Oregon Hill Walking Tour This Sunday

Posted on August 23, 2016 by Scott

Valentine Museum-sponsored walking tour of the neighborhood takes place this Sunday from 2 to 4 pm.

From FaceBook event page:

Oregon Hill originated as a grouping of residences for workers from the Tredegar Iron Works and survives today as a tight-knit working class enclave that has continued to thrive with remarkable cohesion. Learn about its history and newer developments. Meet at Laurel and Idlewood streets.

$15 per person
$5 for Valentine Members
Walk-ups welcome.
Cash or check.
On street parking.

This tour is presented as part of the Richmond History Tours program, a service of the Valentine. We offer a full schedule of walking and bus tours of city neighborhoods, waterways, parks, retail districts, historic sites and battlefields. Led by a trained master guide, a Richmond History Tour is the best way to experience the city’s past, present and future.

The Pool Under Main Street

Posted on August 19, 2016 by Scott

While we are still in the heat of summer, WTVR has a cool little report on “Richmond’s most famous pool, built 90 years ago – under the Altria Theater”.

Excerpt:

Tile from Spain and Italy covered everything, even some of the ceilings.

The pool was deep – nine and a half feet in the deep end, which had a diving board. It was still there until just a few years ago, Miller said.

The city would take over the historic building, turning it into the Mosque concert and theater venue.

—

The pool was filled in and covered over with concrete – it was just too structurally unsound.

But the original wall tile and floor edging, including the depth markers, remain in this 90-year-old uncanny pool room now serving as a storage area.

Hollywood Cemetery Tour Today

Posted on August 14, 2016 by Scott

If you can handle the heat…

From event announcement:

An extended version of the daily “Highlights” tour, this longer version covers in more detail the cemetery’s unique history, landscape design, architecture, symbols, and residents. Meet at the rear of the stone structure on the left at the cemetery entrance, at Cherry and Albemarle streets. Please note that this tour is 1.5 to 2 miles and involves several inclines. Comfortable shoes and water are recommended.

$15 per person.

$5 for Valentine Members.

Walk-ups welcome.

Cash or check.

On-street parking.

This tour is presented as part of the Richmond History Tours program, a service of the Valentine. We offer a full schedule of walking and bus tours of city neighborhoods, waterways, parks, retail districts, historic sites and battlefields. Led by a trained master guide, a Richmond History Tour is the best way to experience the city’s rich past, present and future.

Date & Time
Aug 14, 2016 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM

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Past and Present Monroe Park Edifices

Posted on July 30, 2016 by Scott

Ok, I might be stretching the term ‘edifice’, but neighbor Todd Woodson and Richard Lee Bland have been sharing some research on the fountain in Monroe Park on the FaceBook group Fans of Monroe Park.

Todd cited this passage:

“In 1872, Colonel Albert Ordway, Provost Marshal for Virginia (who lived close to the park) donated the park’s first fountain, built of stone, but city council rejected a petition from the “citizens near Monroe Park” for $2,500 in additional improvements. The requested improvements included a brick wall about two feet high around the park to prevent the embankment from washing on the pavement, granite post and chain to enclose the fountain, twenty iron seats, granite steps at the gates and for putting up the fountain donated by Colonel Ordway”.
From The Ghosts and Glories of Monroe Park- a Sesquicentennial History by David M. Clinger 1998.

Now quoting and paraphrasing Richard Lee Bland:

The history of (a later) fountain is very sketchy. Mary Wingfield Scott fixed the date of its appearance in the park in 1908. This stone pyramid precede but no dates to confirm.. In 1896 the original memorial to Jefferson Davis was intended to be at the park, a large colossal temple. The cornerstone was laid, but the project was abandoned. The 1970 article at the collapse states, “the fountain’s original upper tiers, which broke off many years ago, were replaced by new ones during a 1961 renovation.” Memories are both short and imperfect. I will comment the 1908 date is interesting due a four tier fountain once stood in Gamble’s Hill Park, overlooking the James River, now owned by Ethel Corporation.

The theory is that the Gamble’s Hill fountain was moved to Monroe Park in 1908 and that is the one there now. Here is a 1962 News Leader newspaper clipping where Mary Winfield Scott made that observation:

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An old photo of the fountain at Gamble’s Hill near Pratt’s Castle.
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Here is an old painting of the fountain in Monroe Park that is in the Special Collections at the VCU library:
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So, in terms of present edifices, an old and persistent hoarder has started to create a pile in Monroe Park. This woman is infamous for having done the same sort of thing in the Fan and Oregon Hill previously.
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This adds on to the current perception that the City and Monroe Park Conservancy are not being adequate stewards to historic Monroe Park. Still, young people continue to flock to Monroe Park to play Pokemon.

“Forgotten History Lecture Series” Continues At Tredegar On Tuesday

Posted on July 8, 2016 by Scott

From FaceBook event page:

Did u know “Henry ‘Box’ Brown” shipped himself to Freedom in a wooden box from the docks of the James River in Richmond to gain independence in Philadelphia, PA?

Join us Tuesday, July 12th at 6 pm for the “Forgotten History Lecture Series” as Alex Lawrence (www.boxbrownimports.com) presents the fascinating story of Henry Brown.

