From OpenSourceRVA:
Listen in to today’s packed edition of Open Source RVA. We present Pt. 1 of a series on the demolition of the Tredegar Canal Wall with guests Scott Burger and Charles Pool. We also talk with Mark Strandquist of the People’s Library about the Richmond collective’s recycled book initiative. And we get you pumped for this weekend’s Commonwealth of Notions 3 music festival by speaking with curator Shannon Cleary. Be Guided by the Source!! 4PM on 97.3 FM and http://wrir.org/
In addition, here is a timeline on the canal wall controversy:
1757 – Belvidere plantation established by William Byrd III. Oregon Hill is a plateau between two ravines with spectacular views of the James River and Shockoe and Church Hills. The dramatic view from the hill prompted William Byrd III, who owned nearly all of Richmond at the time, to name the hill Belvidere. Byrd built his country house of the same name in the southern portion of the present neighborhood in 1758. The house and its extensive gardens stood until their destruction by fire in 1854.
1772 – Washington had identified the Potomac and James rivers as the most promising locations for canals to be built to join with the western rivers.
1785- The James River Company was formed with George Washington as its honorary president. Development of the James River and the Kanawha Canal, designed by Washington, ensued. His plan was for The James to be aligned with the Kanawha River (in what is now West Virginia).
1789- Washington elected as the nation’s first President.
1790- Canal opened as the first commercial canal in the United States, stretching from Richmond to Westham and paralleling the James for 7 miles (11 km). The canal supplemented existing bateaux transportation on the James River. Enslaved African-Americans did most of the labor thus made another major contribution to Virginia’s wealth. Typically the slaves were hired from plantation owners who lived near the route of the canal. Later, stock from the canal, at a value of $20,000, was given to Liberty Hall Academy in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia by George Washington as an endowment. That gift prompted the renaming of the Academy to Washington College. Washington College is now known as Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.
December, 1800- Richmond’s Great Basin opened as part of canal enterprise, the first canal system in the United States with a lock and towpath
1806- Tolls are allowed on the James River and Kanawha Canal.
1820- Commonwealth (state) of Virginia took control of the James River and Kanawha Canal resumed construction.
1831 – Canal entity reorganized as the James River and Kanawha Canal Company
1837 – Tredegar Iron works opens. Later, its compound was enclosed by an 8-foot tall brick wall.
December, 1840- The Richmond-to-Lynchburg section of Virginia’s James River and Kanawha Canal is
inaugurated by the William Henry Harrison.
Samuel P. Parsons was the canal General Superintendent. His home survives at 601 Spring Street and is an important part of the Oregon Hill National Historic District.
1842- Much of the James River and Kanawha Canal is damaged by major flooding.
1846- Walter Gwynn takes over from Joseph C. Campbell as president of the James River
and Kanawha Canal.
1850 to 1875 – Oregon Hill resident John Messler ran a canal boat building enterprise in the Penitentiary Basin. Messler had a short walk from his home the Jacob House (which survives at 619 W. Cary Street) to the canal basin below Oregon Hill. The intermediate canal basin was also known as Harvie’s Mill Pond basin, or Penitentiary Pond.
1851- Canal project half completed. It extended 196.5 miles (316 km) west of Richmond to Buchanan
1854 – The Belvidere Mansion and its extensive gardens were destroyed by fire, and the land was subdivided into residential lots for workers of Tredgar Iron Works and other industrial sites along the Kanawha Canal and the James River.
1877- Canal project abandoned to flooding problems.
March 4, 1880- The canal was conveyed to the Richmond and Alleghany railroad, which built tracks along its towpath. That railroad was sold to the C&O. The Intermediate Basin later became the Second Street Trainyard.
1887- Albemarle Paper Manufacturing Company founded. A factory was built on a parcel of land located on Tredegar Street between the James River and Kanawha Canal.
