Prior to 1071 –Richemont: a town in Normandy, France 1071 to 1501 –Richmond: a castle town in Yorkshire, UK 1501 to 1742 –Richmond, a palace town in London, UK 1742 to present – Richmond, Virginia
William Byrd II is considered the founder of Richmond. The Byrd family, which includesHarry F. Byrd, has been central to Virginia's history since its founding.
After the first permanent English-speaking settlement was established atJamestown, Virginia, in April 1607,Captain Christopher Newport led explorers northwest up theJames River to an inhabited area in thePowhatan Nation.[15]Richmond was Arrohattoc territory where Arrohateck village was located. However, as time progressed relations between the Arrohattocs and English colonists declined, and by 1609 the tribe was unwilling to trade with the settlers. As the population began to dwindle, the tribe declined and was last mentioned in a 1610 report by the visiting William Strachey. By 1611 the tribe's Henrico town was found to be deserted when Sir Thomas Dale went to use the land to found Henricus.[16]
In 1611, the first European settlement in Central Virginia was established atHenricus, where theFalling Creek empties into the James River. In 1619, earlyVirginia Company settlers established theFalling Creek Ironworks there.Decades of conflicts between the Powhatan and the settlers followed, including theBattle of Bloody Run, fought near Richmond in 1656, after tensions arose from an influx ofManahoacs andNahyssans from the North. Nonetheless, the James Falls area saw more White settlement in the late 1600s and early 1700s.[17]
In early 1737, planterWilliam Byrd II commissionedMajor William Mayo to lay out the original town grid, completed in April. Byrd named the city after the English town ofRichmond near (and now part of) London, because the view of the James River's bend at the fall line reminded him of his home atRichmond Hill on theRiver Thames. In 1742, the settlement was incorporated as a town.[18][19]
Because of the canal and thehydropower the falls generated, Richmond emerged as an important industrial center after theAmerican Revolutionary War (1775–1783). It became home to some of the largest manufacturing facilities, including iron works and flour mills, inthe South and the country.
Five days after the Confederate attack onFort Sumter, the Virginia legislature voted to secede from the United States and join the newly createdConfederate States of America on April 17, 1861. The action became official in May, after the Confederacy promised to move its national capital to Richmond fromMontgomery, Alabama.
Richmond held local, state and national Confederate government offices, hospitals, a railroad hub, and one of the largest slave markets. It also had the largest Confederate arms factory, theTredegar Iron Works. The factory produced artillery and other munitions, including heavyordnance machinery and the 723 tons of armor plating that covered theCSSVirginia, the world's firstironclad ship used in war.[29] TheConfederate States Congress shared quarters in the Jefferson-designedVirginia State Capitol with theVirginia General Assembly. The Confederacy's executive mansion, known as the "White House of the Confederacy," was two blocks away on Clay Street.
Located about 100 mi (160 km) from the national capital inWashington, D.C., Richmond was at the end of a long supply line and difficult to defend. For four years, its defense required the bulk of theArmy of Northern Virginia and the Confederacy's best troops and commanders.[30] The Union army made Richmond a main target in the campaigns of 1862 and 1864–65. In late June and early July 1862, Union General-in-ChiefGeorge B. McClellan threatened but failed to take Richmond in theSeven Days Battles of thePeninsula campaign. Three years later, Richmond became indefensible in March 1865 after nearbyPetersburg fell and several remaining rail supply lines to the south and southwest were broken.
On March 25, Confederate GeneralJohn B. Gordon's desperate attack onFort Stedman, east of Petersburg, failed. On April 1, Union Cavalry GeneralPhilip Sheridan, assigned to interdict the Southside Railroad, met brigades commanded by Southern GeneralGeorge Pickett at theFive Forks Junction, defeated them, took thousands of prisoners, and advised Union General-in-ChiefUlysses S. Grant to order a general advance. When the Union Sixth Corps broke through Confederate lines on the Boydton Plank Road south of Petersburg, Confederate casualties exceeded 5,000, about a tenth of Lee's defending army. Lee then informed PresidentJefferson Davis that he intended to evacuate Richmond.[31]
On April 2, 1865, the Confederate Army began Richmond's evacuation. Confederate President Davis and his cabinet, Confederate government archives, and its treasury's gold, left the city that night by train. Confederate officials burned documents and troops burned tobacco and other warehouses to deny the Union any spoils. In the early morning of April 3, Confederate troops exploded the city's gunpowder magazine, killing several paupers in a temporary Almshouse and a man on 2nd St. The concussion shattered windows all over the city.[32] Later that day, GeneralGodfrey Weitzel, commander of the 25th Corps of theUnited States Colored Troops, accepted Richmond's surrender from the mayor and a group of leading citizens who did not evacuate.[33][34] Union troops eventually contained the fires, but about 25% of the city's buildings were destroyed.[35]
RetreatingConfederate troops burned strategic war materials so they would not get intoUnion hands, but the fires went out of control and one-fourth of Richmond was burned in April 1865.
