History of Coal Transport in Hampton Roads
Newport News
Collis Potter Huntington's rail line, the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O), began exporting coal out of Southern Newport News in 1881. Huntington purchased land in the Tidewater area starting in 1865, identifying its economic potential as a natural harbor. In 1871, Huntington oversaw the C&O, which used incarcerated workers to construct the rail lines between Richmond, Virginia and the Ohio River Valley. Huntington founded a town in West Virginia for the development of coal mining, which was named Huntington, West Virginia.
In 1881, Huntington's C&O built the Peninsula Subdivision rail line that runs from Richmond's Church Hill to the tip of Hampton Roads in what was then Warwick County. This became the foundation of coal export from Newport News, which was then a sleepy farm town.
Norfolk
In 1885, the Norfolk & Western (N&W) rail company was born out of the reorganized Atlantic, Mississippi & Ohio railway (AM&O). Frederick J. Kimball, a civil engineer with an interest in geology, became its first Vice President. Kimball led N&W's foray into shipping and exporting coal, with the company opening a pier in Lambert’s Point for export coal in 1886.
There had already been an export terminal in Lambert’s Point since 1851, where it was constructed as part of the Norfolk & Petersburg railroad. Many of the early residents of Lambert’s Point were employees of the terminal. Also in this year, N&W purchased the Pocahontas Coke and Coal Company, a conglomerate that formed the coalfieds’ largest landowner and represented 400,000 acres of bituminous coal reserves.
By 1900, Norfolk was the lead coal exporter on the East Coast. Pier 6 at Lambert’s Point is now the largest and fastest facility for transloading coal in the Northern Hemisphere. (source: Norfolk Southern)
In 1982, N&W merged with Southern Railways to form Norfolk & Southern, now known as Norfolk Southern, to compete more effectively with CSX.
Documents
- "Newport News History Notes.docx"
- "John Henry notes 04202023.docx"