Andrew McRoberts Richmond History Stories

06/02/2024

POSTPONED... SORRY SOMETHING HAS COME UP FOR JUNE 9. WILL HOPE TO RESCHEDULE!

I am planning a biking history tour featuring the greatest achievements of turn of the century Richmond city engineer Wilfred Cutshaw. History stories will abound. Many have not heard of Cutshaw, beyond the street named for him, but long before the city had a planner or a parks and rec department or public works or city architect, he was all of the above. His vision for the city, its public buildings and public spaces was responsible for so many of the coolest things about Richmond today. Think some of Richmond's best parks and open spaces, a healthier water system allowing what we would today call parks and rec,, old city hall, Leigh Street Armory (now black history museum), public school buildings, and tree-lined streets and grand boulevards. His job description was limited to making the streets and water system safer. He did that and far more, and was largely responsible for making the City's public buildings and civic spaces what they became in the years after reconstruction up to his death in 1907.

The cycling route could go from the east end of Victorian Richmond (Church Hill area) to far west end and even outside Richmond (Byrd Park and Pump House Park) and back toward the center of the City. (Suggest parking near VCU and biking east to the starting point.) Along the way we will visit Cutshaw's greatest "hits" - buildings, parks, streets and public spaces. I estimate we can do this in under 3 hours, sticking to the "high ground" and avoiding the Shockoe Bottom and riverfront areas. Thinking under 3 hours, so a 9 am start time.

Thinking Sunday morning perhaps this Fall, but perhaps as soon as Sunday, June 9th. Anyone up to join me?

03/11/2024

Thanks to all who joined us for the Richmond Canal History Walk today!

03/05/2024

This coming Sunday March 10, 2024 at 2 pm, Andrew McRoberts will be leading a History Stories walk featuring Richmond"s downtown canal history. About 90 minutes and under 2 miles of walking. We will meet in the James Center Atrium, 1051 E. Cary St. (near Starbucks) to orient ourselves and then walk a circuit around the downtown waterfront. Public parking on the streets of Richmond (free on weekend) or in a nearby parking deck. Hope to share some History Stories with you soon!

05/15/2023

Two great bike history tours yesterday... one focused on canal and railroad history, and another focused on the bridges and other "crossings of the James" in downtown Richmond. Thanks to all who participated!

05/13/2023

Three hours of cycling downtown this morning! Prepping for two history bike tours by Andrew McRoberts Richmond History Stories tomorrow and just having fun.

04/08/2022

Richmond's gilded age buildings and the legacy of Noland & Baskervill by architect Ed Slipek.
https://richmondbizsense.com/2022/04/08/guest-commentary-noland-baskervill-and-gilded-age-franklin-street/?fbclid=IwAR2V7qujJlY7xfoGP45a5GzMRC0_1TUVah6YJ9Jru6pmjKnGRZcEiJmWeOE

"The Gilded Age" producers could have made Richmond a stand-in for Manhattan considering our trove of period-appropriate landmarks.

12/12/2021

Please help save the historic Second Baptist Church building! https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=5206032139411797&id=100000151873343

12/26/2019

Two pieces of rope, separated by over 129 years... one used in 1890 to pull the statue of Robert E. Lee through the streets of the City of Richmond to its spot on Monument Avenue, the other used recently in 2019 to help unveil the statue at VMFA, "Rumors of War." Here is one take on the juxtaposition of the two events.

https://www.richmond.com/opinion/columnists/christina-k-vida-column-two-pieces-of-rope-one-city/article_38931bdf-36fc-51de-89c8-a84662ddf1fb.html

The Valentine is a place committed to juxtapositions.

08/30/2019

On this day in 1800, slave Gabriel Prosser planned to start a revolution, occupy Richmond, take captive Va. Gov. James Monroe, and ultimately end slavery. It didnt work, in part due to a sudden downpour, flood conditions in central Va., and some loose lips. Here is the story.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/08/23/gabriels-revolt-he-was-savvy-armed-determined-end-slavery-virginias-capital/

An enslaved man named Gabriel plotted to storm Virginia's capital with a 1,000-man army. Historians say he almost succeeded.

