tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24952951383042648772024-03-18T12:41:39.342-04:00The Shockoe ExaminerBlogging the History of Richmond, Virginia<b><center>Leave us comments! ---- Leave us comments! ----- Leave us comments! ---- Leave us comments!</center></b>Shockoe Examiner Staff - see bottom of blog entry for the specific author.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02822340615768561691noreply@blogger.comBlogger453125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495295138304264877.post-44098904971216540412024-03-05T10:08:00.004-05:002024-03-05T10:11:46.726-05:00VCU Libraries’ “Rarely Seen Richmond”<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> <span><a href="https://digital.library.vcu.edu/islandora/object/vcu%3Apostcard"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: #1155cc;">“Rarely
Seen Richmond”</span></a></span><span face="Arial, "sans-serif""> is a VCU Libraries
digital collection containing over 600 postcard images from early-20th century
Richmond. These pictures were scanned by The Shockoe Examiner’s Ray Bonis from
the postcards housed in the </span><span><a href="https://www.library.vcu.edu/research-teaching/special-collections-and-archives/"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: #1155cc;">James
Cabell Library Special Collections and Archives</span></a></span><span face="Arial, "sans-serif"">. According to Bonis, the collection has been met with
considerable positive feedback over the years from the Greater Richmond
community, and the Archives have received many requests for the use of the
high-definition scans for decorations, books, and presentations. More
information on the history of this collection can be found in this </span><span><a href="https://blogs.vcu.edu/library-collections/2013/07/22/rarely-seen-richmond-never-seen-before-sights/"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: #1155cc;">2013
VCU Blogs post</span></a></span><span face="Arial, "sans-serif"">. </span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, "sans-serif""> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Most of the cards in the collection date from
1900-1930 and many were colorized from original black and white photographs.
According to the “Rarely Seen Richmond '' webpage, an estimated number of total
Richmond, Virginia postcard views is placed at 2,000!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, "sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg5T7-jNwFgdtPB86oiJkYj8ONDDZ7UXkXrhbzSYAO8FSQ7blTVIB10XMGeOG5NvBonuE11htJPKxwa_K5JvChNTr4e99qjMhZR8x-JgN_ji8vqZD56OcPe94jIQ9wf2xul7-k1bcgA_VquA55hFVLO8q74fEN4sanitUx5Fa-_UWfK3zY9ELQ2NlZRThg/s383/post0001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="383" height="338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg5T7-jNwFgdtPB86oiJkYj8ONDDZ7UXkXrhbzSYAO8FSQ7blTVIB10XMGeOG5NvBonuE11htJPKxwa_K5JvChNTr4e99qjMhZR8x-JgN_ji8vqZD56OcPe94jIQ9wf2xul7-k1bcgA_VquA55hFVLO8q74fEN4sanitUx5Fa-_UWfK3zY9ELQ2NlZRThg/w538-h338/post0001.jpg" width="538" /></a></div><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: black;">Capitol and Washington
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</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: arial;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: arial;">A great deal of the sights featured on the cards
look vastly different from what they do today- or no longer exist at all. This
collection serves as a valuable resource for preserving the memory of
early-20th century Richmond. Most of the postcards feature buildings, monuments
and parks- showcasing the architecture and aesthetics of the city. These images
also give insight into dominating social attitudes from the city at the time
such as the renown for Confederate monuments and history, as well as the
emphasis on booming business and infrastructure. On the collection’s webpage,
some of the postcard images have additional notes included in the “full
description” tab such as: postmark date, donor, or the text on the card. Here
are some images from the collection:</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: arial;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></p>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv6dpvrGvATA0vbeFx0LNrDgbvysARKDKYdMst_xUFQwAyXdHhDYn1Yr3wi984WcORHW7Gq4rTmAJaSpQPAAlz58_WZjE4IjKGJW-9dZjatQALZE0asEPkOTY-vS9ioXTun-Iy4bLz43KbBOXHzWUwA5diTfQWUwwQoDEAGihDd8kohsGBcU9If9TzIOp_/s483/post0002.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="313" data-original-width="483" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv6dpvrGvATA0vbeFx0LNrDgbvysARKDKYdMst_xUFQwAyXdHhDYn1Yr3wi984WcORHW7Gq4rTmAJaSpQPAAlz58_WZjE4IjKGJW-9dZjatQALZE0asEPkOTY-vS9ioXTun-Iy4bLz43KbBOXHzWUwA5diTfQWUwwQoDEAGihDd8kohsGBcU9If9TzIOp_/w566-h366/post0002.jpg" width="566" /></a><b><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: black;">Monroe Park, Richmond, VA; Postmarked 1908</span></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnyIoRXyCFiRnTvdcCc3a6T4l6cpkmOLRshUgdDqxHLZ4_jUoqHEZPDw6eH7mQ5FInWFdc031VF2ZixsHagA2go716nyQaT4STb1SsIoGEUIuYYTDz8Xgk3ihnKYdmGEaNZ1ovfiMlRgLtAu2jS0q0_79_HWMYfXYDihKXkMNljh12oM0jiIRMfn4d2pke/s484/post0003.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="307" data-original-width="484" height="355" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnyIoRXyCFiRnTvdcCc3a6T4l6cpkmOLRshUgdDqxHLZ4_jUoqHEZPDw6eH7mQ5FInWFdc031VF2ZixsHagA2go716nyQaT4STb1SsIoGEUIuYYTDz8Xgk3ihnKYdmGEaNZ1ovfiMlRgLtAu2jS0q0_79_HWMYfXYDihKXkMNljh12oM0jiIRMfn4d2pke/w558-h355/post0003.jpg" width="558" /></a></div></span></b><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">For more information on postcard history in Virginia and
the United States visit:<span></span></span></span></p>
<ul style="text-align: left;"><li class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The <a href="https://digital.library.vcu.edu/islandora/object/vcu%3Apostcard"><span style="color: #1155cc;">“Rarely Seen Richmond” collection webpage</span></a></span></span></li><li class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: arial;">“The Art of the View: Picture Postcards of Virginia,
1900-1925” by Kelly Henderson in <i>Virginia Cavalcade</i> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">(pp. 66-73)</span></span></li><li>
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://siarchives.si.edu/history/featured-topics/postcard/postcard-history" style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #1155cc;">“Postcard History” The Smithsonian Archives</span></a><span style="color: #1155cc;"> <br /></span></span></li></ul>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: black; font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0.5in; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">- </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Gabrielle Dietrich, VCU undergraduate majoring in International Studies and French with a minor in History. She graduates in the Spring of 2024.</span></span></p>Shockoe Examiner Staff - see bottom of blog entry for the specific author.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02822340615768561691noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495295138304264877.post-58553966659028373532024-02-25T12:36:00.002-05:002024-02-25T12:36:26.977-05:00“Jackson Ward Historic District,” 1978 <p> <span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://digital.library.vcu.edu/"><span style="color: #1155cc;">VCU Libraries’ Digital Collections</span></a> houses an
online version of the 1978 book, <a href="https://digital.library.vcu.edu/islandora/object/vcu%3Ajwh"><span style="color: #1155cc;">“The Jackson Ward Historic District”</span></a>. This
resource delves into the history of the famous Richmond neighborhood, as well
as its architecture through text and photographs. Digital images scanned from
the original photographic prints used for the book also are available on the
web page for the collection.</span></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBqkB0a-fR_QPDNHa4jc-DkzsUMCP8-QB_BLEDX8gYQsQWO1749Y-bcznQxREbM9upC8HkYQ8nYZ_Potj2HUB4Hz49OR72bWl2QK4nCzkDYxrdhh3w78ArR4RkVmiVX3R8Z5p2MucSbZwVkq-s-JtmcInf-HyifLr6Jb25mMr2HwNJEDJff6u0N-FZwYj6/s1391/jackson%20ward%20Illustrated%20cover%20page.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1391" data-original-width="1349" height="504" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBqkB0a-fR_QPDNHa4jc-DkzsUMCP8-QB_BLEDX8gYQsQWO1749Y-bcznQxREbM9upC8HkYQ8nYZ_Potj2HUB4Hz49OR72bWl2QK4nCzkDYxrdhh3w78ArR4RkVmiVX3R8Z5p2MucSbZwVkq-s-JtmcInf-HyifLr6Jb25mMr2HwNJEDJff6u0N-FZwYj6/w488-h504/jackson%20ward%20Illustrated%20cover%20page.jpg" width="488" /></a></div><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“The
Jackson Ward Historic District” Illustrated Cover Page</span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN"></span></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN"> </span><span lang="EN" style="background: white;">“Richmond's
Jackson Ward neighborhood is located on the northern edge of the downtown
district. It was originally built by European immigrants attracted to and made
prosperous by Richmond's status as a central retail hub. Freed slaves began
moving into the neighborhood during Reconstruction, and by 1920 Jackson Ward
was one of the most active and well-known centers of African-American life in
the country” [Text taken from the </span><span lang="EN"><a href="https://digital.library.vcu.edu/islandora/object/vcu%3Ajwh"><span style="background: white; color: #1155cc; mso-highlight: white;">VCU Libraries
webpage</span></a><span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;">].</span></span></span></blockquote><span lang="EN"><span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;"></span></span><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN"><span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial, "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN"><span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">Frequently referred to
as a “Harlem of the South” and a “Black Wall Street”, Jackson Ward was a center
for African-American businesses, entertainment, and activism. Tragically, after
the construction of what is now a part of I-95 through the center of the
neighborhood in the late 1950s, numerous buildings were destroyed and families
displaced. Over time, many African American residents moved out of Jackson Ward
due to desegregation and white flight creating availability in different
neighborhoods. This left vacant properties to be targeted for destruction and
replacement with new development projects- destroying much of the old character
and charm of the district [Information summarized from </span><a href="https://digital.library.vcu.edu/islandora/object/vcu%3Ajwh" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #1155cc;">VCU Libraries’
webpage</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent;">]. Almost fifty years since the publication of “The Jackson
Ward Historic District”, the area today has seen even more demolition and
development of new projects. Various initiatives and projects–such as this
resource–have been undertaken in order to promote the restoration and preservation
of the area's past and importance as an African-American heritage center.</span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN"><span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;"> </span></span>As stated in the book’s introduction, “The
importance of Jackson Ward today is threefold -- first, it is important because
of its role in black cultural and economic history. Secondly, it is
architecturally significant because of the unusual quality of its houses. It
contains a full range of housing types popular in Richmond for much of the
nineteenth century, as well as containing one of the finest collections of cast
iron in the nation. Thirdly, Jackson Ward is important as a residential neighborhood.
Its position is on the fringe of the central business district of Virginia's
capital. It is a position providing both convenience to the center city and a
prominent location” [Text from<a href="https://digital.library.vcu.edu/islandora/object/vcu%3A34852#page/7/mode/1up"><span style="color: #1155cc;"> “The Jackson Ward Historic District”</span></a>, pg. 5].</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The digitized book on the VCU Libraries
webpage is exactly as it was originally printed. With text written by Robert P.
Winthrop and photographs taken by John G. Zehmer, “The Jackson Ward Historic
District” is divided into five chapters. The first, “The History of Jackson
Ward”, summarizes the story of the neighborhood and details important
organizations and individuals who were crucial to its development. The second and
third chapters of the book, “The Architecture of Jackson Ward” and “Typical
Houses of the Ward”, survey the prominent architectural styles to influence the
area as well as the various styles of homes found there- with accompanying
images as examples. Chapter four, “Approaches to Preservation”, describes the
different types of structural preservation that can be utilized, as well as the
various methods needed to preserve and upkeep certain features and materials on
the buildings. The final chapter, “A Catalog of Notable Buildings” comprises most
of the book and provides photographs and descriptions of the features and
histories of homes and businesses in Jackson Ward.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH-h0hBkBPFHa9aSKjqn6eT0N1voIKMRvpyOOBuUA-hEWcLBBFXVvFdxxQBqFIcglBpHyk5zjISrULx13KDmKyDGMxJL98YNZt1ubXSQR3R-ihOmr4qCpxsotVStQViuVqJzDkOo43H8wY0IHWykm7ekaUeojLHP-IdeB4F9NTUdlogZ7ERxQUqfGB8pgG/s1388/jackson%20ward%20100%20Blck%20E.%20Leigh%20St..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1388" data-original-width="1358" height="591" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH-h0hBkBPFHa9aSKjqn6eT0N1voIKMRvpyOOBuUA-hEWcLBBFXVvFdxxQBqFIcglBpHyk5zjISrULx13KDmKyDGMxJL98YNZt1ubXSQR3R-ihOmr4qCpxsotVStQViuVqJzDkOo43H8wY0IHWykm7ekaUeojLHP-IdeB4F9NTUdlogZ7ERxQUqfGB8pgG/w578-h591/jackson%20ward%20100%20Blck%20E.%20Leigh%20St..jpg" width="578" /></a></div><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“The
Jackson Ward Historic District” page for 100 Block East Leigh St. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The digitized images in the VCU Collection are
uncropped and include some additional photos not featured in the publication.
The image descriptions provide extra information on the photograph as well as a
map URL for the building’s location.</span><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1rU1YWQ6DGlwk7iSA0MWddhARsYToN6TToK0EHGYj5tjGDmlLK3qfavVs1lpuErMmRZK_K1tSosuaxx4w7lNhzwcb8zydWJD4do8qvZ-bx2xIZGpPn_bHu9pjEd8LLAY2EdJtAgB7oJM7y6H_9QDltnoE-37IJFpAoSrDr1SNuyJw8myeCMuoICVWYoZv/s1597/jackson%20ward%2016%20W%20Clay%20St..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1597" data-original-width="1081" height="704" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1rU1YWQ6DGlwk7iSA0MWddhARsYToN6TToK0EHGYj5tjGDmlLK3qfavVs1lpuErMmRZK_K1tSosuaxx4w7lNhzwcb8zydWJD4do8qvZ-bx2xIZGpPn_bHu9pjEd8LLAY2EdJtAgB7oJM7y6H_9QDltnoE-37IJFpAoSrDr1SNuyJw8myeCMuoICVWYoZv/w477-h704/jackson%20ward%2016%20W%20Clay%20St..jpg" width="477" /></a></div><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 115%;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Hood Temple A.M.E. Zion Church,
16 West. Clay St. (1978)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div></span><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtCrfA2Xq7bi8zZPcMsvSizV03Hflu9Q7qns6TuasrrmIg2BsmLuApjPWllmqsHE4zRqOmiv1kcfJvvYDG0s5TXMBvMmBtGDosb-NYDg7O3ULn1Ax4vsiRz8Phg-xRAmMNf_rALDTSwQeQ_jWaCQz4rLtvnekB14KeZ7kARd6yPUfKjsYYPOzu2NUlwU5K/s1700/jackson%20ward%20201%20W%20Marshall%20St..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1700" data-original-width="1294" height="608" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtCrfA2Xq7bi8zZPcMsvSizV03Hflu9Q7qns6TuasrrmIg2BsmLuApjPWllmqsHE4zRqOmiv1kcfJvvYDG0s5TXMBvMmBtGDosb-NYDg7O3ULn1Ax4vsiRz8Phg-xRAmMNf_rALDTSwQeQ_jWaCQz4rLtvnekB14KeZ7kARd6yPUfKjsYYPOzu2NUlwU5K/w464-h608/jackson%20ward%20201%20W%20Marshall%20St..jpg" width="464" /></a></div><br /><div><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Richmond
Dairy, 201 West Marshall St. (1978)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: arial; text-indent: 0.5in;">- </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">Gabrielle Dietrich, VCU undergraduate majoring in International Studies and French with a minor in History. She graduates in the Spring of 2024.</span></div></div>Shockoe Examiner Staff - see bottom of blog entry for the specific author.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02822340615768561691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495295138304264877.post-21361609019499661982024-02-21T14:33:00.000-05:002024-02-21T14:33:01.483-05:00“The Downgrade:” A Very Richmond Kind of Murder<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The 1950s was the golden age of trashy men’s
magazines filled with adventure and daring and crime and sensation. The names
of these publications were always eye-catching and lurid: <i>True Detective</i>,
<i>Inside Detective</i>, <i>Actual Detective</i>, <i>Front Page Detective</i>,
and <i>Detective World</i> were among the dozens of titles available to the
reading public. The victims in these stories were usually young and innocent
women, like the casual tennis player on the cover of the June 1954 issue of <i>Official
Detective Stories</i> who is blithely passing an assailant with a gun hiding in
the bushes.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-no-proof: yes;"><v:shapetype coordsize="21600,21600" filled="f" id="_x0000_t75" o:preferrelative="t" o:spt="75" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" stroked="f">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3IllDF41q9KlI0GLJ8ZsoAz8435kHAOXo7KLC0VIbEM9ifQV0jIS36CYda1-QgdY-I-lzeutRLVkCyUERy4iFWCx-lAA5vgkLsyAJQj0NBLXU-y92U3yn1GEgS_1B7167SR-hNMojdbxDFmzQfiI4GwKsfOtnzroHpvvB-LFHsQSLGujtFNCJhgRdz1ZY/s397/murder%20one_001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="397" data-original-width="320" height="659" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3IllDF41q9KlI0GLJ8ZsoAz8435kHAOXo7KLC0VIbEM9ifQV0jIS36CYda1-QgdY-I-lzeutRLVkCyUERy4iFWCx-lAA5vgkLsyAJQj0NBLXU-y92U3yn1GEgS_1B7167SR-hNMojdbxDFmzQfiI4GwKsfOtnzroHpvvB-LFHsQSLGujtFNCJhgRdz1ZY/w532-h659/murder%20one_001.jpg" width="532" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The story of the murder of Mildred Townes was
told in the June 1954 issue of Official Detective Stories.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i>Official Detective Stories</i> magazine was unusual in that there was a radio program with the
same name on the Mutual Radio Network. The stories both in print and on the air
all had eye-catching titles, like “There She Was, Huddled in the Driveway….
Only Seventeen, Lovely, Young and Vital….” The editors of <i>Official Detective
Stories</i> were careful to note where each crime took place in the table of
contents. This technique, combined with advertising in local newspapers and echoed
by promotion on the radio network created local excitement and readership. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The procedure seems to have been to assign a
writer and a photographer to travel to the cities where crimes, usually against
young women, had been committed. The local police would be brought into the
story and could usually be depended on to coordinate with the <i>Official
Detective Stories</i> staff. Just before publication, the upcoming story would
be promoted. In the winter of 1954, <i>Official Detective</i> “Special
Investigator” Richard Cornwall was sent to Richmond to look into the murder of
Mildred Townes.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPNBJ85tey0xdfI7uU1wbd3aV4tS4SxAtqBhI34jQECYUyBIQnBhNoWaERxUgibgjbre-Fwm9WsPhMPCp1tUL6EwJODNpmWZ7-wt7zfcug_JxnMpF5ZFr6jTQLZeJxgEHxReVNJzureFltCrxf4dbATjp1Rnweu8cfvan4Cmpz1XlQImikXgWeo6mJB_F5/s341/murder%20one_002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="257" data-original-width="341" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPNBJ85tey0xdfI7uU1wbd3aV4tS4SxAtqBhI34jQECYUyBIQnBhNoWaERxUgibgjbre-Fwm9WsPhMPCp1tUL6EwJODNpmWZ7-wt7zfcug_JxnMpF5ZFr6jTQLZeJxgEHxReVNJzureFltCrxf4dbATjp1Rnweu8cfvan4Cmpz1XlQImikXgWeo6mJB_F5/w613-h462/murder%20one_002.jpg" width="613" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The home of Mildred and George Townes at 612
North 28<sup>th</sup> Street. Official Detective Stories, June 1954.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Townes was a 29-year-old woman who lived at 612
North 28<sup>th</sup> Street in Richmond and who was married to George Townes,
who had been drafted into the Army the previous year and was serving at Fort
Sheridan, Illinois.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-no-proof: yes;"><v:shape id="_x0000_i1030" style="height: 160pt; mso-wrap-style: square; visibility: visible; width: 268.5pt;" type="#_x0000_t75">
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</v:imagedata></v:shape></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnwZDq7vZ3JBkDKFKxA6xDyeqoXYemLZ3f2VmDcVKVN-Qtv3YhcxNQjFDqVVvYygKjN_6_wfwYgmQgpNj7YYANng5aSVxeI0ieHpVStIPrrcRBFozfFvbAbENtEf5nCI-z3FkTh05OSgZTq9S4P8xl2eNrX_kbu21-t3sqrY5l7s1aqge2KS_01uBM7ETO/s358/murder%20one_003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="213" data-original-width="358" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnwZDq7vZ3JBkDKFKxA6xDyeqoXYemLZ3f2VmDcVKVN-Qtv3YhcxNQjFDqVVvYygKjN_6_wfwYgmQgpNj7YYANng5aSVxeI0ieHpVStIPrrcRBFozfFvbAbENtEf5nCI-z3FkTh05OSgZTq9S4P8xl2eNrX_kbu21-t3sqrY5l7s1aqge2KS_01uBM7ETO/w600-h356/murder%20one_003.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A map showing the vanished streets on the
western side of Richmond’s Union Hill neighborhood including Jay Street, where
Mildred Townes’ body was found. From “Old Richmond Neighborhoods,” by Mary
Wingfield Scott.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">On the cold morning of February 11, 1954, Mildred’s
body was found in an abandoned panel truck parked in a vacant lot on the corner
of Jay Street and 17th Street. This intersection and the surrounding blocks of homes
no longer exist as they were obliterated by the construction of the Martin
Luther King Bridge and the Jefferson Townhouses in the late 1970s.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-no-proof: yes;"><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_2" o:spid="_x0000_i1029" style="height: 222pt; mso-wrap-style: square; visibility: visible; width: 236pt;" type="#_x0000_t75">
<v:imagedata o:title="" src="file:///C:\Users\SUSANM~1.KEL\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image004.jpg">
</v:imagedata></v:shape></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiiZAcUb7VzdWOtpDiKXFwzqobdtyuCRF0hlCZkD5n9dVODKxIcoQoNvGVmik96j0ldMDN1kRB8wDn1LGsCbzH3d5L5vq5pKEhcDROTB3fx6KryKjAHpkzmHgpJInlCoRJvcNFWbhm20xRMdpZbTMVWvz46H5x4gXFmG81mv2QE6Pbf5vj_lFjffGYpzSyn" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="463" data-original-width="492" height="508" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiiZAcUb7VzdWOtpDiKXFwzqobdtyuCRF0hlCZkD5n9dVODKxIcoQoNvGVmik96j0ldMDN1kRB8wDn1LGsCbzH3d5L5vq5pKEhcDROTB3fx6KryKjAHpkzmHgpJInlCoRJvcNFWbhm20xRMdpZbTMVWvz46H5x4gXFmG81mv2QE6Pbf5vj_lFjffGYpzSyn=w540-h508" width="540" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The ”death truck” where the body of Mildred
Townes was found at 17<sup>th</sup> and Jay Streets, February 12, 1954. Official
Detective Stories, June 1954.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The man who killed her apparently moved Townes’
body as the corpse was first reported seen in a parked car before the murderer returned
and moved it to the abandoned truck. This gave the <i>Official Detective Stories
</i>“Special Investigator” the catchy hook he needed for the title of his
article: “She Died Here – She Died There.” </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-no-proof: yes;"><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_1" o:spid="_x0000_i1028" style="height: 207.5pt; mso-wrap-style: square; visibility: visible; width: 131.5pt;" type="#_x0000_t75">
<v:imagedata o:title="" src="file:///C:\Users\SUSANM~1.KEL\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image005.png">
</v:imagedata></v:shape></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW4ZpLdjGNkAo17daR0Vimpz2KzpOIQSemAQfM7erO3XOnCJ1m4xomLMXBJPKzheAOH2j4BgB-PC0f7LWILn4ZQagCjCqDyp8qhCapoktOIDWZkYE__eoGCK9P7DE8Mz12Je2jN9e4Qb7YlIY5cekoPgQWnll_HrF_baoDmpAEJQ_Q5R3EOULwByyWSuq1/s277/murder%20one_004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="277" data-original-width="175" height="716" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW4ZpLdjGNkAo17daR0Vimpz2KzpOIQSemAQfM7erO3XOnCJ1m4xomLMXBJPKzheAOH2j4BgB-PC0f7LWILn4ZQagCjCqDyp8qhCapoktOIDWZkYE__eoGCK9P7DE8Mz12Je2jN9e4Qb7YlIY5cekoPgQWnll_HrF_baoDmpAEJQ_Q5R3EOULwByyWSuq1/w452-h716/murder%20one_004.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The upcoming story of the Townes murder was
promoted in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, May 19, 1954.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The story follows a classic police procedural track
where world-weary Richmond Police detectives Clifford Brown and Floyd Wakefield
are sent out to first inform the grieving mother and then conduct interviews
and follow various clues. George Townes was eliminated as a suspect because of
his Army alibi, but the detectives discovered he knew Mildred was seeing other
men while he was away. An important witness came forward and said he had seen
Mildred Townes in a heated argument with a man at the top of the “Downgrade.” In
the <i>Official Detective </i>article, even one of the Richmond detectives (who
you would expect to know the term) asks, “the Downgrade?”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-no-proof: yes;"><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_4" o:spid="_x0000_i1027" style="height: 294pt; mso-wrap-style: square; visibility: visible; width: 293pt;" type="#_x0000_t75">
<v:imagedata o:title="" src="file:///C:\Users\SUSANM~1.KEL\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image006.jpg">
</v:imagedata></v:shape></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc_fhQzasYQRYFo3iMH166JjbBtggNy3fB3urEurdyBDYYYyNyfV4STwvU-15IUtehdjkNQZ7sW4SJRIOLbY5dd4q_JeM-dg-rDCqaDACboF0Jm3DbDcS_5U4a-PsXODLjoQMde1ADTal9lPsqQ-8YkLrCELT0G9Vt-zkRBLy3OeUE4MlcTgwvOeqT5Ckh/s392/murder%20one_005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="391" height="593" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc_fhQzasYQRYFo3iMH166JjbBtggNy3fB3urEurdyBDYYYyNyfV4STwvU-15IUtehdjkNQZ7sW4SJRIOLbY5dd4q_JeM-dg-rDCqaDACboF0Jm3DbDcS_5U4a-PsXODLjoQMde1ADTal9lPsqQ-8YkLrCELT0G9Vt-zkRBLy3OeUE4MlcTgwvOeqT5Ckh/w591-h593/murder%20one_005.jpg" width="591" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">This photo from the Mildred Townes murder
article shows the steps called “the Downgrade” at the end of Carrington Street,
marked by a white arrow. The photo is looking east from the end of Clay Street
where the Confederate White House is located on the edge of the hill. Official
Detective Stories, June 1954.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-no-proof: yes;"><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_5" o:spid="_x0000_i1026" style="height: 303pt; mso-wrap-style: square; visibility: visible; width: 279pt;" type="#_x0000_t75">
<v:imagedata o:title="" src="file:///C:\Users\SUSANM~1.KEL\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image007.jpg">
</v:imagedata></v:shape></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4kePFHXVCOliN8sYXQox5OJLdeBnfcap4a3bZhwZ8WeXnkyUVK6YEB2xhYUosVOW54rZ8UEmQdjOLfuvyoqA_BkTS4JCwgDAZaMZ4mbuyYeU9B2iXdnkT0n4w4t2HGpfaMZx_jLFYdLZNFRJg5IARJjUnBwVz9myKO9LRMGtbAbKB2LTd_xArulEsp7ux/s404/murder%20one_006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="372" height="612" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4kePFHXVCOliN8sYXQox5OJLdeBnfcap4a3bZhwZ8WeXnkyUVK6YEB2xhYUosVOW54rZ8UEmQdjOLfuvyoqA_BkTS4JCwgDAZaMZ4mbuyYeU9B2iXdnkT0n4w4t2HGpfaMZx_jLFYdLZNFRJg5IARJjUnBwVz9myKO9LRMGtbAbKB2LTd_xArulEsp7ux/w564-h612/murder%20one_006.jpg" width="564" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Richmond Detectives examine the top of “the
Downgrade” stairs where Mildred Townes was last seen alive. Official Detective Stories,
June 1954.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Richmond has always had to compensate for its
dramatic topography, and the long stairs from Carrington Street to the valley
floor below was not unique. Church Hill has several long sets of steps that
give access to the top of the hill, and looping, horse-friendly roads were necessary
to give access to Church Hill from the east. The Marshall Street Viaduct once even
had an elevator that carried streetcar passengers up to the bridge deck from
Shockoe Valley, seventy feet below. Richmond historian Mary Wingfield Scott
described the western boundary of the Union Hill neighborhood as “the cliffs
overlooking Shockoe Valley…” The term, “the Downgrade” may, however, be the
product of <i>Official Detective Stories </i>Special Investigator Cornwall as
no other reference for that name can be found nor is it mentioned in Richmond
newspapers.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The description of the argument at the top of
the stairs led police to issue a warrant for a man who apparently had no first
name but was only known as “L.D. Gail.” A hint of both his scale and nature
might be seen in his nickname, “Big Boss Man.” Gail was a 22-year-old who lived
below “the Downgrade” on Seventeenth Street, and who was finally arrested in
South Carolina and returned to Richmond. Gail (sometimes spelled “Gaile”) was
convicted and sent to prison for 20 years for the murder of Mildred Townes. After
Gail served his sentence, he died in 2003 at the age of 71 and is buried in
Evergreen Cemetery.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-no-proof: yes;"><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_6" o:spid="_x0000_i1025" style="height: 167pt; mso-wrap-style: square; visibility: visible; width: 292pt;" type="#_x0000_t75">
<v:imagedata o:title="" src="file:///C:\Users\SUSANM~1.KEL\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image008.png">
</v:imagedata></v:shape></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial, "sans-serif"; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh4H4UYDdrIkk5w6cdbPJbAMOiGZJz5NbnZHqwDaxJImUhOiok7TCF2qr5afPXMO5jwgsgiDbKAupH4mm2ipLGJAmi_WQTfvMkqjvc25LWIFf5XvNerp8PHvhHSTGjswDYXo2kmgbqOWaUhg4vzZfDG2j4QehoBWkdCL4PYLp0hOikSMp0dlzqW8PsrdObC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="348" data-original-width="608" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh4H4UYDdrIkk5w6cdbPJbAMOiGZJz5NbnZHqwDaxJImUhOiok7TCF2qr5afPXMO5jwgsgiDbKAupH4mm2ipLGJAmi_WQTfvMkqjvc25LWIFf5XvNerp8PHvhHSTGjswDYXo2kmgbqOWaUhg4vzZfDG2j4QehoBWkdCL4PYLp0hOikSMp0dlzqW8PsrdObC=w536-h307" width="536" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> <i>The Evergreen Cemetery marker of the grave of
L.D. “Big Boss Man” Gail. Findagrave.com</i></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Mildred Townes was buried in Richmond’s
Woodland Cemetery, but either her grave has not been found and recorded by
volunteers or perhaps George Townes simply did not provide one for his
unfaithful wife. Detectives Wakefield and Brown received an award from the <i>Official
Detective</i> radio show in May of 1954 for their work on the Townes case. Special
Investigator Cornwall moved on to another city and another crime.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Alert Richmond history enthusiasts who read
where these people were buried probably already noted the one, single, glaring
fact about the story of Mildred Townes, her husband George, and her murderer
L.D. Gail. This would have been an element in the story that anybody reading it
in Richmond would instantly know what was omitted by <i>Official Detective</i>:
all these people were Black. Local newspapers clearly identified the Townes
couple and L.D. Gail as “Negro” and “Colored,” but the magazine completely
omitted the race of those involved. These crime magazines usually invariably ran
photos of victims, but the only people who appeared in the images for the Townes
article were the White Richmond detectives working on the case.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Someone made the editorial judgement that
murder among Blacks was not interesting to the readership of <i>Official
Detective</i> <i>Stories</i> who were accustomed to a steady diet of dead White
coeds. Rather than let a good story go
to waste, that critical point was simply avoided. Readers in Richmond would immediately
realize the omission, but even here the decision would be greeted as just one
more peculiarity in a segregated society where race permeated every facet of
life – even murder.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">-Selden</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial, "sans-serif";"> </span> </p>Shockoe Examiner Staff - see bottom of blog entry for the specific author.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02822340615768561691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495295138304264877.post-42945105184440012152024-02-18T14:28:00.002-05:002024-02-19T09:15:40.244-05:00“Broad St. Old and Historic District, Richmond, Virginia: Guidelines and Standards”, 1986<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFOApbpAQaZgEgCtEWm2fyUDGIa9kDM4uvxkBJDlC1083j9QewmRkmDTegXIMuz_WzjJLNst855JMHgFs6zXg6fReXqJ4439m0agTVZtr-MQAY6YJ9xGGV_vMtn3Cj7bIqDdBpnQptRuoueONNqWqArcTNwNeOczsMS3dlQQnoxHj3rwfdtZbQzhtoDXZA/s1688/broad_Colored%20drawings.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1688" data-original-width="1369" height="663" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFOApbpAQaZgEgCtEWm2fyUDGIa9kDM4uvxkBJDlC1083j9QewmRkmDTegXIMuz_WzjJLNst855JMHgFs6zXg6fReXqJ4439m0agTVZtr-MQAY6YJ9xGGV_vMtn3Cj7bIqDdBpnQptRuoueONNqWqArcTNwNeOczsMS3dlQQnoxHj3rwfdtZbQzhtoDXZA/w538-h663/broad_Colored%20drawings.png" width="538" /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Colored drawings of ideally renovated West
Broad St. 100 Odd block, 00 Odd block & 00 Even block</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">An
informative and visually intriguing resource on Richmond architecture and
design, <a href="https://digital.library.vcu.edu/islandora/object/vcu%3Absb"><span style="color: #1155cc;">“Broad St. Old and Historic District, Richmond, Virginia”</span></a>
was a guide for owners and developers of properties in this historic commercial
area. Available online through VCU Libraries’ Digital Collections, this
resource was published in 1986, through the joint efforts of the Historic
Richmond Foundation, Richmond Renaissance, the Commission of Architectural
Review, the Virginia Division of Historic Landmarks, and the Urban
Design/Historic Preservation Section of the City of Richmond’s Department of
Planning and Community Development. Old photographs from the publication are
credited to the Valentine Museum. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN">“<span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;">The Broad Street Old and Historic District was designated on October 28,
1985, and </span></span><span lang="EN" style="background: white;">initially
spanned the area between Henry Street and First Street. After a 1995 district
expansion, the District now covers more than 20 acres and 115 properties
between Belvidere and First Streets in Richmond’s downtown” [Text taken from
the </span><span lang="EN"><a href="https://digital.library.vcu.edu/islandora/object/vcu%3Absb"><span style="background: white; color: #1155cc; mso-highlight: white;">VCU Libraries’
webpage</span></a><span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;">].</span></span></span></blockquote><span lang="EN"><span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span></span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The resource aims to provide
guidelines and standards for renovations and design choices to preserve the
unique architecture and character of the Broad St. Old and Historic District,
and to encourage a well-kept and cohesive look. The document outlines the
general characteristics that the structures share, as well as the different
intensities of renovation options. Specific guidelines and standards for the
architecture, accessories, and signs on the buildings are further elaborated
upon. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRlHCW3qlDOkZQ3NJjX8hn1TlzEuDxGkfBSn0ybs7AmRs5C7R7RLB_yV5VkRKaudCDmno-bi60kUgz9yB0Q_7sXV8UlBHMOQSekWLXttm_hjyxp8yKSLp5YkDn0sm19fCEhYBkPxTK_2pJyWf7gzwJBMjYua_fr3EdfjfhgUToHnVV7XVtKa3-R-nXC8PY/s1690/broad%20Accessory%20and%20Signs%20page.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1690" data-original-width="1378" height="695" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRlHCW3qlDOkZQ3NJjX8hn1TlzEuDxGkfBSn0ybs7AmRs5C7R7RLB_yV5VkRKaudCDmno-bi60kUgz9yB0Q_7sXV8UlBHMOQSekWLXttm_hjyxp8yKSLp5YkDn0sm19fCEhYBkPxTK_2pJyWf7gzwJBMjYua_fr3EdfjfhgUToHnVV7XVtKa3-R-nXC8PY/w567-h695/broad%20Accessory%20and%20Signs%20page.png" width="567" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Guidelines
and Standards page for Accessories and Signs</span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The
rest of the publication displays each block of the district, with an old
panoramic picture from the 1920s, a drawing of the proposed renovations for the
buildings, and a modern photograph of the block. Underneath the images are
blocks of text for each building with specific information on the building
and recommendations. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_XxQnrAUaMLVpZQ_7ep4MfHF3qDeDfKQIsRg-zPLmm7rrOOvyqO3o6xCzBOa-lM8chhUtNogh9H3AN8z579RRNrGi9ESzE772GuWyNywGCwi2t2yeF4JGT8_d9kQhkjOwHTRj8N9t9YeO3Pgt1OvR5TN4bWy_bJOMbb02n5VwiAzfuQhcHnjnGJphifEG/s1658/broad%20West%20Broat%20st%20100%20even%20block.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1658" data-original-width="1362" height="673" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_XxQnrAUaMLVpZQ_7ep4MfHF3qDeDfKQIsRg-zPLmm7rrOOvyqO3o6xCzBOa-lM8chhUtNogh9H3AN8z579RRNrGi9ESzE772GuWyNywGCwi2t2yeF4JGT8_d9kQhkjOwHTRj8N9t9YeO3Pgt1OvR5TN4bWy_bJOMbb02n5VwiAzfuQhcHnjnGJphifEG/w553-h673/broad%20West%20Broat%20st%20100%20even%20block.png" width="553" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">West
Broad St. 100 Even Block</span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhryoQraNOAzSrBhRepJSqftRRhhIIzh1vYgND5X6HgZGG3Ha-gX13LbL3Zzq4bjeRUJIq27Nh-Os161x0A0OrIqXmTISwtgO6HEvXkMR4du4Drx-6TYmAO3OsoypyhXgBjZiVY1jYmIBv0Z2DA4FyHqluMxwXJxxxFJvsBIFf2rwDveCmT7Ze6vcjMp-E0/s1678/broad%20West%20Broad%20St.%20100%20Odd%20block.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1678" data-original-width="1366" height="659" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhryoQraNOAzSrBhRepJSqftRRhhIIzh1vYgND5X6HgZGG3Ha-gX13LbL3Zzq4bjeRUJIq27Nh-Os161x0A0OrIqXmTISwtgO6HEvXkMR4du4Drx-6TYmAO3OsoypyhXgBjZiVY1jYmIBv0Z2DA4FyHqluMxwXJxxxFJvsBIFf2rwDveCmT7Ze6vcjMp-E0/w537-h659/broad%20West%20Broad%20St.%20100%20Odd%20block.png" width="537" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;">West Broad St. 100 Odd Block</span></div><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN" style="background: white; font-family: arial;">Present-day
