Aberdeen Gardens

Aberdeen Gardens was one of the first housing projects started under President Roosevelt's New Deal legislation, the Subsistence Homestead Project. The project began in 1934 when the Hampton Institute, now Hampton University, secured a $245,000 federal grant to create the housing development. The neighborhood offered 158 modern homes for African-American workers.

William R. Walker, Jr. became the Community Manager of Aberdeen Gardens in 1936, following three years as a teacher at Huntington High School. Overseeing the needs of a community of single-family homes was like running a small town, and provided Walker with an opportunity to use his business and engineering expertise that he had acquired while studying at Howard University. He skillfully managed the program until the 1940s when the project successfully ended, and the homes were sold to its residents. Wishing to stay in Newport News, Walker created a thriving insurance and real estate business. Through his work with the local chapter of the NAACP, his real estate and insurance ventures always aimed to help African-American families attain better and more affordable housing. ​

The site of this marker is the Aberdeen Gardens Historic Museum. For more information on the museum please click the link below.

https://www.visithampton.com/attraction/aberdeen-gardens-historic-museum/