A PLACE FOR TRADE

When Patrick Henry spoke for liberty and revolution on Church Hill in 1775, Richmond had about 600 inhabitants. By the early 19th century, the town had grown into a city for three main reasons: government, manufacturing, and trade.

In 1780, Richmond replaced Williamsburg as the capital of Virginia, and many of the meetings and debates which created our nation and its Constitution took place in Richmond.

Due to the Falls of the James, Richmond was well situated for water-powered industry. The city also had access to coal and iron deposits. Before the Civil War, three big industries developed here: tobacco, flour milling, and ironworking.

The opening of the James River Canal shortly after the Revolution boosted trade with the west. Richmond was a port at the head of navigable waters on the James, and a crossroads for north-south and east-west trade routes.

Although the western frontier lured Richmonders such as Henry Clay and Moses Austin, many immigrants arrived and became new citizens. Richmond continued to evolve.

CIRCUS PARADE ON MAIN STREET, circa 1890

View east from 10th Street. The middle building, now part of the Post Office, served as offices for the Confederate government and was one of the only buildings on this part of Main Street to survive the 1865 Evacuation Fire

(Photo by Cook, Courtesy of Valentine Museum)

MAP OF BURNT DISTRICT, 1865

(Courtesy of Virginia State Library)

AN 1850S VIEW OF MAIN STREET EAST OF 31TH

Main was early Richmond's primary commercial street. At the bottom of the slope is Shockoe Creek; Church Hill is in the background. The wires belonged to the Washington & New Orleans Telegraph Co., which reached Richmond in 1847.

(Courtesy of Virginia Historical Society)

RICHMOND IN TWO WARS

Richmond was a victim of fire in two wars, the American Revolution and the Civil War.

The Revolutionary War came to Richmond in January, 1781. A quick raid by British troops under General Benedict Arnold took the town with scarcely a shot fired. Governor Jefferson and the Legislature were forced to flee and the British sacked the Westham Foundry west of town. As the British left Richmond, they set fire to several public buildings, a ropewalk, warehouses, and a few houses.

Three months later, in April, 1781, a British army advancing from the south took the town of Manchester, across the James River, and burned warehouses there. This time an American army under General Lafayette kept the British invaders from crossing the river to Richmond.

By May, 1781, a large British army under Lord Cornwallis had assembled in Virginia. The outnumbered American troops under Lafayette were in Richmond, and the British advanced toward the town. When the Americans retreated to the north, the British followed. The American troops, awaiting reinforcement, avoided engagement in two weeks of maneuvers. In June, as the British moved back to Williamsburg (eventually to be bottled up in Yorktown), the army passed through Richmond. During an occupation of several days "a number of houses" were burned, as well as flour, supplies, muskets, and 2,000 hogsheads of tobacco.

The Civil War changed Richmond in many lasting ways. On Monday, April 3, 1865, the War ended for Richmond when the Confederate government and army abandoned the city to Union troops. The great Evacuation Fire that day devastated the city, destroying roughly 1,000 buildings including almost every one on this part of Main Street. An observer following the route of the Canal Walk soon after the Fire would have seen little but ruins and ashes.

AFTER THE EVACUATION FIRE, 1865

(Courtesy of Library of Congress)