design guidelines used for Richmond’s Old and Historic Districts can be found
on the </span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.rva.gov/planning-development-review/commission-architectural-review"><span style="background: white; color: #1155cc; mso-highlight: white;">Commission of
Architectural Review’s webpage</span></a><span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;"> on the Richmond Government website.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN"><span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN"><span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; text-indent: 0.5in;">-- </span>Gabrielle Dietrich, VCU undergraduate majoring in International Studies and French with a minor in History. She graduates in the Spring of 2024</span><span style="font-family: arial;">.</span></span></span></span></p>Shockoe Examiner Staff - see bottom of blog entry for the specific author.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02822340615768561691noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495295138304264877.post-91808118725647418812024-02-14T15:12:00.010-05:002024-02-15T14:42:34.928-05:00VUU’s Master Plan Erases Historic Richmond Community Hospital ---- The Shockoe Examiner Revisits Another Endangered Richmond Building<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">As part of its Mission
Statement, Virginia Union University is clear about the importance of its
historic foundation: “Virginia Union University is nourished by its African
American heritage…” Unfortunately, this nourishment doesn’t seem to extend to
buildings that still stand and are located on the VUU campus – like a hospital
paid for and constructed by Richmond African Americans in a heartfelt appeal
for desperately needed medical care in the depths of the Great Depression. The </span><i><a href="https://theshockoeexaminer.blogspot.com/2022/12/a-study-in-demolition-by-neglect.html">Shockoe
Examiner</a></i><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="https://theshockoeexaminer.blogspot.com/2022/12/a-study-in-demolition-by-neglect.html"> took a look at this building</a> on Overbrook Road, and the uniquely
Richmond story of how it came into existence.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The history of the
Richmond Community Hospital is reminiscent of that of Richmond’s Leigh Street
Armory in that both buildings were held by entities who were completely
indifferent to the importance of these places. Both buildings were subject to
demolition by neglect – a technique with which institutions erase cultural
heritage by a cynical process of slow rot, leading invariably to demolition “in
the interest of public safety.” Both the hospital and the armory were born of a
tidal wave of community support and fundraising among Richmond Blacks even in
the conditions of this severely segregated city. Both buildings were literally
built by Blacks.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The difference
between what is now the Black History Museum on Leigh Street and the Richmond
Community Hospital is that VUU has now abandoned all pretense of being the
steward of an important and historic building. The “Master Plan” will simply
sweep away historic fabric deemed inconvenient and cynically replace it with a
sprawling campus of glass and chrome whose historic foundation, built on the
sweat, money, and community of previous generations, will be destroyed.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="Arial, "sans-serif"" style="background: white;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAfW9no0VxExbQz905aitQH-0aDxqCYmON4zlyrFsTaK4u5IrkgEQW38yD0o-wQc7PJ_KLwW0NwM8YtjX6KBDZaknF1nP2-tGzzeFmyBWrdzsqCjB1H4UfI0jSwhY9MKb0qnd9h_iHB62gcnUaYrClKGz6WJKg2sqQY4-MNzVXtFyixTcek-7gUlbhI3Dq/s532/hosp_001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="399" height="733" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAfW9no0VxExbQz905aitQH-0aDxqCYmON4zlyrFsTaK4u5IrkgEQW38yD0o-wQc7PJ_KLwW0NwM8YtjX6KBDZaknF1nP2-tGzzeFmyBWrdzsqCjB1H4UfI0jSwhY9MKb0qnd9h_iHB62gcnUaYrClKGz6WJKg2sqQY4-MNzVXtFyixTcek-7gUlbhI3Dq/w550-h733/hosp_001.jpg" width="550" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The main entrance
to the long-neglected Richmond Community Hospital building as it appears today.</span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="Arial, "sans-serif"" style="background: white;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Happily, the
armory on Leigh Street was eventually reborn as the Black History Museum and
Cultural Center of Virginia. After standing as a roofless ruin for generations,
the building is now recognized as an architectural gem. The museum within its
walls has become an attraction for visitors to the City of Richmond as well as
researchers interested in Richmond’s place in Black history and culture. The
Black History Museum is one of the major sites in this city for African
American heritage tourism. This dramatic turn of events only came to pass because
of the vision and courage of the Board of the Black History Museum who saw the
opportunity of creating an astonishing asset for the city. No such attention
has been given the former Richmond Community Hospital, and it has languished,
vacant, for decades under the “stewardship” of Virginia Union University, where
successive University administrations have demonstrated neither vision nor courage.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">On January 12, 2024, </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;"><a href="https://richmondbizsense.com/2024/01/12/vuu-unveils-10-year-500m-campus-master-plan/">RichmondBizSense</a>’s</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;"> contributor Johnathan Spiers reported the announcement of VUU’s
grand, 10-year, campus Master Plan, to cost $500,000,000.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">In this scenario, the former Richmond Community Hospital building </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">has disappeared, replaced with, as is so often the
case, that engine of architectural obliteration and favorite landscape feature of
unimaginative planners everywhere, a parking lot.</span></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3mpNo9aVgkb0d8HtpXbfGsP7bBFceI7no4Ow1jBqMsA9iNKVaHLMS8SbMnNIUeTlmaYk5-J4axeou2vCjz6RUf8c4rJo7dXLrCdN8JcMgR5j8MFE0h1U-cnmg6CowLCHit1bXlBqdQhjB9F7DK4cGtcK8lbU-Xx3x0bAlCbI8LK0l8Imn0qKbnwDPwsbX/s660/hosp_002.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="349" data-original-width="660" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3mpNo9aVgkb0d8HtpXbfGsP7bBFceI7no4Ow1jBqMsA9iNKVaHLMS8SbMnNIUeTlmaYk5-J4axeou2vCjz6RUf8c4rJo7dXLrCdN8JcMgR5j8MFE0h1U-cnmg6CowLCHit1bXlBqdQhjB9F7DK4cGtcK8lbU-Xx3x0bAlCbI8LK0l8Imn0qKbnwDPwsbX/w616-h326/hosp_002.jpg" width="616" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A Google Maps
image of the western portion of the VUU campus. The red oval is the location of
the former Richmond Community Hospital at 1209 Overbrook Road.</span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span face="Arial, "sans-serif"" style="background: white;"><br /></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="Arial, "sans-serif"" style="background: white;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLgmvWRKtjqBCkbHCa72sbl68k8SyaPLeabrSWHwozWbQvwWU6PL70uqH6QXQTYluyO5gwSVEk8TbvncqTHdcCxcR52lnT2l9o00yxBru_8FaUv8dUI024J5Je6XAkdkiar3MZUr56U0ny5bulBEPSH22zQiH0IbkZbOWUv9b6EKAp1WzB8n2NFIgZOEo8/s624/hosp_003.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="624" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLgmvWRKtjqBCkbHCa72sbl68k8SyaPLeabrSWHwozWbQvwWU6PL70uqH6QXQTYluyO5gwSVEk8TbvncqTHdcCxcR52lnT2l9o00yxBru_8FaUv8dUI024J5Je6XAkdkiar3MZUr56U0ny5bulBEPSH22zQiH0IbkZbOWUv9b6EKAp1WzB8n2NFIgZOEo8/w591-h227/hosp_003.jpg" width="591" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A detail of the recently released VUU 10-year
Master Plan. In this vision of the future, where the hospital stood in the
now-blank Overbrook Road frontage will be a parking lot.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh90MF1siFbLObSztywR7i_iU3NTBdUrC5EfMVUVSba9PTdDIprvGJAWsijfFPG-xLRvZU6UXbcG9e3phTaNIbdP_ofnyPZFLbQpHvOFmPa6zJvU5YUIRmX7ZE3veYrecd-cR5DFcQyhkIvzxJJgsdvBhfpVNKG3IUB2dcKju7zmqpWUij7B1KxZ9xgb5jq/s624/hosp_004.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="624" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh90MF1siFbLObSztywR7i_iU3NTBdUrC5EfMVUVSba9PTdDIprvGJAWsijfFPG-xLRvZU6UXbcG9e3phTaNIbdP_ofnyPZFLbQpHvOFmPa6zJvU5YUIRmX7ZE3veYrecd-cR5DFcQyhkIvzxJJgsdvBhfpVNKG3IUB2dcKju7zmqpWUij7B1KxZ9xgb5jq/w517-h388/hosp_004.jpg" width="517" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">In 2003, the freshly boarded-up hospital was
going to be the home of the VUU “Community Development Corporation,” but that
organization seems to no longer exist.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">One of the many observers appalled by the
deliberate deterioration of the hospital was a <i>Shockoe Examiner</i> reader who
commented: “I<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white;"> </span></span><span style="background: white;">was born
in Richmond Community Hospital, as were many Black Americans of my generation
in Richmond. It is disappointing that the current owners would prefer to
demolish this historic building instead of restoring it and having it
registered as a historic landmark.” Why VUU would not take advantage of the
history of this building and proudly promote it as part of their future plans
is not known.</span> All institutions of higher learning need to
grow to thrive, but with a proposed expenditure of half a billion dollars,
surely some allowance can be made by a school that aspires to be one of Richmond’s
leading African American institutions, rooted in its rich history.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">An expression born
in the Vietnam War was the heartless phrase, “we had to destroy the village to
save it.” That same philosophy is apparently driving VUU and its attitude
toward the school’s history. In an article published in <i>Richmond BizSense</i>
on February 5, 2024, unknown “university officials” are quoted:</span></span></p>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="background: white; color: #323944;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The executive
mansion building would remain with the development, while the 1930s-era
hospital building, which the university said is no longer usable, would
apparently be razed to make way for the new buildings. Officials said the new
development would “appropriately honor and commemorate” the hospital as the
first black hospital in Richmond.</span></span></i></p></blockquote><p> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: white; color: #323944; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">How can the
words, “honor and commemorate” be used in defense of destroying the thing that
is celebrated? What kind of honor is that? What type of commemoration is
possible by the same people who ensured the complete erasure of the building
that is being honored? Richmond’s long history is full of horrid ironies but
this is among the most jarring.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: #323944;">“This is a
concept, this is a plan, and there’s a huge amount of engagement that’s going
to happen over the next several months,” said Grant Neely, VUU’s Vice President
of University Relations, speaking of the new Master Plan.</span> <span style="background: white;">If that is true, then now is the time to act. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white;">The President of Virginia Union University is Dr.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span>Hakim J. Lucas, who in addition to his other
duties is listed on the VUU website as “Executive Director of the Center for
the Study of HBCUs” (the acronym for “Historic Black Colleges and
Universities”). Emblematic of Dr. Lucas’ concern with the historic fabric of
his campus, the link provided on the VUU site for his “Center of Study” is
broken.<strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">However, his email probably functions and his email address is <a href="mailto:HJLucas@VUU.EDU">HJLucas@VUU.EDU</a><span style="background: white;">. Email
Dr. Lucas and ask if he is at all aware of the history of the former Richmond
Community Hospital and how it came into existence. Ask Dr. Lucas if the
destruction of this once-vital African American historical site the is best
thing for VUU, the surrounding city, and the historic foundation on which his
university was once alleged to stand.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white;">Recent articles on VUU's plans regarding the Richmond Community Hospital building:</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white;"><span style="color: #323944; line-height: 115%;"><i>RichmondBizSense</i>: <a href="https://richmondbizsense.com/2024/02/05/vuu-lands-40m-investment-plans-up-to-200-homes-at-brook-and-overbrook/">VUU lands $40M investment, plans up to 200 homes at Brook and Overbrook</a> </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white;"><span style="color: #323944; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span><span style="background: white;"><span style="color: #323944; line-height: 115%;"><i>Richmond Free Press</i>: </span></span></span><span style="background: white; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://richmondfreepress.com/news/2024/feb/08/removing-obstacles-growth/">VUU’s plan for$42M investment includes new housing, but not historic hospital</a></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i>Richmond Free Press</i>: <a href="https://richmondfreepress.com/news/2024/feb/08/dont-pull-plug-historic-hospital-vuu/">Don’t pull plug on historic hospital, VUU</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>: <a href="https://richmond.com/opinion/column/stop-demolishing-richmonds-black-history/article_f09594f4-ca80-11ee-b498-b769e165471f.html ">RICHMOND COMMUNITY HOSPITAL - Michael Paul Williams: The old Community Hospital is Richmond's Black
history. VUU should preserve it</a></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><br /><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white;"><o:p> </o:p></span><i><span style="background: white;">-Selden</span></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>Shockoe Examiner Staff - see bottom of blog entry for the specific author.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02822340615768561691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495295138304264877.post-10959085525457683442024-02-13T13:18:00.003-05:002024-02-13T13:23:01.963-05:00Historic Fulton Oral History Project <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwWPf8jGx5tbSDa9-DUyaclkU-s7Ay-bsFblSjAhujsmAXJjtIqSmeqMETiDPQc2XvtZfRbxnfppREb38FEBjTNeRXn8dpTAvzF0gm16zX-c7g9M4vfQVWUPCNfBLOJX4opGDxlWsnP2Z9DFdJYmbMeUMEoPmN1keGJvtb1py5WGiclglfZD23SY5K8I3E/s750/fulton_1952.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="593" data-original-width="750" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwWPf8jGx5tbSDa9-DUyaclkU-s7Ay-bsFblSjAhujsmAXJjtIqSmeqMETiDPQc2XvtZfRbxnfppREb38FEBjTNeRXn8dpTAvzF0gm16zX-c7g9M4vfQVWUPCNfBLOJX4opGDxlWsnP2Z9DFdJYmbMeUMEoPmN1keGJvtb1py5WGiclglfZD23SY5K8I3E/w538-h425/fulton_1952.jpg" width="538" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="color: #212121; font-family: arial;">“Fulton" </b><span style="color: #212121; font-family: arial;">(1952), from the Adolph B. Rice
Studio Collection at Library of VA</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Image taken
from: </span></span><span lang="EN"><a href="https://chpn.net/2010/04/01/photographs-of-old-fulton/"><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Church Hill People’s News</span></span></a><b><u><span style="color: #1155cc;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></b></span></p></div><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Available through VCU Libraries’ Digital
Collections, the <a href="https://digital.library.vcu.edu/islandora/object/vcu%3Aful"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Historic Fulton Oral History Project</span></a> is a
collection of interview audio recordings and their transcripts with the purpose
of documenting and preserving the memory of the Historic Fulton neighborhood,
which was located in Richmond’s East End. This project was developed in 2011 by
the Virginia Local Initiatives Support Corporation, The Valentine, the
Neighborhood Resource Center of Greater Fulton, and the Greater Fulton Legacy
Work team.</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“The Historic Fulton Oral History
collection contains 17 interviews with 32 named interviewee participants. The
interviewees are teachers, activists, clergy, and community leaders who grew up
in the predominantly African-American Historic Fulton community in the 1930s
through 1950s.” [Text taken from the </span><a href="https://digital.library.vcu.edu/islandora/object/vcu%3Aful" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #1155cc;">VCU Libraries webpage</span></a><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">].</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">An incredibly insightful and emotional collection,
the interviewees tell stories about what it was like growing up and living in
Fulton. Many of the participants fondly reminisce about their time in the community
and emphasize the sentiment of family between residents. Former Fulton teacher
and community member, Estelle Braxton Davis, states in her interview, “[...] we
served, we worked as a community, neighbors were neighbors, and everybody was
one family”. Though most families living in the community were considered
low-income and many homes were without modern amenities, several of the interview
participants expressed that they did not feel as if they grew up lacking. The
interviewees describe Fulton as having been a self-sufficient and bustling
urban center, with many successful Black-owned businesses and an array of
educated and accomplished residents.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Furthermore, the interviewees were witnesses to
the Fulton Urban Renewal Plan of the 1970s, which led to the destruction of the
community’s structures and forced relocation of Fulton residents. Moreover, reconstruction
did not start on the land until over a decade after the locality’s demolition
and continued at a slow pace. Widely considered a failure due to the lack of
timely development, this urban renewal project and the destruction of a historic
community is a shameful stain on Richmond’s history. Many of the interviewees
state that Fulton will never be what it once was, but they express their hopes
for the future of the neighborhood. This oral history project is incredibly
important to preserve Historic Fulton’s memory, as well as to combat the
negative narratives about the former community. In 2020, ground was broken for
a memorial park for Historic Fulton- which is located at 5001 Williamsburg Ave.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Here are some additional web pages with
more information on Historic Fulton, as well as the damaging effects of urban
renewal projects on Black Virginian communities:</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.styleweekly.com/the-greatest-place-on-earth/"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: large;">Style Weekly 2007 Cover Story on Historic Fulton “The
Greatest Place on Earth”</span></a></span></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://chpn.net/2010/04/01/photographs-of-old-fulton/"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: large;">Church Hill People’s News “Photographs of Old Fulton”</span></a></span></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://apeoplesguide.org/sites/historic-fulton-memorial-park/"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: large;">A People’s Guide “Historic Fulton Memorial Park”</span></a></span></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/urban-renewal-in-virginia/#heading1"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: large;">Encyclopedia Virginia “Urban Renewal in Virginia”</span></a></span></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p></blockquote></blockquote><p>
</p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; text-indent: 0.5in;">-- </span><span style="background-color: white;">Gabrielle Dietrich, VCU undergraduate majoring in International Studies and French with a minor in History. She graduates in the Spring of 2024.</span></span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Shockoe Examiner Staff - see bottom of blog entry for the specific author.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02822340615768561691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495295138304264877.post-27803287949004185042024-02-09T16:49:00.004-05:002024-02-09T16:49:46.851-05:00VCU Libraries’ “Black Virginians, White Lenses: Images from the Cook Photograph Collection, Valentine Museum”<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Assembled and provided by <a href="https://digital.library.vcu.edu/islandora/object/vcu%3Aroot"><span style="color: #1155cc;">VCU Libraries’ Digital Collections</span></a>, <a href="https://digital.library.vcu.edu/islandora/object/vcu%3Acook"><span style="color: #1155cc;">“Black Virginians, white lenses”</span></a> is a
selection of some 250 scanned images from the George and Huestis Cook Photograph
Collection, housed in The Valentine Museum in Richmond, Virginia. George S. Cook (1819-1902)
and Huestis P. Cook (1868-1951) were father and son, known for their extensive
photographic documentation of Southern life. According to <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/story/XwUxojRzXMnkIw"><span style="color: #1155cc;">The Valentine’s Cook exhibition webpage</span></a>, the
family moved to Richmond in 1880, where George S. Cook opened a photography
studio. The Cook Studio remained in operation until Huestis’ retirement in
1946.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwedZfbCXz4Cwu0G_uS5L12HOVxzZ1Qv0HTpq3npl2vGY7BBGcqH6iyFPgwc7_eB_KYH9BUpjErLped3ED5sN58R4QstbiirWFLIeqrl3kdAEi3m0Pox-2TOusjjvXQCX6Pq5CFxWsMPbsvkw_Iw_EXYjNUy5lKo7mXvNqaOhdRtdLE9a2sRdWvRos7YcH/s1553/val%20child%20use.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1553" data-original-width="1139" height="575" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwedZfbCXz4Cwu0G_uS5L12HOVxzZ1Qv0HTpq3npl2vGY7BBGcqH6iyFPgwc7_eB_KYH9BUpjErLped3ED5sN58R4QstbiirWFLIeqrl3kdAEi3m0Pox-2TOusjjvXQCX6Pq5CFxWsMPbsvkw_Iw_EXYjNUy5lKo7mXvNqaOhdRtdLE9a2sRdWvRos7YcH/w421-h575/val%20child%20use.jpg" width="421" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Baby
Huestis Cook,” 1871. C</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">ook Collection, Valentine Musuem. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN">The Cook collection photographs chosen for “Black
Virginians, white lenses” feature African Americans living in Richmond and
other Central Virginia locations. This collection includes many portraits, as
well as labor, school, and recreation scenes.</span> </span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN" style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;">“Most
of these photographs, like others from this era, were posed or staged. They
provide some insight into both Black life and white racist perceptions of that
existence” [Text taken from </span><span lang="EN"><a href="https://digital.library.vcu.edu/islandora/object/vcu%3Acook"><span style="background: white; color: #1155cc; mso-highlight: white;">VCU Libraries’
webpage on the collection</span></a><span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;">].</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This resource exhibits how photography
may be used to perpetuate negative stereotypes or create a narrative around a
subject. The pictures on the VCU Libraries’ webpage are captioned with the
title of the photograph and some include an estimated date or location. Here
are some of the images from the collection:</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3_Pk66voOxDHdoHEIufEjOC4_6nts9nqSBSAoZQy9KS2h1QJmWxGSjXsk7yj1PcAo6-IAX4vW6fCrlP27P5esbSAGKgucWmz3rzOaew8dtVw-63GGcG3HOBRebFCe_lCFqF-wdeyPMvf5K96rtYu4aIN7R24u92G0Kp_YZMP5HynFx2CI7ekxLzzXsvU_/s1599/val%20Picnic%20Near%20Bon%20Air%20(late%201880s)%20use.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1015" data-original-width="1599" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3_Pk66voOxDHdoHEIufEjOC4_6nts9nqSBSAoZQy9KS2h1QJmWxGSjXsk7yj1PcAo6-IAX4vW6fCrlP27P5esbSAGKgucWmz3rzOaew8dtVw-63GGcG3HOBRebFCe_lCFqF-wdeyPMvf5K96rtYu4aIN7R24u92G0Kp_YZMP5HynFx2CI7ekxLzzXsvU_/w597-h378/val%20Picnic%20Near%20Bon%20Air%20(late%201880s)%20use.jpg" width="597" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">"Picnic in Bon Air, Virginia," 1880s, Cook Collection, Valentine Musuem.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge3-hogSENV7ju-CznXz8os_SHfmvMKUqMDJFx8fTQ_WLDqZQKtwimUzQevmudThvuyen3PLKm0Z0yWAKGVhG9vHXtIS0cqlyGGdAQ38LMzhRa1xzfhp5E1rPhiNEzIODDNSJHTAKT1f1E5Jg3JvXfSDhxLKZ84JgsTis5mMeGUzWxahIdCd4McQT63Wfi/s1369/val%20Man%20with%20Banjo_%20(1890s)%20use.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1369" data-original-width="1081" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge3-hogSENV7ju-CznXz8os_SHfmvMKUqMDJFx8fTQ_WLDqZQKtwimUzQevmudThvuyen3PLKm0Z0yWAKGVhG9vHXtIS0cqlyGGdAQ38LMzhRa1xzfhp5E1rPhiNEzIODDNSJHTAKT1f1E5Jg3JvXfSDhxLKZ84JgsTis5mMeGUzWxahIdCd4McQT63Wfi/w336-h425/val%20Man%20with%20Banjo_%20(1890s)%20use.jpg" width="336" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">"Man with Banjo," 1890s, Cook Collection, Valentine Musuem. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoKbGRCIyhxSdSzn9_IrtxipN3UMz87xK08j6R5ryKo0h7l_n_rk4WIqLBbFY1l4ECqjXvjae14YQjqL9M639hamdjuweXNI7QJO3ZGugDK44qVH7ayjpZEssaw8sMYQlUwuanp21aqSuUVZozQKP6yM2bZ2jrKJl8H-J5YVvDFXgrzzdqpq5KfP9UiQNF/s1491/val_Boy%20on%20Doorstep%20with%20Watermelon_use.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1491" data-original-width="1106" height="518" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoKbGRCIyhxSdSzn9_IrtxipN3UMz87xK08j6R5ryKo0h7l_n_rk4WIqLBbFY1l4ECqjXvjae14YQjqL9M639hamdjuweXNI7QJO3ZGugDK44qVH7ayjpZEssaw8sMYQlUwuanp21aqSuUVZozQKP6yM2bZ2jrKJl8H-J5YVvDFXgrzzdqpq5KfP9UiQNF/w383-h518/val_Boy%20on%20Doorstep%20with%20Watermelon_use.jpg" width="383" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">"Boy with Watermelon on Doorstep," n.d., Cook Collection, Valentine Musuem. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihy6wTRiP3_PJpuOUbficDos26IIykM84Kz0hn8hlmopA_Gzru3pweeyWAk4o7zzuokDjOJVTHYzF9IetnYyx6o8vYtwnYJ4HI8zWdYZ7SjaIVNU-7nybTTJjeuoZKv2xHwy8CaX-U-GfqOX8KnMEZR97ywMWh5UyELasa90OEp-8Ng2UHW4YPIWekNJP2/s1865/val%20Tobacco%20Factory%20Drying%20Tobacco%20(1920s)%20use.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1543" data-original-width="1865" height="484" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihy6wTRiP3_PJpuOUbficDos26IIykM84Kz0hn8hlmopA_Gzru3pweeyWAk4o7zzuokDjOJVTHYzF9IetnYyx6o8vYtwnYJ4HI8zWdYZ7SjaIVNU-7nybTTJjeuoZKv2xHwy8CaX-U-GfqOX8KnMEZR97ywMWh5UyELasa90OEp-8Ng2UHW4YPIWekNJP2/w585-h484/val%20Tobacco%20Factory%20Drying%20Tobacco%20(1920s)%20use.jpg" width="585" /></a></div><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Tobacco Factory: Drying
Tobacco," 1920s, Cook Collection, Valentine Museum. </span></span></p></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Additional images from
the Cook Collection centered around Richmond development and city life can be
found on the Valentine webpage for their former exhibition, <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/story/XwUxojRzXMnkIw"><span style="color: #1155cc;">“Developing Richmond, Photographs from the Cook Studio”</span></a>.
The Valentine’s<a href="https://valentine.rediscoverysoftware.com/MADetailG.aspx?rID=PHC0047&db=group&dir=VALARCH"><span style="color: #1155cc;"> full online database of the Cook Photograph Collection</span></a>
includes digitized images from the Cooks and affiliated Richmond photographers,
in various locations in the American South circa 1861-circa 1930.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background: white; text-indent: 0.5in;">-- </span><span style="background-color: white;">Gabrielle Dietrich, VCU undergraduate majoring in International Studies and French with a minor in History. She graduates in the Spring of 2024.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div>Shockoe Examiner Staff - see bottom of blog entry for the specific author.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02822340615768561691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495295138304264877.post-84601330829339077342024-01-28T12:04:00.002-05:002024-01-28T19:23:23.137-05:00Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of Richmond, VA<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDtdumBP5WUy5nbrc6-5xTarvXU4hC2oEXrUJDtxvKVgDpyhsb3hX-M_bsK9f-LKiKo0BeMbuJgiBn0j1hJDzv0nL7xtijtpPOw42Q1nPiR_Rys_SFkDWZeF2I9K-jskRDnvC8jFAwUTe2hkvqSTeER2rsXX-H2AiyKgp6PtrW5yw1KkSGJKwqyU7t3f1l/s1269/Sanborn%201905%20cover%20page.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1269" data-original-width="1064" height="562" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDtdumBP5WUy5nbrc6-5xTarvXU4hC2oEXrUJDtxvKVgDpyhsb3hX-M_bsK9f-LKiKo0BeMbuJgiBn0j1hJDzv0nL7xtijtpPOw42Q1nPiR_Rys_SFkDWZeF2I9K-jskRDnvC8jFAwUTe2hkvqSTeER2rsXX-H2AiyKgp6PtrW5yw1KkSGJKwqyU7t3f1l/w471-h562/Sanborn%201905%20cover%20page.jpg" width="471" /></a></span></div><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Title page for the 1905 Sanborn Fire Insurance
Maps of Richmond, VA</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial; text-indent: 0.5in;">Another expansive
resource for those interested in Richmond’s 19th and 20th century
infrastructure is the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps. Images and information
about these unique documents may be obtained through </span><a href="https://www.loc.gov/collections/sanborn-maps/?fa=location:virginia%7Clocation:richmond" style="font-family: arial; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #1155cc;">The Library of Congress’ digital collections</span></a><span style="font-family: arial; text-indent: 0.5in;">,
which provide Sanborn maps from various US cities, as well as Canada, Mexico,
and Cuba. Those with access to </span><a href="https://guides.library.vcu.edu/az.php?a=s" style="font-family: arial; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #1155cc;">VCU
Libraries’ online databases </span></a><span style="font-family: arial; text-indent: 0.5in;">can retrieve black-and-white versions of
the Richmond maps there, as well as those from other Virginia localities. Both
collections provide Richmond maps dating from 1886 to 1952.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">These detailed maps
were published by the Sanborn Map Company- a firm that is still in operation
today! The company was founded by David Alfred Sanborn in 1866, who quickly
developed and copyrighted a specialized set of symbols. Over the years, Sanborn
became the national standard for fire insurance maps and later went on to
produce other specialty maps as market needs changed [Information obtained from
the </span><a href="https://sanborn.com/about/" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Sanborn
Map Company website</span></a><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">]. Today, the business is centered around geospatial
products, analysis, and consulting.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“<span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;">The maps were designed to assist
fire insurance agents in determining the degree of hazard associated with a
particular property and therefore show the size, shape, and construction of
dwellings, commercial buildings, and factories as well as fire walls, locations
of windows, and doors, sprinkler systems, and types of roofs. The maps also
indicate widths and names of streets, property boundaries, building use, and
house and block numbers” [Text taken from the </span><a href="https://www.loc.gov/collections/sanborn-maps/articles-and-essays/introduction-to-the-collection/"><span style="background: white; color: #1155cc; mso-highlight: white;">Library of Congress’
Introduction to the Collection</span></a><span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;">]</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The <a href="https://www.loc.gov/collections/sanborn-maps/about-this-collection/"><span color="windowtext" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Library of
Congress’ webpage</span></a> on the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps provides
detailed information on the keys, symbols, legends, colors, indexes, and other
important features. Another unique aspect of these documents was the written
report on the fire protection, services, and infrastructure for the mapped
area. Moreover, the webpage states that after 1920, paste-on correction sheets
were able to be applied to maps for updates instead of requiring the repurchase
of a new map. Below are some images from the Richmond maps over the years,
taken from the Library of Congress’ digital collections. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8SGtSuRFw1bJGQ9q17tiKwQXNICuDhKBan6tvXMoiCd_PFD1Czc0t9cR0L295Z4ZEPKDr9udBPRzEPuO_DZWDzqFrfo7iAkg4VvGSADu_n1qLsigCkav6izqLJNZu48q3cbI3Ver4N0PcLfx5qucDjXPXY76Q2pQAqQIIOeC_NGuV6AXb3dDpf_ht6aWI/s975/Sanborn%201924-25%20East%20End%20graphic%20index.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="975" data-original-width="808" height="681" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8SGtSuRFw1bJGQ9q17tiKwQXNICuDhKBan6tvXMoiCd_PFD1Czc0t9cR0L295Z4ZEPKDr9udBPRzEPuO_DZWDzqFrfo7iAkg4VvGSADu_n1qLsigCkav6izqLJNZu48q3cbI3Ver4N0PcLfx5qucDjXPXY76Q2pQAqQIIOeC_NGuV6AXb3dDpf_ht6aWI/w565-h681/Sanborn%201924-25%20East%20End%20graphic%20index.jpg" width="565" /></a></div><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN" style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Graphic
Index for 1924-25 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Richmond’s East End</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK0t0F2RiD6ZNj6YCd3CWdhIqi9BzszBA7KWIhI1z0VIpTiAXqpoCLXAm-vh3-rZRJfljJolZyX2p-Kwr1RSjvzVPic5oNmvv4jnxhOfWWHHTT1FRzrA5cA-ppoTDvxA13lUrykFqVdpD_YvkGct5X063D_DZsTkA_BkD4jAfgPfq_JB3jJ0ZjQYGj-7ko/s1043/Sanborn%201924-25%20East%20End%20key%20large.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1033" data-original-width="1043" height="523" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK0t0F2RiD6ZNj6YCd3CWdhIqi9BzszBA7KWIhI1z0VIpTiAXqpoCLXAm-vh3-rZRJfljJolZyX2p-Kwr1RSjvzVPic5oNmvv4jnxhOfWWHHTT1FRzrA5cA-ppoTDvxA13lUrykFqVdpD_YvkGct5X063D_DZsTkA_BkD4jAfgPfq_JB3jJ0ZjQYGj-7ko/w528-h523/Sanborn%201924-25%20East%20End%20key%20large.jpg" width="528" /></a></div><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN" style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Key
for 1924-25 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Richmond’s East End</span></span><span lang="EN"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN" style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN" style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-highlight: white;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN" style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-highlight: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFWTSn61X7rHwg6KGX7T4_oUKhVMjjT4PZr1CW6gNGtB9KLzkRDDrROmq8XFYzi_cM5-jakuIjRg1QWNcHtfHgNd_3-vkybYmiJD51RlPk0MdIoRlDVOKMJVc7kXMDIh8Q8fp6hDckM5vPSZ4BsC8Fs2DIcDpzZTOeREtajaVjyckRwGpKQ08JezWXgh6i/s975/Sanborn%201886%20Jackson%20Ward%20use.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="975" data-original-width="820" height="667" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFWTSn61X7rHwg6KGX7T4_oUKhVMjjT4PZr1CW6gNGtB9KLzkRDDrROmq8XFYzi_cM5-jakuIjRg1QWNcHtfHgNd_3-vkybYmiJD51RlPk0MdIoRlDVOKMJVc7kXMDIh8Q8fp6hDckM5vPSZ4BsC8Fs2DIcDpzZTOeREtajaVjyckRwGpKQ08JezWXgh6i/w561-h667/Sanborn%201886%20Jackson%20Ward%20use.jpg" width="561" /></a></span></div><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN" style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Section of current-day Jackson Ward from an
1886 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map</span></span></p><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: center;"><br /></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpk3Rf4S7fQhKBVxzw_GgP6KsQ1xh9LPbKpgFypP7s5P1YvH-RliKnJ5V4NaLKzMIVR7dZ5gSNqlfV_s-o8-a21Otl9fL2vOkgE3ae19NxsHq8ixJNemmQ-lCKq7aKZAOmGli-YJFJwDHZaQmiz02PBiIZj4OfNZk5JH-mgsNuLVRPtuevQv1ViY4_5JKI/s675/Sanborn%201952%20Jackson%20Ward%20use.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="544" height="646" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpk3Rf4S7fQhKBVxzw_GgP6KsQ1xh9LPbKpgFypP7s5P1YvH-RliKnJ5V4NaLKzMIVR7dZ5gSNqlfV_s-o8-a21Otl9fL2vOkgE3ae19NxsHq8ixJNemmQ-lCKq7aKZAOmGli-YJFJwDHZaQmiz02PBiIZj4OfNZk5JH-mgsNuLVRPtuevQv1ViY4_5JKI/w521-h646/Sanborn%201952%20Jackson%20Ward%20use.jpg" width="521" /></a></p><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 115%;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Section of current-day Jackson Ward from a 1952 Sanborn Fire Insurance
Map</span></div></span><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN" style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-highlight: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background: white; text-indent: 0.5in;">-- </span><span style="background-color: white;">Gabrielle Dietrich, VCU undergraduate majoring in International Studies and French with a minor in History. She graduates in the Spring of 2024.</span></span></p>Shockoe Examiner Staff - see bottom of blog entry for the specific author.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02822340615768561691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495295138304264877.post-2481496370000988472024-01-20T11:51:00.000-05:002024-01-20T11:51:03.755-05:00Baist Atlas of Richmond, VA (1889)<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">A great resource for those interested in Richmond's history,
urban planning, and architecture is the late-19th-century <a href="https://digital.library.vcu.edu/islandora/object/vcu%3Abai"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Baist Atlas of Richmond</span></a>, VA. <a href="https://digital.library.vcu.edu/"><span style="color: #1155cc;">VCU Libraries’ Digital Collections</span></a> provides cover-to-cover
photos of the atlas as well as accompanying tools. The Baist Atlas of the City
of Richmond was published in 1889 by George William Baist’s Philadelphia firm.
