rva: Richmond, 1865 and now (well, actually, 2004)

Jesse (

josby) wrote in

rva,
@ 2008-01-06 22:07:00

Entry tags:

miscellaneous

Richmond, 1865 and now (well, actually, 2004)

(click image for much bigger version)
I recently realized I'd meant to post this here back in 2004 when I'd posted it to my personal LJ, but never did.

I was looking around at old pictures of Richmond one day here and realized I recognized the porch on a building in the photo from having seen it in person. I found a photo I'd taken from up by WRVA on Church Hill and put them together to make the pic above.

The four things circled in yellow are things visible in both pics. I know someone will ask if I don't say, so the blue circle is Union Army supply wagons, and the red is the building I was living in at the time.

Anyway, I hope you'll find this to be as neat as I did. Isn't it weird that that area used to be so residential?

(Post a new comment)

	devil_dahling 2008-01-07 03:27 am UTC (link)
	wow. great shots! i used to live up in church hill and loved going up there, sitting at the top of that particular hill and just stare. it was awesome. cant do that these days. all blocked off :( (Reply to this)

	lifein2x3 2008-01-07 03:35 am UTC (link)
	It never ceases to amaze me how much Richmond has picked itself up and moved west over the last century or so. Neat post. (Reply to this)

	this_ismy_story 2008-01-07 03:40 am UTC (link)
	That's actually really, really cool. I looooove Richmond for this very reason, old buildings! I think the bottom right is a house located near the farmer's market. I know it had some significance for featuring African American artwork. But I don't remember specifics. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	this_ismy_story 2008-01-07 03:41 am UTC (link)
	Oh, and it also is one of the oldest houses in Richmond. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	mamunia 2008-01-09 12:02 am UTC (link)
	hey, that's neat - thanks for sharing those pics. about the red house - i don't think that's the one that is the oldest house with the african american connection - that one is on a corner lot, set back from the street. (i used to drive by it every day.) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	silvanos 2008-01-07 03:56 am UTC (link)
	God, I bet shockoe flooded like a BITCH in 1865. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	kellbot 2008-01-07 04:10 am UTC (link)
	I'm kinda curious if it did. With more grass/dirt to soak up the rain, it might not have been so bad. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	luguvalium 2008-01-07 04:12 am UTC (link)
	The Egyptian Building and Monumental Church are also in both. Great shots. I recall there is a civil war era photo from this vantage point (now the climbing wall on the james ) but I can't locate the old photo on the web. (Reply to this)

	theydontloveyou 2008-01-07 04:22 am UTC (link)
	The absolute coolest picture of old richmond is in the Chesterfield DMV (near Johnson Willis) on the wall opposite of where you pick up your license pictures. It is a view South of the James, probably from Cowardin and Semmes (somewhere in that vincinity) looking over. It's amazing with the hills and the buildings! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	josby 2008-01-08 01:55 am UTC (link)
	That sounds neat...next time I need to go to DMV, I think I will go to that one to take a look at that. (Reply to this) (Parent)

luguvalium
2008-01-07 04:29 am UTC (link)

Also here is another panorama of the burnt section of Richmond.

http://www.vmfa.state.va.us/beyer/pan_gardner_big.jpg

This was taken from Pratt's Castle which was located at the current location of Ethyl Corporation Headquaters.

photo's of Pratt's Castle
http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/va/va0500/va0574/photos/162632pv.jpg

http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/va/va0500/va0574/photos/162633pv.jpg

also see http://www.vmfa.state.va.us/beyer/gambles.html#gambles

Other civil war era photos of Richmond can be found searching from here: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	josby 2008-01-08 01:58 am UTC (link)
	Woah, that Pratt's Castle is pretty neat...well, was. I'd never heard of that before...strange to imagine that being in Richmond. I wonder what destroyed it in 1945. I'll have to ask my grandmother if she remembers seeing it. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	sullentimes 2008-01-07 04:50 am UTC (link)
	thanks for sharing, thats awesome! (Reply to this)

	pinkpolopony 2008-01-07 04:53 am UTC (link)
	is the builidng you lived in the superior building at 19th & franklin? (Reply to this) (Thread)

josby
2008-01-08 02:01 am UTC (link)

Close...across the street to the north, 1900 East Franklin. I think the one you're talking about is 1901? I wasn't sure which of the two buildings that was in the pic, but I think I remember looking and seeing that those four small windows across the top were still there on my building. It's shaped a little differently now, though, I think maybe part was torn down or added on to or something.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	pinkpolopony 2008-01-08 03:56 am UTC (link)
	ah yes. i lived at 1901 about 6 years ago. its hard to tell from this pic, but i think you are right about the window shapes. i miss that apartment. 1000 sq ft 2bdrm for just $625 a month. le sigh. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	revolutionbird 2008-01-07 08:34 am UTC (link)
	This is really awesome. (Reply to this)

	dixieflatline 2008-01-07 10:01 am UTC (link)
	The building you were living in at the time.... in 1865? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	josby 2008-01-08 02:02 am UTC (link)
	I'm like that guy on Heroes...don't tell anyone. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	applehearted 2008-01-07 12:04 pm UTC (link)
	There's a really neat book that came out several years ago that shows side by side views of The Fan. I think it was just called Richmond's Fan District. I had really amazing full page photos of "then and now". It's amazing to see how rural the area around VCU once was. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	mythofcool 2008-01-08 12:10 am UTC (link)
	very interested in that... linky for everyone else... http://www.amazon.com/Richmonds-fan-district-Drew-Carneal/dp/188956902X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199750890&sr=8-1 (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

applehearted
2008-01-08 01:37 am UTC (link)

Yes that's the one! Thanks for finding the link, I didn't have time to search it myself.

I worked at Borders many years ago and we carried it there as a title we'd ordered from The Historic Richmond Foundation - so it may still be available in local stores like Borders, BN and the independents or maybe the Foundation sells them to individuals. It's a beautiful book, so much fun to look through!

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	josby 2008-01-08 02:10 am UTC (link)
	Woah, cool! Thanks, and thanks to mythofcool for the URL for the book. I just ordered a copy. That sounds really really neat. I'm curious to see how far back it goes. My grandmother has told me before that she remembers her mother telling her that when she (my great-grandmother, that is) was little, the corn fields began at Robinson Street...hard to imagine! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	iheart45s 2008-01-07 12:42 pm UTC (link)
	Wow. This is very cool. I've been staring at it for the last ten minutes and it's neat to see how many of the buildings are still there. I found three more that you didn't circle. :) (Reply to this) (Thread)

	josby 2008-01-08 02:12 am UTC (link)
	Hehe, yeah, I noticed one more after I posted it. You should reply with a pic with the ones you found circled. It appears the site I got the old one from has since taken down the high-res one that they had. I wish I could get the original and then go up to Church Hill now that the trees are bare and re-do this. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	rec4lms 2008-01-07 08:44 pm UTC (link)
	Amazing! In the cafe of the Federal Courts Building is a series of photo's from old Richmond. Some are from the 30's, some are pre 1900. I grew up in the area, so I love looking at the old photo's and recognizing the buildings. (Reply to this)

	cocobourgeois 2008-01-07 09:50 pm UTC (link)
	thats the same year we set our city on fire. we should do that again. i really like those neat pictures of monument avenue when people used to grow tobacco in the center on the street. (Reply to this)

	uebereinhorn 2008-01-08 03:07 am UTC (link)
	Awesome! Thank you for sharing! (Reply to this)

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