Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-07-18
In Virginia's New Indus
trial Town All Races and
Creeds Commingle.
ITS SCENES REMINISCENT
OF EARLY, FRONTIER DAYS
Great, Interminable Lines of
Shacks and Buildings Are
Hastily Thrown Up.
ACTIVITIES ARE TURBULENT
Many Attractions to Take Dollars
Away From the Thousands
Who Work.

Especial From Staff Correspondcnt)
CITY POINT. VA. July l7.-Hope-
we'll spells Significance for the future.
1t may last until after Petersburg and
Richmond are destroyed, or 1t mag It
self be destroyed on the morrow
The little town, built across the rail-
road tracks from the Du Pom. Powder
Works, covers but forty acres. It lies
almost due east from Petersburg. with
in n short distance of the right bank
OF the James River. and n mile west of
city Point. Here are gathered all the
peoples OF the earth, for Hopewell Is
the melting pot of Virginia. Here are
Huns. Teutons. Swedes, Norwegians,
Italians. English. Americans and repre-
sentatives of the Slavic races The
black mingles his smiling face among
the whites. Here. as in other distant
lands. he is with his white friends. and
he labors AS hard and accomplishes az
much AS the white man who works be-
side him.
ALL ENTERPRISES TO DE SEEN
IN vIRGINIA'S NEW TOWN
All enterprises may be seen here.
Hopewell has It's tailoring shop, its
dentists office, it's physicians office. its
ioi sc uOSlOES, us It's 1ur-
niture stores, it's real estate Offices, its
hotels and rooming houses. its moving
picture shows, its cabarets and It's cir
cuses. 1t has everything but proper
light and water. But even now the.
Du Pont plant is constructing sewer
age and building n pipe line from the
river.
AS the town is now. it is practically
without modern facilities. Every
house, with the exception OF the bank,
is of frame. There are none of the
modern conveniences. The outhouses
are Of frame. of undurable structure,
and. n 8 there is no sewerage now, the
smell is vile.
If one stand in the middle of Hope
we'll, at the conjunction OF Railroad
Avenue and Hopewell Street, he
may see all the peoples. Here
are the Hun and the Teuton, the Slay
and the Swcde. Sicilian and italian, the
man who comes from Southern France
and that idler who knows no home nor
country. Most of them work in the
powder plant. Many OF them live by
their wits.
THOUSANDS STREAM FROM
GATES OF CITY POINT
From the powder plant stream more
than 5000 men. of all classes and de-
scriptions. every afternoon. Half of
them. perhaps. tako the trains over the
Norfolk and Western Railway to Pc
tersburg. Some so to City Point, whore
lodgings have been built for them.
The rest remain in Hopewel. In Hope
wei there are dozen hotels.
The majority of them are hotels in
namc only. Tho others are only
boarding houses. but all are called
hotels.
They begin ut Railroad Avenue.
sometimes called Midway" for that is
where the town was started All
towns begin from the railroad. and
Hopcwell Is no exception. There ,re
hotels on both sides OF IIopewcll Az
enue. running from the railroad.
there arc lodging houses; there are
houses with just rooms to let, and then
there are lots of other houses, in which
there are no rooms to let and on each
side OF the street there is some cabaret
show. or n motion picture house, n beer
garden. perhaps. or anything in which
a man may spend his money and have
what is called good time
BANK OCCUPIES
ONLY BRICK BUILDING
Further up Hopewell Avenue. on the
left turn, stands the office of a big real
estate firm. This firm makes big sales
On one day it buys lot for a few nun
dred dollars: on the next day It sells
the same lot for n few thousand AL
most next door to il, and directly on
the corner, stands the Farmers and
Mechanics Bank. the only brick struc-
ture in the town. TO be sure. IL Is nor
large building. Bat it suffices for
the needs of "A township in which all
bargains are made with cash and In
which every check that is written is
Endorsed by one OF the biggest com
panicS in the country.
IL one turn south from the corner
on which the bank stands. he will
strike a cabaret show---a long. frame
building, one end OF which is taken .
up by n stage and the other end Of
which is filled with tables and chairs,
where a tired man may order cool
bottle and win n smile from the girl
who sings from the corner In the far
end OF the building, lifted a few feet
above the dusty street, will be found
the largest crowd. The men who
stand here care not for the smiles
from the blonde girls in the Front.
Here is what they call the bird cage"
game. 1t is n game OF dice. older than
K!ondike. invented before the rush 10
California in 40. Huge dice are placed
in the bottom OF the cage. and It man
gives II n quick turn, calling the num-
bcrs as he gives the twist. He who
wins gets large pot: he who loses
drops 81 weeks salary. But &c Is all
one, they say. Lose or win. these
men. who have travelled from Australia
to the Golden Gate. grasp their money
with smile or lay 1t down with
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