“<span style="background: white;">The company produced real estate and insurance
maps of some twenty different American cities from the 1880s through 1967. For
a few cities, including Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., they published
multiple maps. The 1889 atlas of Richmond was their only published map of the
city. The original atlas is housed in </span><a href="https://www.library.vcu.edu/research-teaching/special-collections-and-archives/locations/#cabell"><span style="color: black;">Special Collections and
Archives at the James Branch Cabell Library</span></a>” [Text taken from the VCU Libraries’
website].</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid-1hrc0gLH35rhVRObGOCmpUWCfpm_pBTlAS_Kj4BiR1vcr01iyLWU8-sk-a3QyU9JzMXA-2ks6xQIfiTl6kKSXtx4UkiIvZF_2r-eGRBLM9weLxxAzvoYLB6tY9Lq-OVWLdsi-_Kdp1ov9HT4DvWkOazOUf8QME1jIoLuMiN21dqNJaTJL33Pg5s7ldM/s2006/map_003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1354" data-original-width="2006" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid-1hrc0gLH35rhVRObGOCmpUWCfpm_pBTlAS_Kj4BiR1vcr01iyLWU8-sk-a3QyU9JzMXA-2ks6xQIfiTl6kKSXtx4UkiIvZF_2r-eGRBLM9weLxxAzvoYLB6tY9Lq-OVWLdsi-_Kdp1ov9HT4DvWkOazOUf8QME1jIoLuMiN21dqNJaTJL33Pg5s7ldM/w625-h422/map_003.jpg" width="625" /></a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Baist Index Map</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Stated on
VCU Libraries’ corresponding webpage, “<span style="background: white;">The atlas
consists of an index map and twenty large linen plates (18 ½ inches tall by 28
inches wide) mapping all areas of the city including parts of Henrico and
Chesterfield counties and part of the City of Manchester, now Richmond’s South
Side, which was then an independent city”. On the index map, each plate is
designated by a red outline and number. The maps are highly detailed, including
a variety of different buildings, structures, parks, streets, railways, and
bodies of water. Brick or stone buildings are colored pink and frame buildings
are yellow. Water pipes, sewers, and fire plugs are also marked, and waterways
are highlighted in green. Property lines, as well as the names of some property
owners, are included as well. The political wards of Richmond from the time
also are designated on the maps: Marshall, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Jackson, and Clay.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGyaZbPuk5h2W34nee1tv_G9lRfTqpuuA4vzrICdCVTBszqDWFv0JvALP6W3FeqH-ZFekt7U2lLyyPtz7M6odj_zJxZJlTdIe9rk3xJsJ1RqrUuucqmXcO17Zx8H1OS2KBVpbcAyFxERf23HQ_JrnLzg0L-RRGV_s65tSRicJoprKgBUickce-ydJfpCOZ/s2002/map_004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="2002" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGyaZbPuk5h2W34nee1tv_G9lRfTqpuuA4vzrICdCVTBszqDWFv0JvALP6W3FeqH-ZFekt7U2lLyyPtz7M6odj_zJxZJlTdIe9rk3xJsJ1RqrUuucqmXcO17Zx8H1OS2KBVpbcAyFxERf23HQ_JrnLzg0L-RRGV_s65tSRicJoprKgBUickce-ydJfpCOZ/w584-h388/map_004.jpg" width="584" /></a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Plate 7 of the map, showing the west end of the city.</span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large; text-indent: 0.5in;">VCU Libraries’ webpage for the </span><a href="https://digital.library.vcu.edu/islandora/object/vcu%3Abai" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="background: white; color: #1155cc;">Baist
Atlas of Richmond</span></a><span style="background: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large; text-indent: 0.5in;"> also provides a street index and
geospatial overlay for facilitated interaction with the maps. The street index
lists street names and their corresponding plate(s), along with links for quick
viewing. The geospatial download–available to view through Google
Earth–overlays the Baist maps over current-day Richmond. These tools are great
for visualizing the changes between Richmond and surrounding areas in 1889 and
today. VCU Libraries also suggest additional 19th and 20th-century maps and
atlases of Richmond for further research, such as Frederick W. Beers’ </span><a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3884rm.gct00070?r=-1.125,-0.225,3.25,1.537,0" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="background: white; color: #1155cc;">Illustrated
Atlas of the City of Richmond</span></a><span style="background: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large; text-indent: 0.5in;">. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLd9obNnsuKDXMRf3LVuzkOjbSbJXgvQF4iHukmqrTtX9CuqoIAnL8L6aLtpIxlRblVFYG5dGTlT-yf-OvmFMO4i9nL9K9Rv2enATZBsmi_qOtEHt1II1K1bRmTcoOcTUX2s00Pg6wCp3RcU_yjZv5fsV0S6hX_kiFYOXQhZOe8X_Y3KMXo3HDBLNiFClP/s700/map_002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="402" data-original-width="700" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLd9obNnsuKDXMRf3LVuzkOjbSbJXgvQF4iHukmqrTtX9CuqoIAnL8L6aLtpIxlRblVFYG5dGTlT-yf-OvmFMO4i9nL9K9Rv2enATZBsmi_qOtEHt1II1K1bRmTcoOcTUX2s00Pg6wCp3RcU_yjZv5fsV0S6hX_kiFYOXQhZOe8X_Y3KMXo3HDBLNiFClP/w720-h414/map_002.jpg" width="720" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: center;">Baist Atlas of Richmond overlay on Google Earth</div></span><span style="background: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8PIBWeSC45qmY6YYdpso7UAEVuM2K0hKTVGjW4HKYmaQ15VvkxUVK5yXIcOsEtb4cpt0NkDhaxaPRi0BqTxuQHN1ZhtTkK2KjQYUuQ67SeEVKG923P2MYCyfV6c0sgJHfp5NOYidCr23Wdr8cwKe50BRFS2SMr7BWwjORV5nkgQwa4f9DabbRm3-LRfWA/s700/map_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="368" data-original-width="700" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8PIBWeSC45qmY6YYdpso7UAEVuM2K0hKTVGjW4HKYmaQ15VvkxUVK5yXIcOsEtb4cpt0NkDhaxaPRi0BqTxuQHN1ZhtTkK2KjQYUuQ67SeEVKG923P2MYCyfV6c0sgJHfp5NOYidCr23Wdr8cwKe50BRFS2SMr7BWwjORV5nkgQwa4f9DabbRm3-LRfWA/w592-h310/map_001.png" width="592" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: center;">Baist Atlas of Richmond overlay on Google Earth</div></span><span style="background: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background: white; text-indent: 0.5in;">-- </span>Gabrielle Dietrich, VCU
undergraduate majoring in International Studies and French with a minor in
History. She graduates in the Spring of 2024.</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p>Shockoe Examiner Staff - see bottom of blog entry for the specific author.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02822340615768561691noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495295138304264877.post-90256240643777789952024-01-15T09:47:00.002-05:002024-01-15T09:47:35.972-05:00In Libby Hill Park, Richmond, VA <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEFXjzdF59G2WeViO1ykbZaDrIGX5cvcvQleDTwZ66HXy20ZKmdLA4-2rKvE1DT5U9ocbP595j1l4puG4Nwk7eDW_l-UJnq9CxVe0aD9HVjRNLrARxkA1XN4TkH6bX6Z5X3yecT_W3V5S7MLP24SMh8KwecepZLD-B_PUrQb74zRg8W0JBIJThAb7X1pMy/s960/Postmarked%20%20September%2010,%201909.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="960" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEFXjzdF59G2WeViO1ykbZaDrIGX5cvcvQleDTwZ66HXy20ZKmdLA4-2rKvE1DT5U9ocbP595j1l4puG4Nwk7eDW_l-UJnq9CxVe0aD9HVjRNLrARxkA1XN4TkH6bX6Z5X3yecT_W3V5S7MLP24SMh8KwecepZLD-B_PUrQb74zRg8W0JBIJThAb7X1pMy/w581-h368/Postmarked%20%20September%2010,%201909.jpg" width="581" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Found this rare postcard image of Libby Hill on the internet last year. It is postmarked September 10, 1909. Just when I think I've seen every Richmond postcard a new one pops up. That's a good thing. </span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">- Ray</span></p>Shockoe Examiner Staff - see bottom of blog entry for the specific author.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02822340615768561691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495295138304264877.post-56950136077847299052024-01-06T11:36:00.001-05:002024-01-06T12:21:27.762-05:00VCU Libraries' "Richmond Commission of Architectural Review Slide Collection"<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;">From time to time, <b><i>The Schokoe Examiner</i></b> has blogged about resources for researchers interested in Richmond history. This entry on t</span><span style="background-color: white;">he <a href="https://digital.library.vcu.edu/islandora/object/vcu%3Arca">Richmond Commission of Architectural Review Slide Collection</a> is one of several we want to highlight in the coming months. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF1BdbCZsNwemQPRj5a29sayLiQaJ0CQStgeZOyJa8OgUrmUWuFHxv2JVcc5qVNchoa8S1Nt9exVNXxSvCtQy8H3pCpUGNj3BXhjXd250DdfytrOuX0BoLa55gERYhyphenhyphenfkdk-gJvmqDrufGOM156HATHyqQC_5Q1d2h_ZADxgTWCqu3qUoL7Cy_yxMnNp6b/s946/slide%20003.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="545" data-original-width="946" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF1BdbCZsNwemQPRj5a29sayLiQaJ0CQStgeZOyJa8OgUrmUWuFHxv2JVcc5qVNchoa8S1Nt9exVNXxSvCtQy8H3pCpUGNj3BXhjXd250DdfytrOuX0BoLa55gERYhyphenhyphenfkdk-gJvmqDrufGOM156HATHyqQC_5Q1d2h_ZADxgTWCqu3qUoL7Cy_yxMnNp6b/w581-h334/slide%20003.jpg" width="581" /></a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The 100 block of Leigh Street, 1983.</span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="roboto, helvetica, arial, sans-serif">T</span></span><span style="background-color: white;">he <a href="https://digital.library.vcu.edu/islandora/object/vcu%3Arca">Richmond Commission of Architectural Review Slide Collectio</a>n is available online as part of </span><a href="https://digital.library.vcu.edu/">VCU Libraries' Digital Collections</a><span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="box-sizing: inherit;">which represent sets of digitized materials from VCU Libraries' <a href="https://www.library.vcu.edu/research-teaching/special-collections-and-archives/">Special Collections and Archives</a> or partner community organizations.</span><span><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="box-sizing: inherit;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="roboto, helvetica, arial, sans-serif">T</span></span><span style="background-color: white;">he Commission's slide collection "</span><span face="roboto, helvetica, arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">contains more than 7,000 color photographs of the city of Richmond. Taken over a period from 1965 to 2000, these images document many of the changes within the city. In some cases, the images serve as a record of properties that have since been either renovated or demolished. Ranging from close-ups of architectural details and shots of single buildings to photos of entire city blocks and aerial shots, the subjects depicted include office buildings, houses, warehouses, construction sites, alleys, storefronts, historical buildings, cemeteries, gardens, and garages." [Description of the collection taken from the website.]</span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: roboto, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Commission's slide collection was scanned by the VCU Libraries from color slides in 2008. The original slides reside in VCU Libraries' <a href="https://www.library.vcu.edu/research-teaching/special-collections-and-archives/">Special Collections and Archives.</a> "The slides were taken under the auspices of the Secretary to the Commission, a position housed in the Richmond Department of Community Development. The images were used for monthly Commission meetings to document the existing conditions of buildings and other structures before review. They show how the structures looked before rehabilitation or reconstruction." The website for the collection has more information about the collection and its origins. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: roboto, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Here are a few examples of images from the collection:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: roboto, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSY0bI2JgkKPQfAEd52z53k_EWc1HMl1bpw8LfhaTVMxB_Uc1wvUeju9kQ8G_66mMcGexRPAMN-84ulGnB-CtTJ_gt5DJl_pl79VzLgBfOlCy0UBh1W-wiALroZJM7KQgUIKy-HneR3SeLMbVxPQOIRBq9c4EMttTHrShMSnUXOwnpBHgirINmBsYurHQM/s933/slide_002.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="933" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSY0bI2JgkKPQfAEd52z53k_EWc1HMl1bpw8LfhaTVMxB_Uc1wvUeju9kQ8G_66mMcGexRPAMN-84ulGnB-CtTJ_gt5DJl_pl79VzLgBfOlCy0UBh1W-wiALroZJM7KQgUIKy-HneR3SeLMbVxPQOIRBq9c4EMttTHrShMSnUXOwnpBHgirINmBsYurHQM/w541-h364/slide_002.jpg" width="541" /></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">800 block of W. Franklin Street, 1974</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirt-m5BX6FUnaKQzgQOuSR_jHcXeiYY-gOoY-BPK75woAHXjVPOjEAlYqlzzNOJFycX64Xdqd_HDUHcqs6fut1R4QecJaFSqV8SwBrNuA_qgH9keB3IuzoPS5H2J7WUHRkgf11revGiZFxTLdjtfyZ1Hm6yPu3wkwi2dKszPhAkY9jvKrhRaxWE8o3PB-e/s945/slide%20004.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="590" data-original-width="945" height="361" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirt-m5BX6FUnaKQzgQOuSR_jHcXeiYY-gOoY-BPK75woAHXjVPOjEAlYqlzzNOJFycX64Xdqd_HDUHcqs6fut1R4QecJaFSqV8SwBrNuA_qgH9keB3IuzoPS5H2J7WUHRkgf11revGiZFxTLdjtfyZ1Hm6yPu3wkwi2dKszPhAkY9jvKrhRaxWE8o3PB-e/w577-h361/slide%20004.jpg" width="577" /></a></div></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">1300 Block Cary St.,</span>1977</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkMMCd9J_J8gaAIBp_AoDXeCaFHAGNFEhUHh-cyab63I5D3K_dG-sQ1_1HJmolcxWlne7ee9hwGlP_14HOg_pITNn4Sa9q7DnviLoRJnOxRo8aLGQpRF-kjCdFDAgPAIJ8uvHOBgzxoUF4125EdxdVy5JyC1GlR9rYCr6DReGPZLCsJiXPBuxE1v3qS6q0/s949/slide_001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="949" height="409" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkMMCd9J_J8gaAIBp_AoDXeCaFHAGNFEhUHh-cyab63I5D3K_dG-sQ1_1HJmolcxWlne7ee9hwGlP_14HOg_pITNn4Sa9q7DnviLoRJnOxRo8aLGQpRF-kjCdFDAgPAIJ8uvHOBgzxoUF4125EdxdVy5JyC1GlR9rYCr6DReGPZLCsJiXPBuxE1v3qS6q0/w648-h409/slide_001.jpg" width="648" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">100 E. Franklin Street, 1983.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">-- Ray</span></p>Shockoe Examiner Staff - see bottom of blog entry for the specific author.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02822340615768561691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495295138304264877.post-61185976026919054972023-12-27T10:47:00.006-05:002023-12-27T10:49:00.479-05:00The Sevilla Hotel<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Mordecai B. “Morte” Florsheim (1878-1961) was an innovator,
best known for opening the Jefferson Market, termed the first modern grocery
store in Richmond in 1915. He also established several dry cleaners and
laundries around the city, including the Royal Laundry, hailed as “the first
completely electrically driven laundry in America.” Florsheim’s obituary mentions
he “…was also active in the real estate field, building the Sevilla Apartments,
the first hotel apartment in the city.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The term ”hotel apartment,” (also termed residential hotels
and today known as extended-stay hotels), was a new concept among American
hoteliers in the 1920s. The Sevilla was probably intended to complement the
famously elegant Jefferson Hotel, only one block away, and serve that same
demographic accustomed to a certain measure of luxury. The Sevilla was actually
not the first hotel apartment building, nor was it the only one near the
Jefferson. The Kilmarnock opened its doors one block east of the Jefferson on
West Main Street in 1924, and it promised the same kind of rich appointments as
promoted at the Sevilla: “Running ice drinking water is available on every
floor, and several [rail] cars of furniture are in the building. Every suite
has been completely furnished by the Columbia Furniture Company.”</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNEzouI6ywOKrNch-5ujBU9mEjb_u45Szt8ib6OZN5KFeL0Ik6KDrcy_S0zf0vQziSsysyREJ91-Xp_GuiS8DcrazDAoHS9LxwY0r6Bb2_uXaBExzFfr7sQrayyytwUcoLnD0PSh8DP3H1tSxUdBuif4I2twjHl-Ypa4pl05v4L_WIWTp6RWCVkiL3CEBF/s550/hotel_001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="428" data-original-width="550" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNEzouI6ywOKrNch-5ujBU9mEjb_u45Szt8ib6OZN5KFeL0Ik6KDrcy_S0zf0vQziSsysyREJ91-Xp_GuiS8DcrazDAoHS9LxwY0r6Bb2_uXaBExzFfr7sQrayyytwUcoLnD0PSh8DP3H1tSxUdBuif4I2twjHl-Ypa4pl05v4L_WIWTp6RWCVkiL3CEBF/w548-h427/hotel_001.jpg" width="548" /></a></span></i></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, February 14, 1926.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The </span><i style="font-family: arial;">Richmond News-Leader</i><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">reported Florsheim’s new
building would open May 1, 1926 and approvingly described the Sevilla. “The
new apartments represent an innovation in Richmond apartment house construction
and form a most attractive addition to a rapidly developing section of Grace
Street.” The furnishings in the Sevilla suites were described as consistent
throughout with the “elaborately furnished lobby on the first floor.” The
soundproof and fireproof suites had modern appliances, including a refrigerator.”</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU9KVM3AeCpR1F-_5vFhbTrlMCRUxZwx2lRHOd0s995XKId2miDewTzTjQDuMxy6QbB9a6rwiVovFZqFSxvlinlg8exWrYVrC9Nk1ROdSjWhKUhL_vEGY6Nl-HniF8A-pzbwsqV84s3CU-1I6dsxTevjmADOn4pQDkMIw0-XQ1dC8G7s10PX1DV83aHdA7/s624/hotel_002.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="428" data-original-width="624" height="397" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU9KVM3AeCpR1F-_5vFhbTrlMCRUxZwx2lRHOd0s995XKId2miDewTzTjQDuMxy6QbB9a6rwiVovFZqFSxvlinlg8exWrYVrC9Nk1ROdSjWhKUhL_vEGY6Nl-HniF8A-pzbwsqV84s3CU-1I6dsxTevjmADOn4pQDkMIw0-XQ1dC8G7s10PX1DV83aHdA7/w580-h397/hotel_002.jpg" width="580" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The Sevilla Hotel as it appears today, with the Towers on
Franklin apartment building looming in the background.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The 54-room, three-story hotel was built by Davis Brothers,
a hugely successful contractor and designer. In the mid-1920s, Davis Brothers,
Inc. was building everything from office buildings to factories to churches and
dozens of homes in the growing western part of Richmond. In a brochure showing
off their residential designs that were handed out at the Home Beautiful show in
1925, Davis Brothers intoned confidently, “The present decade will be known as
The Building Era.” It must have seemed like new construction in Richmond would
never end. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Davis Brothers built from designs of their own creation and were
heavily influenced by the Arts and Crafts style. In a 2001 VCU graduate architectural history paper titled,
“Davis Brothers, Inc.: Promotors of the Arts and Crafts Movement in Richmond,”
Justin Gunther named the 1915 San Francisco Exposition as the first exposure
Richmonders had to the Mission style as interpreted through the Arts and
Crafts. In 1924, Davis Brothers president J. Lee Davis traveled to Florida to
study the “Spanish Type of Home.” Gunther credits J. Lee Davis for bringing
Arts and Crafts into Richmond’s residential streetscape and popularizing the
Mission style in the city. All over Richmond houses and offices began to appear
with white stucco walls and tile roofs in contrast to the relentlessly red
brick of Colonial Revival Richmond.</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBwY8bbpESQyPlbSEciS9yPOfkMC09udvXiWZ4xcLU9CrYew9IT8jVvE86MHR0dA6Y9hw5csfGSYHvFh8c_lTj1YPoUAOK9_qpmgNYZ7lfFyv83W8TXjv2Du6Hp1YbLL8LlQF-oqIzZ7HE2rFJWPXlSO6R6D_U9qE3m8lG-337Q-btLPYp4DtOvdJ79xJN/s673/hotel_003.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="673" data-original-width="624" height="576" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBwY8bbpESQyPlbSEciS9yPOfkMC09udvXiWZ4xcLU9CrYew9IT8jVvE86MHR0dA6Y9hw5csfGSYHvFh8c_lTj1YPoUAOK9_qpmgNYZ7lfFyv83W8TXjv2Du6Hp1YbLL8LlQF-oqIzZ7HE2rFJWPXlSO6R6D_U9qE3m8lG-337Q-btLPYp4DtOvdJ79xJN/w535-h576/hotel_003.jpg" width="535" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, May 23, 1926.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Perhaps the Davis Brothers and their client, Florsheim, felt the
market demanded something more eclectic, more memorable than the unremarkable
façade of the Kilmarnock Hotel. The Davis Brothers' design for that building was
restrained and perhaps reflected the owner’s construction budget, compared with
the more exuberant Sevilla. The curvilinear roofline of the Sevilla,
interrupted by Spanish-style red roof tiles, contrasting areas of yellow brick
emphasizing the gabled sections of the façade and the copper details of
stylized decoration must have been an exotic touch on Grace Street. Four large
stores were on the ground floor including Morte Florsheim’s own Mozielle
Cleaners and Morgan’s Drug Store.</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-4lX9EgYtxlepytFuExXLxrqg_lFXFtzS2ojihZ_qEXUWHBOCRXRlU0V9qMm043UIl-sDi7ZookxN9q4zfSui8yTRhb6C-1PELaghOBgPA2LwpN3O7lZS2x-EvuWXcmPA6BEoZJGMU5xjqNq49Z_vJK2SkEnZHoAHm0hkUBaFVrekIH0dLAoLKbQWVbQ1/s537/hotel_004.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="537" data-original-width="289" height="884" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-4lX9EgYtxlepytFuExXLxrqg_lFXFtzS2ojihZ_qEXUWHBOCRXRlU0V9qMm043UIl-sDi7ZookxN9q4zfSui8yTRhb6C-1PELaghOBgPA2LwpN3O7lZS2x-EvuWXcmPA6BEoZJGMU5xjqNq49Z_vJK2SkEnZHoAHm0hkUBaFVrekIH0dLAoLKbQWVbQ1/w475-h884/hotel_004.jpg" width="475" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The entrance to the Sevilla was on Jefferson Avenue. </span><i style="font-family: arial;">Richmond Times-Dispatch</i><span style="font-family: arial;">, September 17, 1926.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The Sevilla proved to be quite popular and quickly filled
with tenants. Davis Brothers continued their dizzying success, and at one point
a Richmond newspaper estimated that a tenth of all new construction in Richmond
was done by Davis Brothers. The standards of the Sevilla were high from the day
it opened, and the hotel is mentioned occasionally in society notes like an
account of a card party the Daughters of the American Revolution planned at the
Sevilla in 1927. In March of 1929, the hotel was mentioned as the home of Captain
R. Q. Merrick, a prominent Federal Prohibition Administrator who was
responsible for keeping three states dry. As late as 1930, the Sevilla still sometimes
appeared in the Society Page, as when Mr. and Mrs. James Heath gave notice
that they “are now established at their apartment at the Sevilla on Grace and
Jefferson Streets.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaNH3rWA058dftQfKF0VQWY-CSALDRhVd35Awi9jPYEQ8hHNWFGRgBl4noOxffI5sPX4GEGKTGiQFVczQR0qp47jB58piOffOzlKvawruwo4ygAW3YlQXk9CZaXS3U0VQVeVK0caCvNyf_FCyqym8zNDBkG6tfwx0UGqcY4vg9qlwM_uou_xe6Rgn5qPKP/s607/hotel_005.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="376" data-original-width="607" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaNH3rWA058dftQfKF0VQWY-CSALDRhVd35Awi9jPYEQ8hHNWFGRgBl4noOxffI5sPX4GEGKTGiQFVczQR0qp47jB58piOffOzlKvawruwo4ygAW3YlQXk9CZaXS3U0VQVeVK0caCvNyf_FCyqym8zNDBkG6tfwx0UGqcY4vg9qlwM_uou_xe6Rgn5qPKP/w535-h331/hotel_005.jpg" width="535" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A 1943 postcard of Richmond’s Sevilla Hotel</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The Stock Market Crash that took place in October 1929 hit
Richmond as hard as any city, and among the many losses to Richmond businesses
was the collapse of Davis Brothers. The company had many subsidiaries and allied
businesses that interlocked with the original construction company: tradesmen,
wholesalers, construction, and financing of homes. Defaults on notes issued to
finance Davis Brothers houses poured in. As Gunther described it, “Davis
Brothers and its collateral corporations crumbled due to the Depression.” The
president, J. Lee Davis, sold his mansion that his company built outside
Richmond called “Willowbrook” and moved into one of his apartment buildings.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZkUo61c-c2NOz5Fs6trZm4VE5u9I5MQWnlLN2bysOrCYzNvlobaPXD3kdWHZ6_h62-Uq7pftJG0Lb_FQg7RUeeHlVmYBuNFmBLYl7T9Nz-C4rORi8fEyoS5EXdHq8ayc-QYMrK7L89787ybREK2VHtjBO2q11jrjGj1nj9TaVaSgtS1LvyQTi752ThBwE/s551/hotel_006.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="551" height="457" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZkUo61c-c2NOz5Fs6trZm4VE5u9I5MQWnlLN2bysOrCYzNvlobaPXD3kdWHZ6_h62-Uq7pftJG0Lb_FQg7RUeeHlVmYBuNFmBLYl7T9Nz-C4rORi8fEyoS5EXdHq8ayc-QYMrK7L89787ybREK2VHtjBO2q11jrjGj1nj9TaVaSgtS1LvyQTi752ThBwE/w608-h457/hotel_006.jpg" width="608" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">One of the stripped store spaces on the first floor of the
former Sevilla Hotel. The once-swank interior of the entire hotel probably has
been gutted in the same manner.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The same arc can be sensed in the decline of the Sevilla. The
monied traveler or businessman whom the apartment hotel was designed for was
disappearing from the highways and train stations of America. By April 1931,
the Sevilla was advertising for two of its first-floor stores available for
rent. The next year the hotel auctioned off the office furniture left behind in
one of the hotel’s commercial spaces once occupied by the Old Dominion Tile and
Marble Company. It was the Depression, and many Richmond commercial tenants locked
their doors on a Friday afternoon and never came back. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Mrs. E. C. Garrett, the wife of the manager of the Sevilla
tried to keep up appearances, hosting meetings of the Richmond Women Writers
Club and the Woman’s Auxiliary of the American Legion in 1934, but it wasn’t
like the old days when the Sevilla was new and luxurious. In February of 1935, a
drunken tenant assaulted Manager Garrett, knocking out four of his teeth. By
the following October, it was impossible to conceal the downward trajectory as the
debts on the Sevilla were in default and the hotel was sold at auction. The
Sevilla shouldered on through the late 1930s, resolutely advertising rooms and
apartments and occasionally running ads in the Richmond newspapers that spoke
of the hotel’s former grandeur.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq33g1s3P7S18H89TUfyNlt6NORA4hXHYrgeit5ERYjwO5BCa_2pRHXzDwbAafmCb5tAqie3oJnTvx7gO-6lP7gjw0TBZtZ8nqC_tLR4fyc8KhMrole8M63xMf7K-Oan0-IPAXlVRr1_C7D2qcOSwe0c4FFQh34gwX34-Y747DKgrc5ESVkBaYwYJ150DV/s521/hotel_007.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="521" height="473" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq33g1s3P7S18H89TUfyNlt6NORA4hXHYrgeit5ERYjwO5BCa_2pRHXzDwbAafmCb5tAqie3oJnTvx7gO-6lP7gjw0TBZtZ8nqC_tLR4fyc8KhMrole8M63xMf7K-Oan0-IPAXlVRr1_C7D2qcOSwe0c4FFQh34gwX34-Y747DKgrc5ESVkBaYwYJ150DV/w554-h473/hotel_007.jpg" width="554" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, September 8, 1937.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The hotel was probably buoyed by high occupancy during World
War II due to a housing shortage as Federal workers, military, and contractors
all poured into Richmond during the war years. By the 1950s, traffic was being
drawn from downtown Richmond and into the tourist courts and motels that lined
Route 1, culminating in the opening of the interstate highway (then known as
the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike) through the city. The Sevilla had been left
behind, and its once illustrious place among the Society columns sank to crime
reports of tenants being found dead in their rooms or the armed robbery of the night
clerk. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The Sevilla was owned by Grace Hotel Apartments until 1967,
when it was sold to the Midtown Hotel Apartments, Inc., who advertised the
Sevilla as “completely renovated” in 1968, offering “Special rates, business
and elderly.” The Sevilla appeared several times in the lists of properties
with delinquent taxes in the early 1970s and was sold for $365,000 in 1974. Only
eight people still lived in the building when the new owner, Dr. Theophilos
Kepreos, announced the old hotel would be converted into a home for elderly
adults and the building “into something the city can be proud of.” The Sevilla,
Kepreos said, would have the exterior washed, its sign removed, trim painted
and the interior renovated. It became the Grace–Jefferson home for
Alzheimer’s Disease patients, offering trained caregivers around the clock. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxXGWK0qSz_or7ar5EaJdXIRRVD2VqNVhViNo5gl65W3eZQJ9ArI9pwPyRttkYQXzJQ-GVL42E_K42bVc8DowV7zxOT3JIkph8sTft8haEsYsWatnCOVlUV6I7D2ooJdqLKtxz-GKzUUdsRkPICOFOP1g_deTY6g7GpS1QLAcB1-4Sn9vjZ03rntM7WPf6/s477/hotel_008.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="306" data-original-width="477" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxXGWK0qSz_or7ar5EaJdXIRRVD2VqNVhViNo5gl65W3eZQJ9ArI9pwPyRttkYQXzJQ-GVL42E_K42bVc8DowV7zxOT3JIkph8sTft8haEsYsWatnCOVlUV6I7D2ooJdqLKtxz-GKzUUdsRkPICOFOP1g_deTY6g7GpS1QLAcB1-4Sn9vjZ03rntM7WPf6/w612-h392/hotel_008.jpg" width="612" /></span></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The Jefferson Street entrance once led to the richly
appointed lobby of the Sevilla Hotel. <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, June 6,
1980.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXabmnfV8bOxe0uaN_C_7V0je1O9OoI116-wJ1gig4-kr9EAFOZbxSDR92zewRWm7fh4FtaevILqh3KRp-um11WDiWD7nlLSE2bHyXIYDftOpH0LuAXkSuQzP6GVmIRi9VC-Nf9gPVv5caNMfTBKc8IFrBvQk4ohKyPZIQgJzpORb79MTP2ySHudkjUJLN/s439/hotel_009.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="339" data-original-width="439" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXabmnfV8bOxe0uaN_C_7V0je1O9OoI116-wJ1gig4-kr9EAFOZbxSDR92zewRWm7fh4FtaevILqh3KRp-um11WDiWD7nlLSE2bHyXIYDftOpH0LuAXkSuQzP6GVmIRi9VC-Nf9gPVv5caNMfTBKc8IFrBvQk4ohKyPZIQgJzpORb79MTP2ySHudkjUJLN/w539-h416/hotel_009.jpg" width="539" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The Jefferson Street entrance as it appears today.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The Davis Brothers’ fireproof and soundproof hotel appears
to have been well-built, retaining its value through periods of both flush
times and near-abandonment. According to City records, the building sold in
June of 1997 for $2.1 million, then again in January of 2022 for $3.2 million. The
2022 buyer is a company called “Tiffanie’s Manor for Young Adults,” which
despite its name, is an assisted care home for the elderly. The Sevilla may be destined
for yet another renovation, although there seems to be no activity in the
building today.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqbVWEbtK6sbwIZ2dIurxQ6aZab-vm_5a6jl1Ki3uuUd4sw7jhlDqEvNFCtBsxnKe_qN9t_L7k6fgF64woP1GbevTZQccIybqpusV-h4472VKgvysyV9z3SyqDc1NyHdj220ujXBM7ttFR5uA1OoJEQDfj4n0aI2Utk5n37mR03V2puqt5F1bbxn5Gwwe9/s482/hotel_010.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="274" data-original-width="482" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqbVWEbtK6sbwIZ2dIurxQ6aZab-vm_5a6jl1Ki3uuUd4sw7jhlDqEvNFCtBsxnKe_qN9t_L7k6fgF64woP1GbevTZQccIybqpusV-h4472VKgvysyV9z3SyqDc1NyHdj220ujXBM7ttFR5uA1OoJEQDfj4n0aI2Utk5n37mR03V2puqt5F1bbxn5Gwwe9/w609-h346/hotel_010.jpg" width="609" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Richmond’s first apartment hotel at 4 West Main Street, The
Kilmarnock, shown in its later years when it was known as Travelers Hotel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The loss of the illuminated sign on the corner of the
building meant the end of the name, “Sevilla,” but the Davis Brothers’ hotel
withstood conversion to a nursing home. In contrast, Sevilla’s contemporary,
the Kilmarnock, had a more vivid slide into decline. Despite its location beside
the Jefferson, the Kilmarnock was fated to draw the shady, the disreputable,
and the criminal to stay in its rooms. The building eventually became the
Milner Hotel and in its final form, the Earle Hotel. While the Sevilla will
apparently enter its second century of usefulness to Richmond, the owners of
the Jefferson Hotel purchased the Earle Hotel which had become a four-story
flophouse, and tore it down in 1989. The site is now a parking lot for the
Jefferson.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">-Selden</span><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>Shockoe Examiner Staff - see bottom of blog entry for the specific author.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02822340615768561691noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495295138304264877.post-27932439709595278202023-11-15T13:52:00.000-05:002023-11-15T13:52:59.323-05:00“I’ll be home in an hour!” “WHAT?” “I SAID I’LL BE HOME IN AN HOUR!”<p><span face="Arial, "sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Hermitage Airport was one of several
now-vanished little airfields that once encircled Richmond in the early days of
aviation. It was located on flat terrain to the south and west of the
intersection of Laburnum Avenue and Hermitage Road on the North Side. Established
in 1925 as Charles Airport, the field was used by amateurs, experts, barnstormers,
and ex-military pilots. Charles Airport perished in the Great Depression, but new
investors purchased the property, renamed it Hermitage Airport and turned it
into a successful enterprise.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii9uW5a6eif3ywYV_mCYpcK0o-gzDnM9ZittS792zwI1QwsJthaB9rG8hJFyofLvjLliqwQH05CYjX9PZiSLE1Xj0bszYsPTCUPQ3xzu6eqtVA0rT4LK_zsH99FFEXrRCiq67Oo79mbrL8k8X5yo6F8bIsAJIxIzNSbe2DRJTKkK_sy6AEGeGELEeAG8ai/s512/plane_001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="331" data-original-width="512" height="383" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii9uW5a6eif3ywYV_mCYpcK0o-gzDnM9ZittS792zwI1QwsJthaB9rG8hJFyofLvjLliqwQH05CYjX9PZiSLE1Xj0bszYsPTCUPQ3xzu6eqtVA0rT4LK_zsH99FFEXrRCiq67Oo79mbrL8k8X5yo6F8bIsAJIxIzNSbe2DRJTKkK_sy6AEGeGELEeAG8ai/w592-h383/plane_001.jpg" width="592" /></a></span></div><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">A view of one of the hangers at the
Hermitage Airport. The airplane in the foreground crashed in 1946, killing
three people. From <i>Virginia Airports: A Historical Survey of Airports and
Aviation from the Earliest Days.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">By the early 1940s the airfield boasted
two runways of 2000 and 1600 feet, and in 1941, a third hanger was constructed
for for fuel and airplane maintenance. The same year, with the situation deteriorating
in Europe, Hermitage Airport began formal civilian pilot training for defense
purposes. It also served as an emergency landing site for military flights. Hermitage
Airport put on air shows and exhibitions during this period, with acrobatic
planes performing tricks and maneuvers over the North Side and thrilling
audiences with a display of dive-bombing where a moving car was hit with a
two-pound bag of flour.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Ugncl7xdXoK8OKysOQam0z9-6CYwtN6ALeG_-vkAea4Q1K6O85CPFd_ecH8LmElk1R0fFpoC4HPUCYe_F_zfWry8Q1Co7RatwTthH2ht8HryD5YTBTVyoOl7CUCBQPW2DINajyZfg_cxo4Vx-QLG31HKsBctjYlnpuyACXc3mfcaWzl3UzgyGBOPPAM9/s481/plane_002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="481" data-original-width="409" height="666" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Ugncl7xdXoK8OKysOQam0z9-6CYwtN6ALeG_-vkAea4Q1K6O85CPFd_ecH8LmElk1R0fFpoC4HPUCYe_F_zfWry8Q1Co7RatwTthH2ht8HryD5YTBTVyoOl7CUCBQPW2DINajyZfg_cxo4Vx-QLG31HKsBctjYlnpuyACXc3mfcaWzl3UzgyGBOPPAM9/w566-h666/plane_002.jpg" width="566" /></a></span></div><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Richmond Times-Dispatch</span></i><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">, August 10, 1943.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Hermitage Airport still retained some of
the color of the barnstorming days of flying – and the risks associated with
those earlier pilots and their canvas biplanes. On March 18, 1943, police
patrolling in the area of the airport noticed a plane wobbling down the runway
at 2:30 in the morning. It managed to take off and fought for altitude but came
down three blocks away, hitting a house on Wilmington Avenue. A drunken
aviation mechanic on leave from the Navy and another enthusiast with him
climbed out of the wreckage of the stolen Piper Cub and ran off, only to be
arrested later. On March 10, 1945, a Northside pharmacist named Rodney
Arrington and his wife were killed in an airplane that took off from Hermitage
Airport and crashed on a golf course less than an hour later. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">None of this was on the mind of Richard
F. Kiefer, a 31-year-old oil equipment company service manager just two weeks
later when he left work on the afternoon of March 24. Instead of returning to
his home at 7708 Hollins Road, he drove out to Hermitage Airport. Kiefer earned
his pilot’s license and had about a year’s experience flying. He was also a
corporal in the Virginia Civil Air Patrol, an Air Force auxiliary service that
had been created in World War II for patrolling and <span style="background: white; color: #222222;">reconnaissance</span>. Kiefer decided to rent a Piper J-3 Cub
for the afternoon.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDS7uSIZ8-ziBUkYowfpa1FjBUqyjvksYflprHSviMpiyiwjrcGgafO1IcUp44wAz4GQChBThTJ5OGa4ZWGtFxcIt0hZ_08-f3_rBrplVozg10dcqID1aSPLiHn1wUhFzc5N4cY5Ne_B0YyTRXeEzAMM5gkI-HPli2fYRoIATMdjVAq11grwk4646wvL2D/s443/plane_003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="443" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDS7uSIZ8-ziBUkYowfpa1FjBUqyjvksYflprHSviMpiyiwjrcGgafO1IcUp44wAz4GQChBThTJ5OGa4ZWGtFxcIt0hZ_08-f3_rBrplVozg10dcqID1aSPLiHn1wUhFzc5N4cY5Ne_B0YyTRXeEzAMM5gkI-HPli2fYRoIATMdjVAq11grwk4646wvL2D/w615-h332/plane_003.jpg" width="615" /></a></span></div><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">A vintage Piper J-3 Cub like the one
piloted by Robert Kiefer in 1945. Note the large cockpit door / window. <i>Barrie
Aircraft Museum</i> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">First sold in 1930, the Piper Cub was a
cheap, basic design whose popularity has been compared to Ford’s Model T
automobile, and thousands of flyers during the war had trained on the famously
slow two-seat airplane. The Army used the Piper Cub extensively during World
War II,<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"> and at the peak of its production
during the war one of these simple and versatile aircraft was being built by
the factory every twenty minutes. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Even
though the war in Europe was winding down in March 1945 there was still a
market for civilian sales, and of the twelve Piper Cub dealerships in Virginia
at the time, one was Currie Sales and Service, based at Hermitage Airport. It
offered to finance the $1600 airplane for only $665 down and included free
flying lessons. </span><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">A bright yellow paint job was standard
for civilian Piper Cubs, so it would not have been hard to spot Kiefer’s
airplane as it rose above the trees of North Side and turned southwest toward
the James River. Kiefer promised the staff at Hermitage Airport he would return
the plane by dark and the airport log showed he lifted off the runway at 1:48
PM.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-J2RZ58nz2tT3As5-7C34eVaBlXkiwX-MLfzoagBWYU0VkMyS2fotiaDVzpPlQiVVrbaLgbEgtb3NiBl2YKJzIcfbqd8iQoKehtadnBdboxnuWFs_q2vu7qtcCOcdSlMm4pCuROSI9T513sQ285sPgN_SL2BE7RR45KPORKyOY1Cr_eNAq7zyMjybhcLs/s481/plane_004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="361" data-original-width="481" height="429" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-J2RZ58nz2tT3As5-7C34eVaBlXkiwX-MLfzoagBWYU0VkMyS2fotiaDVzpPlQiVVrbaLgbEgtb3NiBl2YKJzIcfbqd8iQoKehtadnBdboxnuWFs_q2vu7qtcCOcdSlMm4pCuROSI9T513sQ285sPgN_SL2BE7RR45KPORKyOY1Cr_eNAq7zyMjybhcLs/w571-h429/plane_004.jpg" width="571" /></a></span></div><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-no-proof: yes;"><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Anne Kiefer was standing in the back yard
of her home on the left when she heard her husband’s voice above her, screaming
over the sound of a low-flying airplane.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Kiefer’s wife, Anne, was in the back yard
of their home just south of Patterson Avenue and must have been startled by the
loud drone of an airplane above Hollins Road. Looking up, she saw a bright
yellow airplane whose open window framed her husband at the controls. The Piper
Cub had a generous door and window opening which allowed access to the rearmost
seat and also made it easy for the pilot to communicate with someone outside
the plane – although not usually at this range. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Low over the trees, Kiefer circled his
house. “Neighbors and children who were playing in the street reported Mr.
Kiefer, who was alone in the plane, had been calling down to his wife, Anne,
while the plane was circling,” reported the <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i> the
next day. Kiefer screamed down to his wife over the sound of the engine that “he
would be home within an hour,” and while technically true, his arrival back on
Hollins Road was going to occur a lot sooner than Robert Kiefer imagined. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAZeS681FiG9qM5-512Y7YvL5i-3hc_HRvUG4HkRgg6PZXjvUxGq4ppyGtnJ_7TkvBjyDutsZ-Gw08SvRPkiOvfv7cjE49_-hfWdFXDkb7NLOPceZhHx4afZ6UoLzyldq2JjjvR8mMImFBawDucVULNod9qJpO47MIRD6ocO6MZVgjGT_FCVm34SzPKXWg/s517/plane_005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="517" height="397" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAZeS681FiG9qM5-512Y7YvL5i-3hc_HRvUG4HkRgg6PZXjvUxGq4ppyGtnJ_7TkvBjyDutsZ-Gw08SvRPkiOvfv7cjE49_-hfWdFXDkb7NLOPceZhHx4afZ6UoLzyldq2JjjvR8mMImFBawDucVULNod9qJpO47MIRD6ocO6MZVgjGT_FCVm34SzPKXWg/w508-h397/plane_005.jpg" width="508" /></a></span></div><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-no-proof: yes;"><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Richmond Times-Dispatch</span></i><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">, March 25, 1945.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Perhaps in an effort to get his wife to
understand what he was shouting, Kiefer made more low, banking turns above his
house. As he came around one more time, the wing of the plane dipped, the
engine stalled out, and the little yellow plane dropped from the sky. “Barely
missing a deep culvert, the plane hit the shoulder of the road and bounced 30
feet across to the other side where it crashed to a stop with its left side
against a large boulder on the edge of a wooded patch,” in the vacant lot next
to Kiefer’s house. Neighbors rushed to the scene and gingerly removed Kiefer
from the wreckage and an ambulance took him downtown to the Medical College of
Virginia. His condition was described as “fair” with a severe laceration across
his forehead and a laceration and fracture of his ankle.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyH9332K5vxc0JF7Mxs61FJRas-vEq9a2mMbcOcPJb-LWx6nPBBtLnqHWxbbfLAo34gJOSCULV5lDnCzy1Y_0CPrwvoeRlrtvhRJxU7vpUAGG9_arpB2AB6DN2D_VFgFpj3pIyc3Ep69RGQuRNWB-WJkLvNNbwqW-Drhw16fjd0u7AXSmTSMPkd0ZauWDC/s494/plane_006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="494" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyH9332K5vxc0JF7Mxs61FJRas-vEq9a2mMbcOcPJb-LWx6nPBBtLnqHWxbbfLAo34gJOSCULV5lDnCzy1Y_0CPrwvoeRlrtvhRJxU7vpUAGG9_arpB2AB6DN2D_VFgFpj3pIyc3Ep69RGQuRNWB-WJkLvNNbwqW-Drhw16fjd0u7AXSmTSMPkd0ZauWDC/w559-h420/plane_006.jpg" width="559" /></a></span></div><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-no-proof: yes;"><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span><p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The location on Hollins Road where
Richard Kiefer’s Piper Cub crashed in 1945.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">A spokesman for Hermitage Airport
confirmed that the facility owned the plane Kiefer wrecked and that it was a
total loss, with the propellor, landing gear, and engine all smashed and the
right wing torn from the fuselage. Mrs. Kiefer’s reaction to the flying misstep
that destroyed an airplane in front of their house and almost killed her
husband, reducing him to a bloody mess in the middle of Hollins Road was not
recorded in the newspaper. Nor were there any further mentions of Kiefer’s
participation in the Civil Air Patrol. Kiefer recovered from his injuries and
his family soon moved to Stratford Hills on the other side of the river, where
perhaps the heavily scarred amateur pilot and his flying adventures were not
quite as famous.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioOr3DBmYaZvbkQCxWE_KSk9orgnRGI8MgA5vgavEgYDT9RH2amoN7H_MRZwamuEjpgdYxovk9zNklELKnVcuzaH4xz-nx4Yn1zFQmJWQI9iWiLlG_4oLFkc8p7YxjTvyLlW8QY2X3qe5Al5TSc3r04hZ2c5grd2AuDfPrGQQjpeMuwsbtxySUgsanF8jp/s522/plane_007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="391" data-original-width="522" height="434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioOr3DBmYaZvbkQCxWE_KSk9orgnRGI8MgA5vgavEgYDT9RH2amoN7H_MRZwamuEjpgdYxovk9zNklELKnVcuzaH4xz-nx4Yn1zFQmJWQI9iWiLlG_4oLFkc8p7YxjTvyLlW8QY2X3qe5Al5TSc3r04hZ2c5grd2AuDfPrGQQjpeMuwsbtxySUgsanF8jp/w578-h434/plane_007.jpg" width="578" /></a></span></div><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-no-proof: yes;"><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span><p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Today the Rosedale neighborhood occupies
the land where Hermitage Airport once stood, and virtually no trace of the
airfield still exists.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Hermitage Airport did not last long after
World War II. A Richmond newspaper reported in early 1948 that “The end of
Hermitage Airport, one of the state’s oldest havens for aircraft, was in sight
yesterday, with the announcement by the Lewis Ginter Land and Improvement
Company, owners, that the lease had been cancelled.” The runways were plowed
up, the hangers demolished, and this once extensive and important element of
aviation in Richmond was covered by the Rosedale subdivision. Another large
part of the property was eventually consumed by the interchange where Interstates
95 and 64 meet. Like so many of the small Richmond airfields, nothing of the facility
that Robert Kiefer took off from that March afternoon in 1945 exists today.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Today, Hollins Road is very much like any
other Henrico County street lined with 1940s houses, its only distinguishing
characteristic being the large ditch down the median that Kiefer’s plane missed
before coming to a mangled rest. Dog walkers and kids, an occasional car or UPS
truck are the only interruptions to this suburban scene. It is probably not
unlike the quiet afternoon almost 80 years ago when utter chaos suddenly broke
out on Hollins, starting with someone in the sky shouting over the drone of an
engine followed by the rending, frightening crash of a little bright yellow
airplane in the middle of the road.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">-Selden</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>Shockoe Examiner Staff - see bottom of blog entry for the specific author.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02822340615768561691noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495295138304264877.post-69952310278911999182023-10-23T11:12:00.001-04:002023-10-23T11:12:36.730-04:001954: The Murder of Mabel Hord<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">It was a night marked by stupidity, bad choices, infidelity,
cheap thrills, spilled liquor, sadism, brutality, and betrayal. It was infused
with the smell of flat beer, cigarette smoke, cheap perfume, the icy damp wind
of a cold and cheerless night, and in the end, the reek of mud and dread. It
was the sad, sorry death of Mabel Hord, a wife and a 45-year-old employee of a
Richmond shoe company, and it all ended in the dark below Byrd Park on Pump
House Drive.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The home where Mabel and her husband, a cabbie named Roland,
lived with his father at 3405 Grayland Avenue no longer exists as it was one of
an entire block of homes on the south side of Grayland that was demolished in
1976 with the construction of the Downtown Expressway. On the evening of April
3, 1954, Roland came home to his wife and his little brick bungalow on Grayland
for a quick supper about 7 P.M. before climbing back in his taxi to find fares
among Richmonders who were out and about that Saturday night. When he finally
parked the cab in front of the house at dawn the next morning and went inside, Mabel
wasn’t there and Hord’s father said he hadn’t seen her. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Walter and Mary Snowa were mutual friends of both Mabel Hord
and Joseph F. Powell, Jr., a burly house painter. Powell later said he
accompanied the Snowas to the Hord’s house on Saturday afternoon and that he
had never met Mabel before, despite Mabel and Roland living on Grayland Avenue only
a block from where Powell lived with his wife of less than a year. After Roland
had his quick supper that evening and drove off, Mabel and Powell walked back
to the Snowa’s house on Idlewood Avenue, stayed fifteen minutes, then stood up
and announced they were going to supper at a Broad Street restaurant. That was
the last time the Snowas saw Mabel alive. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqvHze3XAZPVQfPK6LFlVzWo4v47HyUAWlJap4c4a9S_14-jtRTiaxF0TEE-AKeQEW06jStwqsuM48AOj8usN0DSbOz1hd57eY7BctpF_YixgGlcAeGMmGEtw6m48upmMeQ_4y1z97stLNabiiv2xkund6a5oPKSzpEl1b4pybs2rrSndsmB1KeRWtznqi/s624/mabel_001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="317" data-original-width="624" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqvHze3XAZPVQfPK6LFlVzWo4v47HyUAWlJap4c4a9S_14-jtRTiaxF0TEE-AKeQEW06jStwqsuM48AOj8usN0DSbOz1hd57eY7BctpF_YixgGlcAeGMmGEtw6m48upmMeQ_4y1z97stLNabiiv2xkund6a5oPKSzpEl1b4pybs2rrSndsmB1KeRWtznqi/w555-h283/mabel_001.jpg" width="555" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">William Bennett was crossing the footbridge in the
background when he spotted a body on the canal bank on the left.<o:p></o:p></span>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">William Bennett was a City employee who worked at the pump
house at Byrd Park that supplied water to the municipal water works. For
Bennett, the canal that runs beside the pump house was just another
unremarkable part of his work environment. His route to his job that Sunday
morning was a little different in that the canal had been drained overnight for
repairs and instead of the usual full banks, there was only a foot of muddy water
in the bottom. Bennett stopped in mid-stride on the footbridge. Three hundred
feet away was a woman, face-down on the north bank of the canal. Even though
she was smeared with mud, Bennett could see her pale skin and white bra and
panties almost luminescent against the black bank of the canal. Her arms were
above her and her hands buried in the muck, as though her last act was to try
and save herself from the cold water that had, as it drained away, exposed her
body. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5h3flI5EIjv8M-Uit3TyrrLjs6S1Od7AFGPqWQCL990V3rkb85epSsYF38Qvgxd99idzu7fXwkAQSw4vq_RtFYJU0heAZuMtGztqUwA6rk4v4vU58Qmh_DD-sN7ntv-PTaGd3mDfuk0gTGl3OlrwccDlodbYmmKUqXkRjj1XkNuy5hXJsjvRHluTxNIcj/s624/mabel_002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="624" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5h3flI5EIjv8M-Uit3TyrrLjs6S1Od7AFGPqWQCL990V3rkb85epSsYF38Qvgxd99idzu7fXwkAQSw4vq_RtFYJU0heAZuMtGztqUwA6rk4v4vU58Qmh_DD-sN7ntv-PTaGd3mDfuk0gTGl3OlrwccDlodbYmmKUqXkRjj1XkNuy5hXJsjvRHluTxNIcj/w585-h309/mabel_002.jpg" width="585" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, April 5, 1954.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi40aftk6Qi4QQxGakV_zsTMV1XhRqxX_kuhWOBWXbmCz8QwrRftLfqW2dnb8-lkNEMiXEVumjtSdgtoRbwDWdOO1DxYiOwPSpv9vQH-eSHg_Vf2DP5bJwMFq3ZsSa8Gi0_WzV9KvvMGKaMu1t1hW72gpyZ2hwQLHrePpmwjHL6TZsQ6C21___C4IWgf70J/s624/mabel_003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="252" data-original-width="624" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi40aftk6Qi4QQxGakV_zsTMV1XhRqxX_kuhWOBWXbmCz8QwrRftLfqW2dnb8-lkNEMiXEVumjtSdgtoRbwDWdOO1DxYiOwPSpv9vQH-eSHg_Vf2DP5bJwMFq3ZsSa8Gi0_WzV9KvvMGKaMu1t1hW72gpyZ2hwQLHrePpmwjHL6TZsQ6C21___C4IWgf70J/w619-h250/mabel_003.jpg" width="619" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The same scene today, with the canal full.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">It isn’t known why Roland Hord did not report his wife
missing when he found she didn’t come home.
