#tenthstreet

(Find A Grave) — Reverend Richard Channing Moore

Here Dr. Brockenbrough entertained Richard Channing Moore, who had come to Richmond to be rector of the new Monumental Church and at the same time Bishop of Virginia. Of the hospitality there Bishop Moore wrote in June, 1814: “I am at present at the house of my valued friend Dr. B. St. Paul, in his excursions, was never better received, nor more affectionately treated.”

[HOR] — First Brockenbrough House

Why Dr. Brockenbrough was dissatisfied with this handsome dwelling, whether he desired a better view over nearby Shockoe Valley, or whether he was tempted by the architectural genius of Robert Mills, who had come to Richmond to design the new church, we do not know. But in 1816 Brockenbrough sold this house, purchased a lot one block away, and built the mansion we call the White House of the Confederacy.

(Find A Grave) — John A. Lancaster

In 1882 the Brockenbrough house was bought by John A. Lancaster. Mr. Lancaster himself lived in the former Bruce mansion at the eastern end of the block. Buying a strip between the two, he erected in 1883 the long wing east of the Brockenbrough house, taking pains to match the details with the old part of the house. This wing made a double house out of the building, the two parts being occupied in the ’eighties by the Luckes and the John S. Elletts.

(LOC) — Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Richmond (1905) — Plate 74

Under the leadership of Dr. Hunter McGuire, a new medical college was chartered in Richmond in 1893. Finding that city water could not be had at Duncan Lodge, where the institution was expected to be, the College of Physicians and Surgeons bought the whole block from Eleventh to Twelfth on Clay. 

(Scholars Compass) — VCU The First 125 Years: 1838-1963 — a transformed Bruce-Lancaster House, note the addition of the pediment & and wings on either side

Classes and administrative offices were in the Bruce-Lancaster house, the hospital in the Brockenbrough-Caskie house. The growth of the institution was phenomenal; the corresponding changes in the Brockenbrough mansion were no less so. 

(Scholars Compass) — VCU The First 125 Years: 1838-1963 — a transformed First Brockenbrough House

The Virginia Hospital, as it was called, was enlarged in every direction, including skyward. A third story and several wings were added. Gardens and outbuildings, the circular bay in the back, all disappeared in the ever-expanding hospital. The interior was even more changed than the exterior. Of its former beauty only three fine doors opening on the highpitched entrance hall remain. 

Outside, it is much easier to imagine the house as Dr. Brockenbrough built it, in spite of the disfiguring third story and the not unpleasing wing added by Mr. Lancaster. Altered as it has been, the house retains its dignity and is a not unworthy neighbor to the Wickham house, diagonally across the street.

October 2018 — McGuire Hall

Since the medical school combined with the Medical College of Virginia, the former hospital has been used for various purposes, including an out-patient department of the college and a W. P. A. headquarters. [HOR]

Sadly, neither building would last. Founded in 1893, the University College of Medicine would quickly outgrow its space, and the former Bruce-Lancaster House was razed to make way for the spiffy new McGuire Hall in 1912. Even that space proved too small, and a fourth floor was added in 1941.

October 2018 — McGuire Hall Annex

Then, of course, the Medical College of Virginia and University College of Medicine merged in 1913, prompting the need for all kinds of space. The enlarged McGuire Hall was deemed too spare by 1956, and thus Virginia Hospital was pulled down in favor of the McGuire Hall Annex. (Scholars Compass)

VCU’s need for elbow room has always been voracious, but to-date, both Hall and Annex remain.

(LOC) — Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Richmond (1905) — Plate 11

Continuing the exploration of RVA’s turn-of-the-century lignum industria magnus, one finds that Montague Manufacturing Company was in close proximity to several competitors.

[RVCJ03] — the studs of Miller & Miller — circa 1903

Close inspection of the Engelhardt print above shows the business nestled in a wedge of land just south of the Kanawha Canal. Pratt’s Castle is clearly visible on the hill at right, and Tredegar Iron Works at left.