On April 3, PresidentAbraham Lincoln visited Grant at Petersburg and took a launch up theJames River to Richmond on April 4. While Davis attempted to organize the Confederate government inDanville, Lincoln met Confederate Assistant Secretary of WarJohn A. Campbell, handing him a note inviting Virginia's state legislature to end their rebellion. After Campbell spun the note to Confederate legislators as a possible end to theEmancipation Proclamation, Lincoln rescinded his offer and ordered General Weitzel to prevent the state legislature from meeting.
On April 6, Union forces killed, wounded, or captured 8,000 Confederate troops atSayler's Creek, southwest of Petersburg. The Confederate Army continued a general retreat southwestward, and General Lee continued to reject General Grant's surrender entreaties until Sheridan's infantry and cavalry encircled the shrinkingArmy of Northern Virginia and cut off its ability to retreat further on April 8. Lee surrendered his remaining approximately 10,000 troops the following morning atAppomattox Court House, meeting Grant at the McLean Home.[36]
Davis was captured on May 10 nearIrwinville, Georgia and taken back to Virginia, where he was imprisoned two years atFort Monroe until freed on bail.[37]
A decade after the Civil War, Richmond resumed its position as a major urban center of economic productivity with iron front buildings and massive brick factories. Canal traffic peaked in the 1860s, with railroads becoming the dominant shipping method. Richmond became a major railroad crossroads,[38] showcasing the world's first triple railroad crossing. Tobacco warehousing and processing continued to play a central economic role, advanced by the world's first cigarette-rolling machine thatJames Albert Bonsack ofRoanoke invented between 1880 and 1881.
Lewis Ginter was the founder ofAllen & Ginter which was at the time one of the world's largest tobacco companies. He would devote his philanthropy to Richmond and was quoted saying "I am for Richmond, first and last." He built theJefferson Hotel and suburbs north of Richmond which would go on to be the model for much of the country.[39]
Another important contributor to Richmond's resurgence was theRichmond Union Passenger Railway, atrolley system developed by electric power pioneerFrank J. Sprague. The system opened its first Richmond line in 1888, using an overhead wire and a trolley pole to connect to the current and electric motors on the car's trucks.[40] The success led to electric streetcar lines rapidly spreading to other cities.[41] A post-World War II transition to buses from streetcars began in May 1947 and was completed on November 25, 1949.[42]
By the early 20th century Richmond had an extensive network of electric streetcars, as shown here crossing the Mayo Bridge across the James River, c. 1917.
By the beginning of the 20th century, the city's population had reached 85,050 in 5 sq mi (13 km2), making it the most densely populated city in theSouthern United States.[43] In the 1900 Census, Richmond's population was 62.1% white and 37.9% black.[44] Freed slaves and their descendants created a thriving African-American business community, and the city's historicJackson Ward became known as the "Wall Street of Black America." In 1903, African-American businesswoman and financierMaggie L. Walker chartered St. Luke Penny Savings Bank, served as its president, and was the first black female bank president in the United States.[45]Charles Thaddeus Russell was Richmond's first black architect, and he designed the bank's office.[46] Today, the bank is called the Consolidated Bank and Trust Company and is the country's oldest surviving African-American bank.[45] Another prominent African-American from this time wasJohn Mitchell Jr., a newspaper editor, civil rights activist, and politician.
Several major performing arts venues were constructed during the 1920s, including what are now the Landmark Theatre, Byrd Theatre, and Carpenter Theatre. The city's first radio station,WRVA, began broadcasting in 1925.WTVR-TV (CBS 6), Richmond's first television station, was also the first TV station south of Washington, D.C.[48]
On January 1, 1970, Richmond's borders expanded south by 27 sq mi (70 km2) and its population increased by 47,000 after several years of court cases in whichChesterfield County unsuccessfully fought annexation.[50]
In 1995, a multimillion-dollarflood wall was completed, protecting the city's low-lying areas from the oft-rising James River. Consequently, the River District businesses grew rapidly, bolstered by the creation of a Canal Walk along the city's former industrial canals.[51][52] Today the area is home to much of Richmond's entertainment, dining, and nightlife activity.