It was Sunday night after he picked up a fare who mentioned a dead woman
had been found in the canal that Hord panicked and drove to first to police
headquarters, and then to the morgue where he identified the body of his wife. Mabel
had been beaten, stripped, shot, and then drowned in the dark water of the
pump house canal. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Two days after she died, an autopsy was performed on Mabel’s
body and the evidence described her brutal and violent end. The official cause
of death was drowning, but Mabel had been beat up before she died and had
considerable bruising on her face. In addition, she had one gunshot wound that
went in her right shoulder and exited her back, making it apparent she had been
shot from above, as though from the top of the canal bank as she tried to get
out. Under the entry, “How Did the Injury Occur,” the Medical Examiner typed
the blunt explanation: “Thrown in canal and shot.” Among the other evidence
found scattered on the canal bank were Mabel’s clothes: a jacket, a blouse, and
her ripped skirt. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlRuWo6ZBZWNFQvrHhbWS1-Onm9lPtE16EQThSLDr-oN6of18VlYt-QAAx4JfCjRkq3o9hYOlZO5Lqm7IPtzjlBHBcxHascXIfgHxuQ8Y_psPcDRBR4uvbr6kBqxzVoGlUsd47dCNhu-VOXvJKXz1dezKm3TWU-yMVJm_yNhWtlHOSUOX6_uhTk1cfO2PP/s537/mabel_004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="402" data-original-width="537" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlRuWo6ZBZWNFQvrHhbWS1-Onm9lPtE16EQThSLDr-oN6of18VlYt-QAAx4JfCjRkq3o9hYOlZO5Lqm7IPtzjlBHBcxHascXIfgHxuQ8Y_psPcDRBR4uvbr6kBqxzVoGlUsd47dCNhu-VOXvJKXz1dezKm3TWU-yMVJm_yNhWtlHOSUOX6_uhTk1cfO2PP/w512-h384/mabel_004.jpg" width="512" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Mabel Hord’s killer stood at about this spot and shot at her
as she floundered on the muddy bank below.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Leaving aside the whole question of why Mabel was with
Joseph Powell that night, it isn’t hard to imagine what happened in the brutal
scene by the canal. Police noted there were signs of a struggle at the top of
the canal bank. The drunken Powell, perhaps enraged by Mabel resisting him, punched
her and then ripped her clothes off and threw them into the canal. No doubt
crying and pleading, she was knocked down the bank into the water and struggled
to get up the muddy canal wall. To her horror, Powell reappeared at the top of
the bank with a rifle and took pot shots at her in the dark until he heard her
cry out. As Powell reeled back up the path to his car, he may have heard Mabel’s
screams fading in the distance as she clawed wildly at the cold mud around her. Mabel Hord shivered and died a miserable death
in the dark, drowning in the freezing water of the canal before she could bleed
to death from the gunshot wound.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">It didn’t take the Richmond police long to develop a suspect
in the brutal murder of Mabel Hord. They
acted on a tip, probably phoned in by the horrified Snowas who realized they
were very much part of any accounting of Mabel Hord’s last hours. Major J.M.
Wright, head of the Richmond Police Detective Section, said they were looking
for “one man in particular” in the case and were questioning others as to Mabel’s
activities that Saturday. The man they sought was, of course, was Joseph Powell,
Jr. If Roland Hord had walked out to the Grayland Avenue sidewalk in front of
his home on Tuesday night, he could have looked down the block and seen the
lights of the police cars in front of Powell’s house and the man who so
brutally killed his wife being taken away. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTEGId8bqQYZwEek1CQ4pU74zdn2OjG4dM1naYtl9k1rdgPPQLN2xgZ90Ad-8s4tKnCApr4GNFQedWCelfH6-RXUxw4HeyLxB1412M1HVXkiU92v0G0EQp81ZbeDeDephNsp4RAuDXAk-KEwFNszaC9-Edzi8RM6_4Z7b2CtAhNllSo9xUA5gVb8dvVTjO/s366/mabel_005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="366" data-original-width="211" height="546" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTEGId8bqQYZwEek1CQ4pU74zdn2OjG4dM1naYtl9k1rdgPPQLN2xgZ90Ad-8s4tKnCApr4GNFQedWCelfH6-RXUxw4HeyLxB1412M1HVXkiU92v0G0EQp81ZbeDeDephNsp4RAuDXAk-KEwFNszaC9-Edzi8RM6_4Z7b2CtAhNllSo9xUA5gVb8dvVTjO/w314-h546/mabel_005.jpg" width="314" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, April 7, 1954.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Powell was hustled off to a police substation in the
basement of The Mosque (today’s Altria Theater) and closely questioned by
detectives. He initially denied knowing anything about Mabel Hord, but then told
them a disjointed, whisky-fueled story. Powell said that his memory was hazy
because of how drunk he was, but he remembered he and Mabel had driven down to
Pump House Drive and walked down to the edge of the canal, where she said she
wanted to go swimming and took off most of her clothes. This was greeted with
understandable skepticism by the police as a cold front had swept the area that
night and the Byrd Field weather station had recorded a “nippy 28.2 degrees,
low enough to mark yesterday as the coldest April 4 ever recorded in Richmond.”
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2sJ9TnFS6_2eB7SHacusvpB5dhSuJtTMdK-OCYMdS3GPQo7qzXVte39o5wipN7W8dHqFg3Ri7KU-efEwfxJiAgbKWG9S2jU0ww3zyNiYmtD8Y0r-Ws3N8JaGQBq3wLHuZ8W02K5b1k95VusRGE3ODefo3bkgMJe3Uy8yPRmd5SrAZ4Zkvkc9y9kFTCL-b/s445/mabel_006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="306" height="488" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2sJ9TnFS6_2eB7SHacusvpB5dhSuJtTMdK-OCYMdS3GPQo7qzXVte39o5wipN7W8dHqFg3Ri7KU-efEwfxJiAgbKWG9S2jU0ww3zyNiYmtD8Y0r-Ws3N8JaGQBq3wLHuZ8W02K5b1k95VusRGE3ODefo3bkgMJe3Uy8yPRmd5SrAZ4Zkvkc9y9kFTCL-b/w336-h488/mabel_006.jpg" width="336" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i> Richmond News Leader</i>, April 7, 1954<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Powell said the details were hazy from drinking so much, but
he remembered returning to his car, having a few more drinks, and producing a
single-shot .22 rifle which he took back to the canal and shot at Mabel a few
times. He left her there in the cold and dark, got back in his car, and drove
to a wooded area near City Stadium and threw the rifle out. He then went to a
store on Cary Street and bought some cigarettes to “cool his nerves,” went home,
and went to bed. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The hulking, 6’3”, 200-lb. house painter was returned to
jail after a preliminary hearing on Wednesday, April 7, unable to meet the
$10,000 bond set by Police Court Judge Harold Maurice. On May 26, he pleaded
guilty to murder, and on July 14 was sentenced by the Richmond Hustings Court
to 40 years in prison for the death of Mabel Hord. Powell made no statement at
his sentencing and no further explanation of what happened that cold, dreadful
night at the canal was forthcoming.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">It seems Powell served no more than fifteen years of the
sentence that should have kept him in prison until 1994. Unfortunately, he was back
in the Fan District when he and a man named Richard Trent got into a fight with
Howard Lee Parrish in Parrish’s apartment at 3310-A Ellwood Avenue on the night
of August 1, 1970. Parrish’s wife was asleep when she heard her husband cry for
help and rushing into the dining room, found Trent holding her husband down
with his foot and Powell beating Parrish with a stick. She saw at a glance Parrish
was “beaten to a pulp,” when Powell grabbed her and told her to sit down and
shut up before the two assailants left. Parrish was dead on arrival at a local hospital,
having suffocated from injuries to his face. Police later found Powell and
Trent sitting in front of Powell’s apartment in the same block of Ellwood
Avenue and beside them was a bag containing two heavy sticks. The pair were immediately arrested for the
murder of Howard Lee Parrish.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFOdOhcSFlRZuAeNP_s0Gsjp1IBiaLckezdtVXrAZ3usXWiUItTDd0ojFj8VejK8DysC92yUnqlHQLz_8qgD8c64TVdkMm1hNg6FF4aYwLM8-_GBpZ6brnVaEFFsQtsagDXG0ulcrMDQhQliGf6cJ-M1qjObRuJq9_qMS-CFfgGzFZleb6RvJusA4ESb7P/s258/mabel_007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="258" data-original-width="170" height="429" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFOdOhcSFlRZuAeNP_s0Gsjp1IBiaLckezdtVXrAZ3usXWiUItTDd0ojFj8VejK8DysC92yUnqlHQLz_8qgD8c64TVdkMm1hNg6FF4aYwLM8-_GBpZ6brnVaEFFsQtsagDXG0ulcrMDQhQliGf6cJ-M1qjObRuJq9_qMS-CFfgGzFZleb6RvJusA4ESb7P/w283-h429/mabel_007.jpg" width="283" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, September 20, 1970<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">It will take more research in the Hustings Court records to
determine under what circumstances the charges against Powell and Trent were finally
dismissed. The only witness to the
crime, Ruth Parrish, may have been threatened as to her identification of the
two men she saw beating her husband and the memory of his bloody, bashed-in
face may have been enough for her to change her story. Joseph Powell testified
that a fight started when Parrish hit Trent and a “scuffle” ensued, and the
52-year-old Parrish simply died as the result. For whatever reason, Powell was again
a free man on the streets of Richmond and one with a seriously bad reputation. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Roland Hord placed a handsome tombstone over his wife’s
grave in 1954 and the epitaph, “IN GOD WE TRUST,” seems to reflect a belief
that even the most inexplicable events like the brutal death of Mable Hord have
an explanation, if not in this world, then surely, they must in the next. Roland
never remarried, died in 1961, and is buried beside Mabel under a GI-issue
stone that reflects his service in World War II. Mabel Hord had been in her
grave in Oakwood Cemetery for forty-four years when Joseph Powell, Jr. finally
died in 1998 at the age of 84.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrRwEesGegKKrVZcrKLsZjhzIxzLek5WnC8ypF6rclfrTFqgVG711w3gfDXOwIlDScFDbswjAGJw0n9-m69A3eMf6kesmB5Ze9WWExcbgKPWoNiflQm_siaoEZi_xUMq_wzzjWN7Pch1BtWEelffO5IR9pZq68IOkrWUPkKYqYBc2ipZoOOGSDMpcPW5Tz/s306/mabel_008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="237" data-original-width="306" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrRwEesGegKKrVZcrKLsZjhzIxzLek5WnC8ypF6rclfrTFqgVG711w3gfDXOwIlDScFDbswjAGJw0n9-m69A3eMf6kesmB5Ze9WWExcbgKPWoNiflQm_siaoEZi_xUMq_wzzjWN7Pch1BtWEelffO5IR9pZq68IOkrWUPkKYqYBc2ipZoOOGSDMpcPW5Tz/w410-h318/mabel_008.jpg" width="410" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Mabel Hord’s gravestone in Oakwood Cemetery (<i>from
Findagrave.com</i>)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">In fact, almost everyone in the story of the murder of Mabel
Hord found their way to Oakwood Cemetery in the end. Richard Trent, who held Howard
Parrish down with his foot while Joseph Powell beat him to death with a stick,
is buried there. Their victim, Parrish, after drowning in his own blood on his
dining room floor, was also buried in Oakwood. So were Walter and Mary Snowa,
who looked at each other and realized with growing horror the murderer and his
victim had been in their house only hours before Mabel Hord was killed. Joseph
Powell, Jr. is buried, along with his victims, his contemporaries, and his
co-defendants in Oakwood Cemetery under a perfectly innocuous-looking
gravestone that marks the remains of a brutal killer. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh71yGo6FLyzd3xzjzX8-qLaYX1mkltRR-qzD4o8ruVbiekHCmhuETD5WsrZDNvZUahtIbBHm-BQYqP7tgmomfC9aogJnG0EtxiICv57_Hj5_B8q85gDscSU2iARtycaV1WlMxJ8usW2dEVOFIsGsdDGwh-JwyLaHhFV_XUbILLjhYOfjWRlcgoe-yumFcf/s336/mabel_009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="201" data-original-width="336" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh71yGo6FLyzd3xzjzX8-qLaYX1mkltRR-qzD4o8ruVbiekHCmhuETD5WsrZDNvZUahtIbBHm-BQYqP7tgmomfC9aogJnG0EtxiICv57_Hj5_B8q85gDscSU2iARtycaV1WlMxJ8usW2dEVOFIsGsdDGwh-JwyLaHhFV_XUbILLjhYOfjWRlcgoe-yumFcf/w432-h258/mabel_009.jpg" width="432" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The gravestone of Joseph F. Powell, Jr. (<i>from
Findagrave.com</i>)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">In the Bible, First Corinthians, 15:52 tells us when the
last trumpet sounds, the dead will rise up and live again. If that’s true, then
out in Oakwood Cemetery among the people whose lives were often harmed and sometimes
ended by Joseph Powell, Jr., there is going to be a lot of serious accounting
to do on that Judgement Day.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">-Selden </span></p>Shockoe Examiner Staff - see bottom of blog entry for the specific author.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02822340615768561691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495295138304264877.post-12707261073677817652023-09-26T11:21:00.005-04:002023-09-26T11:28:15.143-04:00A Tale of Four Cornerstones<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The removal of the Lee statue on Monument Avenue in September
2021 kept the subject of its cornerstone and what might be contained inside it
in the public’s eye. An archeologist at the Virginia Department of Historic
Resources opened the battered copper box, and its contents were dutifully compiled
and reported <a href="https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Contents-of-the-Richmond-Robert-E-Lee-Monument-Copper-Cornerstone-Box.pdf">here</a>.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The next box that turns up at DHR may be from the wreckage
of the City’s soon-to-be-demolished former Safety, Health, and Welfare building
at 500 North 10<sup>th</sup> Street, whose fate is tied to the planned expansion
of the VCU medical campus. When the cornerstone for that building was laid in
1962, a box was placed in it containing among other items, a City agency
report, photos of the 1961 demolition of John Marshall High School, a copy of
the “unsuccessful Richmond-Henrico County merger agreement,” various police and
fire badges, and a copy of the City Charter. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOa9XADB4Fj2zzx_tkXw7r_3tbY87MwmpAnF2KpVp9z8S5iJ0uxUpvCCOY549YZLy7AySkWrgNsR4oypafLv5MCQeoXssJznQGk0qOj4IRYPmkd-0EDpi9LA7dANlIoCb9YuCgJXkir3PeL9LIGG-xwt2QURdzqE4-D2gT-MUj17ZZSATz3L9jFcUgZfXz/s475/box_001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="296" data-original-width="475" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOa9XADB4Fj2zzx_tkXw7r_3tbY87MwmpAnF2KpVp9z8S5iJ0uxUpvCCOY549YZLy7AySkWrgNsR4oypafLv5MCQeoXssJznQGk0qOj4IRYPmkd-0EDpi9LA7dANlIoCb9YuCgJXkir3PeL9LIGG-xwt2QURdzqE4-D2gT-MUj17ZZSATz3L9jFcUgZfXz/w562-h350/box_001.jpg" width="562" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Richmond Safety, Health, and Welfare Building on 19</span><sup style="font-family: arial;">th</sup><span style="font-family: arial;">
Street.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The seat of city government, the City Hall, is the literal
and sentimental heart of the municipal government and special treatment is
often accorded the cornerstone of these important structures. That has been
true in Richmond, with the exception of the first City Hall, which stood on the
site of what we call Old City Hall today. Completed in 1818 and demolished in
1874, the City Hall designed by Robert Mills apparently had no ceremonial cornerstone.
City officials certainly expected to find one, to the point the Common Council
passed a resolution in July 1874 that if a cornerstone was found that they should be sure to preserve it. A few weeks later the <i>Richmond Dispatch</i> reported that the
cleaning and leveling of what for years would be known as the vacant “City Hall
Lot” had been completed, but glumly concluded regarding the missing cornerstone,
“It is doubtful it ever existed.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMLrRHZhnxZ-VmUlkhQv8qxEvUlr-bNIK0U0VwyMlXP45wZjckhO7502nG1X6qPz7Oqd2bPLQKR06nCXB2XcY4S1czZVnSzA6qgoNA0weIPsgTStfCawIadIXdzQL_KFIhXH2b0GTbZMcwSD7hRv7cJA2-z84sdJjHffGqb6Ak_bt28JOo2ZZkfL7W2O49/s528/box_002.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="180" data-original-width="528" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMLrRHZhnxZ-VmUlkhQv8qxEvUlr-bNIK0U0VwyMlXP45wZjckhO7502nG1X6qPz7Oqd2bPLQKR06nCXB2XcY4S1czZVnSzA6qgoNA0weIPsgTStfCawIadIXdzQL_KFIhXH2b0GTbZMcwSD7hRv7cJA2-z84sdJjHffGqb6Ak_bt28JOo2ZZkfL7W2O49/w476-h162/box_002.jpg" width="476" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="font-family: arial;">Richmond Dispatch</i><span style="font-family: arial;">, July 20, 1875, noting the
inexplicable absence of a cornerstone in the foundation of Richmond’s first
City Hall.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">In contrast, Richmond staged a gala celebration in April
1887, almost twelve years to the day after the city surrendered to Federal
troops at the end of the Civil War. The occasion was the 1887 laying of the
cornerstone of the exuberant Gothic granite confection that was to be the new
City Hall. “Not only was there laid in due form the cornerstone of a noble
edifice of granite and mortar, but the suggestion was present that the occasion
was the foundation of a new era of prosperity and happiness for Richmond,”
gushed the <i>Richmond Dispatch</i>. <i>The State</i> went even further,
describing the cornerstone placement and said of the new City Hall, “All our
hopes, our aspirations and dreams are indissolubly linked to her fate for weal
or woe.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT9XNT_dUMh_apuI6VqsnQOodBkDNhtNkJv1oBEW4Ica--bmHRykk3bfMdqCWo5AnjeFR7_8sf3bDbCY1qwF_uj7WOTrGZMsBFkLfDkKXZXA6i6GnPaSpF8FdUlVNly1P33Shdu6EPyIn6r1EFPXUhilRZukx4L_r3VMmsZqKrmegO3zYr03GEINouxD0I/s492/box_003.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="492" data-original-width="363" height="587" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT9XNT_dUMh_apuI6VqsnQOodBkDNhtNkJv1oBEW4Ica--bmHRykk3bfMdqCWo5AnjeFR7_8sf3bDbCY1qwF_uj7WOTrGZMsBFkLfDkKXZXA6i6GnPaSpF8FdUlVNly1P33Shdu6EPyIn6r1EFPXUhilRZukx4L_r3VMmsZqKrmegO3zYr03GEINouxD0I/w433-h587/box_003.jpg" width="433" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">An early picture postcard view of Richmond’s City Hall.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The cornerstone laid in 1887 had a variety of mementos, coins,
and documents from not only Richmond but around the world. Among the dozens of items
were a bullet from a battlefield in Spotsylvania, a large amount of Confederate
money, a Roman coin, a General Lee medallion, a plug of tobacco, a photo of
Jefferson Davis and his daughters, a Nova Scotia penny, a copy of a
proclamation of the Governor regarding the distribution of salt, and a piece of
stone “from Stone’s Castle in Ireland.” There were also railroad timetables in
the cornerstone, a German spelling book, and “a poem about the 1886 Charleston
earthquake by Edgar Lufsey, age 14.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhibUnT3R3vmI4bqeaiibmiZ_QEuCMcKKuTIDFDJAXmtjikMRB8GlUJqedrctHDAaNlGw_YIoT9fsLbef-VxFZFpibO-SRg4AHWMZLPgfPIKrjknWsZGwgkxW-rBFpL5IdfrjyijTXwYdHjFk96oc4cspM5pIQwkdH_WNfPXyEeEQvP01VlufPHV9WW1GOa/s344/box_004.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="344" data-original-width="241" height="485" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhibUnT3R3vmI4bqeaiibmiZ_QEuCMcKKuTIDFDJAXmtjikMRB8GlUJqedrctHDAaNlGw_YIoT9fsLbef-VxFZFpibO-SRg4AHWMZLPgfPIKrjknWsZGwgkxW-rBFpL5IdfrjyijTXwYdHjFk96oc4cspM5pIQwkdH_WNfPXyEeEQvP01VlufPHV9WW1GOa/w340-h485/box_004.jpg" width="340" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The </span><i style="font-family: arial;">Richmond Dispatch</i><span style="font-family: arial;">, April 6, 1887.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The parade to the site of the cornerstone ceremony was
emblematic of Reconstruction Richmond, with Confederate veterans followed by
the “Colored” battalion of troops, the Police Department, City Council, White
and Black civic societies marching separately, the Richmond Light Infantry
Blues, a contingent of Masons, and ranks of City employees. Thousands of
Richmonders flooded downtown to watch the event and everyone was reported as wearing
their finest “Sunday clothes.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The ceremony was overseen by the Masons, using their regalia
and as is Masonic custom, the cornerstone was placed at the northeast corner of
the building. Because of the obvious association, the Masons became an integral
part of the observances surrounding cornerstones, ensuring the proper blessings
are conveyed along with the practical matter of correct placement of the stone,
both the sentimental and fundamental foundation of the building. The Richmond <i>Dispatch
</i>confirmed the location: “In the northeast corner was the corner-stone: its
middle hollowed out and then filled with the copper-box, containing the coins,
newspapers, etc. etc.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Unlike many other buildings, the 1887 cornerstone was not physically
marked and for all the pomp and ceremony, celebration, and promise, its location
was utterly lost over the generations. In 1969, City Hall was cleaned for the
first time and the dirt and soot of 75 years was removed, once again revealing
the sparkling gray granite. “Although the cleaning job itself apparently was
successful, the project was disappointing in one respect. It failed to uncover
the location of the City Hall cornerstone,” wrote the <i>Times-Dispatch</i>,
“…It had been hoped that the cornerstone did indeed bear some identification
that had been covered by grime, and that the cleaning would disclose the
location. But it was a vain hope.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoaX_18VA7McplgGLM7_ATz5HohwHV3RpXIRNT24XAB-hgDgzWskpxZGNJedDmhEWlKCKQS8G4rJmS3XJZaLyunJTxF7VMYolDGW8hajvIq_OG1Jkc3CA5k1jwFHO-kPKjqiL-jWCAhwDFbXYS-R11FzQxCzqtdC8o7bUkT_SsMOzJcN_T-cyMiacgdvXU/s470/box_005.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="352" data-original-width="470" height="419" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoaX_18VA7McplgGLM7_ATz5HohwHV3RpXIRNT24XAB-hgDgzWskpxZGNJedDmhEWlKCKQS8G4rJmS3XJZaLyunJTxF7VMYolDGW8hajvIq_OG1Jkc3CA5k1jwFHO-kPKjqiL-jWCAhwDFbXYS-R11FzQxCzqtdC8o7bUkT_SsMOzJcN_T-cyMiacgdvXU/w558-h419/box_005.jpg" width="558" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The exact location of
the “lost” Richmond City Hall cornerstone is here, on the northeast corner of
the building, below the level of the sidewalk.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Actually, the exact location of the fabled Richmond City
Hall cornerstone was described by the <i>Richmond</i> <i>Dispatch</i> on April
5, 1887. The basement and foundations of the City Hall required a huge
excavation that consumed the entire city block. Referring to the northeast
corner of the hole, the <i>Dispatch</i> said, “In the east corner the masonry
is some five or six feet high, but it is not yet up to the street line,”
meaning modern sidewalk level. “Here, in a solid block of granite a space
9x9x14 inches has been hollowed out. In it will be deposited a tight-fitting
copper box, and in that box will be contained – for the benefit of a far remote
posterity – memorials of the age in which we live, newspapers, coins, books,
etc. etc….” The answer to the mystery of the lost cornerstone is that it may in
fact be visible in the Old City Hall basement, about at eye level in the Broad
Street corner, even if it is unmarked and looks just like all the other massive
blocks that hold up Old City Hall. Armed with this new information about the
location, the stone walls deserve a close inspection <i>inside</i> the building
to see if some clue was left indicating which is the block with the embedded
copper box.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">There is an item of particular interest in that box. Part of
the mystery about the 1818 City Hall is why it was in such wretched condition
when it was demolished. The City Engineer found parts of the dome unsupported
and on the point of collapse, yet Richmond’s venerable architectural historian Mary Wingfield
Scott noted: “the wreckers found it so solidly constructed that they had
difficulty in tearing it down.” This is due to modifications to the building
which ruined Mills’ engineering of City Hall. The <i>Shockoe Examiner</i>
<a href="https://theshockoeexaminer.blogspot.com/2021/03/q-what-happened-to-richmonds-1818-city.html">explored this paradox</a> in 2021.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">In the list of items deposited, there is a sketch of the “Plan of
old City Hall as it existed when pulled down in 1874,” which was drawn by
Assistant City Engineer S. Edward Bates. Examining that drawing could reveal
the modifications and confirm the theory that well-meaning if incompetent City
functionaries undermined the building’s supports. As a result of their changes,
they denied Richmond another magnificent domed building in addition to
Mill’s Monumental Church on the city’s grandest boulevard. The truth about the
first City Hall is tantalizingly out of reach deep in the granite foundation of
Old City Hall. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">There was very little pomp and ceremony when the cornerstone
for the new 1971 Richmond City Hall was unveiled on one of the last days of
that year. A small number of City officials joined Mayor Thomas Bliley, Jr., and
Councilman Aubrey Thompson on the southeast corner of the new building on the
afternoon of December 29. No brass bands played, no passing processions of
citizens or soldiers saluted the new facility, and no Masons appeared in their
ceremonial garb. A few Richmonders walking by on Broad Street paused to see
what was going on, and among them was 14-year-old Selden Richardson with his
camera, vaguely aware that something verging on important was happening in
front of City Hall. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0pB3sRhzX7A4KGnonGn4OAnBrKpimmuopJGnae9BKAKjQKDF6PrDpCjuG_-qckOBSklP5HIiba7ala6XSrVsgO0sLaEpZuBt_DbSBHFu5i9h4V0-4ITRE-6dxW2xmXe1fUJGgZH0D03w5ShhC8igk0USgpzcXWtOjEwnwfopSc4r6dmpVTy__r-xxa5lm/s497/box_006.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="352" data-original-width="497" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0pB3sRhzX7A4KGnonGn4OAnBrKpimmuopJGnae9BKAKjQKDF6PrDpCjuG_-qckOBSklP5HIiba7ala6XSrVsgO0sLaEpZuBt_DbSBHFu5i9h4V0-4ITRE-6dxW2xmXe1fUJGgZH0D03w5ShhC8igk0USgpzcXWtOjEwnwfopSc4r6dmpVTy__r-xxa5lm/w558-h395/box_006.jpg" width="558" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The placement of the cornerstone of the current Richmond
City Hall, December 29, 1971</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_7" o:spid="_x0000_i1028" style="height: 315pt; mso-wrap-style: square; visibility: visible; width: 379.5pt;" type="#_x0000_t75">
<v:imagedata o:title="" src="file:///C:\Users\SUSANM~1.KEL\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image007.jpg">
</v:imagedata></v:shape><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQYWG5NEmGHsY7BINhGQYWfqeQiSllRLaRaFX7keHChm0FrslUZgQZsQe5r41s0eHfg0HDSrjfbJlT81RYh2_TRbjnbwuPUPPCnz23cOhYbtJs2TiBYiD_IziP1obFVaPG1hLCoFmmb5mNfzYWsI51VgiVHYVuLI-JDg-jUH93jc8mgTML6cL5flc-Eon7/s506/box_007.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="506" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQYWG5NEmGHsY7BINhGQYWfqeQiSllRLaRaFX7keHChm0FrslUZgQZsQe5r41s0eHfg0HDSrjfbJlT81RYh2_TRbjnbwuPUPPCnz23cOhYbtJs2TiBYiD_IziP1obFVaPG1hLCoFmmb5mNfzYWsI51VgiVHYVuLI-JDg-jUH93jc8mgTML6cL5flc-Eon7/w572-h476/box_007.jpg" width="572" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The 1971 cornerstone of the City Hall as it appears today.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_9" o:spid="_x0000_i1027" style="height: 331pt; mso-wrap-style: square; visibility: visible; width: 468pt;" type="#_x0000_t75">
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</v:imagedata></v:shape><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihNqAGeM1zXjShkbpYkE18fRT6SJNidFiHzDlM_ci8B6qx1xRvnwZvynlE54JNmN8c_5_zDJBYq25JQ_KKQIvnGgjypyWMgdReco4koNRm3oEwFbzgO2JvaaiHGiQZDIHw91Wtk6yhbEOsFcVkvwuxDy6hJOkLYm0Ihwdk8QeceIBx35W3SF0BEEy7ELU5/s624/box_008.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="441" data-original-width="624" height="381" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihNqAGeM1zXjShkbpYkE18fRT6SJNidFiHzDlM_ci8B6qx1xRvnwZvynlE54JNmN8c_5_zDJBYq25JQ_KKQIvnGgjypyWMgdReco4koNRm3oEwFbzgO2JvaaiHGiQZDIHw91Wtk6yhbEOsFcVkvwuxDy6hJOkLYm0Ihwdk8QeceIBx35W3SF0BEEy7ELU5/w540-h381/box_008.jpg" width="540" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">1971<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_8" o:spid="_x0000_i1026" style="height: 351pt; mso-wrap-style: square; visibility: visible; width: 468pt;" type="#_x0000_t75">
<v:imagedata o:title="" src="file:///C:\Users\SUSANM~1.KEL\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image009.jpg">
</v:imagedata></v:shape><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpVqIxYkXYzW8VoQyruwco_BA_7LZ7OCc-EAwJL68JrJj4h5y7j2StVvVuuCOM_9Yi9wXVw6AsUUfDqXEwA7i58jAC54lJ9_P20H9W3Qyv_s5N-hQ0DPT7DcO9ovp_70uHIVzJjjQFfR_C1usGbnbm5BTeL1G6j15h5eArcwMcKeiJeSXAuC877zh3dJgv/s624/box_009.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="624" height="419" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpVqIxYkXYzW8VoQyruwco_BA_7LZ7OCc-EAwJL68JrJj4h5y7j2StVvVuuCOM_9Yi9wXVw6AsUUfDqXEwA7i58jAC54lJ9_P20H9W3Qyv_s5N-hQ0DPT7DcO9ovp_70uHIVzJjjQFfR_C1usGbnbm5BTeL1G6j15h5eArcwMcKeiJeSXAuC877zh3dJgv/w559-h419/box_009.jpg" width="559" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">2023</span></div></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Bliley and Thompson inserted a copper box into the wall with
a selection of innocuous mementos of the city: a Richmond telephone directory,
the Christmas issue of the <i>Richmond Afro-American</i> newspaper, a letter
from City Council to whoever opens the capsule, and other small items selected
by the staff of the Valentine Museum. The box was shoved behind the date stone
with little fanfare and the edges were sealed by City employees. Once again
recalling the loss of the 1887 cornerstone, the <i>Times-Dispatch</i> account
of the 1971 event ran photos for the benefit of generations of Richmonders yet
unborn under a succinct headline directing them to “The Southeast Corner” of
the new City Hall.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The tradition of preserving mementos for some future age evolved
from strictly cornerstones and expanded into time capsules in the 1970s. Improbably,
Richmond was home to a chemist who was identified by the <i>New York Times</i>
as “the time capsule industry’s leading technical consultant.” When
interviewed, James E. Kusterer admitted, “Well, there’s no industry, so I don’t
know how laudatory that is…” Kusterer’s previous claim to fame was at age 15, he
“almost blew up Benedictine High School” after mixing up a quart of
nitroglycerine in the science lab. After the building was evacuated, Kusterer’s
experiment was removed from the school by the Fort Lee bomb squad. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirxoj2T3oGAt0Y--PXBMFJfIJaxOQa8bSbS9ahIoZMeKIXzz0nNbPDZaYtig1ydMdnBJC-KoQqv-M_MFT28EwrC7I3ijFyoQkmM5U5-sLYRTtbr--7AKsHfJbcBKEDbgHmkYa1_ZVVkoQg3L-OIgNnGu8SVDGqpV3KYZaXVa_uAEEmSWK7mPl86bY7rnhF/s427/box_0010.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="427" height="514" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirxoj2T3oGAt0Y--PXBMFJfIJaxOQa8bSbS9ahIoZMeKIXzz0nNbPDZaYtig1ydMdnBJC-KoQqv-M_MFT28EwrC7I3ijFyoQkmM5U5-sLYRTtbr--7AKsHfJbcBKEDbgHmkYa1_ZVVkoQg3L-OIgNnGu8SVDGqpV3KYZaXVa_uAEEmSWK7mPl86bY7rnhF/w570-h514/box_0010.jpg" width="570" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The time capsule industry’s leading consultant, Richmond’s
own James E. Kusterer. <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch,</i> June 30, 1976.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Kusterer went on to patent a method of preserving items in
time capsules by first deacidifying and then stabilizing them in inert argon
gas. In cooperation with Reynolds Metals, Inc., Kusterer took advantage of the
mania for time capsules in the 1970s created by interest in the American
Bicentennial and prepared aluminum repositories that were installed all over
the country. An article in the <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i> about Kusterer
and his time capsules cited the frustrating loss of the Richmond City Hall
cornerstone as an example of the dangers inherent in using building blocks as
vessels of cultural preservation. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">For now, the City Hall cornerstone contents remain in the
perpetual dark for more than 130 years. One of those items that was placed in
the cornerstone in 1887 was submitted by Mr. E. B. Gatling, a clerk who lived
on North 20<sup>th</sup> Street. Dutifully listed among the other mementos in
the copper box is Gatling’s list of “Questions to be answered in the sweet
bye-and-bye.” Hopefully, one day when the 1887 City Hall finally reveals its
secrets and provides the answers to Mr. Gatling’s questions, the Richmond of
the future will be a city that truly meets the definition of that “sweet
bye-and-bye.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: arial;">-Selden</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>Shockoe Examiner Staff - see bottom of blog entry for the specific author.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02822340615768561691noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495295138304264877.post-24904887224430058702023-09-08T14:46:00.002-04:002023-09-11T09:53:18.109-04:00“I’ve got a church in my back yard!” The hidden history of Granite Chapel on Forest Hill Avenue<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Richmond’s long history, as recorded in its
built environment, does not always survive to tell its history and the story of
the people who created it. Churches, grand homes, office buildings, and entire
neighborhoods rise and fall. Sometimes their passage is momentous, and
sometimes buildings simply vanish due to fire or demolition and its fate unnoticed.
