page_title: Bon Air, Virginia
section_title: Bon Air: the resort era
hierarchical_section_title: Bon Air, Virginia / History / Bon Air: the resort era
caption_attribution_description: English: Located in Bon Air, Virginia, the Stick-style annex for the Bon Air Hotel was built in 1881-82, surviving the fire that destroyed the main hotel building in 1889. It is a contributing structure to the Bon Air Historic District, on the National Register of Historic Places (information here from the nomination form). It is presently apartments.
context_page_description: Bon Air is a census-designated place in Chesterfield County, Virginia, United States. The population was 16,366 at the 2010 census. The community is considered a suburb of the independent city of Richmond in the Richmond-Petersburg region and is a part of the Southside neighborhoods. Originally developed as a resort, a central portion of Bon Air has been designated as a National Historic District with many structures of Victorian design from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its name means "good air," reflecting its role as a resort getaway that wealthy Richmonders enjoyed for its fresh air as opposed to the dirty air of Richmond's industrial downtown of the late 19th century.
context_section_description: In the 19th century, it was believed that the higher elevation and distance from the urban area of Richmond provided a more healthful atmosphere, particularly in the hot summer months in central Virginia. With its nearby location and greater elevation, Bon Air offered these features nearby, and was founded as a summer resort town about 8 miles (13 km) outside of Richmond by railroad. One of the founders was Colonel Algernon S. Buford, of Chatham, Virginia, who is best known for his presidency of the Richmond and Danville Railroad during its massive postwar expansion, which ended in 1894 with the formation of the Southern Railway System (now part of Norfolk Southern). Bon Air's connections with the railroad's leaders could possibly be evidenced by the fact that over many of the years until passenger service ended in 1957, the community simultaneously had three stops within 1-mile (2 km) of trackage.
  Colonel Buford was a graduate of the University of Virginia. He became a lawyer, and represented Pittsylvania County in the Virginia House of Delegates during 1853 and 1854. During the Civil War, Buford served the Confederacy in Richmond at Virginia Depot, although the title "Colonel" is believed to have been honorary, a southern custom common in the post-slavery years. With the support of Virginia Governor Francis H. Pierpont, on September 13, 1865, Buford became president of the 140-mile (225 km) Richmond and Danville Railroad (R&D).
  Around 1875, Buford purchased portions of a large tract of land from Nathaniel and James Duval, a tract of land on the south side of the R&D right-of-way known as the old Anderson Edwards plantation. He personally (as well as through the R&D Railroad) helped in the development of Brown's Summit, which was renamed Grand Summit, then Bon Air, after the French expression for "good air". This choice may also have been related to the earlier settlement by French Huguenots, a group of religious refugees, slightly to the west. In 1877, Richmond Jeweler Lewis G. Jahnke bought the other 153 acre portion of the Edwards estate from the Duval brothers and two years later sold this farm it to his brother A. Franz Jahnke Sr. This 350 acre estate, at 7737 Jahnke Road, would be known as Shady Echo. The Jahnke family would be very involved in Bon Air life, from the fledgling Bon Air Presbyterian Church to the Bon Air Chautauqua Society founded by Reverend Hazen in 1885. 
  In 1877, Buford was among the first investors and officers in the Bon Air Land and Improvement Company. Other R&D officials involved in the development of Bon Air were General Thomas M. Logan, Andrew Talcott, and his son, Thomas Mann Randolph Talcott. In addition to these names, other early settlers contributed their names to the roads within the old Bon Air village. Col. Buford is honored by the naming of the thoroughfare Buford Road in Bon Air. Logan Street is named for General Logan. Polk Street is named for Bon Air resident Polk Miller, a pharmacist and highly acclaimed banjo player who founded what became Sergeant's Pet Care Products while creating treatments for his favorite hunting dog, Sergeant. Other prominent residents included Dr. Hunter McGuire who was affiliated with the Medical College of Virginia and several other important hospitals and medical schools (and for whom McGuire Veterans Administration Medical Center in Richmond was named), his wife Mary Stuart McGuire, and their 10 children, many of whom also went into the field of medicine.
  In 1889, the 165-acre (0.7 km²) tract (with an antebellum farmhouse which was earlier known as "The Old Burton Place") was purchased by J.R.F. Burroughs,  a Confederate civil war veteran from Lynchburg, (then in Campbell County), and his wife Lucy. A childless couple, a few years later the Burroughs opened an orphanage which was originally called "The Home for Friendless Children", and was incorporated in 1898. Religiously devout, the couple never solicited for funds for the orphanage, but there are tales of the support they received anyway. When Mr. Burroughs died in 1915, he was buried at a sit
caption: The 1881–82 Stick style annex for the Bon Air Hotel, which survived the fire that destroyed the main hotel in 1889.[11]
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