In May of 1927, Charles Lindbergh completed the first solo flight across the ocean. The 3,500-mile trip from Long Island to Paris – made without radar or radio – took him thirty-three and a half hours. Later that year, on…
By 1872, the narrow strip of land between the James River and Church Hill was too crowded with development to allow easy passage for goods. That’s when work began on a tunnel so cargo could be moved quickly between Shockoe…
By the end of the Civil War, the James River and its tributaries were too polluted with industrial waste for swimming. Desperate for relief during the summer, Richmonders headed for park fountains to cool off. The fountain in Monroe Park had become…
For nearly twenty years, a giant party overtook Richmond each June. Founded in 1976 to celebrate the arts, the June Jubilee was coordinated by the Arts Council of Richmond and the City of Richmond, with main funding from the National Endowment…
In 1908, the publisher of the Richmond Times-Dispatch died. The next year, Joseph Bryan’s widow bought a 262-acre estate called Rosewood and gave it to the City of Richmond to establish a free public park called Bryan Park in her…
The original 1737 layout of Richmond placed the heart of the city in a verdant valley. This valley was named after the creek that formed it. The Powhatans called the creek Shacahocan – meaning stone – for the rocky outcropping…
Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. In 1923, Alice Paul (1885 -1977), suffragist, feminist, and one of the primary strategists for the…
As long as Richmonders have commemorated their past, disagreement has shaped how that past should be memorialized – if at all. The effort to build the Robert E. Lee equestrian statue, the first of the monuments on Monument Avenue, was…
For much of Richmond’s history, all travel between Williamsburg and Charlottesville was dependent on one downtown street. Broad Street, named H Street until 1844, was a commercial hub for Richmonders and travelers alike all year long. Through the centuries, nearly everything…
On May 24, 1607, Christopher Newport and John Smith, along with the members of their expedition party, reached the fall line of the James River. To claim the territory for King James I, Newport planted a wooden cross. Three hundred years…