Rarer is the building that still exists but its history has been forgotten and
its original purpose blurred and then lost. Such is the case of the small Presbyterian
church that once stood beside Forest Hill Avenue, not far from the railroad
siding once known as Granite Station.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Both the church and the little depot existed
because of the industry in what was then northern Chesterfield County. There
are vast deposits of granite under the south side of the James River at Powhite
Creek, and beginning in 1868 quarries in this valley provided stone for large
projects in Richmond, Washington, and cities up and down the East Coast. The Southern
Railroad ran through the center of the mining area and the siding at Granite provided
shipment directly from the quarries. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9Vf2CRk2UW0GRTDDHNfJZkgO0424-BDQVj8YTXDWs6t9W-mWeNKwoogZpYAt4Adpl5bP6906UZBorQLgQtJP2NTamQZv_euXVOsTIMoLdDlFMkVPgv347IsKc_kWLfyklgoUluVACZQsEcIAvB15tSTI3bkUWN5Cxp9p2p6-ACB7kVoRa_qjOyVl2vyj8/s571/church_001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="391" data-original-width="571" height="417" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9Vf2CRk2UW0GRTDDHNfJZkgO0424-BDQVj8YTXDWs6t9W-mWeNKwoogZpYAt4Adpl5bP6906UZBorQLgQtJP2NTamQZv_euXVOsTIMoLdDlFMkVPgv347IsKc_kWLfyklgoUluVACZQsEcIAvB15tSTI3bkUWN5Cxp9p2p6-ACB7kVoRa_qjOyVl2vyj8/w610-h417/church_001.jpg" width="610" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A geologic survey from a 1911 geologic survey
of the Powhite Creek valley. Surrounding Granite Station, the gray areas are
granite deposits, and the crossed pick symbol shows the locations of quarries.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9hbaqpYfJyqaPOozokwlUKulXJ7bY9ofDEbmDIsW_7s9Qh4htajlA13Ns0hGNF0V6kWF3VFB7BtdqK4WDmLcKN1D86WzzZlzcZl95sXEb1j65XEV7BA6FDHJoDbQfbIKxXrQm6tzuQEjmFiNcxh5JiQhBVTqElaw_sEV01S76-8rlVzsU3Mu-tTIpyaJ7/s624/church_002.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="302" data-original-width="624" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9hbaqpYfJyqaPOozokwlUKulXJ7bY9ofDEbmDIsW_7s9Qh4htajlA13Ns0hGNF0V6kWF3VFB7BtdqK4WDmLcKN1D86WzzZlzcZl95sXEb1j65XEV7BA6FDHJoDbQfbIKxXrQm6tzuQEjmFiNcxh5JiQhBVTqElaw_sEV01S76-8rlVzsU3Mu-tTIpyaJ7/w626-h303/church_002.jpg" width="626" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A snapshot of the activity around Granite
Station in 1888. The depot itself stood where the Southern Railroad crossed
“River Road,” today’s Forest Hill Avenue. Note the number of quarries in the
area and the small houses on high ground east of the crossing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Today, the Powhite Creek valley is not much more
than the conduit for a highway that crosses the James in a river of fast-moving
cars and trucks, but in the early 1900s this was a very different landscape. The
valley would have been a rough-looking industrial zone of railroad tracks,
gaping water-filled pits, gravel piles, cranes, and noise. The principal
buildings such as the depot and a general store clustered around the railroad
tracks at the grade crossing against a backdrop of raw stone and blowing dust. The
valley was punctuated by the constant roar of grinding rock into gravel, the
whine of drilling and occasional shouts followed by the crack of dynamite. Uphill
and east of the works stood the small frame houses of quarrymen and their
families, arranged along the River Road (today’s Forest Hill Avenue). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlvsiYR_x85ba5PRC_k1SiKrsYGxDVGNpbiF9eQIkwEZc1ks5gHvNf_mKowWQinpf0mEXtd4aao9VtMWxSn-d6hzUWfdmQvTXRyELiiHSL1BIcbbIo_dqp4VoIT2ghJ-itHZkuuE1q4HGGuh_XuVJ49CCAp0yDv0bXw7pFC1k25LHDrMPznv2OJal-d86b/s532/church_003.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="334" data-original-width="532" height="363" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlvsiYR_x85ba5PRC_k1SiKrsYGxDVGNpbiF9eQIkwEZc1ks5gHvNf_mKowWQinpf0mEXtd4aao9VtMWxSn-d6hzUWfdmQvTXRyELiiHSL1BIcbbIo_dqp4VoIT2ghJ-itHZkuuE1q4HGGuh_XuVJ49CCAp0yDv0bXw7pFC1k25LHDrMPznv2OJal-d86b/w578-h363/church_003.jpg" width="578" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Today the area where the Southern Railway
crosses Forest Hill Avenue shows none of the industry that employed the
parishioners of Granite Chapel. On the right stood the Granite Station. Where
the Powhite Parkway now runs through the valley, now only the walls of a
water-filled quarry on the western edge of the highway hint at the amount of
activity that once took place here.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Granite slabs, gravel and cobblestones were
shipped from Granite Station constantly, but passenger service there was
discontinued and the station itself eventually burned down before World War I. Nevertheless,
the name Granite Station was still used as a reference point well into the
1950s when a derailment on the Southern was described in a Richmond newspaper as
being a mile and a half from the “old Granite Station.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The next station to the west on the Southern
Railroad was Bon Air, a town created by Richmond developers as a suburban
resort. Bon Air Presbyterian Church was founded in 1884 and under the energetic
and popular leadership of Rev. James K. Hazen began a program of outreach and
growth. The Presbyterian Church created “missions” in underserved parts of
Richmond and the surrounding counties, and chapels opened in places like Fulton
in 1908 and in Montrose Heights in 1912, each intended to eventually develop
into full-scale churches. Rev. Hazen himself was responsible not only for the
growth and popularity of Bon Air Presbyterian but also the construction of a
chapel on Warwick Road and another to serve the workers of the Granite Station
area. Research has failed to reveal the location and appearance of the Warwick
Chapel where Rev. Hazen officiated at the dedication of the building in the
summer of 1900. It was probably very similar to Granite Chapel. If the building
on Warwick was sited like the original site of Granite Chapel, it was fronting
directly on the road and the widening of Warwick to four lanes in recent years
may have destroyed the site.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Construction of Granite Chapel was well
underway when the weekly Presbyterian newspaper reported in June 1900, “Granite:
A commission from the East Hanover Presbytery visited this place, which is
about a mile and a half from the corporate limits of Richmond on May 8 and
organized a church.” The <i>Richmond Dispatch</i> reported only a few weeks
later that the new little church beside the River Road was almost completed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The new chapel was 25 x 35 feet, built with
arched windows, a small steeple, and one chimney served by a woodstove. The
interior was finished with plastered walls above wainscoting, and ghost marks
on the eastern wall indicate the position of a pulpit, raised a couple of steps
above the floor level. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQNfHoa9JXjr05fwBVwzcUbYQd4sN5R2cYGKJDa6lyGRU7PCNuMBBlX6X24ylG6KR4OQ4OB-tbdiyyoCx3vbtYYdrkOP4CRAwe1_ofL92iUhmt363HCxSLdi9wPnuSY0B9yK7MQtNpeXqtwM5LZl5HkeunOIpfT8xwWJnoTHhGFU3ehqAHBROuYqkxdV37/s528/church_004.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="396" data-original-width="528" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQNfHoa9JXjr05fwBVwzcUbYQd4sN5R2cYGKJDa6lyGRU7PCNuMBBlX6X24ylG6KR4OQ4OB-tbdiyyoCx3vbtYYdrkOP4CRAwe1_ofL92iUhmt363HCxSLdi9wPnuSY0B9yK7MQtNpeXqtwM5LZl5HkeunOIpfT8xwWJnoTHhGFU3ehqAHBROuYqkxdV37/w569-h427/church_004.jpg" width="569" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A conjectural sketch of how the Granite Chapel
may have appeared when it was constructed in 1900.</span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Rev. Hazen, who died in 1902, did not live to
see the church at Granite Station thrive and become a center of the surrounding
community. The little building was the scene of numerous weddings and
celebrations, and probably a quite few funerals although there is no evidence
of a cemetery associated with the chapel. Marcus Lynch came all the way from
Newport News to marry Richmonder Lillie Carbaugh at Granite Chapel in 1903, and
the <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i> approvingly reported the bride was clad in
white chiffon trimmed in lace when she emerged from the church doors. These
little missionary chapels were also used for training students from Richmond’s
Presbyterian Seminary, and Granite had its share of earnest young guests delivering
the sermon. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The purpose of Granite Chapel expanded as it
was used by local groups and individuals who formed a civic association. The
Granite Civic Association met at the church in 1921 for an extensive “health
drive,” with a presentation by a representative of the State Health Department.
That same year the Civic Association also petitioned for improvement to Forest
Hill Avenue, especially on the road to Bon Air. In the stretch between roughly
today’s Stratford Hills Shopping Center and Thompson School, they counted 170
water-filled potholes. This survey of conditions underscores the difficulty of
travel on some county roads and underlines the need for small facilities or
chapels to fill the geographic gaps between large, established churches. It
also demonstrates the degree of interest and the engagement of the community.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">That location of the chapel between the
Presbyterian churches in Bon Air and near Forest Hill Park was important. The
little church that filled that gap largely catered to the quarrymen and
workmen’s families within walking distance or a short wagon ride. Because of
the concentration of quarry workers among the congregants, Granite Chapel may
have been regarded as “blue collar” in comparison with the established churches
down the road. Far more important than social standing among the congregation, the
neighborhood church was local and familiar and must have been the spiritual
home for many of the families who lived around Granite Station. For the dusty
quarrymen walking home, seeing lights on in the chapel at quitting time must
have signaled that a welcome diversion from their grueling occupation might be
taking place that evening.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5kEClm2pv_jaznqq5SJRffhTZuWj9TD4iPF4Mcu4XYu7KMhLvNYwYMDTeCMl0c4VYFjW4hvmg6zTL7orYiZSVGZiN1vc7EzWHVUYC7ExtHMYTyPGb9pBkFNsWU20u0YN930VOnoBt8_vu_h1KzuT8Y5cmLEfUsJtSDZuyTUxZ2ueuR5KWD9jqP9eF4gXh/s586/church_005.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="586" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5kEClm2pv_jaznqq5SJRffhTZuWj9TD4iPF4Mcu4XYu7KMhLvNYwYMDTeCMl0c4VYFjW4hvmg6zTL7orYiZSVGZiN1vc7EzWHVUYC7ExtHMYTyPGb9pBkFNsWU20u0YN930VOnoBt8_vu_h1KzuT8Y5cmLEfUsJtSDZuyTUxZ2ueuR5KWD9jqP9eF4gXh/w575-h358/church_005.jpg" width="575" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The Granite Chapel as it appears today. The
chimney has been removed above the roof as has the small steeple. The
once-arched windows have been replaced by conventional windows, the interior
plaster and plank ceiling stripped and a garage door has been added in the wall
beside the original entry.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">One of the interesting details of the interior
of the chapel is a pedestal chimney. This was an inexpensive way of creating a
masonry chimney that stands not on the ground but on a cantilevered platform
built on a wall. A tin stove pipe from a woodstove met the brickwork flue,
hopefully eliminating the risk of fire. It should be noted this design,
although less expensive than an entire brick chimney and footings, is understandably
subject to deterioration of the wood support from the weight of the masonry
above it, and chimneys like this are wildly out of code today and never used.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiht2-2_EEDJak_Inevo07_6V3jib2o95JvRQMIB0Fm1BMrCf5sLYasPxGA1TslB7Iw8R_sUU_Wdo6u_0BX01g09MiHsTROiT3tMwkB7uh5opbiiaQWO4KgkfwsK98fay-dM_1iZ2sgU1kboeQXZdUfyKlpSp7jTNSPIZHP4uCfIep47U3_sCWNoal4_oVt/s361/church_006.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="361" data-original-width="270" height="681" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiht2-2_EEDJak_Inevo07_6V3jib2o95JvRQMIB0Fm1BMrCf5sLYasPxGA1TslB7Iw8R_sUU_Wdo6u_0BX01g09MiHsTROiT3tMwkB7uh5opbiiaQWO4KgkfwsK98fay-dM_1iZ2sgU1kboeQXZdUfyKlpSp7jTNSPIZHP4uCfIep47U3_sCWNoal4_oVt/w509-h681/church_006.jpg" width="509" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The “pedestal chimney” in the Granite Chapel
building. A tall wood stove pipe ran up to the circular opening, eliminating
the need for what would ordinarily be a masonry chimney running all the way to
and through the floor.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmk_n51DYug4c4zvnXtYNblKIeSghoPaN0kxFPaRwk1y1f00yC7US36n0PskAV89wLXhypFr57v1aYxzDtYYLEC_3oqCpCm-5BGRSSRvj25xFaa_2MmEBFVNFabGGwko4_Rw4F32gLWEmkb0fYwgUOw0OGEdAXV5oEsyoSORGRlRLG72mIQlNtGfGiP98I/s559/church_007.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="559" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmk_n51DYug4c4zvnXtYNblKIeSghoPaN0kxFPaRwk1y1f00yC7US36n0PskAV89wLXhypFr57v1aYxzDtYYLEC_3oqCpCm-5BGRSSRvj25xFaa_2MmEBFVNFabGGwko4_Rw4F32gLWEmkb0fYwgUOw0OGEdAXV5oEsyoSORGRlRLG72mIQlNtGfGiP98I/w577-h425/church_007.jpg" width="577" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A smaller version of a “pedestal chimney” in a
room with intact walls can be seen a couple miles away from Granite Chapel at
the Old Bon Air Post Office (circa 1916). Here the wood stove is still in
place, but the tin pipe between it and the chimney flue is missing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGa3oZij16TSK-4oiMQ33Io3NcJ9vaEC313m0rq_TtKA-X-AkvRxpIzt2crJxFLPuMu5UFam4j-hj64w_JpWUk-Grxur1OSbce4b4PH_POLHW7D607tEGJz4snnLGrzJ7CvY9y4h4-viyzbmrIUUiDhUcyPR0jy5vK9nAnHfESLgi150xo0sxZDvI8NmTR/s486/church_008.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="486" data-original-width="365" height="657" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGa3oZij16TSK-4oiMQ33Io3NcJ9vaEC313m0rq_TtKA-X-AkvRxpIzt2crJxFLPuMu5UFam4j-hj64w_JpWUk-Grxur1OSbce4b4PH_POLHW7D607tEGJz4snnLGrzJ7CvY9y4h4-viyzbmrIUUiDhUcyPR0jy5vK9nAnHfESLgi150xo0sxZDvI8NmTR/w493-h657/church_008.jpg" width="493" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A window inside Granite Chapel as it appears
today. Note the plaster has been removed from the walls but much of the
supporting lath remains. The tops of the arched windows have been covered with
exterior siding and conventional windows installed in their place, disguising
the original appearance and purpose of the building.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5CjMs2IWINAScRxHnHje7wmuFZxkBCfS72dtIkXVroKvysQeKw7y8cPocvs6n0iO4_3ezx1hkGnBC6xSh1Qo78g721L_U1x42ALNZzVmz5lCRI_ddXBEa2rr4awJStefrUdefG1Z4EsDaMlNliIRDFfHoNjvLZ8UQ24IpYNgnwLWiJiqiK1Q4ZuHjUZv_/s425/church_009.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="319" data-original-width="425" height="402" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5CjMs2IWINAScRxHnHje7wmuFZxkBCfS72dtIkXVroKvysQeKw7y8cPocvs6n0iO4_3ezx1hkGnBC6xSh1Qo78g721L_U1x42ALNZzVmz5lCRI_ddXBEa2rr4awJStefrUdefG1Z4EsDaMlNliIRDFfHoNjvLZ8UQ24IpYNgnwLWiJiqiK1Q4ZuHjUZv_/w536-h402/church_009.jpg" width="536" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">An angle in the remaining wainscoting indicates
the position of a raised dais and pulpit in the east wall of the former Granite
Chapel.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHpzw-SV0unnnYvllw_wRq5w2EmkUiUY7gPshWBIQHvRcoDJPOzaJ3iufTFAUkzRk71YWxluSjsY_TFLye2uHqsoN2lmWIkXoLYP9Po1jQQBTyOvSPXpes7CNNCCBuyPyxgjcTCGmajUlCNZOTqx_ivN1tFp-aR8XdGMvYC_UGDwxLPMYXVfUd1EAD026m/s624/church_010.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="421" data-original-width="624" height="421" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHpzw-SV0unnnYvllw_wRq5w2EmkUiUY7gPshWBIQHvRcoDJPOzaJ3iufTFAUkzRk71YWxluSjsY_TFLye2uHqsoN2lmWIkXoLYP9Po1jQQBTyOvSPXpes7CNNCCBuyPyxgjcTCGmajUlCNZOTqx_ivN1tFp-aR8XdGMvYC_UGDwxLPMYXVfUd1EAD026m/w624-h421/church_010.jpg" width="624" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">With the exception of the brown wainscoting
that runs around the walls of Granite Chapel, the interior must have looked
much like this example of an unidentified rural church, with its dark ceiling
and white walls.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnxUk0BQDOXHoERSN49fHz7U18lkF958W0to0Yqd1eefWXGd-Afr4yxhmhepm84ltv4rqAyQ4zdCvuamm0ErlWF8IGO0DIUCjHNdtzthjOjJnmftrJLAK-6I7OwDUM89jIrds6R5EeztW2j2_RLAVkK6EMgiGDLNK6EMArLo85HGUfvImY793umECN_v4u/s624/church_011.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="624" height="415" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnxUk0BQDOXHoERSN49fHz7U18lkF958W0to0Yqd1eefWXGd-Afr4yxhmhepm84ltv4rqAyQ4zdCvuamm0ErlWF8IGO0DIUCjHNdtzthjOjJnmftrJLAK-6I7OwDUM89jIrds6R5EeztW2j2_RLAVkK6EMgiGDLNK6EMArLo85HGUfvImY793umECN_v4u/w642-h415/church_011.jpg" width="642" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The interior of Granite Chapel today shows
the rafters that once supported the plank ceiling and the walls covered with
lath, but the plaster was removed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiazMgDgH0Wzr6Z54R7n15Nr4MLuuOsf3AjrsLd-l0HmpegY-avpuQ22xEEgxMVE0rZaCvuz3TF3X7vYbAbcPjcws5W_0DJmJDgNLNbejNHKQIH5_DeUIYEWglDEGhvY2c9G5d9U7KcgKLJvbMyqFxzmG7XYBg-FFU5xpFadM0Z1nDFhSoXtl1soaxxS67k/s624/church_012.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="624" height="459" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiazMgDgH0Wzr6Z54R7n15Nr4MLuuOsf3AjrsLd-l0HmpegY-avpuQ22xEEgxMVE0rZaCvuz3TF3X7vYbAbcPjcws5W_0DJmJDgNLNbejNHKQIH5_DeUIYEWglDEGhvY2c9G5d9U7KcgKLJvbMyqFxzmG7XYBg-FFU5xpFadM0Z1nDFhSoXtl1soaxxS67k/w612-h459/church_012.jpg" width="612" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The standing seam metal roof still shows a
patch where a small steeple or belfry was removed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Glimpses of life in Granite can be seen in
occasionally in newspapers, such as notice of an “elaborate entertainment” to
be held at the Chapel on Christmas Eve in 1913. There was a large turnout in
June of 1918 during World War I, when a patriotic service was held at the
chapel. Service flags were ceremonially unfurled, one with six stars
representing members of the congregation who were serving in the military
during World War I, and another flag of sixteen stars, each representing
service members from the Granite community. The newspaper noted that
“practically every man of draft age has been called from the community,
virtually stripping that section of young men.” The building may have served as
a schoolhouse in the early 1920s after the Granite Civic League met with
representatives of the school board to plan to accommodate seventy-five
school-age children in the growing neighborhood. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Quarrying granite in this part of Chesterfield
County continued in the first decade of the century, but declined in the years
leading up to World War I. At the same time, the advent of affordable
automobiles like Ford’s Model T meant people were no longer dependent on
getting to church on foot or by horse, and Presbyterians in this part of Chesterfield
now had the option of attending the larger churches in Bon Air or in Woodland
Heights, or elsewhere in the city. Still, the chapel had value and as an
indication of community interest, a hundred people signed a petition in 1915
urging the Richmond streetcar line be extended to Granite Station. Had this
happened, a station there might have had a second life as a commuter hub and
perhaps meant a different eventual fate for Granite Chapel.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">I</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">n 1932, the dwindling congregation of Granite
Chapel honored Rev. W.S. Campbell for his twenty years of service in leading
the church. By the late 1930s the building was being used occasionally for
Sunday school but principally by the Forest Hill Presbyterian Church Youth
League, and at the end of 1937 the remaining congregation finally petitioned
Forest Hill Presbyterian to move their membership to the larger church. A
Granite Chapel Youth League was created and put in charge of the building, and announced
they intended to repair the plaster and repaint the interior. As the only
structure in this part of Chesterfield County suitable for meetings of any
size, Granite Chapel was still filling a variety of needs, meetings, and
entertainment for the area. On a warm summer’s Sunday evening in June 1938, for
example, the “Young People’s League of Forest Hill and Granite” entertained
their peers from Second Presbyterian on the lawn of Granite Chapel. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzdjvz1qmyE0MNUiVYXBxhkmNBkX_atTc9UZ4pYK3LSEKM6BPpk8VlgXibUNeh8Eofv_xed2IDKiihV1PfqvO1QnuuV7vWahp1fx-crllrcoGaNVrMlEYe2IiBuUoAzOYeNeZzG7Qclis24xCAQhmdsqRyZcS0AQDxfMco_8LFd6vzaWEQ6S1-QiNZ968x/s583/church_013.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="583" height="411" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzdjvz1qmyE0MNUiVYXBxhkmNBkX_atTc9UZ4pYK3LSEKM6BPpk8VlgXibUNeh8Eofv_xed2IDKiihV1PfqvO1QnuuV7vWahp1fx-crllrcoGaNVrMlEYe2IiBuUoAzOYeNeZzG7Qclis24xCAQhmdsqRyZcS0AQDxfMco_8LFd6vzaWEQ6S1-QiNZ968x/w591-h411/church_013.jpg" width="591" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A 1942 topo map of the area around Granite
shows the chapel, marked with a tiny cross and labeled “Granite Church” in its
original site, close to the north side of Forest Hill Avenue. Notice all
quarrying activity around this once-busy part of Chesterfield County has ceased
by this date. At some point after 1942, the Granite Chapel was moved downhill
from the small knoll where it was built and became a barn in the backyard of
5540 Forest Hill Avenue. The brick home that now occupies the original site of
Granite Chapel was built in 1946.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7T-3nEJRoa09iega1R9uN9-4sf3tZEKJQ0OjaMTrCLAlzFYyQWO10bY3fXIHPJrYL4MDN9vrEZ2n0XWCqxQjpEHBEKYMn5oaZBD_qmVRWMDSIkbd81cUtMHUWlvnsizcvc6iy9WVdkEv2qaIaSTLLV7QZdrIWZUuDNOYVeOLfOZ0JwhrD-kR8x9MZAJMV/s624/church_014.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="364" data-original-width="624" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7T-3nEJRoa09iega1R9uN9-4sf3tZEKJQ0OjaMTrCLAlzFYyQWO10bY3fXIHPJrYL4MDN9vrEZ2n0XWCqxQjpEHBEKYMn5oaZBD_qmVRWMDSIkbd81cUtMHUWlvnsizcvc6iy9WVdkEv2qaIaSTLLV7QZdrIWZUuDNOYVeOLfOZ0JwhrD-kR8x9MZAJMV/w603-h352/church_014.jpg" width="603" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Since the removal of Granite Station, the name,
“Granite” still persists, but today more closely identifies the Black community
that once existed west of Powhite Creek and the name is rarely used where it is
shown on this map.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The current owners of what must surely be one
of the few Richmond homes with a church in the backyard are Jessica Voutsinas
and Alex Patin<span class="apple-converted-space">. </span>They
heard stories from previous owners and neighbors about the unique quality of
their backyard barn and <span class="apple-converted-space">the improbable story of how the little church was put on
rollers and moved. They hope to gradually restore the interior and return
Granite Chapel to what was its original simple grace.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">In 2020, <a href="https://richmond.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/williams-stratford-hills-used-to-be-called-granite-a-vibrant-black-community-that-should-not/article_8790d1bf-b819-5d6e-ade2-1d59a0995e9e.html">Michael Paul Williams chronicled thestory </a>of the “other” Granite, an African American village that was located on
the west side of the Powhite valley and in many ways mirrored the White
community to the east. Also made up of quarrymen, small farmers and their
families, the western Granite community formed around Gravel Hill Baptist
Church. The commercialization and widening of Forest Hill Avenue and the
construction of Chippenham Parkway has ensured the complete destruction of almost
all of the homes of the vanished African American village of Granite.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The <i><a href="https://theshockoeexaminer.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-granite-column-and-typewritten.html">Shockoe Examiner</a></i><a href="https://theshockoeexaminer.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-granite-column-and-typewritten.html"> also explored t</a>he
western, Black section of Granite and its community cemetery which has been almost
completely lost to history. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">-Selden</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></p>Shockoe Examiner Staff - see bottom of blog entry for the specific author.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02822340615768561691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495295138304264877.post-71613667186329859922023-07-20T10:03:00.003-04:002023-07-20T10:04:32.317-04:00A $60,750 House Made of Garbage.” Reynolds Aluminum Tests Recycling as Architecture in Henrico<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">America in 1973 was a place of shortages, and the word was
used over and over to describe the economic and societal condition of the
country. The headline on the first page of a <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i> from
December read, “’Brother, There’s No Shortage of Shortages,”’ and it was on
everyone’s mind. Everything from nurses to boxcars were in short supply, as was
cotton for clothes. “Nothing is more common than food and clothing,” the <i>Times-Dispatch</i>
noted glumly, “…and that might prove to be the biggest crunch of all.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">It was the dwindling flow of crude oil that proved to be the
most damaging shortage. The winter of 1973-1974 saw the oil embargo of the
United States because of support for Israel during the Yom Kippur war. That lack
of the supply of energy affected American industry across the board, reducing stocks
of gasoline and heating oil but also crippling the manufacture of industrial
products – including building supplies. Not only were building materials more
expensive to produce, but transportation of these items became more difficult.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">In the face of the lack of resources, the government and the
public both became gradually aware of the potential for recycling and the
economic savings that could result. This is especially true of aluminum. To
produce one pound of aluminum from ore required more than six pounds of coal,
but to produce the same amount of aluminum from scrap cost less than a quarter
of a pound. Among the enthusiasts for recycling aluminum was Richmond’s Reynolds
Metals Corporation, which pioneered recycling aluminum beginning in 1967 and operated
twelve aluminum recycling plants across the country. The company opened a new facility in
Williamsburg in 1973 which was projected to recycle 450 million cans.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGC-9bnRCQlRWPUf_jfV4AGAFd21gF1nzRgCxw9XMOMthkkz2A2_pzI7bF2CTDODIdcXP4p6Hj1O7LH9xuohrufEqRS6c5QTGTHSk8wq9Wzfb4NO7Q7sy-gKrGJEccWuKLu6faDOVM2HfSWa2XueSNVLeExh4QfX6-NyGX_Mw4zymH3d3YdPhj3pXMRY65/s590/house_001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="373" data-original-width="590" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGC-9bnRCQlRWPUf_jfV4AGAFd21gF1nzRgCxw9XMOMthkkz2A2_pzI7bF2CTDODIdcXP4p6Hj1O7LH9xuohrufEqRS6c5QTGTHSk8wq9Wzfb4NO7Q7sy-gKrGJEccWuKLu6faDOVM2HfSWa2XueSNVLeExh4QfX6-NyGX_Mw4zymH3d3YdPhj3pXMRY65/w599-h378/house_001.jpg" width="599" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A publicity photo of the house at 101000 Cherrywood Road
in Henrico County. It was built by Reynolds Metals in 1973 as a demonstration
of how using recycled materials was both practical and affordable.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Reynolds was anxious to develop a market for the metal as a
building material that was strong, lightweight, and could be produced by
reusing aluminum products. The company’s competitor, Alcoa Aluminum, had
already built a demonstration house in Richmond in 1958 that showcased the extensive
use of aluminum as a building material. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">See the Shockoe Examiner’s examination of this <a href="https://theshockoeexaminer.blogspot.com/2017/08/alcoa-desisgned-house-in-richmond.html">astonishing mid-century hom</a><a href="https://theshockoeexaminer.blogspot.com/2017/08/alcoa-desisgned-house-in-richmond.html">e HERE.</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The Alcoa model home emphasized the unique properties of aluminum,
but in contrast, Reynolds wanted to demonstrate how a full range of recycled
materials could be incorporated into a modern home. The Alcoa house, with its hyper-modern
and colorful appearance, promised a “carefree” lifestyle, but the Reynolds
building is carefully designed to blend in and, from the street, intended to be
indistinguishable from hundreds of other tri-levels in Richmond. On August 24, 1973,
the house on Cherrywood Drive was opened to the public for tours.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQGoW8P-TfifAGjTcgcVv9i0nIV_ZY2Kc-0BPhbAIjbJzW-_fKzgh0A_PIOVEFWyRd8VHuQE_bW4Aoorn0E8UcSMDiBm9KZelxTsobW1j0oXAOb6RamS38icGMiw9RuE985WOJsQQSfC8LlguNSgR9YzmJbn1EzeQL8H8MnWVOQPvmYAXK6-FUHbenDcGd/s624/house_002.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="336" data-original-width="624" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQGoW8P-TfifAGjTcgcVv9i0nIV_ZY2Kc-0BPhbAIjbJzW-_fKzgh0A_PIOVEFWyRd8VHuQE_bW4Aoorn0E8UcSMDiBm9KZelxTsobW1j0oXAOb6RamS38icGMiw9RuE985WOJsQQSfC8LlguNSgR9YzmJbn1EzeQL8H8MnWVOQPvmYAXK6-FUHbenDcGd/w621-h334/house_002.jpg" width="621" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A cutaway view showing the location of various recycled
building materials in the 1973 Reynolds demonstration house.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Reynolds said that the scrap aluminum that went into framing
the house, the joists, siding, windows, and gutters were the equivalent of
183,500 beverage cans and that 8.5 tons of newspaper went into the subflooring,
sheathing, roof deck, and paneling. The driveway was made of a slurry of shredded
rubber tires and crushed glass, and glass was also used as foundation fill and
footings. The carpet was recycled nylon fiber and the pipes were recycled cast
iron. What appeared to be conventional bricks on the exterior were actually a
mixture of crushed glass and quarry tailings. Robert Testin, director of
environmental planning for Reynolds, said in an interview the only components
of the house not made with reused waste material were the window glass, the
hardwood steps and trim, plasterboard, and a few sheets of plywood. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">By the end of October 1973, the tours were discontinued and
the house was put on the market for sale. <i>The New York Times</i>, ever eager
for an eye-catching headline, wrote about the house Reynolds built in Richmond,
calling it “A $60,750 House Made of Garbage.” Despite that sensational title,
the article had to admit that the home is “indistinguishable from any other
suburban house, even though it is the first to be constructed almost entirely
from recycled materials.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinZhKBLJEnUF4sIAjTlx4sNUSAFuC-NpTPPjvB2QeEYHbImsN89Y2v1HzsUaYE2UyYn7oqw0VpXMa4ymIRgbJoxCVs1fNTl2itdJ8bKq0wlYykmjIKfOJOwCgZaMrUzIZgoa3d7WFKGs3YXLvVAaoU5OQVDteWy04hc7HMQRzedSTu7C8yzXnKpBoYPxEv/s610/house_003.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="610" height="379" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinZhKBLJEnUF4sIAjTlx4sNUSAFuC-NpTPPjvB2QeEYHbImsN89Y2v1HzsUaYE2UyYn7oqw0VpXMa4ymIRgbJoxCVs1fNTl2itdJ8bKq0wlYykmjIKfOJOwCgZaMrUzIZgoa3d7WFKGs3YXLvVAaoU5OQVDteWy04hc7HMQRzedSTu7C8yzXnKpBoYPxEv/w586-h379/house_003.jpg" width="586" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The Reynolds Metals Corporation’s “recycled house” as it
appears today.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">For its utterly unique combination of elements, the Reynolds
house still looked just like any other tri-level of that type. Indeed, even people
living in it were unaware of the house’s unusual history. Twenty years ago, a
writer for “Waste 360,” a website that serves the recycling industry,
revisited Richmond’s Reynolds Metals house. “The homeowner I chatted with had
no idea that her house was made from recycled products,” wrote John Wilford. “To
her, it was just home. She remembered that the neighbors said there was some
kind of fuss over the house when it was built, but they couldn’t exactly
remember what it was.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">There is no record of another test house like this having
been constructed, although many recycled aluminum building materials like
siding became common in America’s rush to the rapidly growing suburbs. The fact
that the recycled house was completely indistinguishable, even for the people
occupying it, from any other suburban Richmond home is the real triumph of this
exercise in the reuse of resources. In contrast to the Alcoa home, with its
attention-grabbing purple anodized aluminum panels and revolutionary, open
design, the ordinariness of the Reynolds house has meant it fits in seamlessly
with other houses in the West End. Submerging into that unremarkable streetscape
confirmed that houses “made of garbage” could and do serve their occupants well,
and in the case of the Reynolds “recycled house” has done so for fifty years.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">-Selden<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>Shockoe Examiner Staff - see bottom of blog entry for the specific author.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02822340615768561691noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495295138304264877.post-80997030912647714942023-07-03T12:24:00.003-04:002023-07-06T08:40:36.069-04:00"Richmond Murder & Mayhem" - new book by Selden Richardson.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6QLcX_a5KpAbusSC-D0wceyc91zXkyMEomwY42pUIB_gHKUfY19bAI6Ss4Z6nvjHHUGL1rEU1YQB4a70xGnHv6t8XS627kndK1k_tNpZ6eivmWb2G_dbcqGbARUbsoxhEtkkZ9glKqUzZSmIaCGuU7TQCU6huBBpy5F_F28mppLcMYi2krKwk784MrH7u/s2560/91a1nUCXBvL.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="1706" height="697" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6QLcX_a5KpAbusSC-D0wceyc91zXkyMEomwY42pUIB_gHKUfY19bAI6Ss4Z6nvjHHUGL1rEU1YQB4a70xGnHv6t8XS627kndK1k_tNpZ6eivmWb2G_dbcqGbARUbsoxhEtkkZ9glKqUzZSmIaCGuU7TQCU6huBBpy5F_F28mppLcMYi2krKwk784MrH7u/w464-h697/91a1nUCXBvL.jpg" width="464" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Selden Richardson's latest publication is available for sale online and in bookstores today. This is Selden's third book and focuses on crime and tragedy in Richmond. The jacket describes the setting for the book:</span><p></p><p><span style="color: #2c293b;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Explore the dark side of the history of the River City... Richmond has a curious share of horrific accidents, coolly calculated slaughter, and incidents of implacable deceit in its history. Here, the wronged, the devious, and the heartbroken enact their lives on the stage set of the River City's ostensibly genteel neighborhoods, where a tree-shaded city street may have been the site of a crime of passion and an innocuous path in the woods recalls a grisly unsolved murder. Discover these and other lesser-known stories, from a young bride poisoned by her husband to the horrific fate of an entire airliner. Local historian Selden Richardson explores tales from a time when murder and mayhem stalked the streets of Richmond.</span></blockquote><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Selden, in addition to being one of the long time editors of <b><i>The Shockoe Examiner</i></b> (and lately, its major contributor), <span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111;">is a local historian who writes and lectures about history and architecture in his native city of Richmond. He is the author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Built-Blacks-American-Architecture-Neighborhoods/dp/1540218686/ref=sr_1_2?qid=1688401135&refinements=p_27%3ASelden+Richardson&s=books&sr=1-2&text=Selden+Richardson">Built by Blacks: African American Architecture and Neighborhoods in Richmond, Virginia </a>(The History Press, 2008) and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tri-State-Gang-Richmond-Robbery-Depression/dp/1609495233/ref=sr_1_3?qid=1688401188&refinements=p_27%3ASelden+Richardson&s=books&sr=1-3&text=Selden+Richardson">The Tri-State Gang in Richmond: Murder and Robbery in the Great Depression</a> (The History Press, 2012).</span> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Selden will be <span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">signing copies of the book at Barnes & Noble at Libbie Place on July 8th, 2023 at 1 p.m.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://richmondmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/richmond-murder-mayhem-selden-richardson/?fbclid=IwAR19Q4sFygOqG7TUqXfG2b2p8jbkzwtHp_kLaNjthdLzwpIJ7Gum_nDVD24">Read more about Selden and his new book in this recent feature in Richmond Magazine by Harry Kollatz.</a></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">Congratulations Selden!</span></span></p><p></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p><br /></p>Shockoe Examiner Staff - see bottom of blog entry for the specific author.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02822340615768561691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495295138304264877.post-62992583246712707292023-06-23T10:15:00.000-04:002023-06-23T10:15:25.987-04:001963: Mystery at College Siding -- Elaborate suicide or an unsolved murder?<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Richmonders have been found floating in the Kanawha Canal
for many years, probably beginning soon after it was completed in the 1850s. Black
or White, drunk or sober, the still water that ran beside the roaring James
River concealed them all until fate decided when to reveal the bodies of accidental
drownings, suicides, or murder victims. As recently as May 2023, a body was
found in Tuckahoe Creek, which is a part of Richmond’s canal system and water
supply.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">That location is not far from College Siding, a term that
has fallen into disuse since the University of Richmond ceased heating its
buildings with coal in 2012. A branch line ran from the main Chesapeake and
Ohio railroad, crossed the canal on a gracefully curving bridge and entered the
campus at the intersection of Huguenot Road and River Road. Automobile traffic would
come to a halt as coal cars crossed the intersection where the River Road
Shopping Center now stands and continued to the UR steam plant on a right of
way reimagined in 2020 as the UR “Eco-Corridor.” Despite the only occasional
use, the trestle that carried those coal cars across the canal still had to be
inspected as debris would float down the canal and accumulate against the
bridge’s pilings.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-65PYuFMoOMtzhSM4bfXKMT3uI9NAsxTHnK0y8KXIWnM_Mz851Ab2oV64GuSG-QJ5SJauakbn7r9cSdJ82jysB0A8iK76fgQCdfv9dhrzk6nfZc0KCRBWWjCUzJ_hqqedftUxq8G3U4xtG7k4iDV9PH-A0q4aoNL07ZoSeUzRRckvR1EXRnsTH-IkUZum/s475/college_001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="294" data-original-width="475" height="365" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-65PYuFMoOMtzhSM4bfXKMT3uI9NAsxTHnK0y8KXIWnM_Mz851Ab2oV64GuSG-QJ5SJauakbn7r9cSdJ82jysB0A8iK76fgQCdfv9dhrzk6nfZc0KCRBWWjCUzJ_hqqedftUxq8G3U4xtG7k4iDV9PH-A0q4aoNL07ZoSeUzRRckvR1EXRnsTH-IkUZum/w590-h365/college_001.jpg" width="590" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">C&O Railroad workers James Bendall and C.E. Kennedy were
making a routine inspection of the bridge on the morning of April 24, 1963, as
they walked the College Siding tracks and peered over the edge. It was cool and
dry that Wednesday morning so a quick look at the bridge was a pleasant break
in their daily routine. The two men made their way across, leaning over the
edge on the upstream side to see what had collected on the pilings below when
their attention was drawn to an extraordinary sight. Bendall and Kennedy were
astonished to see a pair of shoes sticking straight up out of the water near
the bridge. “We thought it may be the feet of a dummy at first,” recalled
Bendall. “After we were pretty sure it was a body, we called the police.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO6qRPN_WD5ALwzAwPWCxwNKxWC5Ez9HsR9tisxo5LtFPc_2J6oQ_JD1Ujan_Cc4YnIoqkJRbr2G9D09JMECzYSFqkoC7M_MLDsbiKDnYP_Inprfolsvtelav_nEbcF4pSgP23LXK7siQigJ7yMt5OSmaJJId0ZCCPs88XM8GePO255AwzkVaVmpK0pIw7/s587/college_002.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="587" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO6qRPN_WD5ALwzAwPWCxwNKxWC5Ez9HsR9tisxo5LtFPc_2J6oQ_JD1Ujan_Cc4YnIoqkJRbr2G9D09JMECzYSFqkoC7M_MLDsbiKDnYP_Inprfolsvtelav_nEbcF4pSgP23LXK7siQigJ7yMt5OSmaJJId0ZCCPs88XM8GePO255AwzkVaVmpK0pIw7/w608-h456/college_002.jpg" width="608" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The former railroad trestle at College Siding as it appears
today, sixty years after Earl Lester’s body was found here. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The upside-down body was that of Earl Lester, a 49-year-old former
coal miner from West Virginia who lived at 2313 West Grace Street. Staff from
the Tuckahoe Volunteer Rescue Squad were frustrated in their attempt to recover
his corpse until they discovered what kept the floating body in its inverted
position: tightly bolted around the neck was a length of chain with a
hundred-pound block of concrete on the other end. Adding to the mystery, there
was a bullet hole in the center of Lester’s forehead. Dr. Pedro Lardizabal, the
Richmond Medical Examiner, said the body had been in the water for about a
week, which didn’t make it any easier on Lester’s son, Raymond, who had the
grim task of identifying his father’s body at the morgue from a tattoo on his
arm. As to what happened to Earl Lester, “We’re considering 50-50 between
murder and suicide,” said Dr. Lardizabal. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAlcDzcvSdPMWSEDslK_UTSoT_K4wjb8jBGRQqmhnF1wtrX738izqOt_mxtpWb94HOdJs2-Oga4uSiY7LfIbsb5sngB_lWBkCmIUzR-WPaRovH7Orv6qefszdg_9uq54-aOBFgYjxTUJae3ej50sxqm2AjLSwRyJkLtLq49pfraZGBhNwlcr2dYPhaQzsP/s609/college_003.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="457" data-original-width="609" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAlcDzcvSdPMWSEDslK_UTSoT_K4wjb8jBGRQqmhnF1wtrX738izqOt_mxtpWb94HOdJs2-Oga4uSiY7LfIbsb5sngB_lWBkCmIUzR-WPaRovH7Orv6qefszdg_9uq54-aOBFgYjxTUJae3ej50sxqm2AjLSwRyJkLtLq49pfraZGBhNwlcr2dYPhaQzsP/w600-h450/college_003.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Railroad personnel found Earl Lester’s feet protruding from
the surface of the canal on the right side of the College Siding bridge. There
was no guardrail in place here in 1963.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Lester was a retired coal miner who had to give up work in
the mines due to an arthritic condition of his spine, a condition so
debilitating he was often forced to wear a brace. He and his family lived in
Richmond for four years, but Gladys Lester said that her husband was in the
habit of disappearing and going off on “trips” without telling anyone where he
went, sometimes for more than a month. He left the house on April 15, leaving a
note for Gladys that said simply, “I’m going.” She recalled, “He liked to get
off by himself, liked to walk and see things. He didn’t gamble a bit and wasn’t
a drinking man.” She thought that the former miner might be headed to Tennessee
to visit his mother. Gladys Lester also told the police that when he went on
these trips, Earl often took a sawed-off .22 caliber rifle with him – the same
caliber gun that made the hole between his eyes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The Henrico County Police were stumped as to what happened.