1907 – A bronze cross, commemorating a wooden cross raised by explorer Christopher Newport and Captain John Smith in 1607, was erected by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities as part of the 300th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown. The placement of the bronze Cross on Gamble’s Hill was later viewed as historically inaccurate and the cross was moved.
1950’s – 1960’s – Gamble’s Hill neighborhood demolished, including Pratt’s Castle. 1954-1956 Colonial Revival international headquarters built for NewMarket Corp., the parent company of Ethyl Corp.
A prospectus was created for the Virginia Transportation Museum. It’s plan called for short excursion trains pulled by Richmond-built locomotives — there was still track and even a water tower from the Second Street yards. There was also a suggestion for canal-boat excursions, since the museum would have been sited on “a former turning basin for the Kanawha Canal.” The reports noted that canal trips have been “seriously proposed for some time.” All this, and antique car shows, too. Load pdf of this prospectus by clicking here.
1971 – The James River and Kanawha Canal Historic District, a 138-acre (56 ha) historic district, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
1983 – The City of Richmond removes the 1907 Cross from Gamble’s Hill when the former park was acquired by what was the Ethyl Corp. (now NewMarket Corporation) in a land swap: Gamble’s Hill for Brown’s Island.
1983-1985 Richmond Great Basin dig excavating the first batteaux and canal boats.
An Ethyl official described the canal as “a stinking ditch.” Ethyl sought to shield itself from the “stinking ditch” by building a temporary dam in 1985. The dam remains and the basin is beneath the topsoil.
1988, – A Historic Richmond Foundation canal committee designed a waterway for tour boats from the James River at the Great Shiplock to Maymont. The navigable James River & Kanawha Canal would be spliced with the millrace Haxall Canal. Renowned architect Carlton Abbott prepared plans and cost estimates. Load large pdf of this plan by clicking here.
1991 – Ethyl, with City permission, destroys the architecturally significant 2nd Street Bridge. It should be noted that Oregon Hill residents spoke against this demolition.
1998 – Jack Berry joins Richmond Renaissance, which later becomes Venture Richmond.
January 2000 – Richmond writer Harry Kollatz writes in Richmond Magazine about history of canal basin and efforts to restore the canal.
2006 – Veture Richmond formed through a merger of several downtown development and promotion groups including Richmond Renaissance, citycelebrations, Richmond Riverfront Corp. and River District Alliance.
October 2007 – National Folk Festival comes to Richmond. After three years, Venture Richmond continues its tradition in Richmond with the Richmond Folk Festival.
Early 2011 – City Council districts are redesigned. The City Council 5th District’s boundary was slightly altered to include the 2nd Street area.
Popular blog James River Hub picks up on suggestion that Kanawha Canal be renovated and opened for recreational paddlers.
September 14, 2011 – City holds first public forum on Riverfront Plan, citizens speak against 2nd Street Connector and for the need to preserve the canal.
September 28, 2011 – Meeting that includes representatives from the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association (OHNA), Dominion Power, and City of Richmond. OHNA representatives expressed concern about 2nd Street Connector plan and canal.
October 7, 2011 – Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association (OHNA) Sends Letter In Support Of City To Protect Canal
October 18, 2011 – 2nd public meeting on RIverfront Plan, citizens again speak in favor of protecting and restoring canal.
February 1, 2012 – Sierra Club Falls of the James sends letter to Mayor against proposed 2nd Street Connector.
February 27, 2012 – Richmond City Council votes to include $385,000 in the capital budget to preserve a section of the James River and Kanawha Canal with an open-bottom culvert beneath the proposed Second Street Connector.
March 15, 2012 – Interested citizen C. Wayne Taylor emails questions to his Councilperson, Bruce Tyler, about 2nd Street Connector.
April 12, 2012 – Another email from C. Wayne Taylor about lack of response from City Council to questions about 2nd Street Connector – “On March 15th 2012 I requested certain information from Councilor Tyler regarding the proposed 2nd Street connector. He said he would give me a response by the end of the week. On April 2nd I send an email to Councilor Tyler advising him that I had not received anything. As of this evening, I still have not received any of the information I requested.”
