Newport News started as the county seat of Warwick County, Virginia. The town got a big boost in 1880, when Collis P. Huntington decided to terminate the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad just south of the courthouse on the James River. With the railroad terminus, Huntington build a ship repair and construction yard, Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, to service the ships transferring cargo from the C&O.

The during World War I the area was bustling, as a port of embarkation and with increased ship construction. As an experiment with a planned community the Federal Government began what became the first federally funded housing project in the country, to be named Hilton Village. The construction of Hilton Village began in April of 1918. Seven months later at the signing of the Armistice that ended the war, it was almost completed. There were 30 homes remaining to be built.

Homer Ferguson, president of Newport News Shipbuilding, had planned the layout of the village. He had modeled the style on villages in England that balance the work environment of the industrial revolution with a garden city complete with stores, churches and schools. He personally contacted Frederick Law Olmstead, Jr., the architect responsible for the design, and testified before Congress to secure the funding.

On June 8, 1919, we Methodists and Presbyterians who had moved into Hilton village formed a shared Sunday School. The Rev. J.C. Ramsey, Presbyterian, and the Rev. Walter Smith, Methodist, chaired our first meeting in the Fireman's Clubhouse. The Clubhouse was a farmhouse on the James River, that predated the development of the Village. There were 37 initial members. During fair weather we met under a big mulberry tree down by the James River.

In the Fall of 1919, with cold weather approaching, the Union group decided that there were enough families in each denomination to support individual churches. The Methodist moved into the hospital (clinic) building located on River Road, between Post Street and Milford Road. On November 17, 1919, with 50 founding members, the Hilton Methodist Church received its first minister, the Dr. D. G. C. Butts. For a time we met in an upstairs room in the Hilton Elementary School building. We broke ground for the first church building, June 20, 1920, at the present site. Newport New Land Corporation donated the land.

There is a story behind how we came to meet at 10:45 a.m. instead of 11:00 a.m. as is more customary. There was trolley service to Hilton from downtown. An electric trolley system ran down the middle of Warwick Boulevard. The worship service had to be out in time to catch the trolley and thus the earlier time. This story has some detractors who believe the Methodist simply wanted to beat the Baptist across the street to the Restaurants. The trolley is a more interesting story and more plausible given date of the church's establishment.

We grew steadily until in the early 1950's our building was bursting at the seams. The frame building would no longer contain us. The services moved to the Village Theater. The original wood frame building came down and construction started on the new brick church that stands today at the corner of Warwick Boulevard and Main Street. The name was changed to First United Methodist Church to reflect that we went beyond the Village, as Newport News had grown and engulfed the Village.

We added a preschool in 1970's that continues as a thriving ministry of our church.

Our Shantz organ was installed in 1993 and is a source of pride and inspiration in our worship services.

HOME

If you have any comments on any of these pages, please email us at: nnva@www.gbgm-umc.org, thanks.

Total number of accesses to this page since its creation :

Last update: November 30, 2003