Chief W. J. Hedrick said the police had found weighted bodies before, but
“never had a case that looked so much like murder but could be suicide.” The
large block of concrete was the heart of the mystery. The police said Lester
apparently would have had to “drag the block to the middle of the trestle,
chain it to his neck, and – in a bent-over position because of the chain
stretching only 15 inches from his neck to the weight – shoot himself. Then,
according to that hypothesis, he would have toppled into the canal.” Lester’s
wife, Gladys, didn’t believe it and said of Lester, “he was strong in his arms,
strong all over, but he didn’t have any strength in his back.” Lester’s death
certificate specifies, “gunshot wound to the head” as the cause of death, and
the medical examiner noted there was no water in Lester’s lungs, indicating he
was dead when he hit the water. If he had shot himself, leaning over the
bridge, where was the gun? And how did the crippled ex-miner manage to drag a hundred-pound
concrete weight across the trestle? – something that his family was convinced Lester
could never physically manage by himself.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7NCdDw-1RqgKvx7ADd7PQpIRbOTBz6mtO8O_w-LaM4FzmYPxWsF53GsCcss80qkYfPHpgFyhQQIlejbr1CNawiAjItxoRrzEqH6FngLhf1ky0gfkyJt4QUKKAwHh0yCMKIFxl7jr4xYY0mFYEiE3jkPzyJU24CYl7qc2pItHevueUVj5m3hHjRS1liMI8/s433/college_004.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="317" data-original-width="433" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7NCdDw-1RqgKvx7ADd7PQpIRbOTBz6mtO8O_w-LaM4FzmYPxWsF53GsCcss80qkYfPHpgFyhQQIlejbr1CNawiAjItxoRrzEqH6FngLhf1ky0gfkyJt4QUKKAwHh0yCMKIFxl7jr4xYY0mFYEiE3jkPzyJU24CYl7qc2pItHevueUVj5m3hHjRS1liMI8/w588-h430/college_004.jpg" width="588" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, April 26, 1963.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Someone suggested an experiment: a similar rifle be
purchased, cut down like Lester’s, and dropped off the College Siding trestle
to see how it might drift in the canal. Instead, on April 27 the Henrico Police
requested the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad close the gates at Nine Mile Lock
and drain the section of the canal at College Siding. A frustrated Chief Hendrick
said if they don’t find the gun, “we’ll have to settle on homicide.” The canal
was drained and Henrico detectives donned hip boots to wade around in the muddy
bottom but never found Lester’s sawed-off .22 rifle. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The medical examiner said it was his opinion that the bullet
hole in Lester’s forehead was made from a distance – inconsistent with somebody
shooting themselves. Dr. Lardizabal felt the issue of the chain around Lester’s
neck was also indicative of murder, saying the victim’s neck was sixteen
inches and the chain only allowed fifteen and a half inches. Lardizabal maintained this arrangement was the work
of someone else who wasn’t concerned about tightness and discomfort. Chief
Hendrick disagreed, saying if Lester was going through “all that,” (meaning
dragging the concrete block and chaining himself to it), “whether it was loose or
tight wouldn’t make any difference.” Further confounding the suicide theory,
Lester was known to have been wearing a watch and carrying his wallet when he
left the house, and neither were found on his body.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4uvyJqv5EA9uMpbzeJQjqUDUq33Bw82tUsAURtvKPL_-FOBZMQ3v37NAh5bS5hjGQWc3qcxYPpOk8HUeT3YjVW-Q5jTVsAtYB68R5oX6Ho5c_xCeOIrZJE23mE3A92AloeDMjHHwcLaeloHFKoE1KwRj_mwidK77dCndQR1OCK5T83qylZKOLuY67JDxG/s560/college_005.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="560" height="403" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4uvyJqv5EA9uMpbzeJQjqUDUq33Bw82tUsAURtvKPL_-FOBZMQ3v37NAh5bS5hjGQWc3qcxYPpOk8HUeT3YjVW-Q5jTVsAtYB68R5oX6Ho5c_xCeOIrZJE23mE3A92AloeDMjHHwcLaeloHFKoE1KwRj_mwidK77dCndQR1OCK5T83qylZKOLuY67JDxG/w538-h403/college_005.jpg" width="538" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The intersection of Huguenot Road and River Road can be seen
from the College Siding trestle.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The canal continued to give up its dead with the discovery
on May 11 of James McClare of 17 South Davis Street, whose body was found
lodged underwater near the Virginia Electric and Power Company plant at 12<sup>th</sup>
and Byrd Streets. The cause of his death
was listed simply as “drowning.” Back in Henrico, the police (sounding somewhat
exasperated) finally gave up and declared Earl Lester’s death at College
Siding a suicide. “Chief Hendrick said all evidence points conclusively to
suicide. There was no one single piece of evidence uncovered to indicate this,
he said, ‘but we know it was suicide.’” Earl Lester’s body was shipped back to
the mountains and buried in a cemetery in Montcalm, West Virginia. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">It has been a long time since the coal cars halted traffic
at the River Road Shopping Center, and most strollers on the UR Eco-Corridor
have no idea that the nicely landscaped path was once a railroad siding. The
curved College Siding bridge across the canal, replete with “No Trespassing”
signs, today only serves to carry car traffic to homes on the other side of the
railroad tracks. Below the bridge, the canal is a poisonous-looking pea soup
green and its impassive quiet surface offers no hint regarding what lies below.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Earl Lester knew how to disappear, so was this an elaborate
suicide followed by the ultimate act of self-obliteration? Or did Earl have
help in engineering his dive into the quiet green water of the canal and other
hands lugged that concrete block out on the tracks? Was it possible that a
wooden stocked .22 rifle, lightened by the removal of part of the barrel, simply floated
to the surface after the huge splash of that concrete block hitting the water
and drifted off down the canal?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Earl Lester’s death certificate states as the cause of death,
“gunshot wound to head,” and the section with the rather mild title, “Describe
How Injury Occurred,” has been filled out with the terse notation, “Shot in
head with .22 caliber firearm,” after which someone has added to the form,
“concrete slab chained to neck.” The chilling description of his body yields
nothing to explain Earl Lester’s mysterious end, sixty years ago at College
Siding.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">-Selden</span><o:p></o:p></p>Shockoe Examiner Staff - see bottom of blog entry for the specific author.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02822340615768561691noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495295138304264877.post-40552779806162765832023-05-25T18:06:00.006-04:002023-06-01T08:18:40.488-04:00The Cop, The Klan, and That Field Out on Darbytown Road<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Carlisle Slater was a Richmond boy, born on Church Hill in
1918.</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>Like
so many young men of his generation that were swept up in World War II, Slater joined
the Army and served honorably in North Africa, was wounded in action, and
received the Purple Heart. His injury must have been serious and its severity might
explain his life membership in the Disabled American Veterans organization.</span><span> </span></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>Slater
mustered out at the rank of Sergeant in 1945 and returned to Richmond,</span><span> </span><span>and
when he and Helen Heath were married two years later Slater listed his
o</span><span>ccupation for the City Directory as “contractor."</span></span></span></p>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In 1955, Slater secured what was a relatively prestigious
job with the City of Richmond when he was hired as a Deputy High Sheriff. </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>This
grand-sounding office, now long obsolete, was part of the Richmond court
system that delivered summonses and warrants, eviction notices, and writs. In
the course of his duties, Slater had full police powers and carried a gun. <o:p></o:p></span></span>
</span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Slater also had a buddy he worked with named Robert Johnson,
an older deputy who apparently went drinking with Slater. Slater and Johnson
got in trouble in the Augustus Grill at 1000 West Cary Street one afternoon in
September 1958, and when the cops arrived at the scene and heard what happened,
they immediately arrested the pair. Johnson was charged with making an indecent
proposal to a waitress and groping her. For his part, Slater told everyone in
the restaurant in a loud voice that he was Richmond Sheriff James Young and
that he had everything under control, that is, until the police hauled the two
deputies away.</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>Although it was
embarrassing to their office, Slater and Johnson were not fired and by the
following week the charges were dismissed, “at the request of the complaining
witnesses.” No explanation was given as to why the witnesses in the restaurant withdrew
their complaint.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The weather was turning colder in Richmond on December 5, 1958,
and snow was in the forecast when Slater arrived at the High Sheriff’s office
in the basement of what is now known as Old City Hall. He spotted his pal
Robert Johnson, standing by a table cleaning his unloaded revolver with a
handkerchief. Slater remarked that
he, too, should clean his gun (carried loose in his jacket pocket), attempted
to pull it out, and the .38 caliber revolver went off.</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Johnson clutched his chest and grunted, “I’m shot” and collapsed on the floor.</span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> The
Medical College of Virginia was only four blocks away, but Robert Johnson was
dead when he arrived at the emergency room. </span><span>Three
days later his widow and three children followed the hearse that carried
Johnson’s body out to Riverview Cemetery.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The front page of the <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch </i>the day
after the shooting featured a photo of a stunned Slater making a statement to
Patrolman C.L. Timberlake, trying to explain how he killed his friend. Commonwealth’s
Attorney T. Gray Haddon instructed police detectives to prepare a report on
Johnson’s death which would decide if any charges were to be placed against
Slater. </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>In
the end, Slater was not charged and the whole mess was just put down to bad
luck, stupidity, and carelessness. “All evidence was that the shooting…was
nothing more than an unfortunate accident,” announced Haddon.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSK5C_Fn1u9_0kl4Vl_69P0Vn4BeV2fWqKVZ8GjvxWB4qtfPznYOS1ICTKI-jPwU5aHoQXVxzj-VBLpYuN9sgnyFwPsr2NRRM3bEwtaK8GX5wWh3b3XUCPlWDWeWnwtYR-gkxX40Vkn1tqZ6ZepYfbIy56a-f9b3LZzMGQoQZbp2TG9Au-XXvf-QWiVg/s624/kkk_002.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="417" data-original-width="624" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSK5C_Fn1u9_0kl4Vl_69P0Vn4BeV2fWqKVZ8GjvxWB4qtfPznYOS1ICTKI-jPwU5aHoQXVxzj-VBLpYuN9sgnyFwPsr2NRRM3bEwtaK8GX5wWh3b3XUCPlWDWeWnwtYR-gkxX40Vkn1tqZ6ZepYfbIy56a-f9b3LZzMGQoQZbp2TG9Au-XXvf-QWiVg/w587-h392/kkk_002.jpg" width="587" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A stunned Carlisle Slater gives his statement to a Richmond
policeman regarding Slater’s accidental shooting of fellow deputy Robert
Johnson in December 1958.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">How long Slater was employed by the City of Richmond after
the Johnson shooting isn’t known, but his occupation is listed as “Machine
Operator” three years later in the 1962 Richmond City Directory.</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <span>At
some point, Slater developed radical ideas about race relations and became an avowed
racist. Race relations were quickly coming to an ugly boil in the American
South in the early 1960s and a pivotal event in racial unrest in this country was
the 1963 bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama by members of the Ku Klux
Klan. The explosion killed four little Black girls, galvanized Black rage, and
resulted in the police shooting an</span></span><span style="font-family: arial;">d killing of two more Blacks in the riots that followed.</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">The </span><i style="font-family: arial;">Richmond Times-Dispatch</i><span style="font-family: arial;">, while
expressing outrage about the killings felt the Red Menace might be behind this
and suggested rather disingenuously that “…the possibility must not be
overlooked that the crime was committed by Communists who could have seized on
this opportunity to end any chance for creating peaceful interracial relations
in Alabama.”</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, while acknowledging the
Klan was active in the state in the past, in 1964 still maintained, “Virginia
has been extremely fortunate in not having been afflicted in late years with
any of these crackpot KKK’s operating in the dark of the moon, and idiotically
proclaiming themselves ‘100% Americans,’"</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <span>but that was soon to change, and Carlisle Slater would be in the middle of it. He
was probably in the crowd estimated to have been 5,000 people who heard fiery
anti-segregationist Alabama Governor George Wallace speak at the State
Fairgrounds in Richmond in July of 1964.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As a gauge of the growing popularity of the Klan in the
counties around Richmond, a Klan rally the following year in Amelia County drew
1,000 people who watched a large cross burn in the middle of a field while
listening to Marshall Kornegay, the Grand Dragon of Virginia. </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>The
burning of a burlap-wrapped and kerosene-soaked cross was a tradition and a
signature for the Klan and a powerful tool of </span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, "sans-serif"" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">intimidation</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> against Blacks,
Catholics, Jews, or any people who were neither white nor Protestant, and this perversion
of a religious symbol became the hallmark an</span></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">d sign of the Klan’s power. Prominently
displayed in the middle of a field or on a hillside, the flaming cross signaled
to everyone who saw it the same message: the Klan is active and powerful and is
here, among your neighbors. The burning crosses and hooded costumes only
accentuated the Klan’s mysteriousness, its malignancy, and the implication of
potential violence.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In March of 1966, Richmond police were called to the 1300
block of Bainbridge Street where Carlisle Slater lived in South Richmond and
found three men standing under a tree beside the street holding a sign that
said, “THE KKK IS HERE.” The three (one of who was wearing tree climbing
spikes) were Thea Otis Elliot, a man with the odd name of Dean Marine, and
Carlisle Slater. They were all arrested and charged with an ordinance
forbidding placing signs on City right of ways and streets. </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>A
photograph of the incident in the </span><i>Richmond Times-Dispatch </i><span>showed a
broadly grinning Slater and a cigar-chomping Dean Marine proudly holding up
their sign while standing in front of a Richmond police car. The arrested men identified
themselves to the police as Klan members and claimed the sign was simply promoting
an upcoming Klan rally in Greensville County. </span><span>Marine
was wearing a fireman’s uniform and badge when arrested and as a result of his
appearance in uniform in the newspaper was forced to resign from his post as a
member of the Midlothian Volunteer Fire Department the following day.</span><span> </span><span>This incident was the first, but certainly not the last time Carlisle Slater
would publicly and proudly identify himself as a Klansman in the Richmond
press.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvMSglBCMO0wwzWa4N1Yd7ch0ZoZYMTnGzsyiBFK3nI6iNrBy_MhR6WRw7gN-FU1S4TfLzYqwE-2mJNDyDAHqB97Wthz7ozTISLGNnfLDSMSQPGa5y2vuCOrxs11LgJjeWXjrL7iWmqJ-QURs0QikdZ4bLOI81I4Wv0qHuGqEsS_cSxrVFxKFACeUy2A/s619/kkk_003.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="619" data-original-width="496" height="729" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvMSglBCMO0wwzWa4N1Yd7ch0ZoZYMTnGzsyiBFK3nI6iNrBy_MhR6WRw7gN-FU1S4TfLzYqwE-2mJNDyDAHqB97Wthz7ozTISLGNnfLDSMSQPGa5y2vuCOrxs11LgJjeWXjrL7iWmqJ-QURs0QikdZ4bLOI81I4Wv0qHuGqEsS_cSxrVFxKFACeUy2A/w583-h729/kkk_003.jpg" width="583" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">On the left, Carlisle Slater, and on the right, his fellow
Klansman Dean Marine pose for a photo before being taken away under arrest by
the Richmond Police in March 1966.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">In an attack chillingly and deliberately staged to echo the
Birmingham church bombing, someone broke into the small Bethel Second Baptist
Church on Charles City Road in eastern Henrico and blew up the front of the
building with dynamite on the night of October 5, 1966. The isolated little
frame church with its tiny congregation was an easy target as the building was
unoccupied, meaning there was no danger of the disastrous public backlash
generated by blowing up children in Birmingham. It was also the nearest Black
church to the Darbytown rally fields. No one was injured in the explosion, but the
bombing was obviously race-related, and the FBI was called in to help local
authorities. To underscore the widening of racial hatred that converged nearby at
Darbytown and Miller, on the preceding weekend another Klan rally was held there
with signs advertising the event posted all over eastern Henrico.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The same open field at Darbytown and Miller was the scene of
another Klan demonstration three days later where a forty-foot cross was burned
as the crowd roared its approval and listened to a speaker who further inflamed
race hatred. To add insult to injury, this was only an hour after a meeting at
the damaged church called by the Virginia NAACP and the Virginia Council on
Human Relations. The meeting was advertised as “A Protest Against KKK-Type Bombing in Virginia” and drew 100 people – ten of which stood on the edge of the crowd and
loudly identified themselves as Klan members. When one of the Klansmen heckled
the speaker at the event, Henrico police moved forward and quickly escorted the man
away from the shattered church. </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>The Grand Dragon of the KKK, Marshall Kornegay, offered to have the Klan
rebuild Second Bethel Baptist Church “with our workmanship and our materials.” The
church understandably rejected this cynical and disgusting gesture entirely,
and the church’s pastor, Rev. Fogle, issued a terse statement saying only, “We
who bear the cross of Christ should not entrust our priceless burden to those
who burn the cross."</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyyJ3CncKXGj1AOaefL3IaPetHNtrHvFzpiUuTfAO_J4lbSZIQT42RiPZEZ7kBj4zQkOoOxn0GGKq536AgP9m9XJw58dFqSp_RR2jAfszQnxEh0JZtcddbFCoAgRtU8HB6dBi3kQ_STADMAzeejwiHNPsVWcg3YTmMZRZDSBb7frPVYMVzCaGZHzWh0g/s624/kkk_004.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="624" height="485" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyyJ3CncKXGj1AOaefL3IaPetHNtrHvFzpiUuTfAO_J4lbSZIQT42RiPZEZ7kBj4zQkOoOxn0GGKq536AgP9m9XJw58dFqSp_RR2jAfszQnxEh0JZtcddbFCoAgRtU8HB6dBi3kQ_STADMAzeejwiHNPsVWcg3YTmMZRZDSBb7frPVYMVzCaGZHzWh0g/w648-h485/kkk_004.jpg" width="648" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Second Bethel Baptist Church on Charles City Road as it
stands today. The front wall and vestibule were rebuilt by the congregation
after the church was bombed in 1966.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A direct line between the church bombing in Birmingham, the
massive presence of the Klan in eastern Henrico, and the cross burning so close
to Second Bethel Baptist Church explosion seems to have eluded the editorial
writer of the <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch. </i>An opinion piece that ran on
October 8 termed the church bombing in Henrico an “isolated event” and
suggested “…the bombing may have been the work of only one person, or only two
or three.” </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>This is especially
ironic since the parishioners who came to see what happened to their church
could probably see the glare in the sky from the giant cross burning in the
distance on Darbytown Road. It was doubtful that anyone, Black or White, in central
Virginia or even in the Southern United States would have any illusions as to
who had committed this crime.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The next day, cross-burning moved from the fields of
Darbytown Road and into the heart of Richmond itself. On October 10, a cross
was burned in the front yard of Frank C. Akers at 1018 West Main Street. No
explanation was given as to what Akers had done to be singled out for this
terroristic act. </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>A few weeks later,
Carlisle Slater was back in the news, this time arrested at a Klan rally in
Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. Violence had broken out at the meeting, with a
Black man firing into the crowd, wounding three Klansmen. Ten Black men who
were picketing against the Klan meeting were arrested and charged with “walking
on the wrong side of the highway,” apparently a serious crime for pedestrians
of color in North Carolina. Slater was observed strolling through the crowd
carrying a shotgun, and when leaving the rally was stopped by the North
Carolina State Patrol. In his car were found two shotguns, one ax handle, 26
rounds of buckshot, 175 bullets, and three Klan placards. Slater was taken into
custody and charged with being “dangerously armed and terrorizing."</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Klan activity and cross burnings continued through the fall
and into the winter of 1966, but in December, a cross was set up and burned literally
in the center of State government. Richmond police found the smoldering remains
of a cross on Governor Street in Richmond, directly behind the Governor’s
Mansion, which may have been a response to Governor Godwin’s offer of a $1,000
reward for anyone caught committing this crime. Cross burnings, said Godwin,
have been “long associated with the record of bigotry compiled by the Ku Klux
Klan” and enacted laws to make burning a cross without permission of the
property owner a felony. While Mills Godwin looked out the window and fumed at
the charred cross set up on the Governor Street sidewalk directly below his
home, Police Chief Frank Duling noted this was the tenth cross burning in
Virginia’s capitol in recent weeks.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape
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</v:shape><![endif]--><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSTyKqSn_S6DH1A6liIgJyNiSoimILbT5A6V9k-DplIpd9eA5Yh72gwjZGkLff8ZaDaY4IcSMMnP8-MHNpKTqX54y0EC77YAuzeGlCaZjvx8rbOilcDyK8uS3aKOAsu3VnGSRqG4oFXRhfklNWLh92wiA3SbuZPb6GXcJbjr4XAh7mSwyynP7nWqp1Zg/s593/kkk_005.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="593" data-original-width="317" height="961" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSTyKqSn_S6DH1A6liIgJyNiSoimILbT5A6V9k-DplIpd9eA5Yh72gwjZGkLff8ZaDaY4IcSMMnP8-MHNpKTqX54y0EC77YAuzeGlCaZjvx8rbOilcDyK8uS3aKOAsu3VnGSRqG4oFXRhfklNWLh92wiA3SbuZPb6GXcJbjr4XAh7mSwyynP7nWqp1Zg/w514-h961/kkk_005.jpg" width="514" /></span></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">December 1966: scorched stone marks the place where a cross
was burned on Governor Street, just below the Governor’s Mansion in Capitol
Square.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The new year began with another ugly note as five people in
Richmond with known Klan ties were arrested for burning crosses in the city. On
January 2, police picked up two men and a woman and charged them with burning a
cross in front of 1212 North Boulevard. The trio was seen leaving another
flaming cross at a location two blocks away. In the car, the cops found a third
cross, Klan literature, a pistol, and a rifle. All three were charged with cross
burning as well as contributing to the delinquency of a minor as the woman’s
three small children were in the back seat. Moving to the West End, the same
night two other men, one of them a State Penitentiary guard, were arrested for
burning a cross in front of the Fox Rest Apartments on Glenside Drive.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The increasing number of Klan rallies all over Virginia in
1967 were emblematic of a society torn from within and unable to navigate or
cope. Indicative of how blatant Klan demonstrations became, Governor Godwin
arrived in Bedford on January 11 to inaugurate the opening of a new dress
factory and was met by seventy-five Klansmen waving Confederate flags who
lit a cross in a field across the street from where the Governor spoke.</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> The
same day assault charges against five men in Chesterfield County were dropped
because the victim and principal witness, James Gregory, had understandably left
the state. Gregory had accompanied police investigators to a Klan rally in
Louisa County but later was run off the road in Chesterfield by trucks with
Klan stickers and pulled out of his car and beaten. One of the accused assailants,
James Sneed, listed as his home an address on Darbytown Road, less than a mile
from the site of multiple Klan rallies. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">January
11, 1967 saw the election of one of the most famous White supremacists of
his day, Lester Maddox, as Governor of Georgia. The election was described in a
Richmond newspaper as a “…sweet victory for the little man who started his
campaign more than a year ago with little funds, no organization – but a big
reputation as a Negro baiter.”</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR3J22KA48fey9FI7vrOEt3ADGiTLOjSvDx_t3gZNmg_jdx2Xv7ZvUNx3xr9wld5ZFfb-nGwVFy4fPJVgbfOjRTtKzKubvULbsqJGs05Dfs61qww2bmA4TlBCQ1zVstgFiYnf1kg3uCBbR5x_Qltx_a2D_ZfdwFBZdx6cM0VfNZbz9tNND6v9eqWB4bw/s624/kkk_006.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="389" data-original-width="624" height="355" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR3J22KA48fey9FI7vrOEt3ADGiTLOjSvDx_t3gZNmg_jdx2Xv7ZvUNx3xr9wld5ZFfb-nGwVFy4fPJVgbfOjRTtKzKubvULbsqJGs05Dfs61qww2bmA4TlBCQ1zVstgFiYnf1kg3uCBbR5x_Qltx_a2D_ZfdwFBZdx6cM0VfNZbz9tNND6v9eqWB4bw/w573-h355/kkk_006.jpg" width="573" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The crowd of Klansmen greeted Virginia Governor Mills
Godwin in Roanoke where he spoke there at the opening of a factory in 1967.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">On April 10, several people were arrested during a cross-burning spree and as a consequence of a raid on Carlisle Slater’s garage behind
his house on Bainbridge Street in South Richmond. John W. Kennedy of the 1000
block of Jeff Davis Highway was charged with burning a cross on Christmas Day
1966 at the intersection of Erin and Orleans streets in the predominantly Black
neighborhood of Fulton. He was also charged with vandalizing the offices of the
Richmond newspaper, <i>The Afro-American</i>, at 301 East Clay Street. Charles
Schuyler and his neighbor on Bainbridge, Carlisle Slater, were charged with
burning a cross in Chimborazo Park the preceding Christmas. Police said a
search of Slater’s home turned up “shotguns, rifles, pistols, black powder, and
dynamite fuse wire …along with four medium-sized crosses, rough lumber, inner
tubes, and burlap, together with a large amount of Minutemen and Klan
literature.”</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTysv_7iEtsyH3-7Ls4YXWW0Qi7rJ_rad5pF3Le2xYHiZZ2EjBrGZBNJr-sd4keTm6mTzhzqNBNKmOITACKAQogEK7St-kiKpis1XDKBwCLwvOyLAu_ejIHQ1HYkDKbHfISs6snlJzVdvuT3sLCp3rG8aKIr1CFa8KYl_Ik4eesXCqAeAu4e5OjjmDFA/s624/kkk_007.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="624" height="451" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTysv_7iEtsyH3-7Ls4YXWW0Qi7rJ_rad5pF3Le2xYHiZZ2EjBrGZBNJr-sd4keTm6mTzhzqNBNKmOITACKAQogEK7St-kiKpis1XDKBwCLwvOyLAu_ejIHQ1HYkDKbHfISs6snlJzVdvuT3sLCp3rG8aKIr1CFa8KYl_Ik4eesXCqAeAu4e5OjjmDFA/w600-h451/kkk_007.jpg" width="600" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">This garage behind Carlisle Slater’s house on Bainbridge
Street became a meeting place, arsenal, and workshop for building Klan crosses.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The farm field at Darbytown Road and Miller Road in Henrico
was the venue for what an ad in the <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i> promised
would be a two-day celebration of the hundredth anniversary of “the real Ku
Klux Klan” on May 6<sup>th</sup> and 7<sup>th</sup> 1966, featuring country
music, exhibits about the history of the Klan, and a ribbon cutting ceremony. Thirty-eight
Grand Dragons from across the country were scheduled to attend and the ad assured
uncertain racists who wanted to participate, “we have a hundred acres of land
for this event."</span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> Efforts to obtain a
temporary permit to erect a tent for the event were denied by the Henrico County
Board of Zoning Appeals. As a result of the denial, Board member David Buker (who
lived on Darbytown Road) received a series of harassing phone calls to the
point he called Henrico Police to watch his house. The callers didn’t identify
themselves, but chillingly told Buker they “knew who he was” and “were going to
keep an eye on him.”</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyiGLcp5epM9PlcIgkBsuz4FUeEbfE19v5gXKhZO-4YLEnAfF3PrV1mFdxcN9KkwmisGlHDwCmZHZEGqU2JDOrQbdqQaGdTIJwNnXpxShPIrK4Hekc6th6Gt866HVViOdO6Z8kZMDSAGYA9f1MRgDWVmo4W0_eHAeTnUsr_cN5HJ0mFDlNfToedWo2nA/s624/kkk_008.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="624" height="466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyiGLcp5epM9PlcIgkBsuz4FUeEbfE19v5gXKhZO-4YLEnAfF3PrV1mFdxcN9KkwmisGlHDwCmZHZEGqU2JDOrQbdqQaGdTIJwNnXpxShPIrK4Hekc6th6Gt866HVViOdO6Z8kZMDSAGYA9f1MRgDWVmo4W0_eHAeTnUsr_cN5HJ0mFDlNfToedWo2nA/w623-h466/kkk_008.jpg" width="623" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A field near this otherwise innocuous eastern Henrico intersection
became infamous as a site of Klan rallies in the 1960s.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Even without a tent, about 2,000 people still drove out to
Darbytown Road to attend a meeting that was marked by internal dissension, with
one Klan “imperial Kludd” or chaplain, Rev. George Dorsett, charging Klan
leaders with making too much money on Klan literature and souvenirs. Dorsett
was escorted from the field and a shot was fired at his car. Grand Dragon Kornegay diverted
the group by reverting to sure crowd pleasers, called President Johnson “sorry”
and Virginia Governor Godwin “a nigger.” As a fundraiser, Kornegay also
promoted the sale of the Klan’s favorite melee weapon after Lester Mattox
famously started handing out autographed ax handles. “The guy down in Georgia
used them and now he’s governor,” explained Kornegay. Between country music and
sales of Klan records, ax handles, fried chicken, and flounder, Kornegay
continued to rile the crowd, calling the Negro race “a tool of an international
Zionist conspiracy,” and complaining “there are just as many white niggers as
there are black ones.” Governor Godwin, with his insistence on making cross
burning a crime, was held up for Kornegay’s special ridicule, saying the state
troopers monitoring the rally were at Godwin’s direction, “showing up the kind
of nigger that he is.”</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Grand Dragon Kornegay returned to the Darbytown Road pasture
again the next month, holding a rally and raffle for a car to benefit the
Virginia Klan. Gun control and race war were the main topics of his talk and
that of Kornegay and other speakers, which included the Grand Dragon of South
Carolina. “If you register your gun with anybody, you’re a nut! When the
conspiracy comes for your firearm, give it to ‘em like this grand dragon is –
right between the eyes!” A speaker predicted “an insurrection of the Negro race
and a revolution within the next four or five years. Be prepared for it.” When
the winning ticket for the car was announced, State Police swept in and
arrested Kornegay and another man for setting up a private lottery, bringing
another Darbytown Road Klan event to an end.</span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> The next day a Richmond Grand Jury indicted six people on cross-burning charges,
including Carlisle Slater. </span><span>He
was also charged with maliciously damaging a favorite target of the local Klan,
the offices of the </span><i>Richmond Afro-American</i><span>, on Clay Street, but all those
charges were dismissed in July.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">An incident in that hot summer of 1967 was symbolic of the
growing disruptive power of the Klan in Eastern Henrico. On the 10<sup>th</sup>,
Henrico police called for assistance from the State Police in handling a crowd
of Klansmen in 200 cars that descended on Henrico’s eastern governmental center
at Dabbs House on Nine Mile Road. It coincided with another Klan rally that day
at their usual gathering place not far away on Darbytown Road. At 6:00 the cars
all started blowing their horns and Henrico police assumed a state of siege,
locking the doors and posting police to block access to what is essentially the
eastern Henrico courthouse. By 8:00, the cars formed a caravan and drove back
out to Darbytown Road.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The following week a rally was again held at what the <i>Richmond
Times-Dispatch</i> termed “the Klan’s customary meeting place on Darbytown
Road” on July 16<sup>th</sup>. What was usually empty farm fields once again rang
with bile and racial hatred as Grand Dragon Kornegay, in one rant, called
reporters, “all lying s.o.b.’s,” and forbid the press from attending future
rallies. Referring to one of the Klan’s favorite tropes of an upcoming race
war, Kornegay predicted, “Some of us may get killed, but there are worse things
than dying, and one of them is living under that white nigger Godwin.”</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A burning cross high on the hillside of Chimborazo Park
overlooking the predominantly Black Richmond neighborhood of Fulton would have
been a chilling and intimidating sight to the people looking up at it on
Christmas Day, 1966. Identified in the newspaper as a “South Richmond Ku Klux
Klansman,” Carlisle Slater went on trial for his part in that incident, swearing
he was driving home from Newport News with his wife and daughter when the cross
was burned in Chimborazo Park. He also called on his wife, his son, his mother,
and a boarder in his house to testify and confirm his story. The prosecution,
however, had a witness that put Slater at home, in his garage, and who said
Slater gave him and two other men a burlap-wrapped cross and instructions on
how to burn it, specifically in the highly visible park. A Richmond police
detective testified he spoke to Slater at his Bainbridge garage the night of
the incident.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The first two hours of the trial were taken up with jury
selection “and extensive questioning of jury members, specifically six Negro
men.” Defense attorneys asked the six if they were prejudiced against the Ku
Klux Klan, or if they were members of the NAACP. “Two Negros were removed by
the commonwealth and four were struck by the defense. The result was an
all-white jury of 12 men.” </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>Slater
had a defense team of two lawyers, one of which was Orange County
Commonwealth’s Attorney S. Page Higginbotham. “Slater’s lawyers likened their
client to Jesus, Socrates, and Patrick Henry in espousing an unpopular cause –
in Slater’s case, the Ku Klux Klan.” Despite testimony from one of Slater’s
cross-burning team, he sent out from Bainbridge Street, the Richmond police
detective who spoke to Slater that night, and an FBI analyst who matched a
piece of rubber innertube found on the cross with a sample from Slater’s
garage, the trial ended in a deadlocked jury.</span><span> A
two-day trial the following October ended in Slater being acquitted of all
charges.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Encouraged by the outcome of his trial, Slater joined Klan
Grand Dragon Kornegay’s successor, Robert Hudgins, in filing suits in U.S.
District Court in 1977 against FBI Director Clarence M. Kelly. Hudgens was
suing for $2.5 million as he claimed he was the victim of a disinformation campaign
directed by the FBI and distributed to Klan members under the guise of legitimate communication. As a result, the suit claimed, the FBI claimed credit
for sabotaging the formation of a Klan chapter in Warsaw, Virginia, for
breaking up a group in Danville, and for causing loss of revenue for the
organization and Hudgens himself. The suit sought $500,000 in punitive damages,
$500,000 for “mental pain and suffering, loss of sleep, and nervousness…” as
well as $250,000 for Mrs. Hudgens who suffered “the loss of services of Robert
Hudgens, his companionship, and an interference with the sexual relationship
inherent in their marriage.”</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">For his part, Slater claimed the FBI and the CIA created and
mailed false letters about him, had surveilled his home, publicized his
garage as a Klan cross workshop, and confiscated papers and firearms that were
not returned after his acquittal of the cross-burning charges. Slater
sought the same amounts as Hudgens, including $250,000 for Helen Slater, but
did not specify the same personal information that the Grand Dragon felt was
necessary. “Hudgens and Slater,” noted the <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>,
“…are acting as their own lawyers.”</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <span>Hudgens persisted with his case against the government into 1978, but Slater
dropped his efforts in December of 1977 and Judge Robert R. Merhige, Jr.
dismissed the case.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">An article about Slater’s suit against the FBI noted “Slater
was a member of the KKK and the Minutemen organization, another rightist
political group, from 1965 to 1972.” The Minutemen was a short-lived
organization that rose and fell during the 1960s. It was founded in the early
60s by a Missouri chemist named Robert DePugh and would probably today be
characterized as a militant survivalist group. DePugh’s Minutemen were
stockpiling guns and supplies for that undefined war with Communism that would
supposedly soon rage across America.</span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> The
Minutemen fell apart with DePugh’s eventual conviction and imprisonment for
bank robbery and firearms violations. The odds are pretty good that Slater was
in the work party that erected a sign that once stood for years on Laburnum
Avenue in eastern Henrico with the stark message, “The Minutemen Are Watching
You.”</span><span> For
Blacks in Richmond, eastern Henrico must have seemed a dangerous and forbidding
place, filled with cross-burning, hooded racists. The sheer number of them who
gathered out on Darbytown Road would have been terrifying enough to avoid the
area by miles.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">As the United States was roiled by the Vietnam War,
desegregation, civil rights, and student unrest on college campuses, the Ku Klux
Klan thrived amid fear and uncertainty. In 1969, the Virginia Ku Klux Klan
had a rally in Victoria, Virginia, and claimed their chapter as the third largest in the country, behind only North Carolina and Alabama. Grand Dragon Robert
Hudgins instituted reforms, aiming to create a more publicly palatable Klan to
increase membership and promised to concentrate on freedom of speech and
freedom of assembly. This included outreach to chiefs of police all over the
country, and while Richmond Police Chief Frank S. Duling did not commit to
meeting with Klan members, Hudgens said Duling was “enthused over the Klan’s
promoting the upholding of law and order.”</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">When Carlisle Slater drove from his home on Bainbridge
Street in South Richmond to the favored Klan meeting grounds on Darbytown Road,
his route must have taken him through Fulton. By 1970 and under the direction
of the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority, this once-thriving
neighborhood in the eastern part of Richmond was utterly destroyed through
“Urban Renewal,” leaving only a haunting grid of empty streets. Even though the majority of the residents who
were forced to flee Fulton were Black, Slater still seems to have been shocked
at the erasure of so many homes and worried about the vulnerability of his own
surroundings in his similar blue-collar neighborhood in South Richmond. Instead
of vindictive about other races and ranting about the creeping Communist
menace, Slater’s letter to the Editor of the <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i> in
July, 1993, sounds like that of an old man whose world, and perhaps even his
memories, are being threatened. This time it wasn’t colored hordes, Jews, FBI
agents, or Catholics bent on subverting his racial purity, culture, and
religion, but something perhaps even more tangible and more frightening: the
same indifferent bureaucracy that obliterated Fulton with the weapon of an unjust
law.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg3k5N8Fg9-JjPaGocZ-vCN37z4q0NZvYElOwlpH863yVFoqIX4Adq13z_bXWYs-74Ol1l9qkha3oEJgTJtmcWVfMJaNrAYDOtEHQmrSPS_MeufDPNRBBXzryjtV9sI5M4q-Wnas5CwmW6Qe2uqyY4d7bISCI6K8xaKcFO-CrA2E5KcBmPM-zrDxy8IA/s624/kkk_009.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="624" height="436" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg3k5N8Fg9-JjPaGocZ-vCN37z4q0NZvYElOwlpH863yVFoqIX4Adq13z_bXWYs-74Ol1l9qkha3oEJgTJtmcWVfMJaNrAYDOtEHQmrSPS_MeufDPNRBBXzryjtV9sI5M4q-Wnas5CwmW6Qe2uqyY4d7bISCI6K8xaKcFO-CrA2E5KcBmPM-zrDxy8IA/w581-h436/kkk_009.jpg" width="581" /></span></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The former home of Carlisle Slater at 1302 Bainbridge Street
in South Richmond.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Slater wrote to the <i>Times-Dispatch</i>: “I have lived in
the Bainbridge area for 50 years. I bought my home and kept it up to city code
all of the years that I have owned it… Some of the houses in this area have
been called ‘shacks’ by the Richmond Redevelopment Authority, but to many of
the people who live in them, they are home. I ask the City Council not to pass
into the hands of the Richmond Redevelopment Authority the power of eminent
domain.” Slater closed his appeal with an oddly
egalitarian phrase: “Much of the so-called trashy look in the Manchester area
has been created by the City of Richmond’s indifference to the needs of the
people.”</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">At the distance of thirty years, it is impossible to say if
the old Klansman’s rage had finally subsided before his attention was drawn to
the much more believable and potential threat to his home and the dispersal of his
community. Although entire blocks in the South Richmond neighborhood where
Slater lived on Bainbridge have been leveled, the neighborhood did not suffer
the same fate in the hands of the Richmond Redevelopment Authority as the
now-vanished Fulton. His house is still there on the corner of 13<sup>th</sup>
Street. It has been many years since the garage behind the house rang with low,
hate-filled speech amid the stockpile of guns and gunpowder and where, in the
dark of night, crosses were quietly passed out of the same garage doors and
into the trunks of cars idling in the alley. Carlisle Slater died in 2003 at
age 84 at McGuire Veteran’s Hospital. </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>His grave in Richmond’s Maury Cemetery is a Government-issue bronze marker that
notes his military rank and award of the Purple Heart.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The field near the corner of Darbytown Road and Miller Road
is silent now, and the grassy expanse where Carlisle Slater looked out with
satisfaction over the enraged, red-faced, and sunburnt crowd under the orange ball
of a Virginia summer sun is now an industrial site. The county fair atmosphere
of vendors selling fried fish, the blare of amplified Klan records playing rage-filled
rants, and the horrible concentration of hatred are all gone. Where enormous
crosses blazed out in the summer night sky, fierce oaths were sworn and the Governor
of Virginia was denounced as a “nigger,” there are only the sterile blank walls of
massive distribution warehouses on the site. Today, the hum of air conditioners
and the faint sound of a truck in the distance are the only sounds to disturb
the quiet of this once-tumultuous part of Henrico at Miller and Darbytown. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div><div id="edn24">
</div>
</div>
<div><span style="font-size: large;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><span style="font-family: arial;">-- Selden Richardson</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">NOTES<br clear="all" />
</span><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<span style="font-size: large;"><!--[endif]-->
</span><div id="edn1">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Commonwealth of Virginia,
Bureau of Vital Statistics, State Board of Health, Certificate of Birth: Carlisle
Massie Slater, July 17, 1918, File Number 37142.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">This information is taken
from Slater’s tombstone in Maury Cemetery and his obituary. <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch,</i>
March 15, 2003, B-9.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">83 More Vets From 3
Boards Get Discharge,” <i>Richmond News Leader</i>, September 13, 1945, 34.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn4">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Commonwealth of Virginia,
Certificate of Marriage, Slater and Heath, File No. 6764, April 5, 1947.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn5">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Deputy Fatally Shot in City
Hall Accident,” <i>Richmond News Leader</i>, December 5, 1958, 1.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn6">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Two Constables Arrested
in Grill Incident,” <i>Richmond News Leader, </i>September 3, 1958, 17.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn7">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Constables Are Freed of
Charges,” <i>Richmond News Leader, </i>September 10, 1958, 34.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn8">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Deputy Fatally Shot in
City Hall Accident,” <i>Richmond News Leader</i>, December 5, 1958, 1.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn9">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> “Deputy Constable Slain in
Accident,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, December 6, 1958, 1.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn10">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Ibid.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn11">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Obituary, Robert M.
