A look back at scenes and happenings in South Richmond.
This January 1956 image shows the intersection of Cowardin and Semmes avenues in South Richmond, which officials called one of the city’s most accident-cursed locations. That month, traffic engineers announced plans for a four-way red traffic signal, which would show a red light in all directions for several seconds before any signal changed to green. In the year before, 21 of 32 collisions at the intersection were blamed on motorists going through red lights.
In April 1937, several blocks of lower Hull Street, the main thoroughfare in South Richmond, were flooded so completely that it took rowboats and hip-waders to reach buildings. Three days of rains had caused the James River to crest at 27 feet. About 700 men worked around the clock for up to 36 hours to secure the dike. Total property damage in Richmond was estimate at more than $100,000.
This October 1948 image shows Cowardin Avenue at the intersection with Hull Street and Jefferson Davis Highway in South Richmond. In August of that year, 250 businessmen petitioned to have “walk/don’t walk” signals installed at the intersection, which officials found to be the busiest in the city. Instead, seven other steps were recommended to improve safety, including new signs at corners, painted crosswalks and a pedestrian fence.
This June 1967 image shows Bainbridge Junior High School on Bainbridge Street in South Richmond. The school, which opened in 1915 with 23 regular schoolrooms, two open-air rooms and an auditorium, was closed in 1975 because required renovations would be too costly – its coal-burning furnaces did not meet new air pollution standards, it lacked air conditioning, and soundproofing was needed after Cowardin Avenue was widened. The building was later torn down.
This September 1942 image shows the Holden Rhodes House, also known as the old Stone House, located at Forest Hill Park in South Richmond. The house, named for the noted lawyer and businessman who built it, dates to around 1840 and was made of granite from the quarries on the original estate. It was remodeled in the 1930s and for a time was home to a library. The house, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, now serves as an event venue.
In June 1952, trucks loaded with wheat during the harvest season had a long wait – including along the Mayo Bridge – to reach the Cargill Inc. grain elevator at First and Hull streets in South Richmond. About 250 trucks delivered on this day alone, and as many as 85 were lined up at one time. One driver reported waiting eight hours to unload his truck.
This February 1978 image shows a block of West 31st Street in Woodland Heights. The South Richmond neighborhood, which was built from 1908 to 1920, saw a surge of new residents in the 1970s, mainly young families drawn to the charming architecture and large yards.
In March 1949, smoldering embers and charred, jagged walls were all that remained of the Dunlop Mills in South Richmond. The two brick buildings, which had survived damage during the Civil War, were lost to the fire, which took more than 200 firemen six hours to put out.
In October 1982, Hull Street Station in South Richmond was vacant and boarded-up – the last regular passenger train to Danville had left 25 years earlier. The Southern Railway donated the station to the Old Dominion chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, which planned to convert the space into a museum and library. Today it houses the Richmond Railroad Museum.
In June 1977, youths cooled off in the new Bellemeade Community Center swimming pool in South Richmond. The city’s Department of Parks and Recreation had just dedicated it as well as the Chimborazo community pool, bringing the number of permanent city public pools to nine.
Too many ex-offenders have been deprived of their pre-existing voting rights, or stymied in their effort to regain their franchise, by a gubernatorial process too often fraught with bureaucracy and vagueness.
