Richmond Apartment Reviews

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Richmond Information

Richmond was first settled in 1607 by Christopher Newport and Captain John Smith, who navigated up the James River ten days after landing at Jamestown. The city was not known as "Richmond" until 1737, when it was laid out by Major William Mayo on land donated by Colonel William Byrd II. The name comes from Richmond upon Thames, England.

[edit] Revolutionary War In 1775, Patrick Henry gave his famous "Give me Liberty or Give me Death" speech in St. John's Church at a meeting of the Second Continental Congress. Also in attendance at this meeting were Thomas Jefferson and George Washington.

Richmond replaced Williamsburg as the capital of Virginia in 1780.

[edit] Capital of the Confederacy During the American Civil War, Richmond was the capital of the Confederate States of America. The White House of the Confederacy, located a few blocks north of the State Capital, was home to the family of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

In April of 1865, Richmond was burned by a retreating Confederate Army and was returned to Northern control, becoming part of "Military District #1" during the Reconstruction period (1865-1870).

[edit] Monument Avenue After the American Civil War, Richmond was rebuilt, expanding largely to the west. Monument Avenue was laid out it 1887. Monument Avenue honored the city's Confederate heroes in a series of impressive monuments. Included (east to west) were J.E.B. Stuart, Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson, and Matthew F. Maury. Richmond is also the site of other Confederate monuments, to Ambrose P. Hill, and the Soldiers and Sailors Monument on historic Church Hill.

In 1995, a statue of Richmond native and tennis star Arthur Ashe was added to the series of statues on Monument Avenue.

[edit] Sprague electrifies the streetcars of Richmond An historic postcard showing electric trolley-powered streetcars in Richmond, Virginia, where Frank J. Sprague successfully demonstrated his new system on the hills in 1888. The intersection shown is at 8th & Broad Streets.Richmond had the first successful electrically-powered trolley system in the United States. Designed by electric power pioneer, Frank J. Sprague, the trolley system opened its first line in January, 1888. Richmond's hills, long a transportation obstacle, were considered an ideal proving ground. The new technology soon replaced horse-powered streetcars.

As part of a national trend, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the electrically-powered trolley systems accelerated Richmond's expansion. To generate traffic and fuel sales of property, amusement parks were created at the end of the lines at Lakeside Park, Westhampton Park (now University of Richmond), and Forest Hill Park. Rails of interurban trolley services formed a suburban network from Richmond extending north to Ashland and south to Chester, Colonial Heights, Petersburg and Hopewell. Another interurban route ran east and terminated at the National Cemetery at Seven Pines at the end of the Nine Mile Road, where many Civil War dead were interred. Trolley-buses, also using the Sprague technology, operated in local service in nearby Petersburg for several years.

The Richmond area's streetcar suburbs included Highland Park, Barton Heights, Ginter Park, Woodland Heights, and Highland Springs.

As roads improved in the early 20th century, streetcars were unable to compete with automobiles and the efficiencies of buses. The Richmond-Petersburg area's interurban services were gone by 1939. The last streetcars ran in 1949 on the Highland Park line when they were replaced by buses.

[edit] Manchester: an independent city For over 250 years, the James River divided Richmond on the north bank from its sister, independent city of Manchester, located on the south bank.

A major issue for Manchester and Richmond residents in the 19th and early 20th century were the toll bridges over the James River. In 1910, Manchester agreed to a political consolidation with the much larger independent city of Richmond. Richmond's better-known name was used for both areas as it contained the location of Virginia's state capital. Key features of the consolidation agreement were requirements that a "free bridge" across the James River and a separate courthouse in Manchester be maintained indefinitely. Instead of barrier between neighboring cities, under the consolidation, the James River became the centerpiece of the expanded Richmond.

Although Manchester is extinct as an independent city, vestiges can be found in the Manchester Bridge, Manchester Slave Trail, and the Manchester Courthouse.