The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-04-28
LOVELY BON AIR
COMES TO FRONT
Beautiful Village, Long
Noted for Good Water
and Healthy People.
NEW COMPANY IS
NOW AT THE HELM
Car Line Being Rushed to Com
pletion To and Across New
Free B id G e-Automobile
Road Building to Make Com
plete Circuit-Great Flu
ture for Bon Air.
ny FRANK 5. wooDsox.

Beautiful, charming Bon Air the
lovely village on the granite hills in
Chesterfield county. etgh. miles from
Richmond, never was iovelier than IL
Is now in its new spring garb. ami
me good people out there never tire
OF sounding the praises OF the village
they love so well. They will grow
eloquent in telling one of the thous-
ands OF sweet congbirds that COM
Mence their concerts in the blooming
doSwGod trees. In the soughing pines.
the giant oaks and The tall hickorics
and poplars at to ! O'clock in TN.
morning. These people grow earnest
and ph!losophic when they begin to
sound the praises OF the superIor
water. with its strong litha stran,
tina; comes as cold AS ice from wells
That have been made way down through
granite walls 10 great depth: or the
hcalth-giving pines that form great
forests all around and about the viii
lage. OF the soft granite formations
through which the rains disappear so
soon after they fall. and the perfect
drainage and the great altitude of the
place and the pleasant breezes that
make the summer nights as cool as
do the mountain winds. and how all
Of these things are so conducive 10
health that the only physician who has
ever put out his shinslc there had to
move 10 Richmond so that he could
make a living in his chosen profession.
Yes, the Bon Airitcs love to tell of all
these things, and one reason why
they love TO repeat the story on the
slightest provocation is because they
can tell IL all and much more that il
good 10 tell without ever strainins
the cast iron truth in the least.
a Bit of History.
Bon AIT has an Interesting, an al
most romantic history. l. is located on
a ridge on the Southern Railway eight
miles from Richmond. The height of
:hc ridge above tide water is $50 feet.
and the civil engineers tell me that on
no other railroad out of Richmond can
the same elevation be attained in less
than forty or fifty miles from the city.
The topography of the country secure
:, excellent drainage for the village and
the region round abou:. and the geo.
logical formation is such that the rain
fall OF summer showers and winter
downpours is quickly absor bed. leav-
ing no disagreeable dinpne5s ana no
, mud in the streets aud, roads. The
ridge within the village precincts and
for miles around is timbered with pine,
oak. hickory. elm poplar and dog
wood, giving abund mt shade, and
those pines, the doctors say, are a
tonic.
Away back in 1875 or 10 the late
Dr. Hunter MCGUIRE sncn. a week with
friend out in the woods near where
the village now Isl and he was so inn
pressed with the location with refer
ence to health that ne determined to
make fuller investigation. The result
was he declared it 20 be an ideal
place for q health resort and he at
once proceeded to get some OF his
friends of means to make an investiga-
lion with him.
The ViiInGe liz started.
In 1877 DR.. Mcclure. The late Colonel
A. S. Buford. r. ". Grutbs. II. c. Me-
Rae and Samuel Pulliam bought the
acreage that is now Boa Air. Later on
other men with big bank accounts be-
came interested and more acreage was
bought. Among these were General r
NJ. Logan Joseph Bryan, james B.
Pace, John p. Branch and others. whose
names do not occur to ME just now,
and the Bon Air Company of Virginia
was organized. hotel with an annex
was built. dancing pavilion erected
and Bon Air became a most popular
summer resort.
In 1879 the village was laid off,
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