Hampton Roads. Sewells Point is bordered by water on three sides, with Willoughby Bay to the north, Hampton Roads to the west, and the Lafayette...

on Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...

, in Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

, and commemorated the 300th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown

Jamestown, Virginia

Jamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 , it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke...

in the Virginia Colony, the first permanent English settlement in the present United States.

Selecting the Norfolk area as the site

Early in the 20th century, as the tercentennial of the 1607 Founding of Jamestown

Jamestown, Virginia

in the Virginia Colony neared, leaders in Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk, Virginia

began a campaign to have a celebration held there. The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities had gotten the ball rolling in 1900 by calling for a celebration honoring the establishment of the first permanent English colony in the New World at Jamestown, to be held on the 300th anniversary.

During the planning phase, virtually no one thought that the actual isolated and long-abandoned original site of Jamestown would be suitable. This was because Jamestown had no facilities for large crowds, and the fort housing the settlement was believed to have been long-ago swallowed by the James River

James River (Virginia)

The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is long, extending to if one includes the Jackson River, the longer of its two source tributaries. The James River drains a catchment comprising . The watershed includes about 4% open water and an area with a population of 2.5 million...

. There were also no rail lines nearby. However, there was an assumption in many parts of the state that Richmond

Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...

, the state capital, would be chosen as the site of the celebration.

Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...

' interest was awakened by a bugle call in the form of an editorial in James M. Thomson's Norfolk Dispatch, on February 4, 1901, proclaiming: "Norfolk

Norfolk, Virginia

is undoubtedly the proper place for the holding of this celebration. Norfolk

Norfolk, Virginia

is today the center of the most populous portion of Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

, and every historical, business and sentimental reason can be adduced in favor of the celebration taking place here rather than in Richmond

Richmond, Virginia

."

The Dispatch was an unrelenting champion of Norfolk

Norfolk, Virginia

as the site for the exposition, noting in subsequent editorials that "Richmond

Richmond, Virginia

has absolutely no claim to the celebration except her location on the James River."

By September, 1901, the Norfolk

Norfolk, Virginia

City Council had given support to the project. And in December, 100 prominent residents of Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...

journeyed to Richmond to urge Norfolk as the site. In 1902, the Jamestown Exposition Co. was incorporated. The most popular man in Virginia

Virginia

, former Virginia Governor

Governor of Virginia

The governor of Virginia serves as the chief executive of the Commonwealth of Virginia for a four-year term. The position is currently held by Republican Bob McDonnell, who was inaugurated on January 16, 2010, as the 71st governor of Virginia....

Fitzhugh Lee

Fitzhugh Lee , nephew of Robert E. Lee, was a Confederate cavalry general in the American Civil War, the 40th Governor of Virginia, diplomat, and United States Army general in the Spanish-American War.-Early life:...

, nephew of General Robert E. Lee

Robert E. Lee

Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....

, was named its president.

The decision was made to locate the international exposition on a mile-long frontage at Sewell's Point

Sewell's Point

. The location was politically correct, as it was almost an equal distance from the cities of Norfolk

Norfolk, Virginia

, Portsmouth

Portsmouth, Virginia

Portsmouth is located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2010, the city had a total population of 95,535.The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard, is a historic and active U.S...

, Newport News

Newport News, Virginia

Newport News is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia. It is at the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the north shore of the James River extending southeast from Skiffe's Creek along many miles of waterfront to the river's mouth at Newport News...

and Hampton

Hampton, Virginia

Hampton is an independent city that is not part of any county in Southeast Virginia. Its population is 137,436. As one of the seven major cities that compose the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, it is on the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula. Located on the Hampton Roads Beltway, it hosts...

. The rural Sewell's Point site was also not conveniently located near any one of the cities. Fortunately, while hard to reach by land, it was much more favorably accessible by water, which ultimately proved a great asset.

