The 43-acre Truxtun neighborhood was built between 1918 and 1920 and named for Thomas Truxtun, an early naval hero. Its location was found suitable as it was bisected by Deep Creek Boulevard, which connected to downtown Portsmouth, and by Portsmouth Boulevard which gave direct access east to the naval shipyard. Truxtun was originally conceived as a self-contained pedestrian community, a predecessor of the current trend towards “new urbanism.” Worker access to the shipyards was to be provided by street car and plans also called for a future rail station. Truxtun was the first wartime government housing in the United States constructed exclusively for African Americans. Its design concept demonstrates the planning standards of the United States Housing Corporation, the federal agency that financed and built the project. Like Cradock, a similar housing project for white shipyard workers located to the south of the shipyards, Truxtun was built to accommodate the expanding workforce resulting from the outbreak of World War I. At the end of the war, the residences were sold to two African American businessmen who then resold them to primarily their original tenants. All of the houses, single-family or duplex, originally rented for $17.50 a month payable to the federal government. In addition to the residences, the original plan called for a church, community house, school, garage and thirty-five stores, of which only the school was built.
The Truxtun National Register Historic District was established in 1982 and local review, according to the criteria established by the historic districts Zoning Ordinance, began in 1983. (Courtesy of Portsmouth Department of Planning)