The riverfront served as home for numerous industries, including the Tredegar Iron Works and the Haxall and Gallego flour mills. At one point, Gallego boasted the distinction of being the largest such mill in the world. By the onset of the war the railways had arrived. With the rise of trains the canals fell into disuse, and eventually were partly filled in. They remained forgotten until the 1980s, when the Environmental Protection Agency told the city it had to fix its sewers.
Storm drains on city streets and sanitary drains from residences feed the same sewage pipes.
Heavy storms would overwhelm the system, and raw sewage would pour into the James. The money to fix the sewer system could do double duty. Now there is talk of putting a baseball stadium on the waterfront where the Federal Reserve has a parking lot. Just why the city has not taken more advantage of the river remains something of a mystery. On the other hand, too much development would deprive the James of its charm.