Early Twentieth Century Yorktown
Yorktown has had a long event filled history. From its founding in 1691 to the present there has been times when Yorktown has been on the world stage. We are all familiar with the 1781 Battle of Yorktown and most know about Yorktown’s role in the Civil War.
What about Yorktown in the twentieth century? While nothing as monumental as the Revolution or the Civil War occurred here at the time, there were many events that were of a great deal of interest.
Generally after the Civil War, Yorktown was mainly just the county seat of York County. There were some hotels and the roads and streets were dirt. These were reduced to sticky mud after rainstorms.
Yorktown was sparsely populated. It was a shadow of its pre-Revolutionary glory. Two wars and a major fire in 1814 had taken its toll on the town.
In 1881, there was a centennial celebration of the victory at Yorktown. It was during this celebration that the Yorktown Victory Monument was dedicated. This was the first public appearance by President Chester A. Arthur. He had just recently taken office after the assassination of President James Garfield.
Things began to change during World War I. The Navy bought the Halstead’s Point and built the Naval Mine Depot. This is now the Naval Weapons Station. During World War I, Yorktown was the headquarters and home of the United States Atlantic Fleet.
Many old time residents remember the brightly-lighted ships anchored in the York River.
Then came the 1920’s and people had big plans for Yorktown.
In 1922, Yorktown first got electrical power. In 1924, D.W.Griffith filmed part of his Revolutionary War epic "America" in Yorktown.
Because of its location and history, Yorktown had the prospect of becoming a major resort. The battlefield was turned into a golf course and construction began on a large hotel was being planned for the area that is now the Visitor’s Center.
The stock market crash came and soon the depression followed.
Plans for the resort and hotel went under.
This opened the door for the United States Park Service. During the early 1900’s, there was interest in buying parts of Yorktown and turning it into a national park. This finally came to past in the early 1930’s. By 1935, the park service had bought most of the Yorktown area. This included the hotel sight.
In 1931 there was a sesquicentennial celebration for the 150^th anniversary of the Battle of Yorktown. This was the largest event of its kind to take place in the area to date.
On August 23, 1933, much of the Yorktown waterfront was destroyed in a major hurricane. The tide was five feet over Water Street. The waterfront was placed under a form of martial law after the storm subsided. The Park Service tried to get the local businessmen to rebuild their businesses in a colonial style.
The only business to rebuild in this way was the Old Bay Line steamship office. This building became the Yorktown post office and is still standing.
During the 1930’s the Park Service began the process of changing
Yorktown’s appearance to that of the 1781 time period. Excavations were done on the battlefield and various parts of Yorktown. These produced many interesting and unusual artifacts.
A skeleton was unearthed from the sight of the Swan Tavern with pipe clutched in its hands. The excavations were for items from the Revolutionary War and unfortunately many Civil War artifacts were discarded.
It was a very interesting time in Yorktown during the 1930’s. In 1932, the first plans for a bridge between Yorktown and Gloucester was being planned. The Park Service was originally against the bridge due to the fact it might have been an anachronism to its plans for Yorktown. In 1935, Yorktown was the sight of a high profile murder trial.
As the 1930’s came to a close and the 1940’s dawned, Yorktown was again affected by world events.
The first major story of the 1940’s was the courthouse fire of New Years Eve 1940. The interior of the courthouse was almost entirely gutted. Court was held in the USO building and the Masonic Lodge. A new courthouse was built in 1955.
Soon things in Yorktown were change on December 7,1941.