In 1996, racial tensions grew amid controversy about adding the statue of African American Richmond native and tennis starArthur Ashe to the series of statues of Confederate figures onMonument Avenue.[53] After several months of controversy, Ashe's bronze statue was finally completed on July 10, 1996.[54]
By the beginning of the 21st century, the population of the greaterRichmond metropolitan area had reached approximately 1,100,000, although the population of the city itself had declined to less than 200,000. On November 2, 2004, former Virginia governorL. Douglas Wilder was elected as the city's first directly elected mayor in over 60 years.[55]
Richmond's original street grid, laid out in 1737, included the area between what are now Broad, 17th, and 25th Streets and the James River. ModernDowntown Richmond is slightly farther west, on the slopes of Shockoe Hill. Nearby neighborhoods includeShockoe Bottom, the historically significant and low-lying area between Shockoe Hill andChurch Hill, and Monroe Ward, which contains theJefferson Hotel. Richmond's East End includes neighborhoods like the rapidly gentrifyingChurch Hill, home toSt. John's Church, poorer areas likeFulton, Union Hill, and Fairmont, and public housing projects likeMosby Court, Whitcomb Court, Fairfield Court, and Creighton Court closer toInterstate 64.[60]
Richmond's Northside is home to numerous listed historic districts.[61] Neighborhoods such asChestnut Hill-Plateau and Barton Heights began to be developed at the end of the 19th century when the new streetcar system made it possible for people to live on the city's outskirts and commute downtown. Other prominent Northside neighborhoods include Azalea, Barton Heights, Bellevue, Chamberlayne, Ginter Park, Highland Park, and Rosedale.[60]
Farther west is the affluent, suburbanWest End. Windsor Farms is among its best-known sections. The West End also includes middle- to low-income neighborhoods, such as Laurel, Farmington, and the areas around the Regency Mall. More affluent areas include Glen Allen, Short Pump, and the areas of Tuckahoe away from Regency Mall, all north and northwest of the city. TheUniversity of Richmond and theCountry Club of Virginia are located on this side of town near the Richmond-Henrico border.[60]
The portion of the city south of the James River is known as the Southside. Southside neighborhoods range from the rapidly gentrifying, condo ladenOld Town Manchester, the area just south of the river across from downtown, to the affluent and middle-class suburban Westover Hills, Forest Hill, Southampton, Stratford Hills, Oxford, Huguenot Hills, Hobby Hill, and Woodland Heights to the impoverishedManchester and Blackwell areas, the Hillside Court housing projects, and the ailing Jefferson Davis Highway commercial corridor. Other Southside neighborhoods include Bellemeade, Fawnbrook, Broad Rock, Cherry Gardens, Cullenwood, and Beaufont Hills. Much of Southside, specifically towards the southwest of southside developed a suburban character as part ofChesterfield County before being annexed by Richmond, most notably in 1970.[60]
Richmond has ahumid subtropical (Köppen:Cfa) oroceanic (Trewartha:Doak) climate, with hot, humid summers and moderately cold winters.[62][63]The mountains to the west act as a partial barrier to outbreaks of cold, continental air in winter. Arctic air is delayed long enough to be modified and further warmed as it subsides in its approach to Richmond. The open waters of theChesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean contribute to the humid summers and cool winters. The coldest weather normally occurs from late December to early February, and the January daily mean temperature is 37.9 °F (3.3 °C), with an average of 6.0 days with highs at or below the freezing mark.[64] Richmond's Downtown and areas south and east of downtown are in USDAHardiness zones 7b. Surrounding suburbs and areas to the north and west of Downtown are in Hardiness Zone 7a.[65] Temperatures seldom fall below 0 °F (−18 °C), with the most recent subzero reading on January 7, 2018, when the temperature reached −3 °F (−19 °C).[64] The July daily mean temperature is 79.3 °F (26.3 °C), and high temperatures reach or exceed 90 °F (32 °C) approximately 43 days a year; 100 °F (38 °C) temperatures are not uncommon but do not occur every year.[66] Extremes in temperature have ranged from −12 °F (−24 °C) on January 19, 1940, to 107 °F (42 °C) on August 6, 1918.[a] The record cold maximum is 11 °F (−12 °C), set onFebruary 11 and 12, 1899. The record warm minimum is 81 °F (27 °C), set on July 12, 2011.[64] The warmest months recorded were July 2020 and August 1900, both averaging 82.9 °F (28.3 °C). The coldest, January 1940, averaged 24.2 °F (-4.3 °C).[66]
Climate chart for Richmond
Precipitation is rather uniformly distributed throughout the year. Dry periods lasting several weeks sometimes occur, especially in autumn, when long periods of pleasant, mild weather are most common. There is considerable variability in total monthly precipitation amounts from year to year, so no one month can be depended to be normal. Snow has been recorded during seven of the 12 months. Falls of 4 in (10 cm) or more within 24 hours occur once a year on average.[64] Annual snowfall is usually moderate, averaging 10.5 in (27 cm) per season.[64][68] Snow typically remains on the ground for only one or two days, but it remained for 16 days in 2010 (January 30 to February 14). Ice storms (freezing rain or glaze) are not uncommon, but they are seldom severe enough to cause considerable damage.
TheJames River reaches tidewater at Richmond, where flooding may occur in any month of the year, most frequently in March and least in July.Hurricanes andtropical storms have been responsible for most flooding during the summer and early fall months. Hurricanes passing near Richmond have produced record rainfalls. In 1955, three hurricanes, includingHurricane Connie andHurricane Diane, which brought heavy rains five days apart, produced record rainfall in a six-week period. In 2004, the downtown area suffered extensive flood damage after the remnants ofHurricane Gaston dumped up to 12 in (300 mm) of rain.[69]
Damaging storms occur mainly from snow andfreezing rain in winter, and from hurricanes, tornadoes, and severe thunderstorms in other seasons. Damage can come from wind, flooding, rain, or a combination of the three.Tornadoes are infrequent, but some notable ones have been observed in the Richmond area.
