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Railroad in The Penitentiary Basin
The Penitentiary Basin was dammed at the beginning of the 19th century, between Oregon Hill and Gambles Hill and below the Va. State Penitentiary. It served as an important turning basin for canal boats traveling the James River and Kanawha Canal. Canal boats offloaded supplies, and there was a canal boat building business in the Basin. The 1876 Beers Atlas shows the Basin below Oregon Hill at a time when canal boat traffic was being replaced by the more versatile railroads. In March 1880 the James River and Kanawha Company conveyed all of the canal property to the Richmond Alleghany Railroad, and the Penitentiary Basin soon was filled in and became a busy rail yard with turntable and machine shop. The 1889 Baist Atlas shows the remarkable transition from the previous decade as the extensive railroad infrastructure replaced the canal boat traffic. The water from the James River and Kanawha Canal continued to power the waterwheels at Tredegar Iron Works well into the 20th century. The attached photograph shows a steam engine beside the canal filling up with water from the tower located at the former Penitentiary Basin. Pratt’s Castle on Gambles Hill can be seen directly above the water tower. The former Penitentiary Basin is now owned by NewMarket Corporation, and it is hoped that they will be respectful of the rich history of this site.
Photo credits:
Canal/Railroad photo, Library of Virginia;
Baist Atlas, 1889, VCU Libraries;
Penitentiary Basin, Beers Atlas, 1876, Library of Congress
Don’t Forget Byrd House Market Today
Murals Past
Spring Street neighbor Charles Sugg supplied this photo from the early 1980’s. It’s of folks finishing up a mural of corn on the Cornucopia CO-OP, which existed at the corner of S.Pine and Idlewood. In the photo, left-to-right, is Bob Haddow, the late Jim Brunot and Charles Poole.
(This is the site of a new mural as part of the 2015 Richmond Mural Project).
Richmond2015/UCI Bicycle Race Information Meetings Schedule
From Richmond2015 email:
Richmond 2015, the organizers of the UCI Road World Championships will host a series of informational meetings to help the community “Get Race Ready”!
During these meetings the community can learn from race officials about the race routes and schedules, the traffic management plan, where to party and how they can get engaged with this once in a generation opportunity to see the best cyclists in the World race through their backyards.
The series of meetings will take place daily the first two weeks of August at various times and locations throughout the region. See below and attached for a schedule of these public meetings.
Please share this information with your customers, patrons, members, employees, etc. As well as on your webpages, social media pages, etc. to help Richmond 2015 reach those who live, work and play in the impacted areas.
VCU/HDL Deal Blowup
Excerpts from Richmond BizSense article:
Just after it informed VCU that it must back out of a promise made three years ago, Health Diagnostic Laboratory must also explain what happened to “large sums of money” that may have changed hands in the years leading up to its recent financial troubles.
…
HDL also recently informed VCU that it will not be able to fulfill the $4 million pledge it made to the school’s athletic department three years ago, the school confirmed this week.
HDL, once one of the city’s fastest-growing and most generous corporations, failed to pay its most recent $400,000 annual installment to the school due June 30.
The pledge – the largest in VCU Athletics history – promised equal installments over 10 years to help fund the school’s new $25 million basketball practice facility, along with other capital projects.
In exchange, HDL’s name was plastered on signage around all of VCU’s athletic facilities, including the Siegel Center, Sports Backers Stadium and the Cary Street Gym, declaring them part of the HDL, Inc. Athletic Village.
Swine Skins
China Street neighbor Marty has a new small business venture. “Swine Skins” are his version of pork skin rinds, made with peanut oil. He has been selling them at the Byrd House Market, and last night he brought out the cart (with vendor’s license) for the people watching fireworks.
“Oregon Hill Proposed Conditions for Tredegar Green Amphitheater”
The following letter was sent from an attorney hired by the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association on June 17 to members of City Council, the Mayor’s office, Richmond Police Department, and others.
Dear elected and appointed officials of the City of Richmond:
We represent the neighborhood associations of Oregon Hill and the Overlook.
The citizens of Oregon Hill and the Overlook have engaged with Venture Richmond in a series of discussions, and today have provided a set of draft conditions for the consideration of Venture Richmond in their proposed zoning request to the City for the Tredegar Green Amphitheater.
The homeowners and residents of Oregon Hill support (and enjoy) robust public use of the riverfront and specifically do not oppose reasonable use of the Tredegar Green property. However, like any neighborhood of homeowners in the City, they have reasonable concerns about adverse impacts on noise, parking, trash, public safety and the like. And, like any neighborhood of homeowners in the City, they have a legitimate expectations that these adverse impacts will be reasonably addressed by a zoning applicant and by their City officials.
To assist Venture Richmond and the City, we have prepared a proposed set of conditions that we feel reasonably address the adverse impacts of use of the Tredegar Green property. Attached are that set of conditions and an explanatory cover letter to Venture Richmond counsel Bill Axselle.
We look forward to working with Venture Richmond and the City as the zoning application goes forward. In that process, we submit these conditions to allow the uses that Venture Richmond envisions while reasonably protecting the neighbors on Oregon Hill.
We welcome your input and assistance in this regard.
Thank you very much,
Andrew R. McRoberts
Attorney
Sands Anderson PC
From: McRoberts, Andrew R.
Sent: Wednesday, June 17, 2015 1:31 PM
To:
Cc:
Subject: Oregon Hill Proposed Conditions for Tredegar Green AmphitheaterBill, here are our proposed conditions and an explanatory cover letter. We look forward to working with you in addressing the Oregon Hill neighborhood’s reasonable concerns.
We learned this morning – too late to affect these conditions I promised you today – that the Richmond Police Department (“RPD”) may wish for the applications for event management plan approval to go through another department or agency rather than the RPD. Although I have not discussed this with my clients, I anticipate that shifting the receiving/approving agency to another department or office which works better for all would be acceptable to us. As I mentioned in the cover letter, a number of City departments may be involved in review of a proposed event management plan.
Thanks for your assistance,
Andrew
Andrew R. McRoberts
Attorney
Sands Anderson PC
Attachment: Letter to Hon Ralph L. Axselle Jr 6-17-15 (Editor’s note: click here for PDF)
Mojo’s All Virginia Tap Takeover Thursday
From the FaceBook event page:
It’s Tap Takeover time again folks! This Thursday! 6.25.15 This month we are featuring all Virginia Brews. 6 on tap and 2 bottles! Look out for beers or ciders from Strangeways, Bold Rock Cidery, Champion, Hardywood, Ledgend and others. Starts at 8. Check back for full beer list later in the week!
Vinyl Conflict Metal Music Showcase
Oregon Hill’s punk/metal record store, Vinyl Conflict, will be presenting a hardcore and metal showcase featuring performances by Connoisseur from Oakland, California and Richmond groups Humungus, Unsacred and Cornbeard at Strange Matter on Grace Street this Thursday night.
CONNOISSEUR “Firestorm / Weedleech”
From their first show in Oakland.
May 20th, 2011.