page_title: Chimborazo Park
section_title: Formation of Chimborazo Park
hierarchical_section_title: Chimborazo Park / Formation of Chimborazo Park
caption_attribution_description: English: Postcard of Chimborazo Park, early 20th Century. Card text: Chimborazo Park, the joy and pride of the eastern portion of the city, situated on a buff many feet above James River, from which a beautiful view of the surrounding country may be obtained.
context_page_description: Chimborazo Park is a park and historic land site in Richmond, Virginia, United States. Created in 1874, the park was the site of Chimborazo Hospital, one of the world's largest military hospitals.
context_section_description: On October 26, 1874, Richmond's Board of Alderman took up a resolution to purchase 35 acres on Richmond's Chimborazo Hill at a cost of $35,000.  A report prepared by the Committee on Public Grounds and Buildings noted the importance of public parks:
  The opening and improvement of small squares in different parts of the city is not a mere question of ornament and improvement to taxable property, beautifying the city at the same time of increasing its taxable wealth, but is a question of great public benefit – a real health measure, conferring a blessing on the humblest and poorest citizens, while it adds largely to the material prosperity of our whole people.  With a densely crowded population, these open spaces will in time prove to be of inestimable value to the city.
  A public park is simply an expanded idea of our small squares – "sanitarians" as they are sometimes called.  It is the cherished work of every city with any claim to progress and comfort, and is as much the index of material prosperity as it is of the cultivated taste and refinement of an enlightened people.
  
  The report urges an immediate step to secure grounds for a park as an economical measure and investment by the city, as the extensions of our water-works are threatened to be hemmed in with factories and sewers if the city does not secure the ground along our river front with a reasonable distance of the works.  The extension of these works must require additional ground, and in providing for a park we can accomplish the two ideas together.  This combination of water-works and park grounds is the example of all large cities, and in carrying this out we shall be simply repeating what others have done, with the benefit of all their experiences.
  The Committee recommended the issuance of bonds for the purchase of the land and that annual funds be set aside for its upkeep.  The resolution was adopted by the Board of Alderman on November 10, 1874.
  One of the earliest descriptions of the park was made in The Daily Dispatch, a local Richmond newspaper, covering the maiden round-trip voyage of the steamer The City of Richmond between Richmond and Norfolk on August 27, 1880.  The ongoing construction of the park was referenced as “changing it from an eyesore to a thing of beauty – to be a joy forever, in particular for those who approach Richmond by water.  From its prominence – towering high above all other hills – it deserves to be handsomely improved.  First appearances are everything with the traveler.  If he is disgusted with a city upon entering it, afterwards it is difficult to make him see any good in it.”  The newspaper proclaimed that once the plans for Chimborazo Park, as well as Libby Hill Park, “are carried out in full, Richmond will present to the stranger who enters her gates by James River a face of unusual charms.”
  While referred to before its establishment as a park as "naturally picturesque, though at present very unattractive", local newspapers would soon describe the beauty and serenity of the new park.  In 1886, it was described as "once occupied by a crowd which made night hideous, is now as lovely a spot as can be found."  In later years, it was described as "a park equal in beauty of elevation and perspective to any certainly in this part of the country" (1887), a "place of popular resort" (1897) and "a beautiful and elevated plateau, having a magnificent view of the river for twelve or fourteen miles" (1900).  Referring to its height, it was once called "the frowning Gibralter of the range".
  During its early phases of development, the neighborhood around Chimborazo Park was advertised as a Suburban Resort, a green landscape offering residents open spaces in which to enjoy fresh air, exercise, participate in various social activities, and admire majestic views of the James River.  To draw residents to the park, the city extended a streetcar line to Chimborazo Park in the late 19th century. City officials believed the park would reduce social unrest, increase the physical and mental health of its citizens, provide appropriate spaces for 
caption: Postcard of Chimborazo Park from the early 20th Century. The card text reads: Chimborazo Park, the joy and pride of the eastern portion of the city, situated on a bluff many feet above James River, from which a beautiful view of the surrounding country may be obtained.
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