Downtown Richmond averages 84 days of nighttime frost annually. Nighttime frost is more common in areas north and west of Downtown and less common south and east of downtown.[70] From 1981 to 2010, the average first temperature at or below freezing was on October 30 and the average last one on April 10.[71]
U.S. Decennial Census[75] 1790–1960[76] 1900–1990[77] 1990–2000[78] 2010–2020[79]
Richmond's population is approximately 226,000. As an independent city, Richmond is surrounded byHenrico County, which has a population of about 334,000. TheGreater Richmond region has an estimated population of about 1.3 million.
Richmond, Virginia – Racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
Richmond experienced a spike in overall crime, particularly in themurder rate, during the 1980s, 1990s, and the early 2000s, when it was consistently ranked as one of the most dangerous cities in the United States.[85][86][87][88]
Since the late 2000s, various forms of crime have significantly decreased in the city.[89] Its major crime rate, including violent and property crimes, decreased 47 percent between 2004 and 2009 to its lowest level in more than a quarter of a century.[90] In 2008, Richmond had fallen to 49th on aMorgan Quitno Press ranking of the most dangerous cities in the United States, and the city recorded its lowest homicide rate since 1971.[91][92] By 2012, Richmond was no longer in the top 200.[93]
In recent years[when?], Richmond, like other cities, has had a slight increase in homicides, although violent and other forms of crime remain below the national average.[94][95]
Thefirst Jewish congregation in Richmond, and the sixth in the United States, was Kahal Kadosh Beth Shalom. By 1822, Beth Shalom members worshipped in Virginia's first synagog. Eventually, the congregation merged with its offshoot,Congregation Beth Ahabah. Richmond has two Orthodox Synagogues, Keneseth Beth Israel and Chabad of Virginia.[99] An OrthodoxYeshivah K–12 school system, Rudlin Torah Academy, includes a post high-school program. The city also is home to two Conservative synagogs, Beth El and Or Atid; and two Reform synagogs, Beth Ahabah and Or Ami. Other Jewish charitable, educational, and social service institutions serving Richmond include the Weinstein Jewish Community Center, Jewish Family Services, Jewish Community Federation of Richmond, and theRichmond Jewish Foundation.
Immigrants brought their religions to Richmond and built churches. Germans formedSt. John's German Evangelical church in 1843. Greeks held Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral's first worship service in 1917 in a rented room at 309 North 7th Street. The cathedral relocated to 30 Malvern Avenue in 1960. It is one of two Eastern Orthodox churches in Richmond and home to the annual Richmond Greek Festival.[100]
There are sevenmasjids in the Greater Richmond area, with three more in construction[101][102][103] to accommodate the growing Muslim population. The first was Masjid Bilal.[104][105] In the 1950s, Muslims from the East End organized under Nation of Islam (NOI), meeting in Temple No. 24 on North Avenue. After the 1975 NOI split, Muslims who joined mainstream Islam started meeting at Shabaaz Restaurant on Nine Mile Road. By 1976, the Muslims met in a rented church they unsuccessfully tried to buy. Ultimately, the congregation bought an old grocery store on Chimbarazoo Boulevard, where Masjid Bilal is now located. Initially called "Masjid Muhammad No. 24," it was given its current name in 1990. The next masjid was the Islamic Center of Virginia, ICVA,[106] established in 1973 as a non-profit, tax-exempt organization. After successful fundraising, ICVA bought land on Buford Road and began constructing the new masjid in the early 1980s. The other five masjids in the Richmond area are Islamic Center of Richmond (ICR)[107] in the West End; Masjid Umm Barakah[108] on 2nd Street, Downtown; Islamic Society of Greater Richmond (ISGR) in the West End end; Masjidullah[109] in the north side; and Masjid Ar-Rahman[110] in the East End.
Bishops sitting in Richmond include those of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, the denomination's largest; the Richmond Area of the United Methodist Church (Virginia Annual Conference), the second largest and one of the oldest in the nation. The Presbytery of the James—Presbyterian Church (USA) – also is in the Richmond area.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has three stakes, or organizational units of multiple congregations, in the greater Richmond area. At year-end 2017, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reported 95,379 members in 200 congregations in 22 stakesacross Virginia).[112] In April 2018, church presidentRussell M. Nelson announced a newtemple to be built in Virginia. The church's first temple in the state is in Glen Allen, northwest of Richmond.[113]
Richmond's strategic location on theJames River at the rockyfall line separating Virginia'sPiedmont andTidewater regions made it a natural development point for commerce. For centuries and three modes of transportation—boats, with the Great Turning Basin; railroad, with the world's onlytriple crossing of rail lines; and cars, with two intersecting major interstates—the downtown has always been a natural hub.
Law and finance have long been driving forces in the economy.[114] Richmond is home to the Virginia Supreme Court; one of the four courts in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia; one of the four divisions of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia;[115] and theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, one of thirteen suchappeals courts. Richmond is headquarters to some large law firms:Hunton Andrews Kurth,McGuireWoods, andWilliams Mullen.Troutman Sanders, which merged with Richmond-based Mays & Valentine LLP in 2001, also has a significant presence.
