Church Hill district

Richmond Times-Dispatch Archives

Published: October 1, 2008

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Take a photo tour of the historic sites around Church Hill

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Church Hill
District Boundaries: 21st Street to 32nd Street and Broad Street to Franklin Street

Overlooking downtown Richmond, Shockoe Bottom and the James River, the Church Hill district is the oldest neighborhood in the city and contains the most antebellum structures in Richmond.

Church Hill includes most of the original 32 blocks of Richmond laid out by Maj. William Mayo in 1737 and the area became Richmond’s first historic district, established in the late 1950s by the Historic Richmond Foundation.

The 2300 block of East Grace Street was the foundation’s “Pilot Block” for restoration. The bow front of the Ann Carrington House is unique in Richmond architecture. It was built between 1810 and 1816 and the first house constructed on the block. The neighboring Hilary Baker House and Hardgrove House were part of original restoration efforts.

There’s St. John’s Episcopal Church, where Patrick Henry gave his famous “Give me liberty, or give me death” speech. The church also is the namesake for Church Hill. Up the street is Chimborazo Park, site of the Civil War’s largest military hospital, and now the home of Chimborazo Medical Museum.

All over Church Hill there are many historic churches, buildings, parks, gardens and plenty of beautifully restored, historic homes with a smattering of Greek Revival, Federal and Victorian.
[Credit: Times-Dispatch archives, Historic Richmond Foundation, “The Architecture of Historic Richmond”]

St. John’s Episcopal Church, 2401 E. Broad St. Active Episcopal parish church, erected in 1741, Richmond’s oldest church and the site of the Second Virginia Convention and Patrick Henry’s “Liberty or Death” speech, which is re-enacted at 2 p.m. each Sunday (early arrival recommended) Memorial Day through Labor Day. Info: 648-5015 or www.historicstjohnschurch.org.

Chimborazo Park, 32nd and East Broad streets. Liberty, an 8½-foot likeness of the Statue of Liberty, donated by the Boy Scouts of America in 1951. Close by is the Powhatan Stone, which was removed from and now overlooks “Powhatan Seat,“ a royal residence of King Powhatan when Capt. John Smith established the first permanent English settlement in 1607.

Libby Hill Park, 29th Street and Libby Terrace in Church Hill. Home of the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument, Libby Hill is also known to be the location from where William Byrd II made the comparison between this area of the world that has come to be known as Richmond with Richmond on the Thames, a village near London, England.

St. John’s Mews, West of St. John’s Church in the cobblestone alley between Broad and Grace streets. A community garden in the heart of the restored area of Church Hill.

One of Richmond’s most fascinating deep-down legends and mysteries, the ¾-mile Church Hill tunnel has been like a deadly snake lurking beneath the capital city and Jefferson Park for 134 years. It struck and killed wantonly in its youth, in one case gobbling a whole house, a workman and a shipload of earth in a single hissing bite. But once its ends were blocked off after consuming a work train and at least two workers in 1925, the tunnel has, for the most part, silently guarded its secrets.

HISTORY
1737: William Byrd II establishes Richmond. Major William Mayo lays out a 32-block town bounded by present-day 17th Street to the west, 25th Street to the east, Cary Street to the south and Broad Street to the north.

1741: St. John’s Church is built.

1742: Richmond is incorporated as a town, with boundaries of 17th and 25th streets, Broad Street and the James River. Population is 250.

1775: Patrick Henry delivers “Give me liberty or give me death” speech at St. John’s Church.

1780: The town of Richmond moves east, and the rest of the Church Hill area is incorporated. Population is 648.

1803: One of the earliest homes still in use is built—the Anthony Turner House, 2520 E. Franklin St.

1851: City Council recommends a site on the summit of the hill as a public park known as Libby Hill Park.

1874: The city acquires property for Chimborazo Park.

1956: Historic Richmond Foundation names a section of Church Hill for a program to preserve houses and sites of historical value. That area has been expanded over the years.

1964: Construction of Patrick Henry Memorial Park, which faces St. John’s Church.

SOURCES: “Church Hill: The St. John Church Historic District,“ “Richmond: The Story of a City,“ “Houses of Old Richmond,“ “The Architecture of Historic Richmond,“ Richmond Newspapers library

TRIVIA
• Early names for Church Hill were Indian Town and Richmond Hill.
• Early names for Libby Hill Park were: Jefferson Park, Marshall Park and the park in Marshall Ward. By 1890 it was called Libby Hill Park after Luther Libby who owned the warehouse which was used by the Confederacy as the infamous Libby Prison.
• The site of the current Bellevue School, was a residence that was build by Dr. John Adams in 1802. It was later purchased by John Van Lew in 1836. The last resident of the house was his daughter Elizabeth Van Lew, a Union sympathizer. She was appointed postmistress of Richmond by President U. S. Grant until her death in 1900. In 1911 the mansion was razed by the City for the construction of Bellevue School.