Sewell's Point: prominent, historical, but isolated

With the choice of Sewell's Point

Sewell's Point

, a prominent, historical, but isolated site, the Jamestown Exposition proved to be a logistical nightmare to reach by land for development for the fair. New roads had to be built to the site. Two existing streetcar lines needed to be extended a considerable distance to reach the site. The eastern portion of the newly-built Tidewater Railway

Tidewater Railway

The Tidewater Railway was formed in 1904 as an intrastate railroad in Virginia, in the United States, by William N. Page, a civil engineer and entrepreneur, and his silent partner, millionaire industrialist Henry Huttleston Rogers of Standard Oil fame...

(soon to become part of the coal-hauling Virginian Railway

Virginian Railway

The Virginian Railway was a Class I railroad located in Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The VGN was created to transport high quality "smokeless" bituminous coal from southern West Virginia to port at Hampton Roads....

) was rushed into service, and the local Norfolk Southern Railway

Norfolk Southern Railway (former)

The Norfolk Southern Railway was the final name of a railroad running from Norfolk, Virginia southwest and west to Charlotte, North Carolina. It was acquired by the Southern Railway in 1974, which was merged with the Norfolk and Western Railway in 1990 to form the current entity of the Norfolk...

agreed to add substantial passenger capacity in conjunction with the Tidewater Railway to prepare to move the thousands of daily attendees anticipated. On the shore, new piers had to be constructed for moving supplies to exposition buildings. Hotels had to be raised to handle the millions of anticipated exposition visitors. Bad weather slowed everything.

Another major setback was the death of Fitzhugh Lee. He died in 1905 while in New England

New England

New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

drumming up trade for the celebration. Henry St. George Tucker, a former Virginia Congressman, succeeded him. Norfolk

Norfolk, Virginia

businessman David Lowenberg ran most of the operation as director general.

Mud, low attendance, racial controversy

Opening day was April 26, 1907, exactly 300 years after Admiral Christopher Newport

Christopher Newport

Christopher Newport was an English seaman and privateer. He is best known as the captain of the Susan Constant, the largest of three ships which carried settlers for the Virginia Company in 1607 on the way to find the settlement at Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, which became the first permanent...

and his band of English colonists made their first landing in Virginia at the point where the southern shore of the Chesapeake Bay

Chesapeake Bay

The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...

meets the Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

and gave thanks, planting a cross and naming the location Cape Henry

Cape Henry

Cape Henry is a cape on the Atlantic shore of Virginia north of Virginia Beach. It is the southern boundary of the entrance to Chesapeake Bay.Across the mouth of the bay to the north is Cape Charles...

. Within the next few days and weeks, they would find and explore the harbor known as Hampton Roads and sail upriver on its biggest tributary, the James River

James River (Virginia)

, eventually setting on Jamestown to begin their first settlement.

The first day of the Exposition had its share of headaches. Only a fifth of the electric lights could be turned on, and the Warpath recreation area was far from ready. Construction of the government pier left much of the ground in the center of the exposition muddy soup. Of the thirty-eight principal buildings and works that the Exposition Company planned for the fair, only fourteen had been completed by opening day—the Fire Engine House and the Waterfront Board Walk having been completed only in the last two days. The company failed to complete two planned buildings, the Historic Art and Education buildings, even by the Exposition’s end in late November.

Prominent visitors included President Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

, who opened the exposition and presided over the naval review. After the opening day, attendance dropped sharply, and never again achieved projections. The Exposition Company had initially lobbied the federal government for $1,640,000, and received a loan for an additional million, to be repaid by means of a lien on 40% of the gate receipts. When crowds failed to appear in the anticipated numbers—the exposition was attracting on average 13,000 visitors daily, only 7,400 of whom paid entrance—the company was able to repay only $140,000 of the million dollar loan. The fair began attracting negative attention in the press as early as the January before it opened, as a divisive split between members of the planning committee became public. The press who arrived for opening day found the grounds unfinished, the hotels overpriced, and the transportation offered between the fair and nearby towns insufficient.