Since the 1960s, Richmond has been a prominent hub for advertising agencies and related businesses. One of the most notable Richmond-based agencies,The Martin Agency, was founded in 1965 and employs 500. With local advertising agency support,VCU's graduate advertising school (VCU Brandcenter) has consistently ranked as the best graduate advertising program in the country.[116]
Richmond is home to the rapidly developing Virginia BioTechnology Research Park,[117] which opened in 1995 as a biotechnology and pharmaceutical incubator. Located adjacent to the Medical College of Virginia (MCV) Campus ofVirginia Commonwealth University, the park has over 575,000 sq ft (53,400 m2) of research, laboratory, and office space for a diverse tenant mix of companies, research institutes, government laboratories, and non-profit organizations. TheUnited Network for Organ Sharing, which maintains the nation'sorgan transplant waiting list, occupies one building in the park.Philip Morris USA opened a $350 million research and development facility in the park in 2007. Once fully developed,[clarification needed] park officials expect the site to employ roughly 3,000 scientists, technicians and engineers.
The James River
Richmond's revitalized downtown includes the Canal Walk, a new Greater Richmond Convention Center, and expansion on bothVCU campuses. A new performing arts center,Richmond CenterStage,[118] opened on September 12, 2009.[119] The complex included a renovation of the Carpenter Center and construction of a new multipurpose hall, community playhouse, and arts education center in parts of the old Thalhimers department store.[120]
Craft beer,cider, andliquor production is also growing in the River City, with twelve micro-breweries in the city. The oldest is Legend Brewery, founded in 1994. Two cideries, Buskey Cider and Blue Bee Cider, are located in the popular beverage neighborhood ofScott's Addition,[121] which has nine breweries, onemeadery, and one distillery.[122] Richmond's threedistilleries are Reservoir Distillery, founded in 2010; Belle Isle Craft Spirits, started in 2013; and James River Distillery, established in 2014.
Richmond is attracting film and television industry attention. Several high-profile films have been shot in the metro region, including the major 2012 motion pictureLincoln, for whichDaniel Day-Lewis won his third Oscar;Killing Kennedy withRob Lowe, 2013, airing on theNational Geographic Channel; andTurn, starringJamie Bell and airing onAMC. Richmond was the main filming location for thePBS drama seriesMercy Street, which premiered in Winter 2016. Several organizations, including the Virginia Film Office and the Virginia Production Alliance, and events, like the Richmond International Film Festival and French Film Festival, continue to draw film and media professionals to the region.
OtherFortune 500 companies without headquarters but with a significant presence in the Richmond area includeSunTrust Banks (based inAtlanta),Capital One (officially based inMcLean, Virginia, but founded in and with its operations center and most employees in the Richmond area), and medical and pharmaceutical giantMcKesson Corporation (based in Las Colinas, Texas).Thermo Fisher Scientific came to the Richmond area in December 2021 when it acquired the contract research organizationPPD. Capital One and Philip Morris USA are two of the largest private Richmond-area employers.DuPont maintains a production facility in South Richmond known as the Spruance Plant.UPS Freight, the less-than-truckload division ofUnited Parcel Service has its corporate headquarters in Richmond.
As of 2016, 24.8% of Richmond residents live below thefederal poverty line, the second-highest among the 30 largest cities and counties in Virginia.[128] AnAnnie E. Casey Foundation report issued in 2016 also determined that Richmond had achild poverty rate of 39%, more than double Virginia's overall rate.[129] As of 2016, Richmond had the second-highest rate ofeviction filings and judgments of any American city with a population of 100,000 or more (in states where complete data was available).[130] Some Richmond neighborhoods, such as theCreighton Court public-housing complex, have high concentrations of poverty.[131][132]
Thehistory of slavery andemancipation are increasingly being represented in the city. There is a former slave trail along the river that leads to Ancarrow's Boat Ramp and Historic Site, which has been developed with interpretive signage. In 2007, the Reconciliation Statue was placed in Shockoe Bottom, with corresponding statues installed inLiverpool andBenin representing points in theTriangle Trade.
With the Richmond Mural Project (RMP), sponsored by RVA Mag and Art Whino, and 2013's RVA Street Art Festival, the city quickly gained more than 100 murals created by international mural artists, such as Aryz, Roa,Ron English, and Natalia Rak. While the RMP focused on international talent, the RVA Street Art Festival, led by long-time local mural artist Ed Trask, focused mainly on regional artists, although it was responsible for PoseMSK, Jeff Soto, andMark Jenkins. After some criticism, the RMP included its first local artist,Nils Westergard, who already was on the international circuit, and then another, Jacob Eveland. The two festivals were unrelated, and the RMP is now defunct. The RVA Street Art Festival occurs as funding permits. In response to theGeorge Floyd protests of the summer of 2020, local artist Hamilton Glass spearheaded the Mending Walls Project, featuring walls by pairs of local artists.[137]
From their earliest days, Virginia and Richmond welcomed live theatrical performances.Lewis Hallam staged early Shakespeare productions in Williamsburg, and Richmond became a prominent colonial and early 19th century performance place for celebrated American and English actors, like William Macready, Edwin Forrest,[138] and the Booth family. In the 20th century, Richmond had many amateur troupes and regular touring professional productions. The city's principal performing arts groups include theVirginia Repertory Theatre,Richmond Ballet,Richmond Triangle Players,Richmond Symphony, andVirginia Opera.