July 2017 — facing southwest towards Gamble’s Hill

Miller & Miller manufactured sashes, doors, blinds, packing cases, and crates, with a specialty in store fixtures and fine interior finishes. Today, the area on which the plant stood has been long consumed by the voracious Downtown Expressway.

W.J. Whitehurst 1001 Byrd Street Established, 1882

[RVCJ03] — facing southeast towards Byrd and Tenth Streets — circa 1903

North of the canal, just four blocks east, stood W.J. Whitehurst. To the right one can see the Southern Railway Depot, located at Fourteenth & Canal Streets, which had been built in 1900.

(LOC) — Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Richmond (1905) — Plate 15

Similar to both Montague and Miller & Miller, W.J. Whitehurst manufactured sash, blinds, doors, and other building materials. What matters a little friendly competition between rivals?

[RVCJ03] — the chief stud hisself — circa 1903

There was plenty of business to go ‘round. The houses and apartment buildings in the emerging neighborhoods at the turn of the century, such as the Fan, Oregon Hill, or Jackson Ward, are likely to contain products produced from one or another of these Giants of the Wood Biz.

July 2017 — facing northeast towards Byrd & Tenth Streets

While this area north of the canal survived the Expressway, the face of the landscape has changed considerably. Given downtown’s recent penchant for construction of large public buildings (McGuire/Woods, the new Dominion office tower), it’s going to continue. 

Source

(Morgan Riley) — rinceau fence & iron ornamentation — July 2011

Decatur Davis' will dated June 27, 1900 named Elizabeth Bell Davis and the Virginia Trust Company as executors of his estate. The Virginia Trust Company acting for the estate of Decatur O. Davis sold the house to the United Medical Chemi Hospital Inc. for $8,250 on June 7, 1917. On October 4, 1922, all of the assets of the United Medical Cherni Hospital Inc. were conveyed to John J. Wicker for the purpose of paying the corporation's debts. This included the property at 1001 East Clay Street and all of the furniture and fixtures there in. The Davis House was sold December 10, 1923 to the Virginia Mechanics Institute for $12,500. In 1943 the Virginia Mechanics Institute conveyed all of its assets to the city of Richmond which included property at 10th and Marshall Streets and 1001 East Clay Street. The City owned the property until June 9, 1988 when the Davis House was conveyed to the Board of Trustees of the Valentine Museum. 

(VDHR) — nomination photo

The interior of the Davis House has been altered on at least five occasions. The first alterations took place in 1917 when the house was purchased by the United Medical Chemi Hospital. This was the most extensive building campaign and converted the building from a residential to an institutional use. The building was altered again in 1951 for use as a Nurse's Dormitory for the Medical College of Virginia. Minor alterations were made in 1967 and 1972. In 1987, another more substantial ($40,000) set of alterations were made.

(Find A Grave) — James A. Cowardin

Richmond supports three daily newspapers: the “Dispatch” and the “Times,” morning issues, and the “State,” an afternoon paper. The Richmond Dispatch is the oldest of the Richmond dailies. It was founded by James A. Cowardin and W. H. Davis, both practical printers, in 1850. Its first appearance was made on the morning of October 19th, of that year. The paper was well received from the beginning, and rapidly attained a good circulation.

(Newspapers.com) — the slightly creepy, Illuminati-inspired logo of the Richmond Enquirer — from the Friday, September 16, 1842 edition

Owing, however, to the competition of the Whig and the Enquirer, the great political dailies of Richmond at that day, it was not immediately successful as an advertising medium. This fact discouraged Mr. Davis, and in a few months he disposed of his interest to Mr. Cowardin. For some years thereafter the Dispatch was published in the names of James A. Cowardin as proprietor, and Hugh R. Pleasants, editor. The latter was employed as editor when the partnership of Cowardin & Davis was formed.

