Portsmouth’s citizens and visitors came together at the North Landing for a party that included a large birthday cake, performances by Colonel Crawford (Ricky Price), bands, dancing, and even a fireworks show.
Building Number One, is the nation’s oldest naval hospital, and has been a significant place for the treatment of the nation’s military and their dependents since early 1800s.
The yacht center is located just 18 miles from the Atlantic Ocean where the engines, shafts and propellers of the world’s largest pleasure ships can be repaired. Additional amenities include 122 floating slips, indoor dry storage for 320 boats and more than 1,000 of alongside dockage. Completion of the center is scheduled for the first …
The Charette Center is the third naval hospital built in Portsmouth. It occupies a million square feet, five stories, and is a state of the art facility with 17 operating rooms, 300 exam rooms, 320 beds, 140 special treatment rooms, and 26 elevators. The Center is named for Master Chief Corpsman William R. Charette who …
Portsmouth was selected for the location where all art training could be consolidated. Taking over the long vacant Famous department store, the Visual Arts Center offers classes in drawing, painting, photography, printmaking, glassblowing, videography.
Revitalization includes the downtown business district, many capital improvement projects, including new streets and lighting, a new waterfront park and renovated City Park with boat ramp, landscaping and several beautification projects.
To commemorate America’s bicentennial, the City of Portsmouth commissioned the Lafayette Arch. The arch is dedicated to all who have lived or died for freedom and was inspired by an arch erected in Portsmouth in 1824 to honor the Marquis de Lafayette’s visit to the city. The lion’s head came from the demolished American National …
The Portsmouth Seawall is a linear walking path stretching about a mile on the eastern edge of the city. It is used for recreation by locals and visitors and includes commercial and residential structures along with museums and historic sites. A Seawall renovation project began in 2017 and should be complete in 2022.
The USS Skate (SSN 578) arrived at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard and became the first nuclear powered submarine to undergo a major overhaul at the Portsmouth location. With the nuclear refueling and installation of the SUBSAFE package, the Skate remained in the yard until September 1967. Skate was the first submarine to finish this major …
With the beginning of nuclear refueling projects planned for the shipyard, security became tighter. The public could no longer access the historic artifacts at the Shipyard Museum. When the ferries stopped running in 1956, the ferry maintenance building was no longer needed. The City and Shipyard worked together on exhibits for the museum and to …
The two lane tunnel was added to supplement the Downtown Tunnel and Berkeley Bridge crossing. It is the second crossing between Portsmouth and Norfolk. In 2016, it was expanded with a separate tube, making two lanes in each direction. It was included as part of the Pinner’s Point Connection, linking 164 and the MLK Expressway …
The Federal Building and Post Office now houses headquarters of the Fifth Coast Guard District and serves as the Command of the Atlantic Fleet.
It is the largest collection of historic houses in their original locations between Alexandria VA and Charleston SC on the Atlantic Coast. It includes houses from the 1700s through the 1900s.
Frederick College was Portsmouth’s only four-year college, opening as a two-year college in 1958, expanding to a full four year program in 1961, and closing in 1968. The Portsmouth campus of TCC occupied the former Frederick College grounds along the James River until the new campus opened near Victory Boulevard.
WAVY-TV, the Hampton Roads area’s third-oldest television station, began operations on September 1, 1957. It was originally owned by Tidewater Teleradio along with WAVY radio (1350 AM, now WGPL). It originally signed on as an ABC affiliate, but traded network affiliations with NBC affiliate WVEC-TV (channel 13) in 1959 due to its radio sister’s long …
The three ships are replicas of the three ships which came to Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, the first permanent English colony in America. Naval Shipyard’s largest drydock, No. 8, was altered to enable docking the largest ships afloat, passenger or naval.
With the tunnel alternative, the need for car ferries no longer existed. It was not until 1983 that the pedestrian ferry returned to the Elizabeth River and began to once again connect the cities of Portsmouth and Norfolk. Today, the ferry carries about 300,000 riders a year.
Called by locals, the Downtown Tunnel, it is also known as the Portsmouth-Norfolk Bridge Tunnel. The original tunnel was two lanes and now serves as the westbound tube (the eastbound tube opened in 1987). The original tunnel is 3,350 ft in length from entrance to exit and reaches a depth of 92 ft below lowest …
200 years strong, Portsmouth was celebrating its Bicentennial Celebration 1752-1952 for a whole year. Many of her leading citizens grew beards, there were event to celebrate our illustrious History and of course their was the “Hoss Show and Rodeo” at Portsmouth Stadium for five days. Downtown was eagerly awaiting the final completion of the Downtown …
Station WSAP-AM(1040 AM) is rumored to be the first FCC license granted after Pearl Harbor. At the time, Portsmouth was the largest city in Virginia without its own radio station. WSAP-FM came about in the late 40s but did not last very long as most did not have FM radios at the time. Televangelist Pat …
Naval Shipyard doubled in size: 43,000 at peak employment and 101 new ships were built for the fleet. National Guard units and men and women from Portsmouth served in all theatres of war.
After the World War I, employment at the shipyard dropped significantly. No new ships were being built. in 1925, the Navy decided to revitalize and retrofit its battleships. Six of the fleet’s older battleships were modernized at the Norfolk Navy Yard: the TEXAS in 1925-26, the NEW YORK in 1926-27, the NEVADA in 1927-29, the …