Commercial art galleries include Metro Space Gallery andGallery 5 in a newly designated arts district. Not-for-profit galleries include Visual Arts Center of Richmond, 1708 Gallery, and Artspace.
In 2008, a new 47,000 sq ft (4,400 m2) Gay Community Center opened on the city's north side. It hosts meetings of many kinds and includes a large art gallery space.
Richmond is home to many significant structures, including some designed by notable architects. The city contains diverse styles and has excellent examples of Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, Neoclassical, Egyptian Revival, Romanesque Revival, Gothic Revival, Tudor Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Art Deco, Modernist, International, and Postmodern architecture.
Many of Richmond's historic properties are documented in books and 1970s-era black and white photographs byJohn G. Zehmer, an architectural historian and preservationist.
The 1865 Evacuation Fire destroyed about 25% of Richmond's early buildings.[141] Fewer remain due to redevelopment and construction occurring sinceReconstruction. Nonetheless, Richmond has many historically significant buildings and districts. From the colonial period, there are thePatteson-Schutte House and theEdgar Allan Poe Museum (Richmond, Virginia), both built before 1750.
Architectural classicism is represented in all city districts, particularly Downtown and in the Fan and the Museum District. Several notable classical architects have designed buildings in Richmond.Thomas Jefferson andCharles-Louis Clérisseau designed the Virginia State Capitol in 1785. It is the second-oldest U.S. statehouse in continuous use (Maryland's is the oldest), and the first U.S. government building built in theneo-classical style, setting the trend for other state houses and federal buildings, including theWhite House andThe Capitol in Washington, D.C.[142] Robert Mills designedMonumental Church on Broad Street, abutted by the 1845Egyptian Building, one of the fewEgyptian Revival buildings in the U.S.
The firm ofJohn Russell Pope designedBroad Street Station, or Union Station, in theBeaux-Arts style, and it now is home to theScience Museum of Virginia. The firm also designedBranch House onMonument Avenue as a Tudor private residence, which now is the Branch Museum of Architecture and Design. Wilson, Harris, and Richards designedMain Street Station, now used for its intended purpose. The classically trained Beaux-Arts architects, Carrère and Hastings, designed both the Jefferson Hotel and the Commonwealth Club.Ralph Adams Cram, renowned for the Princeton University Chapel and the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, designed many buildings at theUniversity of Richmond, including Jeter and Ryland Halls.
Richmond's position as a center of iron production helped to fuel the popularity of itscast-iron architecture. The city is home to a unique collection of cast iron porches, balconies, fences, and finials, second only toNew Orleans in cast-iron concentration. At the height of production in the 1890s, 25 foundries operated in Richmond, employing nearly 3,500 metal workers. This number is seven times the number of general construction workers employed at the time, illustrating the importance of iron exports to the city.[143] Porches and fences in urban neighborhoods, such as Jackson Ward, Church Hill, and Monroe Ward, are particularly elaborate, often featuring ornate iron casts never replicated outside of Richmond. In some cases, casts were made for a single residential or commercial application.
Richmond's urban residential neighborhoods, largely single use town homes with mixed full retail/dining establishments, are keys to the city's character. The Fan, the Museum District, Jackson Ward, Carver, Carytown, Oregon Hill, and Church Hill are districts anchored by large streets, such as Franklin Street, Cary Street, the Boulevard, and Monument Avenue. The city's recent population growth mainly has been concentrated in these areas.
Richmond's city code provides for the creation of old and historic districts to "recognize and protect the historic, architectural, cultural, and artistic heritage of the City".[145] Pursuant to that authority, the city has designated 45 districts.[146][needs update] Most[weasel words] districts also are listed in theVirginia Landmarks Register ("VLR") and theNational Register of Historic Places ("NRHP").
Fifteen districts represent broad sections of the city:[147]
Richmond hosted the2015 UCI Road World Championships, which had cyclists from 76 countries and an estimated beneficial $158.1 million economic impact on theGreater Richmond Region from event staging and visitor spending.[158] The championship course was the first real-world location to be recreated within the indoor cycle training application,Zwift. The application has subsequently added two otherUCI world championships courses,Innsbruck from 2018 andHarrogate from 2019.
The city operates one of the country's oldest municipal park systems. In 1851, the City Council voted to acquire 7.5 acres (30,000 m2), now known asMonroe Park.[160] Monroe Park is adjacent to theVirginia Commonwealth University campus, and is one of over 40 parks totaling more than 1,500 acres (610 ha).
Other city parks includeJoseph Bryan Park Azalea Garden, Forest Hill Park (former site of the Forest Hill Amusement Park), andChimborazo Park (site of the National Battlefield Headquarters).