[CDRVA] — Old Dominion Steamship Company advertisement in Chataigne’s 1881 Directory of Richmond

When success' at length became a certainty, its plant was moved from the orignal building, on Governor street, just above Main, to the building corner of Thirteenth and Main streets, the site of the present Old Dominion Steamship offices. Here the Dispatch was comfortably housed, and was equipped with the best outfit obtainable at that period. Just in the rear of its place was the “Dispatch Job Office” of J. D. Hammersley & Co. Mr. Hammersley managed the counting-room of the paper, and during the war acquired a half interest in it.

(Library of Congress) — Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Richmond (1905) — Plate 7 — showing the former location of the Dispatch Building

Mr. Oliver P. Baldwin succeeded Mr. Pleasants as editor, though, at one time, both were upon the editorial staff ; and Mr. Cowardin also contributed to the editorial columns when his other engagements permitted. During the war the outfit of the Dispatch was worn completely out, and as a new one could not be procured inside the Confederate lines, Mr. Hammersley undertook to run the blockade to England, and supply what was needed. Before sailing, however, he sold half his interest to Mr. James W. Llewellen, who had long been the local editor of the Dispatch.

(Essential Civil War Curriculum) — Harper’s Weekly illustration — The Union Blockade of the Southern States by Robert M. Browning, Jr.

Mr. Hammersley was successful in his undertaking to the extent of getting the new outfit through the blockade and into the Dispatch building, but before it could be used it was destroyed, along with the building, in the Evacuation fire, April 3, 1865.

(Find A Grave) — Henry Keeling Ellyson, newspaperman & principal figure in the 1870 Municipal War

It was not until the December following that the Dispatch was revived. Mr. Cowardin and Mr. H. K. Ellyson formed a copartnership, (which continued uninterruptedly* until the former’s death) and began anew in the building on Thirteenth street, just in the rear of the present offices of the Postal Telegraph Company. There were seven competitors in the field when the Dispatch was re-established ; but by enterprise and good management it forged rapidly to the front again, and is now, in every respect, fulfilling its mission as a first-class  newspaper. It has the largest circulation of any paper between Baltimore and New Orleans, and its columns bear ample testimony to the value it has in the opinion of the advertising public.

(Yesteryear Once More) — advertisement for the R. Hoe & Co. printing press

In the matter of its mechanical equipment the Dispatch has always been advanced. In November, 1887, it put in a Hoe perfecting press with a capacity of 24,000 copies an hour, and its outfit, from press-room to composing-room, is a model of completeness. It has its own press wire running into the building, a full editorial and local staff, its resident correspondent at Washington, and special correspondents at all important points in Virginia and North Carolina. It issues a Daily and a Weekly, its Sunday edition eighteen or twelve pages, as occasion may require.

(Find A Grave) — William Dallas Chesterman

In 1882, a short time before the death of Mr. Cowardin, the copartnership of Cowardin & Ellyson was dissolved and a joint stock company was formed with the former owners as principal officers. The present officers of the Company are: C. O’B. Cowardin, president; H. Theo. Ellyson, secretary and treasurer; W. D. Chesterman, vice-president.

July 2019 — looking towards 920-922 East Main Street

By 1900, the Dispatch was owned by John L. Williams, who also owned the Richmond News. The end of the Gilded Age was a time of consolidation, and Williams, along with Joseph Bryan, owner of the Richmond Times and Manchester Leader, concluded that there were too many newspapers to go around for the available circulation. The Times and the Dispatch were merged in 1903 to become the Richmond Times-Dispatch that we have today.

[MCR] — shaded areas showing Evacuation Fire destruction & future location of the Dispatch Building

The block on which the Dispatch Building stood was reduced to ashes by the ever-popular Evacuation Fire, and it would be erected in the post-war construction boom that remade the city landscape. It met its doom in 1962 when an addition to the State Planter’s Bank was built, creating today’s Pocahontas Building. 

(The Dispatch Building is part of the Atlas RVA! Project)

Print Sources

[CDRVA] Chataigne’s Directory of Richmond, Va. J. H. Chataigne. 1881.

[MCR] Map of the City of Richmond, Virginia, 1861-65. Richmond Civil War Centennial Committee. 1961. Library of Virginia.