Before the “North Bank Trail“, this is a photo taken from Hollywood Cemetery, looking up the James River and Kanawha Canal.
Historic Photo of Upriver
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Category Archives: history
The Old and New Lee Bridge
The Old 700 Block
William Pickett supplied these photos of when the bulldozers took down his neighbors’ houses on the 700 block of S. Laurel.
“What Doesn’t Burn.”
Harry Kollatz Jr’s most recent column informs of new attention to Grace Arents’ legacy from local librarian and writer Wendy DeGroat. A New Jersey transplant, DeGroat was inspired by a previous 2009 Kollatz feature on Grace Arents called The Invisible Philanthropist.
Kollatz excerpt:
Segue to 2015, and DeGroat is composing a group of 20 to 30 “documentary poems” under the title “What Doesn’t Burn.” The title is imbued with meanings: DeGroat like researchers before her, is left with scant material about Arents who, like her wealthy uncle Lewis Ginter and others of their time, ordered the destruction of her personal papers. What somehow didn’t burn were a commonplace book and two travel journals. In constructing the poems, to give herself Arents’ voice, DeGroat charted the frequency and choice of words and broke them into their proper categories, whether noun, verb and so forth. To frame the poems, she created letters that Grace could have written to her younger sister, Minnie, in New York City.
But, DeGroat points out, what also doesn’t burn is what one gives away, whether energy or material. It is a particular poignant observation, giving that the William Byrd Community House, a direct portion of Arents’ legacy – which withstood economic depressions and many variations of the monetary climate – closed this year.
She’s found in Arents not a schoolteacher spinster, as she’s perceived, but an independent woman who at age 49, through inheritance of the Ginter fortune, became a person of means, too. Arents chose to exercise her will by making her part of the world a better place and doing so in a way that didn’t attract undue attention to herself. Arents’ humble nature seems to have come through either example or genetics of her Uncle Lewis. The tobacco magnate who bankrolled the construction of the Jefferson Hotel ordered that his name not be seen anywhere in the building. This kind modesty isn’t exemplified by latter-day tycoons.
New Book On Tredegar Iron Works
Well, I apologize for failing to give prior notice on this, but local historian Nathan Madison just gave a great talk this very afternoon on the subject of his new book, Tredegar Iron Works: Richmond’s Foundry on the James, at…Tredegar Iron Works, of course (or as the Welsh pronounce it, “Treediger” Iron Works).
Richmond Magazine recently profiled Madison and his new book.
A fundamental portion of the overarching story are the families whose associations to Tredegar went on, in some cases, for generations, almost from beginning to end. “What I kept seeing in the employee ledgers were the same names, Anderson, Archer, Delaney, Glasgow, Harris, Krengel, Osterbind, for years and years, on and on. And it’s not just the management level, but the men of the shop whose kids marry Tredegar kids, and so it was quite like a big family.”
…
The endurance and resilience of the company against man-made and natural disasters impressed Madison. “How they kept operating, using hydro-power and not fully ever converting to electricity, and on antiquated equipment, is kind of amazing.” The company’s men worked hard and sometimes suffered and died from industrial accidents. But their families persevered. Tredegar survived, but not quite long enough to become what in today’s view would be a “niche” manufacturer. But until the very end, what made money for Tredegar was rail spikes and clamps.
At his presentation today, Madison covered the plant history very well and included many good profiles of the figures involved with it (despite multiple interruptions by the automated museum videos). Afterwards, Madison graciously answered questions and shared some of his research insights.
(With all of the Tredegar connections to the Oregon Hill, it is absolutely imperative that the Oregon Hill Home Improvement Council sponsor a talk and book-signing in the neighborhood in the new year!)
617 Cherry Street, circa 1981-1982
This photo is before the historic John Miller house went under extensive renovation. Holly Street Playground is in the background. Photo published with permission from Richard Lee Bland.
Blunt Died At 4:20
James Blunt, Sr. died on this day in 1922 at 226 S. Cherry Street. From the Times Dispatch for Nov. 14 of that year:
Dumb drug humor aside (and I mean no disrespect to Mr. Blunt or his descendants), a lot of Oregon Hill residents enjoy learning the history of their houses, including what ghosts may be present.
OHNA Asks VCU To Preserve Historic Baths Building
From email today:
Dear President Rao,
At the October meeting of the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association (OHNA), a resolution was passed to request that VCU preserve the facade of the historic Branch Baths building on the site of the Gladdings Residence dormitory on Main Street. We also resolved to express our appreciation for the work of Tito Luna who has done an admirable job in keeping the neighborhood informed regarding the new residence dormitory. According to Mr. Luna, the contractor for the project has been selected. But, unfortunately, the RFP for the replacement dormitory made no mention of preserving the facade of the Branch Baths building.
Attached to this e-mail is an article on the construction of the second Branch Baths on Main Street from the May 15, 1912 edition of the Times Dispatch. The article notes that no expense was spared by architect Mitchell in constructing the baths with an elegant facade of Indiana limestone.
Also attached is a summary of the Branch Bath #2 annual reports from 1915 – 1918. In 1918, the report indicates that 47,433 bathers used the facility in the previous calendar year. This remarkable figure is an indication of the bath’s importance historically in the life of Oregon Hill and the surrounding neighborhoods, whose residents relied upon the public baths before private indoor-plumbing was ubiquitous.
Also attached is the a 2006 photograph of the Branch Baths from the Valentine Collection. The facade of the Branch Baths #2 should be preserved because of its historical and architectural value to the city of Richmond.
Thank you for your consideration of this request.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Hancock
President
Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association
Great Grandparent Richard W. Robertson
I found this family history site, which includes individual pages on great-grandparents. One of those is on Richard W. Robertson, who lived at 302 Laurel Street.
Here is an excerpt:
A death certificate shows that Richard W. Robertson died at age 87, on October 16, 1918, while at Grace Hospital in Richmond. The certificate shows that he was born in July 1831, in Virginia. His father was listed as Alex Robertson and his mother as Sallie Williams, both born in Virginia.
At death, he lived at 302 Laurel St., Richmond. Apparently, from the certificate, the cause of death was an injury from a street accident involving a car. Whether he was a pedestrian, hit by a car, or a car’s occupant during the accident is unclear. The certificate informant was C. H.
Robertson, one of Richard’s sons, who lived at 2218 Hanover Dr. Richard W. was buried at Hollywood Cemetery. The death certificate information is very consistent with other information provided here, in my family history.The 302 Laurel Street address, which is very near the Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, was almost certainly the address of Mary A. Owen, Richard and Mary Robertson’s daughter. From the 1860s until Richard and Mary’s death, one pattern that emerges is the frequent changes in their addresses. This, along with the fact that they were living with their daughter at the time of death and that they are buried at Hollywood Cemetery without head stone markers, is consistent with the conclusion that Richard and Mary were likely very poor much of the time. Frequent
moving suggests they always rented their residences, and did not have a lot of stability in their living arrangements. And, having no head stone at their burial site, which was known at Hollywood Cemetery in the late 1800s, very early 1900s, to mean a lack of funds for purchasing one, also suggests the Robertsons were poor.Richard and Mary Robertson is just one example of finding throughout my family ancestral history, from the 1860s into the 1900s, many poor economic situations. And, I believe, because these families were all southern families that their poor economic status was in large measure a
consequence of the Civil War.
Virginia State Penitentiary, Richmond – Filmed in 1991
The Virginia State Penitentiary was closed and demolished in 1991. The state pen was located at 500 Spring Street in Richmond. This is a look at the grounds and cells after the inmates were moved.
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