Hilton Village, the first government-built housing development in the United States, was born out of a need for worker housing in the shipbuilding industry. During World War I, a severe lack of housing prevented companies such as the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company from filling the demand for American ships from European allies. Armed with a thorough economic study of the total cost, Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company president, Homer L. Ferguson, went before the Emergency Fleet Corporation of the United States Shipping Board with a proposition. If the government would finance houses for shipyard workers, the shipyard would purchase the land, supervise the building, and rent or sell the houses to the workers under the terms agreed upon by the government. The government agreed to finance the $1.2 million project.

Influenced by the English garden cities movement, the development featured modest but well-built homes in the cottage style. Landscape architect Henry Vincent Hubbard and architect Francis Y. Joannes were responsible for the layout and design. Following the war, in 1921, the Shipping Board offered the village for sale at public auction. Henry E. Huntington, chairman of the shipyard, purchased Hilton Village and held it under the auspices of the Newport News Land Company. By 1922, the shipyard began to sell the homes to individuals. Due to the armistice, the full elaboration of the Hilton Village plan was never realized.