Built in 1899 by Dr. William R. Granger for his large family, this house was sold in 1906 to attorney Joseph Thomas Newsome and his wife Mary, who prospered within the post-Civil War South's new urban black middle class and sought a more elegant home after the birth of their daughter Maurice in 1904. The Newsomes turned the house into a showplace with fine furnishings and made it a gathering place for voter registration drives, educational pursuits, and pioneering equal rights activities; Booker T. Washington visited twice. They lived here for the rest of their lives, and their daughter was the last family member to reside here. Originally a two-story frame box house on the corner of Oak Avenue and 28th Street, with an attic, partial basement, and indoor plumbing, electricity, and gas service, it was extensively improved before World War I with a Palladian window, wrap-around porch, Victorian fretwork, stained glass, an octagonal turret, and a new entrance on 28th Street with French doors, transforming it into a Queen Anne house. Because the property occupied four lots, it also had a generous yard, garden, and detached garage, and in the 1920s an addition created a large kitchen and enclosed sun porch. Sold in 1977 to Newsome House, Inc., by then a foundation of private citizens seeking to preserve the Newsome legacy of community service, the house stood vacant for more than ten years and deteriorated while funding was sought. In its first major historic preservation effort, the City of Newport News restored it between 1987 and 1990 with more than $600,000 in federal, state, city, and private funds. It was recognized in April 1990 as a landmark in the National Register of Historic Places, and on February 17, 1991, before a crowd of more than 2,000 people, it was dedicated as a museum and cultural center.