But in time, things improved and portions of the event became spectacular. Planners asked each state of the union to contribute a building to the Exposition. While some of these buildings offered exhibits on the states' history and industry, others primarily served as embassies of a sort for visitors from the state, providing sitting rooms and guest services. Lack of interest or funds prevented participation by all, but 21 states funded houses, which bore their names: Pennsylvania House, Virginia House, New Hampshire House, North Carolina House, etc. During the exposition, days were set aside to honor the states individually. The governor of each state usually appeared to greet visitors to the state's house on these days. On June 10, 1907, "Georgia Day," Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt

returned to the Exposition, delivering a speech on the steps of the Georgia Building, which had been modeled after his mother's family's home.

The 340 acre (1.4 km²) site included a 122 by 60 ft (37 by 18 m) relief model of the Panama Canal

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...

, a wild animal show, a Wild West show, and a re-creation of the then-recent San Francisco Earthquake.

Possibly the most popular attraction was a re-creation of the Battle of Hampton Roads

Battle of Hampton Roads

The Battle of Hampton Roads, often referred to as either the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack or the Battle of Ironclads, was the most noted and arguably most important naval battle of the American Civil War from the standpoint of the development of navies...

, the first battle between two ironclad warships, the USS Monitor

USS Monitor

USS Monitor was the first ironclad warship commissioned by the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She is most famous for her participation in the Battle of Hampton Roads on March 9, 1862, the first-ever battle fought between two ironclads...

and the CSS

Confederate States Navy

The Confederate States Navy was the naval branch of the Confederate States armed forces established by an act of the Confederate Congress on February 21, 1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the American Civil War...

Virginia

CSS Virginia

CSS Virginia was the first steam-powered ironclad warship of the Confederate States Navy, built during the first year of the American Civil War; she was constructed as a casemate ironclad using the raised and cut down original lower hull and steam engines of the scuttled . Virginia was one of the...

, which had taken place within sight of Sewell's Point 40 years earlier during the Civil War. The exterior of the Merrimac-Monitor Building looked somewhat like a battleship, while the interior held a large, circular exhibit describing the battle. (Originally built upon the burned-out hull of the USS Merrimack

USS Merrimack (1855)

USS Merrimack was a frigate and sailing vessel of the United States Navy, best known as the hull upon which the ironclad warship, CSS Virginia was constructed during the American Civil War...

, the name of the warship which had served the Confederacy as the CSS Virginia in the famous Battle of Hampton Roads eventually became a source of continuing confusion. In the years after the war, the better-recognized name became Merrimac).

The railroads put on elaborate displays. The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway

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 P...

(C&O) displayed its entire F.F.V. passenger train, There was a New York Central (NYC) electric engine on display, part of its Grand Central Station modernization project in New York City. Not to be outdone, the Pennsylvania Railroad

Pennsylvania Railroad

The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....

(PRR) brought an actual 23 feet (7 m)-diameter section of its new East River Tunnel. The same section was later installed underwater as part of the link to the new Penn Station in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, with an inscription that it had been displayed at the Jamestown Exposition.

There were also late-model automobiles, autoboats, and electric and steam traction engines, each in its highest stage of development.

The exposition was perhaps most notable for the display of military prowess; warships of many nations, including the sixteen battleship

Battleship

A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...

s of the United States, participated in a naval review, and all kinds of modern military hardware were on display.

A controversial feature of the exposition was its "Negro Building", designed by W. Sydney Pittman and purporting to show the progress of African-Americans, but which was charged with being a "Jim Crow

Jim Crow laws

The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans...

affair", and criticized by W. E. B. Du Bois and T. Thomas Fortune. In a letter to The Appeal to Reason DuBois explained that “...the Negroes are to be separate in practically all things and are to be treated as a separate caste and to that I am opposed. If the separation were voluntary on the part of the colored people that would be a different thing but for them to accept Jim-Crowism and then work to make the Exposition a success is a thing in which I do not believe.” While Dr. Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington

Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, author, orator, and political leader. He was the dominant figure in the African-American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915...

was invited and attended as a prominent guest, many African-Americans were reminded of the rising tide of Jim Crow laws

Jim Crow laws

that were becoming more influential in the South, as they were forbidden by law to patronize the restaurants at the exposition.