08/26/2019

Cool bit of Richmond to***co history in this article, courtesy of RVAHub and Rocket Werks.

You've heard of Lewis Ginter (due to the Botanical Gardens and subdivision named for him) but perhaps don't know that the genesis of his fortune in the to***co industry. This article discusses his partnership with John Frederick Allen in a cigarette manufacturing enterprise and the one huge business misjudgment Ginter and he made... not buying the rights to the first cigarette rolling machine. A competitor, American To***co, bought exclusive rights, got it to work well, and then could produce more ci******es faster than Allen & Ginter. American To***co ended up buying Allen & Ginter, after which Ginter sat on its Board.

The Allen & Ginter cigarette manufacturing buildings are long gone, but were at 6th & Cary, and at 7th and Cary.

https://rvahub.com/2019/08/26/rva-legends-allen-ginter/

A look into the history of Richmond places and people that have gone away.

08/11/2019

Cool picture of President Taft posing in an automobile in front of the Lee Monument. Taft visited Richmond in 1909 and he was an automobile enthusiast (in contrast to Teddy Roosevelt who favored the horse). Taft's visit to Richmond nearly shut the City down. He arrived by train at then-Byrd Street Station (terminus of Richmond-Petersburg RR where Federal Reserve is now). He had breakfast with Va Governor Swanson at the Governors Mansion and then visited the State Capitol, then the two led a motorized parade up Franklin St and Monument Avenue to review the troops. Then, he had lunch at the Jefferson Hotel and toured Hollywood Cemetery to visit the graves of Presidents Monroe and Tyler before leaving town. He was originally denied entry at Hollywood because automobiles were then not allowed (later the policy was changed in 1919). But permissions were given, and Taft had his auto tour of Hollywood.

08/07/2019

Richmond's history is complex and filled with history stories that are not pretty and are full of shameful treatment of African Americans. This is one of those stories.

After the "negro burying ground" adjacent to the gallows near Shockoe Creek was full, a "Second African Burying Ground" on Shockoe Hill at the corner of 5th and Hospital Streets, initially on lots purchased by freedmen for that purpose since the City Council did not take action. A gallows was later erected near there. Local medical schools would often be served by grave robbers who would remove bodies after burial. The property was used for several decades for the burial of slaves and freedmen until a segregated portion of a nearby cemetery was made available and burials ended. The site thereafter was ignored, forgotten, excavated, dug through and into, and passed into history unknown.

Until recently. Decendants have found the former burial grounds and have begun speaking out. Community groups began to work on more recognition. It is unsure what the future holds, hopefully improved recognition by the City, but for now the fact that the burial ground is known and remembered is progress.

https://www.richmondcemeteries.org/potters-field/

https://www.scalawagmagazine.org/2019/08/black-graveyards/

Visit the post for more.

07/23/2019

As ably reported to the excellent Ed Slipek, the "Images from the Cook Studio" exhibition is now at the Valentine Museum. Per the story in Style Weekly: "It features 40 intriguing photographs of scenes from late 19th- and early 20th-century Richmond. The pictures were mined from the history center's mother lode of 10,000 glass-plate negatives that were generated mostly by a father-and-son team [George Smith Cook (1819-1902) and Huestis Pratt Cook (1868-1951)]. "

Amazing what the Cooks, especially the younger Cook, captured around Richmond.

https://m.styleweekly.com/richmond/behind-the-cook-studio/Content?oid=14892756

A father-and-son team left an important legacy of 10,000 historic Richmond images that are steadily being cataloged, digitized and displayed at the Valentine. Forty images are now on display.

07/19/2019

Awesome story on the Morris Plan Bank constructed at 8th and Main downtown. Its facade is still there... as part of the 8th and Main residential development. Cool bit of history. The bank served folks that had insufficient collateral to get a loan from a mainstream bank.

https://rvahub.com/2019/07/19/must-see-rva-morris-plan-bank-building/

A look into the history of Richmond places that are still part of our landscape.