April 29, 2012 – A Times Dispatch guest editorial by Jack Pearsall makes a strong case for making Richmond’s historic canals a priority.
July 23, 2012 – 2nd Street Connector ordinances, with Mayor as patron, passed by Richmond CIty Council. City Council members, when pressed, kept referring to a previous agreement with the landowners, yet they can supply no evidence of this agreement, despite FOIA requests.
August, 2012, Dr. Trout, former president of the American Canal Society and Va. Canals and Navigation Society, sends letter to Mr. Berry of Venture Richmond. “Instead of damaging it, please make every effort to keep it intact as one of America’s most important historic sites, a monument to George Washington and the industry of early Virginians. It’s not worth destroying part of it just to build a larger amphitheater.”
August 28, 2012 – Jack Berry of Venture Richmond presents proposed amphitheater plans at Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association meeting. When Venture Richmond’s Jack Berry did his presentation to Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association (OHNA), he said that there had never been a study to connect the canals.
September 4, 2012 – The City of Richmond Planning Commission voted to adopt the 2012 Riverfront Plan as an element of the city’s Master Plan and Downtown Plan. The vote was 7-1 to approve, with commission chair Melvin Law the lone dissenting vote.
September 17, 2012 – Richmond Times Dispatch article- “Amphitheater plan stirs worry in Oregon Hill”. “A proposal to build an amphitheater near the Tredegar Ironworks as a permanent venue for the Richmond Folk Festival has drawn fire over concerns that grading changes to improve sightlines on the hill will destroy part of a historic canal bed that Richmond’s City Council appropriated $385,000 to preserve.”
October 13-15, 2012 – Richmond Folk Festival
October 16, 2012 – About 95 feet of the approximately 8-foot-high historic brick canal wall torn down. Bricks stacked on pallets.
October 18, 2012, 5 pm- City employee sends email about “the illegal demolition of a historic resource on City property.”
October 18, 2012 – Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association (OHNA) sends press release: “Venture Richmond damages a portion of the historic James River and Kanawha Canal.”
October 19, 2012- Venture Richmond demands a retraction of OHNA press release, claiming no responsibility for wall’s demolition.
October 20, 2012 – Richmond Times Dispatch article-
“Unauthorized demolition of historic wall under investigation”, William Roberts, a project manager for J.E. Liesfeld, a Rockville-based contractor, acknowledged the firm was hired by NewMarket Corp. to tear down the wall but would not discuss the project.
October 21, 2012 – New Market Vice President Bruce Hazelgrove email states that “New Market had absolutely no role in the demolition of the section of wall located on the City’s property nor did NewMarket hire or contract with anyone to demolish the 28 foot section of wall located on the riverfront property it recently gifted to the community.”
October 22, 2012 – Oregon Hill resident Charles Pool, witness to purposeful demolishing of canal wall, sends email to City’s Commonwealth Attorney Michael Herring, asking for full investigation.
October 22, 2012 – Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association releases press release – The Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association (OHNA) acknowledges to Venture Richmond that OHNA made an incorrect assumption that Venture Richmond would be aware of bulldozers and construction crews operating on their own property, and therefore made the erroneous statement that Venture Richmond was responsible for the recent damage to the historic wall and canal.
According to Channel 6 news, Bill Bayliss, an attorney representing the contracting firm issued this statement to CBS-6:
“The City of Richmond issued a demolition permit in connection with the Second Street Connector project and J. E. Liesfeld Contracting, Inc. was to remove 28 lineal feet of brick from the existing wall. In the course of removing the 28 lineal feet of brick, apparently due to the age and condition of the wall, the entire wall collapsed. Liesfeld certainly recognizes and appreciates the historic significance of this wall and intends to cooperate and work with all the necessary parties to resolve all issues relating to this unfortunate incident.”