Johnson, <i>Richmond News Leader</i>, December 6, 1958, 11.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn12">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Deputy Constable Slain
in Accident,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, December 6, 1958, 1.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn13">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“No Charge Expected in
Shooting of Deputy,” <i>Richmond News Leader</i>, December 16, 1958, 9.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn14">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i>Hills Richmond City
Directory – 1962</i>, (Richmond: Hill Directory Company, Publishers, 1962,
1145.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn15">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Four Negros Die in Blast
at Birmingham Church,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, September 16, 1963, 1.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn16">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Birmingham Outrages,” <i>Richmond
Times-Dispatch</i>, September 17, 1963, 12.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn17">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Condolences to Tar
Heelia,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, September 14, 1964, 18.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn18">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“’At Least 5,000’
Heard Wallace Speak,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, July 6, 1964, 18.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn19">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Klan Rally at Amelia
Draws 1,000,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, October 9, 1965, 14.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn20">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Posting of Sign Nets
Three Arrests,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, March 22, 1966, 4.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn21">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Three Arrested in
Posting Klan Signs,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, March 23, 1966, 2.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn22">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Klansman Quits Fire
Department at Midlothian,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, March 24, 1966, 2.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn23">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Negro Church Damaged
in Bombing,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, October 6, 1966, 1.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn24">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Blast ‘Protest’ Rally
Crowd Includes 10 Klan Members,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, October 8,
1966, 2.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn25">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Church Rejects Klan
Offer for Rebuilding,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, October 11, 1966, 5.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn26">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“The Church Bombing,” <i>Richmond
Times-Dispatch</i>, October 8, 1966, 10.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn27">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Cross Burned at Home
Here,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, October 10, 1966, 24.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn28">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Carolina Negro
Charged in Wounding of Two,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, November 8, 1966,
2.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn29">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“City, State Officials
Score Cross Burning at Mansion,” December 12, 1966, 1.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn30">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Cross Burnings Charged
to Five,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, January 2, 1967, 1.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Cross Burned Before Godwin’s
Address,” </span><i style="font-family: arial;">Richmond Times-Dispatch</i><span style="font-family: arial;">, January 11, 1967, 15.</span></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Beating Case Left Open:
Plaintiff Not Located,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, January 11, 1967, 17.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Mattox is Declared Governor
of Georgia,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, January 11, 1967, 1.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Two Local Men Are Charged In
Cross-Burnings Here,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, April 10, 1967, 1.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Anniversary Festival,” <i>Richmond
Times-Dispatch</i>, May 3, 1967, 3.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Zoning Appeals Man Harassed
by Phone,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, April 30, 1967, 38.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Dissention Marks Henrico Klan
Rally, “<i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, May 7, 1967, 1.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Two Arrested at Klan Rally in
Lottery Case,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, July 5, 1967, 13.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> “Grand Jury Orders Cases
Tried,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, June 6, 1967, 23.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> “Charge of Damaging Property
Dismissed,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, July 1, 1967, 16.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Harassed Police Ask
Assistance,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, July 10, 1967, 9.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Newsmen Scored, Barred from
Future Klan Rallies,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, July 16, 1967, 22.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Klansman Denies He Helped in
Church Hill Cross-Burning,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch, </i>July 21, 1967, 13.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Ibid.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Cross-Burning Trial Here Ends
in Deadlocked Jury,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch, </i>July 22, 1967, 11.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Slater Acquitted in
Cross-Burning,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch, </i>October 28, 1967, 11.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Two Klansmen Are Suing FBI,” <i>Richmond
Times-Dispatch</i>, August 4, 1977, 27.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Ibid.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Klan Suit Dropped Against FBI
Director,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, December 17, 1977, 25.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Beckemeier, Eric, <u>Traitors
Beware: A History of Robert DePugh’s Minutemen</u>, (Hardin, MO: published by
Eric Beckmeier, 2007.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The author of this essay remembers as a child seeing this
sign beside the road which to him was both memorable and disturbing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Victoria Klavern to be Host
to Ku Klux Klan Rally,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, July 31, 1969, 28.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Redevelopment Authority
Creates a Shake Attack,” <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch, </i>July 20, 1993, 6.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">
</span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> “Carlisle M. Slater,” <i>Richmond
Times-Dispatch, </i>March 15, 2003, B-3.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>Shockoe Examiner Staff - see bottom of blog entry for the specific author.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02822340615768561691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495295138304264877.post-6624342135449542732023-03-14T10:14:00.002-04:002023-03-14T17:40:04.869-04:00 THE RICHMOND “SNIPER” MURDERS<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">July 22, 1962, was promising to be a pleasant day in Richmond
with the temperature only rising into the 80s. Behind the worn frame houses and
bungalows of Lakeview Avenue, the morning sun began to illuminate the alleys
that ran east and west in the Randolph neighborhood. The shadows fell away,
revealing the garages and chicken houses, the trash cans and junk cars, and the
body of Andrew Mills. Mills was a 42-year-old Black man who lived at 1729
Jacquelin Street, but this morning lay face down in an alley a couple blocks
away in the 1700 block of Lakeview Avenue. He had been shot three times in the
back of the head and once in the heart. Around his body were scattered four
empty 9mm pistol shells.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">In the segregated city of Richmond, Mills’ body was taken to
the “colored” hospital, St. Phillips, on East Marshall Street, where he was
pronounced dead on arrival. Also at St. Phillips that morning but not in the
morgue were James Elam and James Towles, recovering from gunshot wounds they
received the night before. They were ambushed by someone wielding a 9mm pistol
behind the 1600 block of Lakeview Avenue, a block away from where Mills’ body
was found. Elam had been grazed in the head and Towles was shot in the back,
but they were expected to live.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_xkD78KWsJQ22o4Ugb4OyVvLPTrsGEBE1CTAVB9q1wEiwBhaI5YIktO-9M56UAM6IJeA7ppjW4AjdVYT-UQbxCGCvhaz2cGVxYCcXKNTqxQrcA-OjJKUs6sqiPVdTF4NEs9ovnlHnryyfxDGjjC_5FoZ3teYIMxtKNuysMUB4DoraEbYyhB9Fvx7zeg/s624/sniper_001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="121" data-original-width="624" height="123" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_xkD78KWsJQ22o4Ugb4OyVvLPTrsGEBE1CTAVB9q1wEiwBhaI5YIktO-9M56UAM6IJeA7ppjW4AjdVYT-UQbxCGCvhaz2cGVxYCcXKNTqxQrcA-OjJKUs6sqiPVdTF4NEs9ovnlHnryyfxDGjjC_5FoZ3teYIMxtKNuysMUB4DoraEbYyhB9Fvx7zeg/w637-h123/sniper_001.jpg" width="637" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Front page headline in the <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>, January
13, 1963.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The firemen on duty at Fire Station 12 at Addison and Cary
streets were startled to hear gunshots nearby on the morning of September 4. Rolling
up a bay door, they found a man covered with blood on the sidewalk in front of
their station. John Anderson, a 32-year-old laborer, and Korean War veteran, was
badly wounded but still conscious enough to tell the police that he had been
approached by a Black man on South Addison Street who shot him three times in
the back. Anderson, who lived at 1919 Grayland Avenue, died of his wounds the
next day. His death certificate, in the space for “Describe How Injury
Occurred,” specified “Shot in back by unknown colored male assailant.”</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape
id="Picture_x0020_3" o:spid="_x0000_i1028" type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:239.5pt;
height:179.5pt;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square'>
<v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\SUSANM~1.KEL\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image003.jpg"
o:title=""/>
</v:shape><![endif]--><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZgrT75VlLSXAas-p1L60SH-H9SikIUznP4F7zCHdEDWnL-wvjtwVav8nhkkt0xU9OffblwcmtPGBxUjMiEGBnFU_zI3eF0T4kfR-qqZUs1MLI5aSUgsd0sCbtu_cy-VXoRhfXlA5Px2TmLU-mdQbYHsFTFI4XyTjx8usd9cbm_kmqy9JdbjdhcUh-bQ/s319/sniper_002.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="239" data-original-width="319" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZgrT75VlLSXAas-p1L60SH-H9SikIUznP4F7zCHdEDWnL-wvjtwVav8nhkkt0xU9OffblwcmtPGBxUjMiEGBnFU_zI3eF0T4kfR-qqZUs1MLI5aSUgsd0sCbtu_cy-VXoRhfXlA5Px2TmLU-mdQbYHsFTFI4XyTjx8usd9cbm_kmqy9JdbjdhcUh-bQ/w441-h330/sniper_002.jpg" width="441" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The former Richmond fire station at Cary and Addison streets
where two wounded Sniper victims sought help in September 1962.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Later in the month on September 29, a Black World War II
veteran named Joseph Ford was chatting at a kitchen table with friends,
including his cousin Linwood Massie, at 2124 Cary Street. Abruptly, the open kitchen
window was illuminated by the flash of gunfire. Ford went to the floor with three
bullets in his chest and Massie was hit in the arm by one of the shots. Bleeding,
Massie ran to get help a block away at the same fire station where Anderson had
collapsed just a few weeks before. Rushing to the house on Cary Street, all the
police found was Ford’s dead body and several 9mm pistol cartridges scattered
on the ground outside.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Richmond police detectives were mystified by the series of
killings. All of the victims were Black. So apparently was the shooter, who
moved without notice or detection through the streets of the predominantly
Black Randolph neighborhood. The cold-blooded malice and utter absence of a
motive in the series of shootings was chillingly inexplicable, and the mystery
made the killing spree even more frightening. “Veteran homicide detectives say
frankly they are perplexed by the Sniper case, one of the most baffling in
Richmond crime annals,” said the <i>Times-Dispatch</i>, the comments only
adding to the fear of twilight in the Randolph neighborhood.</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape
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height:136.5pt;rotation:90;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square'>
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the Richmond Sniper.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Joseph Ford seemed central to the story, but investigators
could not determine how. His shooting was especially mysterious to
investigators since Ford had been shot and wounded by someone a few months
before on May 12 but refused to tell the police what happened or who he thought
shot him. Elam and Towles, the two young men who were wounded in July, heard
the shooter’s voice seconds before they were shot. “Do you know where Joe Ford
lives?” asked the unseen gunman from the shadows. In addition, police
discovered Ford, Mills, and Anderson all were acquainted and were sometimes
seen together. The cops couldn’t make any sense out of the shooter’s pattern or
motives, let alone his connection with his victims. The only common denominator
was the 9mm pistol.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Joseph Ford also knew another Sniper victim, Floyd Morton, a
14-year-old kid who lived with his parents at 1810 Parkwood Avenue, across the
street from Ford’s house. Like Andrew Mills, Morton was found in an alley, this
time behind the 2200 block of Idlewood Avenue. A policeman heading to his shift
stumbled over the body on the morning of December 1, 1962. Morton had been shot
at close range behind the left ear with a 9mm pistol. His grieving family
buried him in East End Cemetery two days later.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc7TAOlDE_1XLTcxx718Z9HEA_vnxnrAK171yjhnX1ZQ5bvBC3JjxcbpI_QviK92uIX3BTZGyamaOqixB_HtuW1y06OCCGxhFcagOpGGKoyrB6oDhzgR3hQxvqXL3vZHzCCLF5NXANcuUa8HkmVfBkFgmdSPNRYBgtP9pxurYTAkOH9EyegysWfGkBjg/s370/sniper_004.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="277" data-original-width="370" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc7TAOlDE_1XLTcxx718Z9HEA_vnxnrAK171yjhnX1ZQ5bvBC3JjxcbpI_QviK92uIX3BTZGyamaOqixB_HtuW1y06OCCGxhFcagOpGGKoyrB6oDhzgR3hQxvqXL3vZHzCCLF5NXANcuUa8HkmVfBkFgmdSPNRYBgtP9pxurYTAkOH9EyegysWfGkBjg/w429-h322/sniper_004.jpg" width="429" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Somewhere in this alley behind the 2200 block of Idlewood
Avenue the body of Floyd Morton was found on December 1, 1962.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The killer became known as “The Sniper” in the press, due to
his chilling exactitude and technique of shooting from ambush. The Richmond <i>News
Leader</i> confirmed, “The phantom killer is being called “The Sniper” by
residents of the area northeast of Byrd Park…” The once-quiet Randolph
neighborhood was becoming famous for random murder. A Georgia newspaper ran an
article from the United Press about the string of murders in Richmond, where
frightened residents of Randolph were quoted as saying they were scared to walk
the sidewalks at night. “You don’t know who might be next.” The randomness of
the shootings terrified many in Richmond. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The use of a 9mm weapon was unusual enough for news articles
to describe victims shot with a “high-power pistol,” because of the caliber. At
the time, 9mm firearms were not used by the American military but had been popular
in Europe since World War I. Today its use is a sadly common occurrence, but the
appearance of spent 9mm pistol cartridges on the streets of Richmond in 1963
was quite uncommon. It indicates the murder weapon was probably one of the
thousands of guns of this caliber brought home from Europe by returning GIs
after World War II.</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"> </span></p>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlmmdDUVp_z36SzCoPJaR8quCQBw7WgimmkDNpeKseKAEw8CjCRLKQ5Jgd5RRiLNzNU7VyLFzK_JRsfiTDJ94mliYWaoYoSVq-CZlZDtKxnoY5WKcPrz8Lml9WqEal_w0rO4lagUfEGAeRMtC53ETZSn8ViLOX7KV2GerwcvVVM-xL9GoceF8rc3hF0Q/s465/sniper_005.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="465" data-original-width="306" height="573" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlmmdDUVp_z36SzCoPJaR8quCQBw7WgimmkDNpeKseKAEw8CjCRLKQ5Jgd5RRiLNzNU7VyLFzK_JRsfiTDJ94mliYWaoYoSVq-CZlZDtKxnoY5WKcPrz8Lml9WqEal_w0rO4lagUfEGAeRMtC53ETZSn8ViLOX7KV2GerwcvVVM-xL9GoceF8rc3hF0Q/w378-h573/sniper_005.jpg" width="378" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A map helpfully provided by the <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i>
plots the location of the Sniper shootings as the count of dead and wounded stood
in January 1963.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Restaurants were empty at night and church attendance began
to fall because of the shootings. The pastors of eight local African American
churches known as the West End Ministers Fellowship Association recognized the
rising fear in their congregations and banded together to collect reward money
for information about the murderer operating in their neighborhood. Dr. R. S.
Anderson, pastor of Fifth Baptist Church on Parkwood Avenue, said local
churches had raised $1000. He stated, “Rarely have people in the area –
spreading from Main Street to the river area, between Lombardy Street and Davis
Avenue – co-operated closer with police.’ Dr. Anderson cautioned Richmonders
that, “This Sniper – we feel like he could cross the line and kill anybody;
this isn’t a race problem.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">As community apprehension skyrocketed, police patrols were
increased in Randolph, especially those of Richmond’s so-called “Phantom Squad”
of undercover policemen. One cop noted, “Look at all those window shades pulled
shut in this block….I can remember when a lot of these houses didn’t even have
shades on the windows.” One family described covering the windows tightly and
watching TV while sitting on the floor. Despite Dr. Anderson’s faith in
community cooperation, “A lot of them are afraid to talk to us,” one cop said.
“They’re afraid the Sniper will see them with us and come back later and shoot
them.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The last of the shootings blamed on Richmond’s Sniper took
place outside the usual setting in Randolph. On March 23, 1963, James Howard
entered the back room of a house at 7 West Marshall Street he shared with
Virginia Mills and turned on a light. Immediately four shots were fired into
the room through the window, three of which ripped through Howard’s chest,
killing him instantly. Shocked, all Mills could say about the shooting was, “It
looked like someone just crouched out there waiting for him to come home.” The
distinctive calling card of the Sniper was found on the ground outside the
window: four 9mm shells.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">By the end of 1963, Richmond’s Sniper shooter had killed five
and wounded seven people. The police knew the robbery was not a motive for the
killings but weren’t sure what motivated the random murderers. “Did the man who
did the shootings, known as the Sniper, chart a course to mow down a choice few,
and has he completed the job? Or did he aim his gun at random?” speculated the <i>Times-Dispatch</i>
in an end-of-year summary of crime in Richmond. “Some policemen believe the
Sniper may already be in police custody, arrested on some other far-removed
charge, and that his role in the shootings has gone undetected…”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">While Richmond cops worked these and other unsolved murders,
the trail went cold. The unknown shooter was either dead, locked up or simply
moved on to some other city with his secrets safe. If he was still here in
Richmond, his dark agenda was fulfilled, and he ceased his patrol of Richmond
at night. In January 1965, Richmond Bureau Inspector Frank Duling and Sergeant
Joseph Brooks were assigned to compile and revisit Richmond’s cold cases, one
of which dated back to 1940 (see the <i>Shockoe Examiner’s</i> exploration of
that unsolved murder of a Richmond cop <a href="https://theshockoeexaminer.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-unsolved-murder-of-richmond-police.html">here</a>.)The police said there was always a possibility of developing new information,
but nothing more was heard of the Sniper. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">With time, residents of Randolph emerged from their homes
and once again socialized in the evenings, feeling like there was less chance
the killer was still among them. While the shadowed alleys and vacant lots of
Richmond were still dangerous, the thought of this determined and implacable
killer who had gripped the city in fear faded. Years, and decades passed, and the
mysterious man who once moved through alleys and quietly watched illuminated
rooms was largely forgotten. The Sniper now lived only in newspaper clippings, police
files, and the memories of those who were inexplicably wounded or had lost a
family member. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">That man who once held that pistol would be eighty years old
by now, and if he’s still alive, somewhere in his mind he has compartmentalized
some terrible memories. Likewise, buried in the woods, or deep in the James
River, or in somebody’s sock drawer is a 9mm semi-automatic pistol with a dark
history. With the ever-increasing distance that separates us from sniper shootings, the chance of ever solving these slayings is impossible. The rage or
insanity or whatever it was that drove the man known as the Sniper to stalk
Richmonders in the early 1960s has been forever lost to time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">-Selden</span><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>Shockoe Examiner Staff - see bottom of blog entry for the specific author.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02822340615768561691noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495295138304264877.post-9176683386844221272022-12-15T10:16:00.001-05:002022-12-15T10:58:31.691-05:00Richmond’s Lost Auditorium<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">There is an empty space in Richmond, a mammoth room big
enough to have a battalion of soldiers marching through it. It once rang with
dance music, shouted sergeant’s commands, and the roar of basketball crowds. Its
main window, large enough to be in a cathedral, has been hidden behind
sheets of plywood for decades. Hardly anyone knows this vast room in Downtown exists
or what it was, although it is hidden in plain sight. Let’s take a look at
Richmond’s once-popular Blues Armory drill hall, high above Marshall Street.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS1zGYCRHMt2n_EFH-g7_wr0RHkMnz4K5LcOObMxXhqk3pd7lWszcjgSBF8BH9ZemGvJnkq-3yrhW-SCeo-gQv-4H6YjaozRoGA57NgVh9bTfCV-HLWCd5BiQm98Vp1GTDdh_VWi8Zi5O-1a3wR_ETCNuT_bYethB1Rs9nAVMyHLqZ57ufpS6Dmfmfkw/s528/selden_001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="317" data-original-width="528" height="341" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS1zGYCRHMt2n_EFH-g7_wr0RHkMnz4K5LcOObMxXhqk3pd7lWszcjgSBF8BH9ZemGvJnkq-3yrhW-SCeo-gQv-4H6YjaozRoGA57NgVh9bTfCV-HLWCd5BiQm98Vp1GTDdh_VWi8Zi5O-1a3wR_ETCNuT_bYethB1Rs9nAVMyHLqZ57ufpS6Dmfmfkw/w567-h341/selden_001.jpg" width="567" /></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">An architectural drawing of the Marshall Street side of
Richmond’s 1910 Light Infantry Blues Armory. The building was planned as a combination
of military headquarters, city market, and entertainment venue. <i>Library of
Virginia</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">For decades before the establishment of the modern National
Guard, individual cities sponsored their own military units. Social events
consumed a lot of the attention of these men’s organizations, but members were
still soldiers, subject to activation by the Governor, and still had to
practice, march, and learn to use various weapons. Drill competitions became
quite competitive, and militias like the Richmond Light Infantry Blues had to
practice formations. The marching band needed space to rehearse their performances.
Indoor practice space, or drill halls, that could accommodate hundreds of
marching men and yet had no internal roof supports to break up the formations were
rare.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Because of this, the planners who were designing the new
armory for the Richmond Blues incorporated a drill hall in the top of the
building under the building’s massive metal roof. The Blues organization had
been drilling in the streets until 1907 when a fire consumed their meeting hall
and all of their records and equipment. A modern, concrete, fireproof armory
with an indoor drill hall were among the first requirements for the new
building. The new facility, designed by Washington, D.C. architects Averill
& Hall, opened in 1910. Under the arching roof supported by metal beams,
the drill hall was a breathtakingly large space, lit by skylights and a huge,
south-facing window.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnvvcA0Qpr3VnB6gJnfLlpH9Fz2_-Nl3bOhFiCiulEmX4-lOVkYv382cNLU6GiDD-UcnLCms6tnOJW-ehFu6jNReemJZa0QU6nOyfA6oRks9JviZaOa6YiaThSAHX1EEkRhPm1AX0SgLSUQ2d1uVPEZd5AVsFIhTOqbJGFvhoSIyySa8ZBsNLz3GlpEQ/s423/selden_002.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="335" data-original-width="423" height="473" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnvvcA0Qpr3VnB6gJnfLlpH9Fz2_-Nl3bOhFiCiulEmX4-lOVkYv382cNLU6GiDD-UcnLCms6tnOJW-ehFu6jNReemJZa0QU6nOyfA6oRks9JviZaOa6YiaThSAHX1EEkRhPm1AX0SgLSUQ2d1uVPEZd5AVsFIhTOqbJGFvhoSIyySa8ZBsNLz3GlpEQ/w599-h473/selden_002.jpg" width="599" /></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A vintage view of the drill hall here set up for a
basketball game. Note the skylights and the illumination afforded by a series
of small windows, and the huge window on Marshall Street. <i>Richmond
Times-Dispatch</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Generations of Richmonders were well acquainted with this auditorium. Dances, balls, band recitals, drill
exhibitions, and banquets were scheduled at the Blues Armory almost every week
throughout the 1920s and 1930s. High School basketball teams found a home at
the Blues, and the drill hall served as a central venue for teams from all over
the region. There was a Banker’s Basketball League, where women’s teams from
area banks played against each other, like the First National Bank’s squad taking
on the ladies of the Federal Reserve. Great rivalries, like the University of
Richmond and the University of Virginia, met on the court at the Blues Armory and
fought for championships. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">In 1924, the drill hall was made available for indoor
tennis, and two doubles courts and two singles courts were laid off on the
wooden floor. A traveling tennis exhibition came to Richmond and more seating
had to be brought in to supplement the 3,500 seats usually available. A
Richmond sportswriter noted approvingly at the time, “The huge gym floor not
only provides an excellent court, but the movements of the players can be seen
from almost any angle.” </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8RVAUE9qQuu6plj3DxMkLmAK_BdD9f5FZ2BOwzPisr9c9M2mG7b_F2MF_C4CfhvUq6YIhovzgnk8bwI4M3m33r-tgm1huEvrgtkPr_j9Ltl5QwL8i_R6gX6OHKWBHOW09wtv8517PSFZdKRRLOnI6OJaVRRYY0HKaE12Qp4-E5meRDMru6L6O8-rllw/s355/selden_003.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="355" height="408" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8RVAUE9qQuu6plj3DxMkLmAK_BdD9f5FZ2BOwzPisr9c9M2mG7b_F2MF_C4CfhvUq6YIhovzgnk8bwI4M3m33r-tgm1huEvrgtkPr_j9Ltl5QwL8i_R6gX6OHKWBHOW09wtv8517PSFZdKRRLOnI6OJaVRRYY0HKaE12Qp4-E5meRDMru6L6O8-rllw/w544-h408/selden_003.jpg" width="544" /></a><br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p> </o:p>The afternoon sun on the Marshall Street side of the Blues
Armory.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">War intruded on the social and sporting whirl of the
facility both in World War II, and again in 1950 as America embarked on the
Korean War. With each conflict, the drill hall was closed to the public and used
for strictly military purposes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">(See the <i><b>Shockoe Examiner</b></i>’s account of an Army training
accident at the Blues Armory <a href="https://theshockoeexaminer.blogspot.com/2021/05/last-bombardment-of-church-hill-1950.html">here</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">As late as 1961 their marching drills were still being
performed in the hall, but the arched roof no longer rang with music or the applause
of approving audiences, cheering on their favorite basketball teams or tennis players.
Gone were the exhibits and presentations, the banquets, and the ceremonies. In
1968 there were fundamental changes in the National Guard, local militias like
the Richmond Blues were disbanded, and the armory was closed. Perhaps it was at
this point the giant drill hall window was boarded up, the skylights
eliminated, the thousands of feet of wooden floor removed, and for decades, darkness
and silence dominated the enormous drill hall.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeu3eg3WKmBZpUOqdzP7jV1YHSG9Qz_mm4oOv4sru0Qx_rLjtxFM1zfpE0dcS3M0jzZxRpK70XGWtXaeCsfIJZriTiHU75cM_9EMDvejuK-OqMrIFvEgUNncjZB8PSbsNCnC-ocMyxR9dCKF0buB9mnMVOLAxhuSVTGOca_ziLZom5RUgR00xBxNS9hw/s512/selden_004.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="512" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeu3eg3WKmBZpUOqdzP7jV1YHSG9Qz_mm4oOv4sru0Qx_rLjtxFM1zfpE0dcS3M0jzZxRpK70XGWtXaeCsfIJZriTiHU75cM_9EMDvejuK-OqMrIFvEgUNncjZB8PSbsNCnC-ocMyxR9dCKF0buB9mnMVOLAxhuSVTGOca_ziLZom5RUgR00xBxNS9hw/w564-h422/selden_004.jpg" width="564" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The former drill hall as it appeared in 2015. The vast
wooden floor has been removed, exposing the reenforced concrete under it. In
the distance are the boarded south window and some faded murals on the walls.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Remarkably, the same architects that designed the 1985 Sixth
Street Marketplace did not include the former drill hall in their plans, even
though it could have easily been accessed from the “Chrystal Palace” that
filled Sixth Street. Hopefully, the last remains of that sad exercise in urban
planning will be removed soon and Sixth Street will open as a pedestrian space,
once again allowing inspection of the west side of the armory and an
appreciation of its unique style. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL9YkBQ5N5Jo7kolq2Esf0OiQjhg4igj4iKJAXf_VYT2q6Z4weqKiJllSidzouwVhyJnV2L68PrkDDDYPB5IXbOrFv3gMDK53b9UCvfu58p29v2lgUTNT1LETfN7gptlelNSBtk3F6XAHVzY8BFOeT1kuf_fTodUcrjpgohfaaKj98Hxq-IrbqFuWOrQ/s445/selden_005.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="358" data-original-width="445" height="507" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL9YkBQ5N5Jo7kolq2Esf0OiQjhg4igj4iKJAXf_VYT2q6Z4weqKiJllSidzouwVhyJnV2L68PrkDDDYPB5IXbOrFv3gMDK53b9UCvfu58p29v2lgUTNT1LETfN7gptlelNSBtk3F6XAHVzY8BFOeT1kuf_fTodUcrjpgohfaaKj98Hxq-IrbqFuWOrQ/w632-h507/selden_005.jpg" width="632" /></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The Blues Armory when Sixth Street really was a marketplace
and vegetable and flower stalls filled the arcades. On the right is the
municipal Meat Market with its distinctive bulls’ heads along the parapet. In
the background note the huge armory window. <i>Library of Virginia</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikGi7sh_BIjlGlTjMZ8htPU7r0Zq7Zr3s8TVJF8Z2HuVfcrhESjwwWBeqx1DFI-Yu_OKg_lUdEyBUvCZyyEeWEBYbINEKdLUabY6V7ppG-jKSZcYGuRSraXmiEAJXSekwbChgs6hU8sRLrk4RBoKa5EAX19BAP_IYwmBLsX5_7BONvBmuAo0IbMJAEwQ/s436/selden_006.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="260" data-original-width="436" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikGi7sh_BIjlGlTjMZ8htPU7r0Zq7Zr3s8TVJF8Z2HuVfcrhESjwwWBeqx1DFI-Yu_OKg_lUdEyBUvCZyyEeWEBYbINEKdLUabY6V7ppG-jKSZcYGuRSraXmiEAJXSekwbChgs6hU8sRLrk4RBoKa5EAX19BAP_IYwmBLsX5_7BONvBmuAo0IbMJAEwQ/w617-h368/selden_006.jpg" width="617" /></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A photograph of the Marshall Street side of the armory. The
line of small arched windows and everything above them is the drill hall space.
<i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Various fuzzy proposals have been created that will result
in the demolition of the Richmond Coliseum and redevelopment of a twenty-block
area around it, as outlined in the document with the stunningly bland name, “City
Center Plan.” Happily, the destruction of the Blues Armory does not seem to be
included in these visions the future of a large part of Downtown Richmond. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Today’s architects would do well to rediscover the drill
hall and its potential as a more intimate and interesting venue, especially in
contrast to the utterly soulless glass and chrome Richmond Convention Center. Refloored
and painted, with skylights and windows restored, the space could be a
showplace and its arching steel roof beams become a signature motif. The roar
of happy crowds would echo up and down Marshall Street again, and at night that
brilliantly lit south window a signal that the Blues Armory and its once-hidden
auditorium was again filled with life and contributing to culture in Richmond.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">-Selden</span></p>Shockoe Examiner Staff - see bottom of blog entry for the specific author.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02822340615768561691noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495295138304264877.post-71258285734818972542022-12-03T10:56:00.003-05:002022-12-07T10:23:56.808-05:00A Study in Demolition by Neglect: Virginia Union University’s Richmond Community Hospital Building – 1209 Overbrook Road<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Demolition by neglect is defined as a technique where an
inconveniently historic or culturally valuable structure is deliberately ignored
and, with time, reduced to ruin. This allows the indifferent entity that owns
it to then proceed with demolition, and, ironically, public safety is often cited
as the justification. Demolition by neglect is in action today as the City of
Richmond oversees the terminal deterioration of its Westham Train Station. This
is the same technique that left the City’s Leigh Street Armory (now the Black
History Museum) a roofless ruin in the middle of Jackson Ward for a generation.
Apathetic functionaries and unimaginative leadership use this cheap tool to
create vacant lots where important buildings, homes, and sometimes, entire
neighborhoods once stood.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhDlnCyynzhHXpyWoYnsPKfdk1JLkBnq6XXE3VnuN-5oRSLl6UM-wJVKnc4DZauVpGSXgy1idVTTRVDWjQVxXsEXH8NoJFj2IHwXJFrGw76ePC-9TnE2ypNddCCV50yXcOiYcs_YOPuLdriNpk8gVk235dStS9Nk1TkN0rwwEfMdtiK6vdCR8fa4GlLA/s2048/unnamed%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="468" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhDlnCyynzhHXpyWoYnsPKfdk1JLkBnq6XXE3VnuN-5oRSLl6UM-wJVKnc4DZauVpGSXgy1idVTTRVDWjQVxXsEXH8NoJFj2IHwXJFrGw76ePC-9TnE2ypNddCCV50yXcOiYcs_YOPuLdriNpk8gVk235dStS9Nk1TkN0rwwEfMdtiK6vdCR8fa4GlLA/w624-h468/unnamed%20(1).jpg" width="624" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The building in 2003, freshly
boarded up and in relatively good condition, with a sign in the front yard
promising its reuse. Now abandoned for twenty years, the building has
declined during the “stewardship” of its negligent owner, Virginia Union University,
and may be in danger of being demolished.</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The former Richmond Community Hospital building at 1209
Overbrook Road is one of these endangered sites, a building rich with history and
emblematic of the perseverance of the African American community in Richmond.
