City of Richmond history

The University of Richmond was founded by Virginia Baptists, in 1830, as a liberal arts university, and currently enrolls 3,000 undergraduate and 1,200 graduate students in law, business, and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Established in 1861 at the corner of 14th and Cary streets, the bureau employed twenty-four professional tailors who cut out the components for each Confederate uniform.

View fullscreenAlabama Twenty-Five Cent Note, 1863 (Virginia Historical Society)More informationTwenty-eight general hospitals were established in Richmond.

By 1864, the Confederacy’s chief ordnance officer asserted that the Confederacy had become self-sufficient in the production of war materiel—much of which originated in the capital city.

When it was imminent that Ulysses S. Grant would overtake nearby Petersburg in April 1865, CSA President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet abandoned Richmond.

Federal troops were removed from Richmond in 1870, after the state was readmitted to the Union.

In 1895 Augustin S. Macdonald visited Point Richmond and conceived the idea of a transcontinental rail terminal and ferry service, to provide a direct route from Richmond to San Francisco.

When Richmond incorporated as a city in 1905 it had a population of 2,150 and was already an established industrial town.

The prohibition era forced the closing of Winehaven, the World’s Largest Winery, built after the 1906 earthquake.

The city's population grew from 127,989 in 1910 to 171,677 during the next decade, and the process of electing all officials became too complex.

The elegant Carquinez Hotel (later renamed Hotel Don) opened its doors in 1925 and soon became the center of the City’s social and civic life.

At war’s end, the shipyards closed in 1945 and a far-reaching readjustment began.

In 1948, the City Charter established the "Council-Manager" form of government in which a city manager, appointed by and answerable to City Council, oversaw the day-to-day municipal operations.

As Richmond was entering the post-[World War II] lifestyle, it was introduced to new uses for natural gas in 1950.

In addition, the highest production of cigarettes in the city’s history occurred in 1952, at a 110 billion in one year.

The Harbor Gate Redevelopment Project cleared war housing in 1955, thereby providing sites for additional major warehouses for such companies as Safeway and United Grocers.

Originally approved for 15 exits, the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike revolutionized travel when it opened in 1958.

Four major developments since 1960 — Marina Bay, Hilltop Mall, the Knox Freeway (I-580), and the Richmond Parkway — have transformed Richmond’s geography as well as its economy.

Modern Richmond When Hurricane Agnes dropped 16 inches of rain over central Virginia in 1972, the James River flooded Richmond.

Opening in 1976, Hilltop Mall Regional Shopping Center had a major impact on Richmond’s economy and its old downtown area in particular.

Another major event occurred in 1978 when the proposed Hoffman Freeway (now the Knox Freeway, Interstate 580) was designated as a part of the Interstate freeway system, thereby ensuring its construction.

Funding (90% Federal, 10% State) was attained in late 1982, crowning more than 25 years of efforts.

A grandson of former slaves, Wilder was sworn in as governor of the State of Virginia, in 1990.

The high rate of new housing construction, however, dropped off sharply beginning in 1992.

A ‘drivable route’ along all sections of the Parkway was achieved by the end of 1994.

In an attempt to lure more tourists to the history-rich area, the Richmond Civil War Visitor Center, operated by the National Park Service, opened three floors of exhibits and artifacts in the old Tredegar Iron Works in 2000.

That system was replaced with the "Mayor-Council" form of local government in 2005.

The American Civil War Center, with its debut sometime in 2006, will be the first museum of its kind to interweave, in a national context, the historical accounts of how Union, Confederate, and African-American soldiers fought next to and across from each other during the Civil War.