October 24, 2012 – In Times Dispatch article the attorney for Liesfeld Contracting, Inc. states that the firm was responsible for the demolition, but would not reveal who hired them for the work.
City’s Commonwealth Attorney Michael Herring respondsin email to Charles Pool- “I am communicating with other City officials about the incident, and I anticipate that we will meet to discuss various aspects of the matter. I do not know whether this office will lead an investigation and I certainly don’t know whether this matter will culminate in criminal charges. I fully expect to receive reports from RPD and/or DPW, two agencies in which I have confidence.”
Oregon Hill resident Charles Pool, witness to purposeful demolishing of canal wall, sends email to Chief Norwood, asking for investigation and prosecution.
November 2012 – Dominion Virginia Power builds a bridge for the extension of Second Street in downtown Richmond, crossing the James River & Kanawha Canal at Tredegar.
November 7, 2012 – Richmond Voice newspaper runs article on canal wall controversy.
February 20, 2013 – Richmond Times Dispatch article on new police chief. Excerpt – In a candid interview, Ray Tarasovic described his style, personality and leadership philosophy in terms that painted a stark contrast with his predecessor, Bryan T. Norwood. “I’m a transparent person,” Tarasovic said Tuesday after joining Mayor Dwight C. Jones in congratulating dozens of officers for winning awards. “I’ll tell you how I feel. I’m telling you how I feel now.” “I believe in sunshine, and I think we will shine in the sun,” Tarasovic added, referring to transparency.
Oregon Hill resident Charles Pool, witness to purposeful demolishing of canal wall, having never received response from Chief Norwood, sends email to Chief Tarasovic, asking for investigation and prosecution.
March 23, 2013 – Oregon Hill resident Scott Burger sends email to Chief Tarasovic, asking for investigation and prosecution.
April, 2013 – Winter/Spring 2013 edition of the “Tiller,” publication of the Virginia Canals and Navigations Society (VCNS) includes article entitled, “New Richmond Amphitheater Endangers Canal Plans” by Elizabeth Davis.
April 16, 2013 – Better Government Richmond sends Police Chief Tarasovic a letter regarding any criminal and civil investigations of the destruction of the pre-Civil War canal wall on City property that took place in October 2012. They asked if the Richmond Police Department had conducted an investigation, and, if so, the status of the investigation. A copy of the letter was also sent to Mr. Gene Lepley, Jr., Director of Police Media Relations.
April 24, 2013 – Chief Tarasovic cancels announced appearance at 5th District meeting.
May 13, 2013 – Better Government sends second request sent to Police Chief Tarasovic seeking information about status of canal wall destruction investigation.
May 16, 2013 – 2nd Street Connector officially opened.
June 11, 2013 – Having received no response from the Police Chief, and seeing no investigation or accountability after eight months, Charles Pool attempted to file a police report at a local precinct. He was not allowed to file a police report. The precinct refused to even accept a copy of the report that he had carefully prepared.
June 14, 2013 – Better Government Richmond delivers a preliminary copy of a Petition For Mandamus to the chief of police.
June 19, 2013 – Better Government Richmond tells police chief Tarasovic that he did not properly respond to Freedom of Information request for records.
June 25, 2013 – Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association (OHNA) issued a resolution asking for “a thorough investigation into the identity of the entity responsible for the tragic loss of this important historic asset and the processing of this entity through our legal system.”
June 26, 2013 – In response to inquiry from Scott Burger at 5th District meeting, Police Chief Tarasovic says that there was an investigation but no criminal intent was found. He apologized for not responding earlier.
July 11, 2013 – Times Dispatch article – “Richmond to compel contractor to rebuild accidentally destroyed wall” – “In statements Wednesday evening, Tarasovic and Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael Herring said the wall’s destruction was not the result of any criminal intent.”
July 12, 2013 – CBS6 reporter Mark Holmberg revisits the controversy
July 23, 2013 – Venture Richmond’s Jack Berry scheduled to appear at OHNA meeting to present new amphitheater plans.