Rare views of Industrial Richmond, ca. 1910s.

Richmond's factories in the 1910s and 1920s produced a variety of goods including furniture, wagons and other farm equipment, tobacco products, paper, and products made from iron including stoves and locomotives.

For EXTRA Large views of these top three images,

click on the image Twice - You'll see some great details. 

Richmond's industrial center in Shockoe along the James. These three rare images provided by Richard Bland.

Looks like Pittsburgh!

Read the 1901 article HERE.

Or read the Industrial Section of the Times Dispatch from Nov. of 1910.

The Lee Range, produced by the Richmond Stove Company, 1897-1898

Established just before the Civil War, the Richmond Stove Company was one of those firms whose factory buildings were located in what is now Shockoe Bottom.  

The Richmond Stove Co. was the South's largest manufacturers of stoves in the late 19th century. By the 1890s it manufactured 15,000 to 20,000 heating and cooking stoves yearly selling them throughout the South. William J. Anderson became president in 1883, serving in that post until his death in 1911. For much of that time Robert G. Rennolds served as Secretary and Treasurer [many sources have used an alternate spelling for Rennolds -- spelling it as "Reynolds" which is incorrect.]

The company originally manufactured ornamental iron. It dominated the iron industry until the late 1800s, when the supply of iron from the mines slowly began to diminish. When decorative ironwork became too expensive, and the demand for iron decreased, the company changed its product line to stoves, ranges, and heaters. The stove works in Richmond covered nearly a block of ground at East Main and Twenty-Fifth Streets. A three-story warehouse on the opposite side of Main Street functioned as the company's offices. 

After the death of Anderson in 1911, the firm was managed by E. A. Rennolds as President, Superintendent Benjamin Booz, and Secretary and Treasurer was R. G. Rennolds. In the 1920s the company was absorbed by another local business, the Southern Stove Works. In the 1950, the Southern Stove Works was reorganized as Southern Steel and Stove Company. In 1962 the company became Southern Industries Inc. 

Check out their 1897-1898 catalog. 

-- R.B.