Huntersville, Norfolk, Virginia
Encyclopedia
Huntersville is a historic neighborhood in Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

. It is located near downtown Norfolk. One of Norfolk’s "most intact settlements remaining from the late 19th century," Huntersville "is unique because it was not planned by a company or commission, but developed over time."

Location

It is bordered on the west by Church Street and Elmwood Cemetery, the north by the Lindenwood neighborhood, the east by Tidewater Drive, and the south by Huntersville Park and the Barberton neighborhood. More specifically:

History

Part of Huntersville was land that belonged to Samuel Boush c. 1761. By the end of the 19th century, it "consisted of small frame houses mostly clustered in the area of Church Street." Huntersville is "one of Norfolk’s oldest and most intact settlements remaining from the late 19th century," and "is unique because it was not planned by a company or commission, but developed over time."

At various times, there were "a botanical and zoological park named Lesner’s Park ... an 'old Burying Ground'," and several industries, including a railroad and a brewery
Brewery
A brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer's history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company....

. Most of the land at the turn of the Century was owned by Caucasian
Caucasian race
The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...

s, which included a few prominent residents, but mostly they rented to a "demographic mix" of native Whites, "European immigrants" of Jewish extraction, Asians, and Blacks. Huntersville was annexed to the city of Norfolk in 1911.

In 1916, a team of canvassers were able to raise $3,500 in donations from the residents of the area in two days, in order to build a hospital, a huge amount for that time.

Neighborhood character

Huntersville is primarily residential in character. According to the official city history, "It was the only predominantly Black neighborhood to be annexed during the more than 70 years of annexation." Today, it is, as it was in the early 20th Century, a mixed, "cosmopolitan" neighborhood.

It is served by a city of Norfolk community center. The center provides many social services, including HIV testing, and employment
Employment
Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as:- Employee :...

 counseling by the Urban League.

The Head Start
Head Start
The Head Start Program is a program of the United States Department of Health and Human Services that provides comprehensive education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to low-income children and their families....

 program has a program in Huntersville.

It appears on some maps as "Olde Huntersville". In 2007, the Olde Huntersville Development Corp. became defunct after owing over $245,000 it had misspent "in violation of federal regulations."

A Pop Warner
Pop Warner Little Scholars
Pop Warner Little Scholars is a non-profit organization that provides youth football, cheerleading, and dance programs for participants in 43 U.S. states and several countries around the world. It is headquartered in Langhorne, Pennsylvania...

 football league plays regularly at Huntersville park.

The neighborhood has a large number of poor persons who require indigent burials; according to an area funeral home
Funeral home
A funeral home, funeral parlor or mortuary, is a business that provides burial and funeral services for the deceased and their families. These services may include aprepared wake and funeral, and the provision of a chapel for the funeral....

director, it has recently had three such funerals per month.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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