However, other blacks saw the Negro Building as an achievement. Organizer Giles B. Jackson felt that the inclusion of the exhibition in a separate Negro Hall allowed for a greater variety and completeness of presentation, and that the separation allowed the exhibition to better highlight the achievements of African Americans as African Americans. A separate building allowed the exhibit to be more “general and comprehensive” than collections housed in other buildings, and evinced black “capacity as a producer and the maker of anything and everything that has been made by other races.” For this group—many of whom were middle-class Southern blacks, the Negro Building represented an achievement that few Southern whites would have thought possible—the building was architecturally elegant, designed and built by blacks, with funds raised by blacks.

Exhibits from both occupational and classical black educational institutions were represented. While the Exposition itself was a money-loser and derided by many in the press, the Negro Hall achieved nearly universal praise. It was the only exhibit visited by the President in either of his visits. Perhaps most interesting, while Slosson reports that even vendors on the Warpath openly complained about taking a bath on the whole exhibition, the branch bank in the Negro Hall, a branch of a local African American institution, recorded one of the Exposition’s only profits, doing $75,731.87 in business in the course of the fair. One of the centerpieces of the Hall was a series of dioramas by Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller

Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller

Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller was an African American artist. She is best known as the first African American artist to make art celebrating Afrocentric themes. A multi-talented artist who created poetry and paintings, she is mainly known as a sculptor who explored her African-American roots...

, a black woman from Philadelphia. This was the first artwork done by an African American with Federally-commissioned funds.

Mark Twain

Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...

and Henry H. Rogers

Henry H. Rogers

Henry Huttleston Rogers was a United States capitalist, businessman, industrialist, financier, and philanthropist. He made his fortune in the oil refinery business, becoming a leader at Standard Oil....

also paid a visit, arriving in the latter's yacht Kanawha. The elderly Twain's humorous talk was partly an introduction of Rear Admiral Purnell F. Harrington, former Commandant of the Norfolk Navy Yard. Said Twain, "In my remarks of welcome of Admiral Harrington, I am not going to give him compliments. Compliments always embarrass a man. You do not know what to say. It does not inspire you with words. There is nothing you can say in answer to a compliment. I have been complimented myself a great many times, and they always embarrass me. I always feel they have not said enough." Later that summer, Twain returned and was a guest-of-honor on Robert Fulton

Robert Fulton

Robert Fulton was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing the first commercially successful steamboat...

Day, as a replacement for ailing former two-time U.S. President Grover Cleveland

Grover Cleveland

Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...

.

Perhaps the exposition's most impressive display was on water rather than land. Ships of two squadrons commanded by Admiral Robley D. Evans

Robley Dunglison Evans

Robley Dunglison Evans was born in Floyd County, Virginia served in the United States Navy from the American Civil War to the Spanish-American War, attaining the rank of rear admiral...

formed a continuing presence off Sewell's Point. On opening day, there was an international fleet of fifty-one ships. The assembly included 16 battleships, five cruisers, and six destroyers. The fleet remained in Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...

after the exposition closed and became President Theodore Roosevelt's Great White Fleet

Great White Fleet

The Great White Fleet was the popular nickname for the United States Navy battle fleet that completed a circumnavigation of the globe from 16 December 1907 to 22 February 1909 by order of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. It consisted of 16 battleships divided into two squadrons, along with...

under Admiral Evans, which toured the globe as evidence of the nation's military might.

In addition to the ships anchored at Hampton Roads, the exposition provided a campground sufficient to house five thousand troops. Military and “semi-military” men in uniform were admitted for the price of a single day’s admission, fifty cents, and were permitted to come and go after that, as long as they were encamped at the exposition grounds and drilled regularly on the parade ground. This practice not only accounts for a number of the 43% of people tallied entering the fair daily that were not paying admission, but must also be understood as a practice that provided entertainment and attraction to the exposition.

The United States issued a series of three postage stamp

Postage stamp

A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...

s in conjunction with the exposition. The 1-cent value portrayed Captain John Smith

John Smith of Jamestown

Captain John Smith Admiral of New England was an English soldier, explorer, and author. He was knighted for his services to Sigismund Bathory, Prince of Transylvania and friend Mózes Székely...