Properly interpreted, the renovated building could be a valuable addition to a
neglected part of the VUU campus. Instead, it has been allowed to rot for
decades, slowly decaying and now not even the boarded windows are secure. The
former hospital is facing a new threat in the careless hands of Virginia Union
University. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz84RVGee2iVRHHg9eH7bRYTG7pP_hza6qJK_kophoV2czr172ryYyqZWZfLwOVx-FyceBXsbrCvCNMWKe_QvA1H7pYXOT0iWDTZvA7mzbXrXKf1Vuo3LuqZmUDZQC_Vt6p0IwEBCa9wCoyCdI7CVuAoQRBz26X7QMGakBZF_dPiQ606szoVkBfC7k4A/s383/bad_001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="287" data-original-width="383" height="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz84RVGee2iVRHHg9eH7bRYTG7pP_hza6qJK_kophoV2czr172ryYyqZWZfLwOVx-FyceBXsbrCvCNMWKe_QvA1H7pYXOT0iWDTZvA7mzbXrXKf1Vuo3LuqZmUDZQC_Vt6p0IwEBCa9wCoyCdI7CVuAoQRBz26X7QMGakBZF_dPiQ606szoVkBfC7k4A/w619-h464/bad_001.jpg" width="619" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The former Richmond Community Hospital building as it
appears today.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The efforts to create the Richmond Community Hospital began
in 1927, with a bold proposal to raise $100,000 from the Black community and
$100,000 from Richmond Whites. This appeal across racial lines was unusual in
segregated Richmond. A full-page advertisement in a 1927 newspaper made it
clear that the hospital project hinged on the White community stepping up and it
made “an appeal to the conscience and to the humanity of the White Citizens of
this Community.” </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ogEKKJ6vx2aJju_21p9L3TTOdvMqQNK0FJRDL3335TUGjGyz9sgNIOrgQembeWRblokCrblEzOXpE_diryr8dXIbGs8KnM18pTEAGbLNK0ulMRZZj2JVENubTV6xcc4Qvjxb03kyebhk_FZEAEbw8Sazfp39mC9W-D9a6MFMk77w25G5xgicglkktw/s334/bad_002.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="254" data-original-width="334" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ogEKKJ6vx2aJju_21p9L3TTOdvMqQNK0FJRDL3335TUGjGyz9sgNIOrgQembeWRblokCrblEzOXpE_diryr8dXIbGs8KnM18pTEAGbLNK0ulMRZZj2JVENubTV6xcc4Qvjxb03kyebhk_FZEAEbw8Sazfp39mC9W-D9a6MFMk77w25G5xgicglkktw/w608-h462/bad_002.jpg" width="608" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The Richmond Community Hospital at 1209 Overbrook Road,
pictured when it opened in 1934.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Donations and letters of endorsement came in from all
quarters, starting with Virginia Governor Harry F. Byrd. With his history as a
staunch segregationist, it is probably not surprising that he would encourage a
“colored” hospital separate from the extensive facilities available to Whites. The
Governor and his motives aside, a heartfelt effort was made across Richmond for
the new hospital, with pledges coming in from both the poorest Black
neighborhoods and from the grandees of Cary Street Road, from Jackson Ward to
Monument Avenue. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9DyCyJDzm-YAQ7QJ9IlwWWiiYB3fe65z0uK4TS9HY_rFnx0H2gT_DNvYZGK3n98DILtPqw0BmXVusXUv6DHYOMxV3xMCoH31HDvIqCvLvUjfCB18-3is81PUEKLM7_2bWtZWhckmzPwCVpsGd8AvWoCYAOhLcoR3HpuGecjbSVHsaTbRAV3xLTt0xcg/s296/bad_003.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="222" data-original-width="296" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9DyCyJDzm-YAQ7QJ9IlwWWiiYB3fe65z0uK4TS9HY_rFnx0H2gT_DNvYZGK3n98DILtPqw0BmXVusXUv6DHYOMxV3xMCoH31HDvIqCvLvUjfCB18-3is81PUEKLM7_2bWtZWhckmzPwCVpsGd8AvWoCYAOhLcoR3HpuGecjbSVHsaTbRAV3xLTt0xcg/w616-h462/bad_003.jpg" width="616" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The cornerstone marks the building date in 1932 and that of
the predecessor hospital in 1902.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Unfortunately, the Great Depression intervened. Pledges
boldly made in the late 1920s withered in the uncertainty of a declining
economy as massive unemployment swept through Richmond and the rest of the
country. By 1930, only $26,000 was in the fund for the new hospital. The work
continued, though, and in November 1932 the cornerstone was laid with Masonic
ritual and ceremony. One side of the stone records the construction of the
hospital and on the other side an earlier date records the establishment in
1902 of the Sarah G. Jones Memorial Hospital, the predecessor of Richmond
Community Hospital.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">One official overseeing the hospital project glumly
admitted, “This movement was going over satisfactorily until the closing of our
banks in March 1933, which paralyzed our efforts to collect on subscriptions.” The
Richmond public rose to the occasion, and there were many fund drives and
public events to raise money and draw attention to the mission and the plight
of the Community Hospital. To prevent the building from being auctioned in
early 1934, the African American Southern Aid Society Insurance Company raised
money by sponsoring a show on a vacant lot at Ninth and Broad that including
Phantom, the Trick Horse and the Hamm Brothers musical comedy act. The National
Association of Letter Carriers held a benefit dance at the Roseland Ballroom. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggrwmEJap_lJkwUj_x0ALxzOMeWWaXO_XG-tvpyNNtAIbk9XAObqfHLn4-CfzaEJyc8vdRDDCft1NAj26mveTHPagNerkwRsh7qWH3xXSHzxtrMiAyI7jP9t2Iwf8OOYUwKIRQx2wRa3nuNLHPU6U8mwHobEPnMnpuuhIiT1WCXmHs6exEyywc5uAeRw/s317/bad_004.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="309" data-original-width="317" height="574" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggrwmEJap_lJkwUj_x0ALxzOMeWWaXO_XG-tvpyNNtAIbk9XAObqfHLn4-CfzaEJyc8vdRDDCft1NAj26mveTHPagNerkwRsh7qWH3xXSHzxtrMiAyI7jP9t2Iwf8OOYUwKIRQx2wRa3nuNLHPU6U8mwHobEPnMnpuuhIiT1WCXmHs6exEyywc5uAeRw/w589-h574/bad_004.jpg" width="589" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The crumbling and boarded entrance of the former hospital
building.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Benefit exhibitions and dances were held in Jackson Ward,
and Church Hill, and in South Richmond. A woman’s boxing show was staged in
1934 at the “Colored Recreation Center Building” at St. Paul and Charity
Streets featuring a match between a Miss Maitland and a Miss Wheeldin with
“boxing and acrobatic dancing.” White people, too, would be accommodated, so
they need not stay at home. Whites were also encouraged to attend “Richmond
After Dark,” a musical revue to raise money for medical equipment, featuring Virginia
Leech, “World’s Greatest Female Tap dancer,” and Richmond’s own tapdancing
star, Snowball Crump.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">During one of the fundraisers, a newspaper published an
exquisitely Richmond statement that called for donations while still managing
to thread the complexities of this segregated city: “This progressive,
enlightened, and cultural community cannot go backward or do less than other
communities for its Negroes. The solution to the problem is a Negro hospital
where White and Negro physicians and surgeons may treat Negro patients. There
is no other hospital in Richmond, where such an arrangement can be perfected.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoTCBPf2ySj2yo8jnxaZ5Z9uJXWYZskfEmtrEOKqXwxJy-ohZ0pXxvZACgdMkIphRjvSDhqZzSMtwxDJmZTUQxmHAEF6yBbcI7HWhJQiVf-UaumDeNjDD0mLPgLOMeWanHpEn5FY6bNhUzX9OoNzHQJH49y_FFdpXQU0ytVzAJkGoIy6lLksVc-BL42g/s456/bad_005.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="219" data-original-width="456" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoTCBPf2ySj2yo8jnxaZ5Z9uJXWYZskfEmtrEOKqXwxJy-ohZ0pXxvZACgdMkIphRjvSDhqZzSMtwxDJmZTUQxmHAEF6yBbcI7HWhJQiVf-UaumDeNjDD0mLPgLOMeWanHpEn5FY6bNhUzX9OoNzHQJH49y_FFdpXQU0ytVzAJkGoIy6lLksVc-BL42g/w625-h301/bad_005.jpg" width="625" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">An advertisement for a musical revue in 1935 benefiting the
hospital X-ray department.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The Richmond Community hospital opened on June 4, 1934. It
immediately began to serve the people it was constructed by, and for, and is
among the buildings in Richmond truly “built by Blacks.” By the end of 1948,
the hospital reported during the year it had 24 beds and served 1300 patients,
including 538 surgeries, 438 obstetrics cases, and 317 births. The facility was
well managed, with almost all of the costs being paid for by patient fees and a
$5,000 grant from the City of Richmond covering the remaining operational
expenses. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUzCD-Agu3s4Uia42igd_wVzxpbNwU_D2WbB64vW1qfGBWPBlSLr5MbsIcLjLExu8NiuocvCGrENTTsdGJ0MD3ZzDDAUoCH8J7AWwbekLp2kNgIhRuTjdhl9PIstQINeQxHj634i6wi-b3M4FBDgVS9JaTCpRZEXadkP35gO0ytQceN2y6Tpi0DPWyKQ/s480/bad_006.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="329" data-original-width="480" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUzCD-Agu3s4Uia42igd_wVzxpbNwU_D2WbB64vW1qfGBWPBlSLr5MbsIcLjLExu8NiuocvCGrENTTsdGJ0MD3ZzDDAUoCH8J7AWwbekLp2kNgIhRuTjdhl9PIstQINeQxHj634i6wi-b3M4FBDgVS9JaTCpRZEXadkP35gO0ytQceN2y6Tpi0DPWyKQ/w614-h420/bad_006.jpg" width="614" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The Richmond Community Hospital building in 2007 when it
appeared in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Built-Blacks-American-Architecture-Neighborhoods/dp/1596294590/ref=sr_1_1?crid=32C6CHT3U6XUY&keywords=built+by+blacks&qid=1670082470&sprefix=built+by+blacks%2Caps%2C282&sr=8-1">“Built by Blacks: African American Architecture and Neighborhoods in Richmond.”</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Richmond Community Hospital moved to a new location in
Church Hill in March 1980. Faced with a housing shortage, Virginia Union converted
the former hospital building on Overbrook Road into dorm rooms to accommodate
thirty women. After that temporary use, it was boarded up and has sat abandoned
by its irresponsible owner for decades. It was examined in 2007 for the book,
“Built by Blacks,” and appeared to be in the same condition then as now:
completely neglected and deteriorating. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape
id="Picture_x0020_6" o:spid="_x0000_i1027" type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:342pt;
height:256.5pt;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square'>
<v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\SUSANM~1.KEL\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image013.jpg"
o:title=""/>
</v:shape><![endif]--></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVibfl0XRpqp8st8UgGLfx-6cjNoXU0hQeTPstScIYKUX9C5-K7L8u5Q6AcP9AMNHh6zWqAWnzh0pBG2BciQFVs28-R7flO_YxLEYzYewVSWkA8glZ4DviOsc97gBWR2vN7FJeCXIAROEAagHkpCaYW6miT1u_7eCo0nNUTQU_TIRKK9C2xlltzwf39w/s456/bad_007.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="342" data-original-width="456" height="447" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVibfl0XRpqp8st8UgGLfx-6cjNoXU0hQeTPstScIYKUX9C5-K7L8u5Q6AcP9AMNHh6zWqAWnzh0pBG2BciQFVs28-R7flO_YxLEYzYewVSWkA8glZ4DviOsc97gBWR2vN7FJeCXIAROEAagHkpCaYW6miT1u_7eCo0nNUTQU_TIRKK9C2xlltzwf39w/w595-h447/bad_007.jpg" width="595" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The rear of the deteriorating Community Hospital building.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape
id="Picture_x0020_7" o:spid="_x0000_i1026" type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:196pt;
height:147pt;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square'>
<v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\SUSANM~1.KEL\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image015.jpg"
o:title=""/>
</v:shape><![endif]--> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr8AB9EU6rBVnJTY1Mu_Giefg73BRbDexFjbpl7WPQnZbSUJU94s9GJ4tds98lh1ubVQ7b6G0L6Rkh1UMBURw-ZwmWCwsDQDYchhz7YbLoi_NBurvS2yNQ7KujvdwlHqAWL_FYmPA8Xatq-E8d8549dzFh3OOh2vKF8kn5WScqVhsEwi252upEvQ7eXQ/s545/bad_008.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="193" data-original-width="545" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr8AB9EU6rBVnJTY1Mu_Giefg73BRbDexFjbpl7WPQnZbSUJU94s9GJ4tds98lh1ubVQ7b6G0L6Rkh1UMBURw-ZwmWCwsDQDYchhz7YbLoi_NBurvS2yNQ7KujvdwlHqAWL_FYmPA8Xatq-E8d8549dzFh3OOh2vKF8kn5WScqVhsEwi252upEvQ7eXQ/w672-h238/bad_008.jpg" width="672" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Two open windows in the basement rear of the former hospital,
making it easy to enter the unsecured building.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">As part of its mission statement on its website, Virginia
Union makes the firm statement: “Virginia Union University is nourished by its
African American heritage…” It is a pity this is not true concerning buildings
the school owns, buildings rich with African American heritage <i>on campus</i>
that are being allowed to decay and disappear through the inaction of Union
itself. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Richmond Community Hospital was once the symbol of hope and
progress for so many African Americans. The idea that this structure, a
birthplace, a refuge, and a source of pride is being treated in this fashion by
a historically Black university is cruelly ironic. Nevertheless, if we act, Richmonders
need no longer watch as our historic resources are ignored, squandered, and
destroyed, and if we object, our institutions will no longer be complicit in
the erasure of Richmond’s sometimes complicated, often painful, but always
interesting past.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The President of Virginia Union University is Dr. <strong><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Hakim J. Lucas, and his
email address is HJLucas@VUU.EDU</span></strong>. Email Dr. Lucas’ and ask him
why this important building is being destroyed by demolition by neglect and
urge him to secure the former Richmond Community Hospital building from
trespassers. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><o:p> - </o:p>Selden</span></p>Shockoe Examiner Staff - see bottom of blog entry for the specific author.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02822340615768561691noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495295138304264877.post-83406757142444264592022-10-23T10:42:00.004-04:002022-10-23T10:43:23.555-04:00Hardboiled<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> For many new Richmonders and
visitors to our city, the idea that there was once an enormous walled prison in
the middle of downtown is unbelievable. The fact that the sprawling assembly of
buildings was utterly erased and replaced by nothing more threatening than a grass
meadow makes it especially hard to visualize that vast warehouse of criminals
and misery. From 1804 to 1990, the Virginia State Penitentiary saw thousands of
inmates come and go, and many never left the grim old facility alive, dying of
old age, murder, or execution by the Commonwealth. The vast majority served
their time and were released. There was a third, even more desperate option other
than legal release or death, and that was escape. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH2oW2fwEJrspH_SgbqiHfWIa_c39xIq06q6x0F9RCvrdcWMXfg0LnliyRL9gnnnHvTBs1QqcfGf0Bz9Z0cxIZXdomRRbhQV683lV2B1cttOKu32EjUEGLnwjoYuEUvG5gW-tipF7yDxhQ8wHjSn3wBx41sUziPaGaK6qAPy-qteJ9J6rYbFHUo099EA/s335/crime_001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="335" height="373" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH2oW2fwEJrspH_SgbqiHfWIa_c39xIq06q6x0F9RCvrdcWMXfg0LnliyRL9gnnnHvTBs1QqcfGf0Bz9Z0cxIZXdomRRbhQV683lV2B1cttOKu32EjUEGLnwjoYuEUvG5gW-tipF7yDxhQ8wHjSn3wBx41sUziPaGaK6qAPy-qteJ9J6rYbFHUo099EA/w556-h373/crime_001.jpg" width="556" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large; text-align: left;">The Virginia State Penitentiary in Richmond as it appeared in 1982. Belvedere St. is at the top of the photograph and the Downtown Expressway ran parallel to the northern wall of the facility.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Ralph Scott “Stony” Stonebreaker
(whose very name conjures up visions of chain gangs) was born in a tiny
crossroads town in north-east West Virginia in 1910, one of twelve siblings. He
enlisted in the U.S. Army, and the 1930 Census found him serving at Fort Eustis
in Newport News. Army life apparently held no more attraction for Stonebreaker
than farming in rural West Virginia, and he and another soldier, Charles
Panella, embarked on a crime spree in late 1931. Stonebreaker and Panella
committed a series of four robberies on the Peninsula and two gas station
holdups in Richmond. The authorities in Warwick County commented at the time
that they would be glad when the pair were taken to the State Penitentiary
because they were among a group of twelve inmates who almost escaped from the
County jail.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"> </span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLtYGk9p1hIECMNbOrvly9-7dr1zVSaCAcJXQ0FgnLm4UbwMQjrhTUhft0WrnyP8dBYZvIZg3CKcIFGuJXxYgXp8_7oUHmioY1aLE32372QnHbsCXv_kw9lBHDfy14v8zXRjr2HmTem1MUj9RybEgSyppUJRHL8vcWYYbs3J5Je3IArb4QZaPMBHP1TA/s205/crime_002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="205" data-original-width="110" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLtYGk9p1hIECMNbOrvly9-7dr1zVSaCAcJXQ0FgnLm4UbwMQjrhTUhft0WrnyP8dBYZvIZg3CKcIFGuJXxYgXp8_7oUHmioY1aLE32372QnHbsCXv_kw9lBHDfy14v8zXRjr2HmTem1MUj9RybEgSyppUJRHL8vcWYYbs3J5Je3IArb4QZaPMBHP1TA/w215-h400/crime_002.jpg" title="Ralph Scott “Stony” Stonebreaker. Stony finally managed to escape prison, but not in the way he expected." width="215" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large; text-align: left;">Ralph Scott “Stony” Stonebreaker. Stony finally managed to escape prison, but not in the way he expected.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> <span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Stonebreaker’s accomplice, Charles Panella,
age 23, was an Italian immigrant with a definite distaste for detention but
faced a combined fifty-eight-year term for his role in the heists with
Stonebreaker. Just two months into his sentence on January 25, 1932, Panella was
out on the prison yard and spotted a half-inch electrical conduit running up
one of the Penitentiary’s tall brick walls. A former boxer, the agile Panella
deftly climbed up and over the wall using the conduit while a hundred cheering
inmates watched him, then scrambled down a barred window on the other side, scaled
the outer wall, and fled under a fusillade of shots from the guard towers. He
was last seen running down an alley near Fourth and Canal Streets but
disappeared from Richmond entirely despite a massive search across the city. It
would be three months before Panella was caught by a cop in Hampton, having
robbed a business and then hijacked a getaway car at gunpoint. He was returned
to the Penitentiary.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyU0SatyZ6W96eMcXKkYOBunlRJPW94zwW4VPFQEvD3ar_8KPmJX3eCzlBa03dNpVr0XLpc4yb4lxXnjS1A7RsNmSbH0hSE0kA6wWTzwNJbMcGsRNDHUJeE3dCwAt_99NaJuCEA6X3AIRBaTJbsrJ12qxrlz8wqbhWJYbY2TibqisLPD4mn_wKxX2Rbg/s206/crime_003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="206" data-original-width="122" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyU0SatyZ6W96eMcXKkYOBunlRJPW94zwW4VPFQEvD3ar_8KPmJX3eCzlBa03dNpVr0XLpc4yb4lxXnjS1A7RsNmSbH0hSE0kA6wWTzwNJbMcGsRNDHUJeE3dCwAt_99NaJuCEA6X3AIRBaTJbsrJ12qxrlz8wqbhWJYbY2TibqisLPD4mn_wKxX2Rbg/w379-h640/crime_003.jpg" width="379" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, "sans-serif"; text-align: left; text-indent: 48px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Charles Panella, Stonebreaker’s partner in a crime spree.</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Two months later and perhaps impressed by
Panella’s ability to literally run away from the Penitentiary and get away with
it, Panella’s pal “Stony” Stonebreaker decided it was his turn to take a chance
at freedom. Robert McDonald was convicted of murder and arson after killing a
man in Louisa County then burning his house down around the body. On June 22,
1932, he and Stonebreaker were returning from the mess hall when they spotted a
prison truck parked inside the walls, partially loaded with sheet steel to be
made into license plates. Jumping in the truck, they started it and barreled
across the prison grounds toward the massive wooden gate. When they hit it burst
open with the weight of the heavy truck and the two convicts plowed through the
gate and down Spring Street, onto Belvedere, and turned south. Abandoning the
truck, the pair ran through the Oregon Hill neighborhood until they got to the Hollywood
Cemetery fence along South Cherry Street.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5MChQUVjMvZqjYFVnqmcv5EwWcKUZrjfvs0AdmUmcdiLpkTMcdcXnxhfaP0C-ugoT15kr4aZ-78V2Kelsh0iAkKKzOZKad-EuUxU-io0GsTjzWLUMEayTsz7_B69PMkDwp1exAujha0EKv9KgpmiPYPuZnlNZNP58E4eE6ivJm-edQzmFVodZLNOcYA/s224/crime_004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="224" data-original-width="165" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5MChQUVjMvZqjYFVnqmcv5EwWcKUZrjfvs0AdmUmcdiLpkTMcdcXnxhfaP0C-ugoT15kr4aZ-78V2Kelsh0iAkKKzOZKad-EuUxU-io0GsTjzWLUMEayTsz7_B69PMkDwp1exAujha0EKv9KgpmiPYPuZnlNZNP58E4eE6ivJm-edQzmFVodZLNOcYA/w471-h640/crime_004.jpg" width="471" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, "sans-serif"; text-align: left; text-indent: 48px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Robert McDonald, who with Stonebreaker rammed their way out of the Pen</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.6667px; text-align: left; text-indent: 48px;">.</span></td></tr></tbody></table></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">There was a Confederate reunion going on in
Richmond that week, and the two escapees were spotted in the distance trotting
through the tombstones and trees by visitors touring the Hollywood Cemetery Confederate
section. Dozens of armed Penitentiary guards and personnel flooded the cemetery
looking for the pair. By 2:00 PM they still had not been located, and Prison
Superintendent Major Rice Youell sent word to the prison in Goochland County to
send bloodhounds to Richmond to find Stonebreaker and McDonald. The dogs
arrived at 3:50 and were immediately released and led authorities out of
Hollywood and into adjacent Mount Cavalry Cemetery. Stonebreaker and McDonald
lay under a cover of vines and bushes in the northeast corner of the cemetery
listening to the commotion and baying of the bloodhounds until flushed out by
police with drawn guns and returned to prison after several hours of freedom.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR-5aTApcNf53RXdfVUnupytrEENWI7qhWFPQwVSmvNgTIV61-8d9rnCE3MfXh0qhvCJWicxAZ71DOd_IaCMHUfO-ynq-V0_PGzv2dqvO0spqmbmqp-OYFY4TLBMqftVaGS0UbiMuSAn__-wd_FyADtnwBim40o_jIWOOlKl9DcXIamiV7PG_rRs8Tew/s256/crime_005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="215" data-original-width="256" height="459" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR-5aTApcNf53RXdfVUnupytrEENWI7qhWFPQwVSmvNgTIV61-8d9rnCE3MfXh0qhvCJWicxAZ71DOd_IaCMHUfO-ynq-V0_PGzv2dqvO0spqmbmqp-OYFY4TLBMqftVaGS0UbiMuSAn__-wd_FyADtnwBim40o_jIWOOlKl9DcXIamiV7PG_rRs8Tew/w547-h459/crime_005.jpg" width="547" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left; text-indent: 48px;"><span style="font-size: large;">“Big Dutch” Arthur Misunas of the infamous “Tri-State Gang,” outside a Richmond courtroom in 1934. Misunas had no illusions about his status as a rat and was prepared for the “Tri-State Avengers.”</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Two of Stonebreaker’s prison pals became even
more notorious three years later when McDonald, Panella, and another man, Bill
Lynn (termed “two tough holdup men and a moron murderer” in the <i>Times-Dispatch),</i>
attacked Arthur Misunas in the mess hall. Misunas was one of the few survivors
of the infamous Tri-State Gang which engineered a series of truck hijackings,
robberies, kidnappings, and murders up and down the East Coast in the early
1930s. The other two principals of the gang, Walter Legenza and Robert Mais,
had been put to death in Virginia’s electric chair on February 2, 1935, largely
because of Misunas’ testimony. In the Virginia Pen, “Big Dutch” Misunas was
considered the biggest and most despised rat of them all. Four days after the
executions, the trio attempted to kill Misunas, who, defending himself with a
homemade knife made from half a pair of scissors, instead stabbed Panella in
the stomach and then calmly “retired to his cell.” Following closely on
accounts of the electrocution of Mais and Legenza, the story of the failed “Tri-State
Avengers” made national news on the wire services.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">For Richmonders living in Oregon Hill, just to
the west of the Penitentiary, the howl of the prison siren must have been a
rare and exciting sound. Rarely did the hulking collection of buildings on the
other side of Belvedere emit anything other than routine vehicle traffic in and
out of the gate, with supplies arriving by truck and the prison bus
transporting inmates to court or a local hospital. Imagine the excitement on June
16, 1936, when the siren began, followed by the heavy thud of a shotgun echoing
around the walls of the prison, and then immediately after that, the unmistakable
rattle of a machine gun. Stony Stonebreaker was making his play for freedom
again, only this time he had a lot more help. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWAGgTW35AKr5g07cVs5xlI-OxyHMXJrVJWQed_0w66V8WKPtRKcIBSL3poDTksf2qJusRaRFBh8hUCfwqTKD2UXGZ9WoApLOx22HDLnT1DPEzK8bpEftfo6dbfdMZ92ErI3EL65ltTc4lgS2HGbD3Gq4cR1Z-zhkmIbt1RZMNF3uDB3ukTuBzRSn6Ag/s426/crime_006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="213" data-original-width="426" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWAGgTW35AKr5g07cVs5xlI-OxyHMXJrVJWQed_0w66V8WKPtRKcIBSL3poDTksf2qJusRaRFBh8hUCfwqTKD2UXGZ9WoApLOx22HDLnT1DPEzK8bpEftfo6dbfdMZ92ErI3EL65ltTc4lgS2HGbD3Gq4cR1Z-zhkmIbt1RZMNF3uDB3ukTuBzRSn6Ag/w598-h300/crime_006.jpg" width="598" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, "sans-serif"; text-align: left; text-indent: 48px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Excited Oregon Hill residents gather in the 500 block of Spring Street at the sound of machine gun fire coming from the nearby State Pen. On the other side of the wall, Stony and his pals were making their play.</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Robert Reams, prison guard, had no hint that
things were about to go so very badly that afternoon. It was a clear and warm,
a pleasant day for baseball, and about 150 inmates were out on the yard either playing
or watching the game. Abruptly, Reams had a knife put to his throat and heard somebody
behind him say, “git in the truck.” His hands bound, Reams was unceremoniously
thrown in the back of a prison van and found another guard, Powhatan Bass, and
a prison trusty named Oscar Fields already tied up on the floor. Eight inmates piled
in the truck with them, someone started it, and the tall, black truck roared
out of the automotive shop and toward the prison gate – the same gate that
Stony and his pal McDonald had driven through four years before, only now
reinforced with a heavy steel beam.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRlOUTUptYhByuTQunn1k4vTp9GpDP9wohzTbMa6vTgXFvDL_uLxo3WLFach7x_lfGdgRu-a0vaH4cdGO-94Dfl9v1hCxAYVqHrYnvI2If2Do3p4PNC3MPBtS1zj40oJP3MVYAnoJp7Ta5qddTTllEt5iu9WKDFSCyS4Ti_YTvVBze9wSHKBqTtO-FVw/s233/crime_007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="233" data-original-width="157" height="729" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRlOUTUptYhByuTQunn1k4vTp9GpDP9wohzTbMa6vTgXFvDL_uLxo3WLFach7x_lfGdgRu-a0vaH4cdGO-94Dfl9v1hCxAYVqHrYnvI2If2Do3p4PNC3MPBtS1zj40oJP3MVYAnoJp7Ta5qddTTllEt5iu9WKDFSCyS4Ti_YTvVBze9wSHKBqTtO-FVw/w491-h729/crime_007.jpg" width="491" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Prison guard O.C. Smith, didn’t hesitate in unleashing a torrent of gunfire into the escapee’s truck, killing and wounding prisoners and hostages alike.</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Patrolling on top of the wall was guard O.C.
Smith, a no-nonsense veteran officer hardened by years of working at the
Penitentiary. Looking down from his vantage point, it was obvious that the
person behind the wheel was not supposed to be there and this was an escape
attempt. Smith knew what to do. Drawing his service revolver, he quickly emptied
it into the truck below him, and then grabbed a shotgun from the guard post. Pumping
it rapidly, he shot the truck six times with buckshot (each round carrying nine
pellets the size of a pistol bullet). The truck was still moving, so Smith
dropped the shotgun and picked up a Thompson sub-machine gun, hauled back on
the cocking handle, and fired a long burst of .45 caliber bullets into the now
slowing truck as it finally bumped harmlessly into the gate and stopped.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1nPoJv8WiNHz-CEX4tRVdg5__QE6wg_vY9DC_8Ci9rMlCY2KzTrSQfHp1HYpF-mEH1_6GQGuNQaaGWnUuos58wbHIltnIjS6zFhg0aMRGRHDPkLMPrq7z5Wn_-dktcnM6Ye7AADV-0Fbw2qc1kealKGI5zZredTJVcSP5tor6JY4jiDgKlcypp-xjOQ/s334/crime_008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="334" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1nPoJv8WiNHz-CEX4tRVdg5__QE6wg_vY9DC_8Ci9rMlCY2KzTrSQfHp1HYpF-mEH1_6GQGuNQaaGWnUuos58wbHIltnIjS6zFhg0aMRGRHDPkLMPrq7z5Wn_-dktcnM6Ye7AADV-0Fbw2qc1kealKGI5zZredTJVcSP5tor6JY4jiDgKlcypp-xjOQ/w541-h388/crime_008.jpg" width="541" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, "sans-serif"; text-align: left; text-indent: 48px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Prison guards examine the truck that was riddled with bullets by O.C. Smith.</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">As Smith’s Thompson roared, inside the truck
dots of daylight appeared all over the walls as bullets zipped through it and
bloody pandemonium broke out. An inmate named Debie Coleman slumped
unconscious, a bullet through his head. Coleman would die of his wounds two
weeks later. Bill Lynn, a Texas bank robber and one of Misunas’ assailants, was
shot in the back and leg and George Ferguson, a convicted murderer, was badly wounded
in both legs. The hapless trustee Fields who had no part in the attempted
escape was shot in the stomach. Bank robber Talmadge Feazell had flesh wounds,
but the guard, Robert Reams, was hit in the mouth by a slug and had a bullet
wound in his hip. His fellow guard, Powhatan Bass, lay dead beside him on the
floor of the truck, shot several times in the head and body. The truck sat in
front of the gate and was instantly surrounded by guards with shotguns and the
doors flung open. A murderer named Burley Wright, bank robbers Ed Veal and John
Price, and Ralph “Stony” Stonebreaker emerged from the carnage in the blood-spattered,
bullet-riddled truck, unscathed and with hands held high.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBCS1gnhYOLlpWoxV2lyZYmBA3JWHg62rmir0PmcJBWfIaAAt5E1r1iSJH-GjDdrSwdz-hJEk4lRq-u3AM8Hc5zgsVGBo0_dWcwDV1LYDd3Z_AD0BcImEsnB6WHSZ9AwtndIujxJtni2iD25oN4G87PpzlcB-8WGjq1V8DGYMnWjj_3V907pEyr_Km0g/s342/crime_009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="198" data-original-width="342" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBCS1gnhYOLlpWoxV2lyZYmBA3JWHg62rmir0PmcJBWfIaAAt5E1r1iSJH-GjDdrSwdz-hJEk4lRq-u3AM8Hc5zgsVGBo0_dWcwDV1LYDd3Z_AD0BcImEsnB6WHSZ9AwtndIujxJtni2iD25oN4G87PpzlcB-8WGjq1V8DGYMnWjj_3V907pEyr_Km0g/w562-h325/crime_009.jpg" width="562" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: left; text-indent: 48px;">The gravestone of prison guard and hostage Powhatan Bass in Maury Cemetery, killed in the volley of machine gun fire that ended the escape attempt. (</span><i style="text-align: left; text-indent: 48px;">Photo from Find a Grave</i><span style="text-align: left; text-indent: 48px;">)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The City of Richmond tried to convict the
attempted escapees with murder in the death of Powhatan Bass, with District
Attorney Gray Haddon announcing he would seek the death penalty for
Stonebreaker and the other three who were not wounded in the attempt. The
question of where Bass was in the truck and when exactly he was killed in the
fusillade of bullets clouded the prosecution, and murder charges were eventually
dropped against the convicts. Guard O.C. Smith was roundly praised for following
regulations and his part in thwarting the escape, even if it cost Powhatan Bass
his life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Stonebreaker attempted, again and again, to get
out of prison throughout the 1940s by using legal means, claiming that he was
denied due process when first convicted of his crime spree back in 1932. He
staged a five-year court battle (financed by an inheritance he received while
he was in prison) that became known in the press as “the famous Ralph
Stonebreaker case.” Eventually the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the
charges be dismissed. This left the uncomfortable fact that, by 1947
Stonebreaker served nine years too many. In June, 1948, at age 37, Ralph
Stonebreaker was released from prison.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMn9eE4-HbZISw_Nv9gnNEipZ1kw-bK8_clgjHeX907pTwLNSbiYharky8mY-Ezn4UH1zgv0jc-E7967jNCxEZPyxQ5W4ahJQ82-2TsmYdAUiNefJR6AffMKexcz1xqTGoh8tZOkLknH0dhGFj4-7DkKqZIaovgzSMYkGb1HIZ_5IWRw6YLixRtBPYQg/s160/crime_010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="156" data-original-width="160" height="543" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMn9eE4-HbZISw_Nv9gnNEipZ1kw-bK8_clgjHeX907pTwLNSbiYharky8mY-Ezn4UH1zgv0jc-E7967jNCxEZPyxQ5W4ahJQ82-2TsmYdAUiNefJR6AffMKexcz1xqTGoh8tZOkLknH0dhGFj4-7DkKqZIaovgzSMYkGb1HIZ_5IWRw6YLixRtBPYQg/w557-h543/crime_010.jpg" width="557" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: left; text-indent: 48px;">Stony Stonebreaker was just as hard-looking as an older man as he was in his prison mug shot. (</span><i style="text-align: left; text-indent: 48px;">Photo from Find a Grave</i><span style="text-align: left; text-indent: 48px;">)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">According to his entry on the “Find a Grave”
website, Ralph remarried (his first wife had divorced him in 1934) and had
two children. In 1950, he was living in Cumberland, Maryland, and worked at
Memorial Hospital. Ralph “Stony” Stonebreaker died in 1992 at the age of 81. The
hardboiled old ex-con is buried in the cemetery of a small rural church in
western Maryland in an unmarked grave. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> - Selden</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">See
also the <a href="https://theshockoeexaminer.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-virginia-penitentiary-in-richmond.html"><i>Shockoe Examiner’s </i>tour of the inside of the Penitentiary</a>
before it was demolished in 1991.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"> </span></p>Shockoe Examiner Staff - see bottom of blog entry for the specific author.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02822340615768561691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495295138304264877.post-63675193425659342652022-10-09T10:51:00.001-04:002022-10-09T10:52:04.768-04:00Richmond’s Own: Oscar “Reddy” Foster<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> The evening of March 14, 1908
was not a quiet one, and under overcast skies many families who lived in the
now vanished Richmond neighborhood of Fulton were spending an uneasy night on
their porches and patrolling their alleys. On Louisiana Street, between Sixth
and Seventh, residents were particularly tense with the sound of voices and
people walking up and down the cobblestones. The Richmond Police had been put
on alert, extra patrolmen were assigned to Fulton, and everyone was wide awake late
into the night and talking about the man who threatened to burn down the whole of
Louisiana Street, starting with his wife’s home. In the close-set frame houses
of Fulton, the danger of fire was not something to be taken lightly and they
all knew the source of the threat, too, making the image of blazes sweeping
across Fulton valley even more believable. “The neighbors stood guard for some
time, ready to move their chattels at a moment’s notice and to vent their anger,”
reported the Richmond <i>Times-Dispatch</i> in an article headlined,
“Neighborhood in Uproar<span class="MsoEndnoteReference">.</span>.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibVOF_ntMs_dNgcY-GVgjcpam70UlWCqp7MD7AaSzqGqF7l4Q01-bvjKQpZPcCA4WafP1NdDWK4W3kaqP03BDEsQb0PRscDmEa1CGvhNOevwVrPOdxI57I0BijgLFbaSk-gqQbL0o2ZmnAOb6rEYbSbjTUk13Kpm2cSzbybiI5jNF9fXMt9DnRIAcT9Q/s384/grant_001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="238" data-original-width="384" height="367" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibVOF_ntMs_dNgcY-GVgjcpam70UlWCqp7MD7AaSzqGqF7l4Q01-bvjKQpZPcCA4WafP1NdDWK4W3kaqP03BDEsQb0PRscDmEa1CGvhNOevwVrPOdxI57I0BijgLFbaSk-gqQbL0o2ZmnAOb6rEYbSbjTUk13Kpm2cSzbybiI5jNF9fXMt9DnRIAcT9Q/w594-h367/grant_001.jpg" width="594" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A view of the town of Fulton
asReddy Foster knew it, ca. 1910.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> The
residents, the police, and his family were all looking for Oscar “Reddy” Foster:
baseball player, Richmond native, would-be arsonist, wife beater, and notorious
mean drunk. Foster didn’t add to his fame and carry out his threat against
Fulton, although he was spotted sulking through the streets of the
neighborhood. “Foster was seen to pass the place several times,” reported the <i>Times
Dispatch</i>, “but no match was struck, and he was allowed to depart in peace.”
Hardly an admirable figure, Foster was nevertheless one of the few Richmonders
who made it, albeit for only one shining afternoon, to play in the big leagues
in the rough and rawboned world of late-nineteenth century American baseball. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> That
March night Foster was enraged that his former wife had claimed all the pay
from their son’s job at the nearby Richmond Cedar Works, leaving the aging
ballplayer nothing for the week. Foster’s oath to exact revenge on her and the
entire neighborhood resulted in that nocturnal panic in Fulton. It was one more
example of the drunken Foster being famous in Richmond, but not for his skill
or achievements but rather his drinking and his temper. Even a history of
baseball’s early players is quick to note Foster “was known as a hard-drinking,
rough and ready ballplayer whose temper usually got the best of him.” In 1908
Foster appeared in Richmond Police Court to answer for beating up both his
sister and her husband after they made disparaging remarks about Foster’s
mother, and he was released after paying a $35 fine. The news was reported
under the heading, “Old Player Fined,” further adding to the image of Reddy
Foster as being a has-been and washed up at age 44 and no doubt adding to his
rage and frustration. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> Foster
also had a reputation of taking out his shortcomings on Mary, his long-suffering
wife. “Reddy’s continued abuse after team losses became so commonplace that his
wife came up with an ‘early warning system,’” wrote one historian of the era. When
Foster’s team won, she would be home when he got there as he was then a “happy
drunk.” When the team lost, she would arrange for someone to get word to her so
she could flee before the drunk and belligerent Foster got home, and she would wait
safely at a neighbor’s house for him to sober up.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkmhMu5eDylJA2YDdc1uKqCcG3iqzMLiRbwhvQMXj_IdcS9diVqyZpRnH9-msuiPOGwQTkDBAXt-NN9781GZR2lC4UOAFinyBy_rQMtmlnzefL4ExWfFR19gw3_1ZhNKLJ1ZCTKiFOzeAFfI3Kwqyz7k-ubdS5wLAhfOezBaomx_U9ATJMDWuTUTfsRQ/s242/grant_002.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="242" data-original-width="165" height="727" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkmhMu5eDylJA2YDdc1uKqCcG3iqzMLiRbwhvQMXj_IdcS9diVqyZpRnH9-msuiPOGwQTkDBAXt-NN9781GZR2lC4UOAFinyBy_rQMtmlnzefL4ExWfFR19gw3_1ZhNKLJ1ZCTKiFOzeAFfI3Kwqyz7k-ubdS5wLAhfOezBaomx_U9ATJMDWuTUTfsRQ/w496-h727/grant_002.jpg" width="496" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Oscar “Reddy” Foster,
pictured in the <i>Richmond Dispatch</i> in 1895.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> The
baseball statistics website, “Baseball Reference” names a team in Lebanon,
Pennsylvania as the first team Reddy played for in 1890. It goes on to list
eighteen different teams he was on, teams with names that reflect the colorful
and often hard-scrapple places they called home. The Richmond Bluebirds, the
Allentown Peanuts, the Bristol Bell Makers, and the Waterbury Rough Riders were
among the stops on a long journey of boarding houses, hotel rooms, train rides,
beer joints and rural baseball diamonds attended by crowds just as drunk and rough-and-ready
as the players. It was an alcohol-fueled sport filled with personal rivalries,
where fistfights were common and sliding to a base often meant coming in with spikes
up to do as much damage to the other player as possible. “Reddy Foster should
be heavily fined when he gives such exhibitions of temper,” wrote one
chronicler of a game played on the evening of September 15, 1894, where his
petulant behavior helped cost the Richmond team the game. “A few fines and he
might be able to control himself.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> The
same baseball history that termed Foster abusive noted that once upon a time,
“Foster was a star catcher in the Virginia State League when he was discovered
by a scout for the New York Giants.” Despite his famously bad temper, Foster
was signed by New York and prepared for the move north, but before leaving
Richmond, Fulton’s own Reddy Foster was honored by a baseball game in his honor
on November 23, 1895. The Richmond team played a volunteer group, and the game
itself was termed “passing dull.” Nevertheless, many turned out to watch
Fulton’s most famous son’s last game before he headed off to the majors and
what everyone hoped would be a long and promising profession. In a
foreshadowing of Foster’s meteoric rise and fall, a New York coach O. P.
Claytor commented that Reddy was not much to look at but “he has the appearance
of a fighter, and, as a whole, Claytor thinks he will do.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> Later
in life, he must have looked back at that time with the Giants and that one summer
afternoon on June 3, 1896, that Reddy Foster played in the major leagues as a lofty
pinnacle that he’d never see again. Not that the game itself was a sterling
example from which warm memories were made. The <i>New York</i> <i>World</i>
said the Giants played poorly all around and their pitcher “fretted, fumed and
fussed” because things were not going his way. The whole game was “one of the
sort which leaves a bad taste.” New York lost 14-8. Foster’s presence was not
mentioned in the newspapers, and he never played in the majors after that one
game. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> Dismissed
from the New York Giants, Foster eventually returned home once again to Fulton
and apparently kept the peace. He was welcomed back to a local team, the
Richmond Lawmakers, after turning down a coaching job in Connecticut. The local
newspaper reported the offer and even they seemed surprised he would not take
it: “Foster declined to accept the position, although it has a good salary
attached to it.” In 1902, “Oscar (Reddy) Foster, a star of the old Virginia
League. was spotted in Fulton, resting before headed to his new post as
coaching in Wheeling, W. Va.” Reddy eventually signed with a Portsmouth team
and later returned as a player to Richmond, but even his hometown had grown
tired of his ill-mannered behavior. His cursing on the field and other vulgar
behavior was soundly criticized in the press. “Reddy wants to wake up to the
fact that Richmond people don’t tolerate such conduct,” sniffed the <i>Times
Dispatch</i><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">.</span>. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> By the
spring of 1906, Reddy Foster was on a downhill trajectory. When he came back to
Richmond, unlike in the past when he might have first gone carousing, instead
he went directly from the train station to his mother’s house in Fulton. “’It’s
been five years since I saw her sweet face, and I wasn’t coming uptown to get
mixed with a crowd before I had a good long talk with her,’ said the
auburn-haired backstop, who is known to all of Richmond.” Reddy was in pretty
good shape, commented one reporter. “He played excellent ball last year with
the Greenville (Miss.) team, and was offered a larger salary there this year,
but wanted to get back to Richmond.” Among the few constants in Reddy Foster’s
life, aside from his famously bad attitude, was his mother and the Fulton
neighborhood where he was born, and it was always a powerful draw.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> Two weeks after he returned home, the end
came for Reddy Foster’s baseball career during a game between the Lawmakers and
the opposing Lynchburg Hill Climbers. <i>The Cooperstown Chronicles</i> generously
claims Foster “always demanded the best from his players and teammates on the
field: incompetence was something that was totally unacceptable to him,” and that
it was his sheer exasperation with the quality of play is what made him throw
down his catcher’s gear and stalk off. Rather than a noble quest for excellence,
it was more likely hard liquor and a famously bad attitude that caused Foster
to curse, leave the field and the park entirely, never to return. “There are
those who think that he will be given another show, but this is a mistaken
conclusion, for the player who quits, sulks, or gets bad in any way, hasn’t got
any sleeping apartment with the Lawmakers, it is said.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCgwg5pCIbYLj3hwxLqqQ3jj0luztAggja8J3Evhbf5Dxx6usTRF4Id6aB-IH8532gmb3nf3xB0xY3QM0693nXDt1O4SonqPx2jwT_hZxqxXie1VGFn7tEHBD_ACJf_70xxlyU4AHEQXZX0l1N0kuOXRGRWx64shGgzqiRSP-9yXVJBg7Idy0LWTyn5g/s314/grant_003.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="235" data-original-width="314" height="447" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCgwg5pCIbYLj3hwxLqqQ3jj0luztAggja8J3Evhbf5Dxx6usTRF4Id6aB-IH8532gmb3nf3xB0xY3QM0693nXDt1O4SonqPx2jwT_hZxqxXie1VGFn7tEHBD_ACJf_70xxlyU4AHEQXZX0l1N0kuOXRGRWx64shGgzqiRSP-9yXVJBg7Idy0LWTyn5g/w598-h447/grant_003.jpg" width="598" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The grave of Oscar “Reddy”
Foster in Richmond’s Oakwood Cemetery.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> The next year found Foster still playing
ball, but now back with the same amateur team he started with as a young man. The
sporting public was informed that, “The old Fulton baseball club has
reorganized with a strong list of players, and Mr. C. Linwood Wade has been
elected captain, to whom challenges should be sent at No. 20 Orleans Street.” Far
from the beautifully manicured field at the Polo Grounds in New York, Foster now
loped around the bases in the valley he called home, his ill-fitting unform once
again stained with the red clay of Fulton. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> Things began badly in 1908 after the arrest
in February when Foster beat his sister and brother-in-law, followed by the
incident where he threatened to burn down Fulton. It was said that Reddy
returned to his neighborhood and continued to “dissipate.” On a Sunday late in
December, when most Richmonders were thinking about the upcoming Christmas holiday,
the ballplayer was on a bender. He was drinking with Lee Poklington, who lived
in Fulton on Louisiana Street and was probably among those on alert at a window
the year before, watching for his old buddy Reddy coming up Louisiana Street with
a can of gas. In late afternoon on December 19 the two walked to the Fulton
waterfront, both no doubt knowing every path and alley in the valley from a
lifetime of making their way through Fulton to the river. They carried with
them a bottle of whisky and, for some reason, a double-barreled shotgun.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> Foster and Poklington stood a while on the
shore of what was known as the Fulton Flats and watched the James River roll by
as they passed the bottle back and forth. It was growing dark, reported an
account of Reddy’s afternoon, “at that hour between day and night when a man’s
thoughts turn toward retrospect and when nature wears a melancholy attitude.” The
lengthening shadows and growing gloom could have only added to the baseball
player’s troubled mind, and he had a long pull off the whisky. Handing the bottle back, he took the gun and
said, “watch me.” Poklington turned away from the view of the river and toward
his friend standing beside him just as there was a flash and a roar. Reddy had put
the gun under his chin and both barrels of the shotgun fired, blowing most of his
head off and all over the rocks on the Fulton shore.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcgb-ZbsvaFfT5Y7_BGmA2ZI-ZjTaaogkucsDRNEn8I8BRqDylDvx139GIdIkw9IGUc1uq3rf7e_96pPBm_1CxDn0GhnroVnMn_8v21NihaRkh3AuIwR9W6h8GIBhLVmpMATwUp42d-_kOh7paL4zev2fExE0LYZtHSclRoFG44y3477yZ4rFvilmRBg/s328/grant_004.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="328" data-original-width="191" height="795" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcgb-ZbsvaFfT5Y7_BGmA2ZI-ZjTaaogkucsDRNEn8I8BRqDylDvx139GIdIkw9IGUc1uq3rf7e_96pPBm_1CxDn0GhnroVnMn_8v21NihaRkh3AuIwR9W6h8GIBhLVmpMATwUp42d-_kOh7paL4zev2fExE0LYZtHSclRoFG44y3477yZ4rFvilmRBg/w462-h795/grant_004.jpg" width="462" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i><span style="line-height: 150%;">Richmond Times-Dispatch</span></i><span style="line-height: 150%;">,
December 20, 1908.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> The sudden death of Fulton’s troubled
favorite son was front-page news in Richmond. “Once Famous Ball Player Blows
Top Of Head Off With Shot Gun” trumpeted one newspaper - a headline leaving
little room for sentiment in its description of the grisly method of suicide. The
accompanying article explained that long ago, the crowds roared in approval for
Reddy who had “an arm of iron.” “His red head shone like a blaze behind the
bat, and the people fondly gave him the name which afterward distinguished him
more than his own.” His rise to the major leagues was recounted as the top of
an arc that began and ended beside the river, in Fulton. “He was a great man
with the bat, especially towards the umpire, and people resented his unruly
wildness… At last, when he was down and out, when he had grown physically weak
and his career was a wrecked, he saw one more finish, one more run – that one
more home run he could make – and he committed suicide.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> It seemed that over the years Foster had finally
worn out his welcome in his native city, and his passing was not noted other
than with the account of his sensational death. There was no obituary for Oscar “Reddy”
Foster, no call for grieving family and friends to meet at Oakwood Cemetery for
his burial. Maybe Lee Poklington, termed Foster’s “last friend” in the
newspaper, really was the only person he had left, and perhaps that was the
reason Foster had Poklington accompany him that afternoon on his last stroll
through his old neighborhood. The still-shaken Poklington may have been among
the few mourners that went to Oakwood to see Reddy buried in what is today an
isolated area of the cemetery, long forgotten and carpeted with crabgrass. Weeds
grow up through the cracked vault lid covering the grave of one of Richmond’s
most famous early ballplayers.</span><span face="Arial, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">- Selden. </span></span></p>Shockoe Examiner Staff - see bottom of blog entry for the specific author.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02822340615768561691noreply@blogger.com0