06/01/2019

Courtesy of the Dogtown Dish and the Poe Museum, a bit of "dish" on Richmond's Old Stone House, its history, Poe, Lafayette and more. Great stuff.
https://www.facebook.com/188573804822450/posts/898015137211643/

Old Stone House (currently the Poe Museum), 1914 E Main Street, Richmond, VA. Date: unknown. After escorting Lafayette to the Richmond Randolph Masonic Lodge, Poe and the honor guard took the General to the Old Stone House, the residence of the Ege family which had helped supply Lafayette’s troops during the Revolution. Lafayette is said to have picked up the Eges’ son and showed him so much attention that the family named the boy Lafayette. Poe would have been guarding the outside of the house. In the years to come, Poe would pass the house several times on his walks down Main Street to Rocket’s Landing. He would have known of it since the house was already appearing in guidebooks as a Richmond landmark during Poe’s lifetime. An 1843 book already refers to the century-old house as “the old Stone House” and calls it the oldest house in Richmond. There is no evidence that Poe ever entered the house and any association it might have had with Poe was less important to the city than its association with Lafayette. In the last half of the nineteenth century, the house, then used as a curio shop, was called “Lafayette’s Headquarters” or “Washington’s Headquarters” even though neither had actually used it as their headquarters at any time. In fact, Washington had never even visited the house. Credit: Poe Museum

05/05/2019

Enjoying telling Richmond History Stories for a great case... fighting cancer... as part of the Pedal Through Petals gardens/bike/run/walk event in Windsor Farms. Talking about the Civil War defense of Richmond, including this battery, constructed 1862-64 as part of the intermediate line of defense, and the development of Windsor Farms in 1926 by T.C. Williams as one of the first master planned subdivisions based on automobile use.
Www.amysarmyrva.com

04/14/2019

Bike season is back and it, RVA Bike Month!
Back by popular demand... Crossings of the James History Ride.

My annual contribution to the Bike Month effort is a history tour by bike on May 12 (Mother's Day) at 4 PM. Essentially an excuse to ride leisurely along the downtown riverfront with plenty of stops for some history stories based on the various crossings of the James (mostly with bridges but some not).

We will meet at Great Shiplock Park and peddle slowly with several stops up to Tredegar area. Should be concluded in about 90 minutes or so. All are welcome to meet afterwards at Casa del Barco, weather and time permitting or they are welcome to pedal back to home or their cars.

We meet at 4 PM May 12 at Great Shiplock Park to start and go up river from there.

One note on parking at Great Shiplock Park. It is limited. The parking lot there predates the Capital Trail and is quite small. I recommend that folks park remotely earlier and pedal in from other points in and near downtown along the Cap Trail or Canal Walk. It is bike month... enjoy it! Recommend arrival at least 15 - 20 minutes early to find parking somewhere and arrive at Great Shiplock Park (corner of Dock and Pear St near east end of To***co Row) for our 4 PM start. if you arrive late, we will head upriver. Find us along the way!

02/13/2019

Tuesday evening, the City Council voted to change the name of Boulevard to Arthur Ashe Boulevard to honor the native son tennis great. Here is a bit of background on the history of the street, planned and designed and named by the amazing City Engineer Wilfred Cutshaw to connect his New Reservoir (later, Byrd) Park to Broad Street and Northside. And, as a practical matter, run a water line. That's how you build city parks and boulevards on a city engineer budget.

Here is a very good 2014 article by the inimitable Harry Kollatz, Jr. on the history of the street. A tip of the hat to Harry for his excellent history writing. https://richmondmagazine.com/news/richmond-history/history-of-boulevard/

All politics aside... I was not particular enamoured with the idea of taking the historical name of the street and modernizing it with the name of anyone, even one so worthy as Mr. Ashe. The street name didn't seem broken or in any particular need of renaming. And other opportunities to name or rename things for various reasons without disturbing the street's historic name seemed to be available. But now that it is done... perhaps this will help Richmond turn the racial history book page and focus on the future. A future in which the City's past and its future can co-exist. Just as in this street's history and its new name. Here's to the next 100 years of the street's history under its new name!

A one-legged Confederate veteran named Wilfred Emory Cutshaw took an inspiring tour of Europe and Northern U.S. cities in 1879 and returned to Richmond full of ideas that influenced his 34 years as the energetic city engineer.