, the 2-cent value the founding of Jamestown, and the 5-cent Pocahontas

Pocahontas

Pocahontas was a Virginia Indian notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of Chief Powhatan, the head of a network of tributary tribal nations in Tidewater Virginia...

Accomplishments – financial loss, beginnings of a great naval base

When the Exposition closed on, December 1, 1907, it had been a financial failure, losing several million dollars. Attendance had been 3 million, a lot of people, but only a fraction of the large numbers promised by the promoters. However, it served an American purpose and one for Norfolk

Norfolk, Virginia

and Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...

.

Nearly every Congressman and Senator of prominence had attended the exposition, and the location at Sewell's point was prominently showcased. Sewell's Point

Sewell's Point

, of naval importance in the early Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, had been virtually forgotten since shortly after its bombardment and return to Union

Union (American Civil War)

During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...

hands in 1862.

Now the admiral

Admiral

Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...

s in Norfolk

Norfolk, Virginia

urged the creation of a Naval Base at the exposition site. But nearly 10 years would elapse before the idea, given impetus by World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, would become a reality. The new Naval Base was aided by the improvements remaining from the Exposition, the strategic location at Sewell's Point

Sewell's Point

on Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...

, and the available largely vacant land there. Another favorable consideration was that the coal pier

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 the ship's cargo holds...

s and storage yards of the Virginian Railway

Virginian Railway

(VGN), built by William N. Page

William N. Page

William Nelson Page was an American civil engineer, entrepreneur, industrialist and capitalist. He was active in the Virginias following the U.S. Civil War...

and Henry H. Rogers

Henry H. Rogers

, and completed in 1909, was immediately adjacent to the Exposition site. The well-engineered VGN

Virginian Railway

was a valuable link directly to the bituminous coal

Bituminous coal

Bituminous coal or black coal is a relatively soft coal containing a tarlike substance called bitumen. It is of higher quality than lignite coal but of poorer quality than Anthracite...

of southern West Virginia

West Virginia

West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...

which the Navy

Navy

A navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...

strongly preferred for its steam-powered ships.

On June 28, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...

set aside $2.8 million for land purchase and the erection of storehouses and piers for what was to become the Navy Base

Naval Station Norfolk

Naval Station Norfolk, in Norfolk, Virginia, is a base of the United States Navy, supporting naval forces in the United States Fleet Forces Command, those operating in the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, and Indian Ocean...

. Of the 474 acres (1.9 km²) originally acquired, 367 had been the old Jamestown Exposition grounds. The military property was later expanded considerably. The former Virginian Railway

Virginian Railway

coal piers, land, and an adjacent coal storage facility owned by Norfolk & Western Railway (which merged with the VGN in 1959) were added in the 1960s and 1970s. In fact, the base now includes over 4,000 acres (16 km²), and is the largest Naval facility in the world.

Some of the exposition buildings which were taken over by the Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

remain in use as of , primarily as admiral

Admiral

s' quarters for the Navy Base

Naval Station Norfolk

. Thirteen of the state houses can still be seen on Dillingham Boulevard at the Naval Station Norfolk

Naval Station Norfolk

, on what has been called "Admiral's Row." The Pennsylvania House, which through the first part of the century served as the Officer's Club, later served as the Hampton roads naval museum

Hampton Roads Naval Museum

The Hampton Roads Naval Museum is one of the 12 Navy museums that are operated by the Naval History & Heritage Command. It celebrates the long history of the U.S. Navy in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia. It is co-located with the Nauticus National Maritime Center in downtown Norfolk, Virginia...

for many years until it was relocated in 1994 to Nauticus, The National Maritime Center

Nauticus, The National Maritime Center

Nauticus is a maritime-themed science center and museum located in Norfolk, Virginia.- History :Nauticus was incorporated under the National Maritime Center Authority in February 1988. The following month, Rear Admiral Jackson Knowles Parker USN, , retired commander of Norfolk Naval Base, became...

on the harbor in Norfolk.

Selecting the Norfolk area as the site

Sewell's Point: prominent, historical, but isolated

Mud, low attendance, racial controversy

Accomplishments – financial loss, beginnings of a great naval base

See also