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 Forklift Masts Newport News - Newport News (population 180,150) is a city located in the state of Virginia, on the southwestern part of the Virginia Peninsula. The city of Newport News is among Virginia's largest cities. It is part of the Newport News - Norfolk - Virginia Beach metropolitan area.
Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport is the airport of the city. Norfolk International Airport is close by in Norfolk.
Since the year 1621, when the city of Newport News was settled, it was just a small rural community called "Newportes Newes." The names origin is not known. The area was the location of the 1862 Peninsula Campaign during the Civil War. In the 1890s, the city of Newport News became a railroad township when the eastern terminus of the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Railway located here. The city was incorporated in the year 1896, and during the year 1958, the nearby city of Warwick was consolidated together with the city of Newport News.
Businesses in the city of Newport News include military, shipbuilding and aerospace. Military bases are situated within the area, supplied by many defensive industry suppliers in the city. Plenty of locals are working at these industries, and within the shipyard and within different harbor-related vocations. Newport News Shipbuilding is owned by Huntington Ingalls Industries. Coal piers are supplied by CSX Transportation, a Fortune 500 railroad company, the modern successor to C&O. The James River Bridge and Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel are part of the Hampton Roads Beltway.
The maritime business plays a major part within Newport News. Container cranes and heavy-lift cranes can be seen operating at the busy Newport News Marine Terminal, at the end of the CSX railroad tracks. The Marine Terminal has 0.57 km2 of warehouses.
Northrop Grumman Newport News Shipbuilding is the city's largest employer, employing more than 15,000 individuals. The second largest employer is Fort Eustis, that employs more than 10,000. The 3rd biggest employer is Newport News School System, with around 5000 workers.
The city's strong cultural sector includes the Peninsula Fine Arts Center, which has a diverse art collection and hosts regular exhibitions. Popular with children, the Hands On For Kids gallery is an interactive and fun place for art-making. Children even enjoy seeing the African mandrill, Siberian tiger and black leopard at the Peninsula S.P.C.A. Exotic Sanctuary. The Petting Zoo has a peacock, chickens, deer and goats. The U.S. Army Transportation Museum has models and dioramas of historic transportation machines, as well as a full-size collection. The outdoors can be enjoyed in any of the 30 public parks in the city.
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