Norfolk History

[EJ_LEWIS]

Military Highway and Airport Road May 23, 1953.  

[mintscraft56]

On 12/15/2021 at 10:01 AM, EJ_LEWIS said:

Military Highway and Airport Road May 23, 1953.  

Wow my grandfather always tells me about Norfolk back in the day. Usually in awe that VB and Chesapeake as Norfolk Suburbs are no longer country side anymore 

[EJ_LEWIS]

Christmas Shoppers crowd Granby St. November 30, 1940. 

[mintscraft56]

I wish that was still the case. Went downtown to find busy streets and very busy sidewalks. Though I wish it was like that. 

[EJ_LEWIS]

Main St. 1907.

[EJ_LEWIS]

Downtown Norfolk 1971.  

[urbanlife]

Main St area would be so beautiful today had it still had most of those historic buildings.  If all those new towers would have been built along Brambleton, it would have doubled the size of downtown and created a new and old parts to the downtown.

[EJ_LEWIS]

This video is from the WAVY TV 10 Archive.  Its talking about redevelopment of the Church St. Brambleton Ave. corridor.  I remember when Church St. looked like this.  This predates the building of the US Post Office at the corner of Brambleton and Church St.   

 

[EJ_LEWIS]

Downtown Norfolk 1964.

[BFG]

Looks like this was right before they demolished half of downtown. I also notice 264 wasn't yet built...I'd love to go back in time and rebuild downtown (and the city) differently to create a better flow.

[mintscraft56]

A pain to see what could have been but its remarkable how we bounced back from losing downtown to gaining back so much in modern trendy styles.

Edited March 10, 2022 by mintscraft56

[lammius]

On 3/8/2022 at 4:12 PM, BFG said:

Looks like this was right before they demolished half of downtown. I also notice 264 wasn't yet built...I'd love to go back in time and rebuild downtown (and the city) differently to create a better flow.

Actually most of the demo had been done by this time.  You can see almost everything from City Hall Ave up to Princess Anne Rd had been wiped clean, with the housing projects north of Brambleton having been built, the municipal complex nearly complete, etc.  Even a ton of the old buildings on the waterfront were demolished and turned to parking lots in this pic.  The first big NRHA redevelopment (err, destruction) project started in the early 1950s.  If you could find a pic from say 1949 or 1950, you'd see how much was lost between that time and the time this pic was taken in 1964.  After this shot, the rest of the waterfront area was demolished (not sure the year) to make way for Waterside/Town Point Park/etc.  

[BFG]

3 minutes ago, lammius said:

Actually most of the demo had been done by this time.  You can see almost everything from City Hall Ave up to Princess Anne Rd had been wiped clean, with the housing projects north of Brambleton having been built, the municipal complex nearly complete, etc.  Even a ton of the old buildings on the waterfront were demolished and turned to parking lots in this pic.  The first big NRHA redevelopment (err, destruction) project started in the early 1950s.  If you could find a pic from say 1949 or 1950, you'd see how much was lost between that time and the time this pic was taken in 1964.  After this shot, the rest of the waterfront area was demolished (not sure the year) to make way for Waterside/Town Point Park/etc.  

That makes total sense. 

IIRC Waterside Dr. (then Water St.) was cleared by the mid-70s. I believe the Omni/Sheraton opened around '76, and the pictures I've seen all show parking lots where the warehouses once stood.

[EJ_LEWIS]

Downtown Norfolk Granby St. in the 1930s.

Granby St. 1930s

Edited April 29, 2022 by EJ_LEWIS

[mintscraft56]

Norfolk was such a big deal at the time, what a shame for what we did.

Edited April 29, 2022 by mintscraft56

[mintscraft56]

Deleted?

[mintscraft56]

10 hours ago, NFKjeff said:

Yes, I accidentally posted something in the wrong place. I wanted to remove it, but this site, as far as I know, doesn't allow us to just delete a post without the dialogue window staying open. This my "deleted" post.

Oh. I never tried deleting a post before so I never knew.

[EJ_LEWIS]

My partner and I will be going to Harborfest next month in Norfolk.  This will be his first Harborfest and my first one in about 20 years.  Found this photo on the NRHA website of the 1979 Harborfest Parade of Sail.  I was in attendance with my parents at the 1979 Harborfest.  This was before Town Point Park, Waterside,  the USS Wisconsin, Nauticus and Half Moon and Celebration Center.  The waterfront was mostly made up of gravel parking lots, abandoned warehouses and a interesting molasses tank which was remade into the Pagoda.  

[BFG]

Maybe it’s just the angle, but I swear late-70s downtown had more density. That said…I’ll take the energy created in the 80s when Waterside opened and a few more of the current buildings. 

[mintscraft56]

8 hours ago, BFG said:

Maybe it’s just the angle, but I swear late-70s downtown had more density. That said…I’ll take the energy created in the 80s when Waterside opened and a few more of the current buildings. 

It could just look that way from picture angles and lighting. But with the recent Norfolk Development im pretty sure the city is denser than it used to be in the 70s.

Edited May 23, 2022 by mintscraft56

[mintscraft56]

I think I found a new image, This is during a Christmas in late 1940s to early 1950s. The city really did look big back then. This is on Granby street Downtown Norfolk btw.

Here is Norfolk Flooding like usual. Also is it just me, or did City hall look hella good before they did urban renewal around it?

Edited May 23, 2022 by mintscraft56

[EJ_LEWIS]

Downtown is much more dense then it was in the late 70s.  Where McArthur Center stands today use to be 17 acres of parking lots.  The city had many failed plans for that parcel of land before they found success with MacArthur Center in the 90s.   

[mintscraft56]

Just now, EJ_LEWIS said:

Downtown is much more dense then it was in the late 70s.  Where McArthur Center stands today use to be 17 acres of parking lots.  The city had many failed plans for that parcel of land before they found success with MacArthur Center in the 90s.   

Then skip forward to today, Macarthur is now a problem for Downtown again.

[mintscraft56]

This is not really Norfolk the city but this is the USS Norfolk the ship. Named after The City of Norfolk  the USS Norfolk served from the Atlantic to the Middle East. Sadly the ship was scrapped in the late  70s-80s. However her main guns and main bell reside back in her home City of Norfolk in or near the Naval Station Norfolk area. 

I feel we need another USS Norfolk! Sayig we do harbor the biggest navel base in the world! (PS there was also a very beautiful USS Newport News battleship.)

The USS Norfolk was the first and last of her kind to serve in the US navy.

[mintscraft56]

I hope this counts as ¨Norfolk History!¨ I sure think it does!

Edited May 25, 2022 by mintscraft56