Several of the city's parks are along the James River, many of which are a part of the James River Parks System, which offers bike trails, hiking and nature trails, and many scenic overlooks.[161] The trails are used for the Xterra East Championship running and mountain biking courses of the off-road triathlon.[162]
Parks exist on two major islands in the James River,Belle Isle andBrown's Island. Belle Isle, a former Powhatan fishing village, colonial-era horse race track, and Civil War prison camp, is the larger of the two. It contains many bike trails and a small cliff used forrock climbing instruction. The island still has many remnants of the Civil War prison camp, including an arms storage room and a gun emplacement used to quell prisoner riots. Brown's Island is smaller and a popular venue for many spring and summer free outdoor concerts and festivals, such as the weekly Friday Cheers concert series and the James River Beer and Seafood Festival.
Richmond is the only city in the United States withClass IV rapids running through it.[163]
Two other major city parks along the river areByrd Park andMaymont, located near Randolph,Carytown, and the Fan District. Byrd Park features a one mi (1.6 km) running track, with exercise stops, a publicdog park, and a number of small lakes for small boats, as well as two monuments, Buddha house and an amphitheater. TheWorld War I Memorial Carillon, built in 1926, features prominently in the park. Maymont, adjacent to Byrd Park, is a 100-acre (40 ha)Victorian estate with a museum, formal gardens, native wildlife exhibits, nature center,carriage collection, andchildren's farm.
Richmond city government consists of acity council with representatives from nine districts serving in alegislative and oversight capacity, as well as a popularly elected, at-large mayor serving as head of theexecutive branch. Citizens in each of the nine districts elect one council representative each to serve a four-year term. Beginning with the November 2008 election, council terms were lengthened to four years. The city council elects from among its members one member to serve as council president and one to serve as council vice president. The city council meets at City Hall, located at 900 E. Broad St., 2nd Floor, on the second and fourth Mondays of every month, except August.
In 1977, a federal district court ruled in favor ofCurtis Holt Jr. who had claimed the council's existing election process — an at large voting system — was racially biased. The verdict required the city to rebuild its council into nine distinct wards. Within the year the city council switched from majority white to majority black, reflecting the city's populace. This new city council elected Richmond's first black mayor,Henry L. Marsh.
Richmond's government changed in 2004 from acouncil–manager form of government with a mayor elected by and from the council to an at-large, popularly elected mayor. Unlike most major cities, in order to be elected, a mayoral candidate must win a plurality of the vote in five of the city's nine council districts. If no one crosses that threshold, a runoff is held between the two top finishers in the first round. This was implemented as a compromise in order to address concerns that better-organized and wealthier white voters could have undue influence.[165] In a landslide election, incumbent mayor Rudy McCollum was defeated byL. Douglas Wilder, who previously served Virginia as the first elected African American governor in the United States sinceReconstruction.Levar Stoney served as Mayor from 2016 to 2024.[166] Dr.Danny Avula was sworn is as mayor on December 31, 2024.[167]
The mayor is not a part of the Richmond City Council.
As of 2025[update], the Richmond City Council consisted of:
Andrew S. Benton, 1st district (West End)
Katherine L. Jordan, 2nd district (North Central), council vice president
Kenya J. Gibson, 3rd district (Northside)
Sarah M.A. Abubaker, 4th district (Southwest)
Stephanie A. Lynch, 5th district (Central)
Ellen F. Robertson, 6th district (Gateway),
Cynthia I. Newbille, 7th district (East End), council president
The City of Richmond operates 28 elementary schools, sevenmiddle schools, and eight high schools, serving a total student population of 24,000.[169] The city has one Governor's School, theMaggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies. In 2008, it was named one ofNewsweek magazine's 18 "public elite" high schools,[170] and rated 16 of America's best high schools in 2012.[171] Richmond's public school district also runs one of Virginia's four publiccharter schools, the Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts, founded in 2010.[172] The 2020 class had an on-time graduation rate of 71.6%, at least 20 percentage points behind most other school divisions, making it the worst in the state.[173]
TheRichmond Times-Dispatch, owned byLee Enterprises, Inc., is the local daily newspaper, with a Sunday circulation of 120,000.Style Weekly, an online alternative local publication owned byVPM Media Corporation, covers popular culture, arts, and entertainment.RVA Magazine is the city's only independent art music and culture publication. Originally a quarterly, it now is a monthly. TheRichmond Free Press and theVoice cover the news from an African-American perspective.