01/16/2019

Today in 1786, the Virginia General Assembly sat in a borrowed warehouse at the corner of 14th & Cary Streets in the state capital of Richmond, recently-relocated from Williamsburg, as the new capitol building was being built on Shockoe Hill a few blocks away.

That day, the Assembly considered and adopted a resolution to adopt a document that had been written by Governor Thomas Jefferson some years before. This resolution boldly pronounced as "natural law" that all men had the right to worship as they wish and that the government should not establish one religion over other. It was a game changer for the world.

This was done in a brand new country and state, but in a world in which these rights were never the law, let alone seen as "natural." Every kingdom and nation in the world preferred, and many selected, one religion over the others. Very few allowed freedom of worship to their people and persecution was common. In many places, including England from which Virginia broke in 1776, religion and government were literally the same thing. (Even today, Queen Elizabeth II is the head of the Church of England and the English government.)

While we accept (and fight for) these principles today, and they later were placed into the First Amendment to the US Constitution and into United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and more, this was the first time in the history of the world that such statements had been in enacted into law. Jefferson himself recognized the importance of its accomplishment and asked that it be placed right next to his authorship of the Declaration of Independence on his tombstone. The spark of brilliance and freedom that began with Jefferson was adopted this day in 1786 and now, religious freedom is accepted as a basic right throughout the world.

Let's celebrate Religious Freedom Day, an especially important part of Richmond history.
_____

Want to go?

There is an excellent small museum dedicated to the history and legacy of the Virginia statute of religious freedom at the site of its adoption, South 14th Street and East Cary Street, in Shockoe Slip. It is called the First Freedom Center and is curated by the Valentine Museum, Richmond's history museum. https://thevalentine.org/exhibition/first-freedom-center/

The 1786 resolution (aka enrolled statute on parchment) is preserved and housed only a few blocks away in the Library of Virginia, in its rare documents collection. The Library of Virginia is located on East Broad Street between 8th and 9th Streets. http://www.virginiamemory.com/blogs/out_of_the_box/2016/04/13/first-freedom-virginias-statute-for-religious-freedom/

Want to learn more?

Thomas Jefferson and the Statute of Religious Freedom - Virginia Museum of History and Culture
https://www.virginiahistory.org/collections-and-resources/virginia-history-explorer/thomas-jefferson

Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Statute_for_Religious_Freedom

UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

11/06/2018

2014 story from Richmond Magazine by the hatted Harry Kollatz about the long-gone Pratts' Castle, formerly on Gambles Hill near the intersection of South 5th and E. Byrd Streets. A lost box of wishes? I wish the building had never been demolished.
https://richmondmagazine.com/news/the-thing-i-want-to-find-02-03-2014/ #.W9n9pn7xAEM.facebook

× Expand Pratt's Castle Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Historic Ameri-can Buildings Survey, (HABS VA, 44-RICH 74-) This is a long story told short about a small thing in a big place. Beneath the floorboards of a now vanished castle's foyer lay a box that during the first de...

10/31/2018

From richmond . com... the history of Halloween on Hanover Avenue in Richmond's historic Fan District. Happy Halloween, everyone! https://www.richmond.com/entertainment/the-history-of-halloween-on-richmond-s-hanover-avenue/article_2c2bd3f6-f8c0-52ae-a673-a5040433032c.html

It’s difficult to determine the exact year that the 2100 block’s Halloween celebration started, but there had been notable seasonal activities on the block for many years prior to the

09/01/2018

Just seen at the SW corner of Strawberry St and Floyd Ave in the Fan. Old carriage block, to allow passengers to easily step out of the carriage onto a step and then the sidewalk.

08/18/2018

The 19th amendment granting women the right to vote became law across the US on this day in 1920 thanks to 40 states that ratified it. There was a strong women's suffrage movement in Virginia, led by charismatic, wealthy women with social connections like Sally May Dooley, Lila Meade Valentine, Adèle Clark, Mary Munford, and Janie Porter Barrett. But Virginia stubbornly refused to ratify the amendment until 1952.

The Virginia Museum of History and Culture (VHS) has an excellent site with great info on the women's suffrage movement in Virginia. https://www.virginiahistory.org/what-you-can-see/story-virginia/explore-story-virginia/1876-1924/virginia-and-women’s-suffrage

Despite the socio-political changes that occurred during Reconstruction, women at the dawn of the twentieth century still lacked a basic right of citizenship: the vote. Even before the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848, American women clamored for full citizenship. Unlike women in the North and West,....