Light refreshments will be available.

Cost: Free. Limited seating.

WHERE: National Park Service Civil War Visitor Center— at Historic Tredegar, 490 Tredegar Street, Richmond, VA 23219.

Presented by the James River Advisory Council (https://jrac-va.org/). For more information, contact LaTika Lee, Diversity Committee Chair at 804-873-7363, by email: latika_lee@yahoo.com or Kimberly Conley, JRAC Executive Director at 804-748-1567.

Scotty Moore On The Mosque (Altria Theater)

Posted on June 29, 2016 by Scott

Remembering Scotty Moore, Elvis’ first guitar slinger who just passed away.

From his website:

On May 16, 1955 Elvis, Scotty, and Bill made their first appearance at the Mosque with the Hank Snow Jamboree. Martha Carson was the headliner and the show also featured Slim Whitman, the Davis Sisters, Onie Wheeler and Jimmie Rodgers Snow. All of the shows in Richmond were apparently sponsored by Bill Railey of Railey’s Appliance Center.

Oregon Hill On The Tourist Map

Posted on June 20, 2016 by Scott

Tourist maps are always fun for their distortions as well as their inclusions and exclusions.

The photo below is an excerpt from “The Character of Richmond”, circa 1990, made by Atlantic Graphics. It seems more oriented towards Fan businesses and notably left out all of the Southside. I got it from former Oregon Hill neighbor Greg Wells, who has a booth or two at Mixie’s in Mechanicsville. He has more copies of this map for sale, along with a lot of other cool memorabilia, Richmond and otherwise.

I have seen more recent ones around town that leave Oregon Hill out, showing just the Virginia War Memorial right next to Hollywood Cemetery.

Anyway, this post also gives a little foreshadowing to an announcement coming this Thursday.

Fire On S. Cherry Street Last Night

Posted on June 19, 2016 by Scott

Shortly after 9 pm last night a fire broke out on the second floor of 223 S. Cherry Street.

According to a neighbor’s report, the young resident had not been aware of the incident until she arrived home and said that her neighbor’s door had been busted in to get to the fire but that the fire seemed to be confined to a stairway area and it smelled like an electrical fire.

(Speculation is that the fire started when the power came back on for most of the neighborhood after Thursday’s storm.)

Thankfully, no one was injured and, from the rear of outside the building, it does not look like there was much damage.

Oregon Hill residents are very, very appreciative of the fast response and good work of the Richmond Fire Department.

—
By the way, this is not just another apartment building. It was built as part of Grace Arent’s legacy and originally housed the Instructive Visiting Nurse Association (IVNA), one of the earliest forms of public health care in Virginia.

From a 2009 Richmond Magazine article from Harry Kollatz, Jr:

The IVNA provided health care for young mothers, babies and the chronically ill who could not afford proper care. A building she constructed in 1903 for St. Andrew’s teachers at 223 S. Cherry St. became in 1911 headquarters for the IVNA. The IVNA, founded in 1900, is today the largest noninstitutional, nonprofit home health-care agency in the Richmond region.

Old Penitentiary Site to Get It’s Own Historic Marker

Posted on June 18, 2016 by Scott

In a Friday article in the Times Dispatch, Mark Holmberg reports that the old Virginia Penitentiary site will be getting an official Virginia state historic marker on Spring Street near S. Belvidere.

“I can’t believe it,” said RVA author Dale Brumfield. “Why hasn’t someone done this before?”
On Thursday, his plan for a marker commemorating the Virginia State Penitentiary was approved unanimously by the state Department of Historic Resources
…
Brumfield, who is writing a book about the old state pen, became fascinated while researching one of the countless legends about the place.
“Four prisoners went into the penitentiary but never came out,” he said. Legend had it they ran up gambling debts or otherwise ran afoul of other inmates and were ground up or incinerated.
“It just blossomed,” he said of the wealth of history that opened up as he peered back at the huge masonry monster that loomed over the shoulder of Oregon Hill from 1800 — when the first 21 prisoners were marched in — until it was razed in 1992.
“What else in Richmond lasts that long?” Brumfield said.

It’s worth noting that Oregon Hill as a neighborhood will also be getting a historic marker, probably near the Idlewood roundabout whenever that project is finished. And the James River and Kanawha Canal west of the Lee Bridge should also receive a historic marker at some point in the future.

Hollywood Cemetery Civil War Walking Tour Saturday

Posted on May 13, 2016 by Scott

From The Valentine Museum website:

From the Pyramid monument in the Confederate section to the gravesite of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, high above the James River, Hollywood Cemetery is the final resting place for over 18,000 Confederates, including J.E.B. Stuart, George Pickett, Fitzhugh Lee and many others. Meet at the rear of the stone structure on the left at the entrance at Cherry and Albemarle streets.

2:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Hollywood Cemetery, 412 S. Cherry Street, Richmond, VA 23220
$15 per person
$5 for Valentine Members
Walk-ups welcome.
Cash or check, or purchase online.
On-street parking.

This tour is presented as part of the Richmond History Tours program, a service of the Valentine.

Oregon Hill

News For Oregon Hill, in Richmond, VA

Category Archives: history