The Government CenterGRTC Pulse bus station in Downtown Richmond
The Greater Richmond area is served by theRichmond International Airport (IATA:RIC,ICAO:KRIC), located inSandston, seven mi (11 km) southeast of Richmond and within an hour drive of historicWilliamsburg, Virginia. Richmond International is served by ten passenger and four cargo airlines, with over 200 daily flights providing non-stop service to major domestic destinations and connecting flights to worldwide destinations. A record 4.8 million passengers used Richmond International Airport in 2023, breaking the previous record of 4.4 million in 2019.[176]
Richmond is a major hub for intercitybus companyGreyhound Lines, which has its terminal at 2910 N Boulevard. Multiple daily runs connect directly with Washington, D.C., New York, Raleigh, and elsewhere. Direct trips to New York take approximately 7.5 hours. Discount carrierMegabus provides curbside service from Main Street Station. Direct service is available to Washington, D.C.,Hampton Roads,Charlotte,Raleigh,Baltimore, andPhiladelphia. Connections to Megabus-served cities, such as New York, are made from Washington, D.C.[177]
TheGreater Richmond Transit Company (GRTC) providestransit andparatransit bus service in Richmond andHenrico andChesterfield counties. The GRTC, however, serves only small parts of the suburban counties. The far West End, Innsbrook and Short Pump, and almost all of Chesterfield County have no public transportation, despite dense housing, retail, and office development. According to a 2008 GRTC operations analysis report, a majority of GRTC riders use their services because they do not have available alternatives, such as a private vehicle.[178] In 2014, U.S. Department of Transportation[179] granted Richmond and the surrounding metropolitan area a roughly $25 million grant for theGRTC Pulsebus rapid transit system, which opened in June 2018, running along Broad Street from Willow Lawn to Rocketts Landing.
The Richmond area has two railroad stations served byAmtrak. Each station receives regular service from north of Richmond, including Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and New York. The region's main station,Staples Mill Road Station, is located just outside the city on a major north–south freight line that receives service to and from all points south, includingRaleigh,Durham,Charlotte,Savannah,Newport News,Norfolk and Florida. The historicMain Street Station, renovated in 2004,[180] is the only railway station in the City of Richmond. As of 2010, it only receives trains headed to and from Newport News due to track layout.
Richmond also benefits from an excellent interstate highway position, lying at the junction of east–westInterstate 64 and north–southInterstate 95, two of the most heavily traveled highways in the state. As the state capital, Richmond has great state highway access.
Dominion Energy supplies the Richmond Metro area'selectricity. Headquartered in Richmond, it is one of the nation's largest producers of energy, serving retail energy customers in nine states. Electricity for the Richmond area is primarily produced at theNorth Anna Nuclear Generating Station,Surry Nuclear Generating Station, and a coal-fired station inChester, Virginia. These three plants provide a total of 4,453megawatts of power. Several other natural gas plants provide extra power during peak demands, including facilities inChester, andSurry, and two in Richmond, Gravel Neck and Darbytown.[181]
Richmond's Department of Public Utilities provides the Richmond Metro area's natural gas, including portions ofHenrico andChesterfield counties. It also supplies water to the city and surrounding area through wholesale contracts withHenrico,Chesterfield, andHanover counties. The DPU is one of Virginia's largest water producers, providing water to approximately 500,000 people, including 62,000 city customers, through a distribution system of water mains, pumping stations, storage facilities, and a modern plant that can treat up to 132 million gallons daily from theJames River.[182]
Thewastewater treatment plant is on the James River's south bank. It can treat up to 70 million gallons of water per day of sanitary sewage and stormwater before returning it to the river. The wastewater utility also operates and maintains 1,500 mi (2,400 km) of sanitary sewer and pumping stations, 38 mi (61 km) of intercepting sewer lines, and the Shockoe Retention Basin, a 44-million-gallon stormwater reservoir used during heavy rains.
^Annual records from the airport weather station that date back to 1948 are available on the web.[67]
^Mean monthly maxima and minima (i.e. the expected highest and lowest temperature readings at any point during the year or given month) calculated based on data at said location from 1991 to 2020.
^Official records for Richmond kept January 1887 to December 1910 at downtown, Chimborazo Park from January 1911 to December 1929, and at Richmond Int'l since January 1930. For more information, seeThreadex
^The Virginia Department of Historic Resources maintains copies of the applications filed with the National Register of Historic Places.
^City Connection, Office of the Press Secretary to the Mayor.Richmondgov.comArchived September 30, 2011, at theWayback Machine. January–March 2010 edition. Retrieved February 8, 2010.
^Scott, Mary Wingfield (1941).Houses of Old Richmond(PDF). Richmond, Virginia: The Valentine Museum. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on September 24, 2015. RetrievedAugust 7, 2014.
^Kollatz, Harry Jr. (December 5, 2016)."Russell House Revival". Richmond Magazine.Archived from the original on January 6, 2022. RetrievedJanuary 6, 2022.
^Edds, Margaret; Little, Robert. "Why Richmond voted to Honor Arthur Ashe on Monument Avenue. The Final, Compelling Argument for Supporters: A Street Reserved for Confederate Generals had no Place in this City."The Virginian-Pilot. July 19, 1995.
^"USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map". United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. 2012.Archived from the original on February 27, 2014. RetrievedFebruary 20, 2017.
^U.S. Census Bureau (2014-2018). Hispanic or Latino Origin by Specific Origin American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Retrieved fromhttps://censusreporter.orgArchived April 1, 2022, at theWayback Machine>
^Imajo, Anika (September 15, 2010)."Richmond's Very Own Sandwich".Richmond Times-Dispatch.Archived from the original on September 23, 2017. RetrievedJuly 2, 2015.
Core cities are metropolitan core cities of at least a million people. The other areas are urban areas of cities that have an urban area of 150,000+ or of a metropolitan area of at least 250,000+. Satellite cities are in italics.
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