08/13/2018

Some cool history stories about the life of Governor Henry Wise that involve Richmond (dedication of the George Washington Equestrian Statue in 1858) and areas far beyond (namesake of Wise County and Civil War general), by Jeff Shapiro of the RTD.
https://www.richmond.com/discover-richmond/plus/he-didn-t-spare-john-brown-s-body-the-tumultuous/article_13bb1819-3019-5790-a15c-5fbe975b9279.html

It's been so long since the Eastern Shore produced a governor that Virginia's current chief executive says he didn't even know of his charismatic, verbose, to***co-chewing predecessor until about five

07/28/2018

Richmond history story lovers, I discovered a site called Michael James RVa by Michael Ajemian, who is a singer and storyteller. One of his subpages of his site is dedicated to Richmond history stories. Cool songs, too, on other subpages. Thanks, Michael, for sharing.
https://www.michaeljamesrva.com/search/label/Stories

The Music and Stories of Michael Ajemian

07/04/2018

The Robinson House at the R.E. Lee Camp Confederate Memorial Park grounds adjacent to the VMFA is undergoing renovations to house offices and meeting space. I've always known it is a lovely Italianate mansion. What I didn't realize is the age of the house. It was originally constructed in the late 1820s as a summer home. Pictures here show the pre-expansion two story house, and the house today with third floor and peaked cupola.

05/29/2018

Opinion in the new Style Weekly on balancing Richmond history and progress.
https://m.styleweekly.com/richmond/opinion-history-is-thriving-in-richmond/Content?oid=8911588

If you've lived here long enough, you've probably heard this joke: "How many Richmonders does it take to change a light bulb? Five. One to...

05/08/2018

From RVAHub, some short Richmond history stories about that beautiful building in Chimborazo Park, now serving as the National Park Service civil war medical museum. For many years it was the HQ for the entire NPS Richmond National Battlefield Park system. I served as a summer ranger interpreting for visitors in the summer of 1987 and 1988, before and just after starting law school. I recall being taught then about the history of the building and we continued to record daily temperature and rain gauge readings as we raised and lowered the US flag daily. Why? The integrity and continuation of the historic record of Richmond weather, going back to the founding of the National Weather Bureau there.

Side note: If the national weather bureau HAD built the building on Gambles Hill, it may have been bulldozed like Pratt's Castle and the entire neighborhood in the 1950s. As it is, the building stands proud and beautiful. Thanks to the NPS for being a good steward of it for so long.

https://rvahub.com/2018/05/04/must-see-rva-u-s-weather-bureau-building/

A look into the history of Richmond places that are still part of our landscape.

04/19/2018

Well, the James River is a wild and wonderful thing, cresting at about 13 feet. No one has more respect for the James River than the James River Association. Looking forward to telling some history stories by canoe partnering with JRA this coming Wednesday, April 25.

04/06/2018

Next up for Andrew McRoberts Richmond History Stories, Live?

We hit the river by canoe with the James River Association for a couple of "history forward" canoe trips over the coming weeks!

The first one will be April 18 at 5:30 pm. We will depart from from Great Shiplock Park to paddle with stories about the first arrival of Captains Christopher Newport and John Smith to the end of the tidewater and the future site of Richmond in 1607, about some maritime history of Richmond and Manchester as busy port towns, and about the area's stint as a shipyard assembling ocean-going America's ships of war at one time. The Civil War history of Rocketts and Manchester as the confederate navy yard. We will arrive at the former Manchester dock by canoe to talk about the arrival and departure of African Americans in the slave trade before the Civil War.

The second one will depart from Hopewell marina in June 8 at 6 pm. We will discuss the history of City Point, its strategic importance at the confluence of the Appomattox and James Rivers, and its role in the Civil War. More on this as the date approaches.

Go to the James River Association website to pre-register. There is a nominal fee to defray the cost for the canoe rental. If you can't make one of my trips, any of the other JRA outings will also connect you with the river!
https://jrava.org/whats-happening/connect-with-the-james/