Are you fascinated by the urban residential architecture of the Boulevard and surrounding neighborhoods? The Virginia Historical society has a two part course that will explore the development of our "old west end" community from 1800 to 1929.

Says the Virginia Historical Society on the course:

This class will discuss the architecture and history of The Fan District, the West of the Boulevard area, and Monument Avenue. These neighborhoods were "modern" street-car related residential areas created to house Richmond's expanding middle and upper classes. They are the last intensely urban districts built before residential development became totally suburbanized in the middle of the 20th century. They represent the final and most sophisticated development of this type of densely packed urban neighborhood, which characterized Richmond from 1800 to 1929. The entire district is well preserved and retains its houses, schools, churches, shops, and restaurants.  It functions today much as it did a century ago.

The class takes place May 13 & May 20 from 5:30 - 7:00 pm at the Historical Society.

Learn more and reserve your seat today!

"MOOO!" to "MOOOVE OVER!" From cows to cars the Boulevard has experienced many changes over the past 150 years and now the Virginia Historical Society has an exhibit to tell the story.

Beginning on May 1st visitors to the Historical Society can view prints, photographs, and important historical stories in the exhibit: The Boulevard and How It Grew.

Says exhibit curator Jeffrey Ruggles on the display:

"This exhibition documents the steady evolution of the museum block, showing that like Rome, it was not built in a day." He adds, "Because there are buildings still standing that date back over a century, there is often confusion among visitors and residents about who owns and runs which structure. I hope that this exhibition helps clear up some of that confusion by showing how each part of the puzzle developed. I also hope that visitors realize that the institutions that occupy this block are significant in ways that reach far beyond the city of Richmond, and even the state of Virginia."

The exhibition tells how the thirty-four acres of farmland that was purchased from the Robinson family in 1884 developed into buildings that house extensive collections and impressive exhibitions related to world art and Virginia history.

Be sure to visit the Historical Society before this exhibit closes on July 18.

Hours: Tuesday–Saturday 10 am–5 pm and Sunday 1 pm–5 pm (shop and museum galleries only). Admission: $5/adults, $4/seniors 55+, $3/students, free/under 18 and free/members. Admission to the galleries is free on Sundays.

On June 13, 1951 a large F3 tornado touched down just west of the Boulevard Bridge and carved a path of destruction through Byrd Park, The Fan and into Richmond's north side communities. The late afternoon tornado travelled four miles through the city, completely destroying 35 buildings and damaging 1,000 others.

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:
"It came on fast. It sounded to me like an earthquake. I saw rooftops flying through the air. Pieces of tin and trees were falling on South Granby Street. When it hit my house, the back of the house came down. All the houses along here got hit in the back, and they all were half ripped down." - Perl Price, 1835 Rosewood Avenue.

And from the Richmond News Leader came this quote by John L. Walker:
"Four different clouds - all funnel-shaped - were rushing toward the city. Each one had a tail like a kite. Then the four came together in the shape of a huge auger that picked up everything in front of it."
This report suggests that it was a multi-vortex tornado with, at one point, four vortices visible.

Read More From The National Weather Service In Sterling

The Valentine Richmond History Center has a lot of walking tours of our neighborhoods lined up for their 2010 season. The respected historical institution hosts $10 guided walking tours through our antique neighborhoods and highlights the historical value associated with many of the homes and businesses we take for granted.

This year's list of tours includes:
May 16   (2-4pm)                                 
Monument Avenue The first street in the U.S. to be designated as a National Landmark by the National Park Service, Monument Avenue is one of America’s most beautiful boulevards. (editor's note: Boulevard is just as attractive)

May 23    (2-4pm)                                 
Carytown and The Byrd Theatre Learn about Carytown’s fascinating history as a buffalo trail, a streetcar suburb and the Georgetown of Richmond.

June 12    (12-2pm)                                 
Monument Avenue On A Segway Ride a Segway down Monument Ave and learn about the diverse architectural styles of the avenue’s grand town houses, famous residents and renowned architects.

June 20    (2-4pm)                                 
The Museum District The founding of the Confederate soldiers home initiated the residential development of the area known today as the Museum District.

July 18    (2-4pm)                                 
Alleys and Parks of The Fan The branching avenues that give the Fan its characteristic fan shape form several triangular green spaces, including Harrison Street Park, Lombardy Park and Monroe Park.

Sept 26    (2-4pm)                                 
Byrd Park Tyler Potterfield, author of Nonesuch Place: A History of the Richmond Landscape, leads a walk through the city’s largest park, historic Byrd Park.

Get more details about these tours at the Valentine History Center

The Boulevardizen time machine takes us to 1918 when architects proposed an ornate four story brick hospital for the intersection of Grove Ave and Mulberry Street. The proposed Retreat for the Sick was eventually constructed and then given the friendlier name of Retreat Hospital.

Photo from the archives of Carneal & Johnston

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! went the trolleys at the intersection of West Cary Street and Robinson Street which once served as a bustling hub of activity for the old Richmond transit lines. Now progress is about to strike again at this historic property when the GRTC bus company moves its operations and transfers the property to the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority (RRHA).

With so much history associated with the property many area residents are wondering what will be done to preserve the historic character of the transit oriented neighborhood.
 
Valerie Dixon with RRHA tells us that preservation of the property is priority in the redevelopment planning. "The current City Master Plan calls for the historic trolley sheds to be preserved.  The City and RRHA will study the feasibility of adaptively reusing the buildings."

The 2000 Richmond Master Plan designates the four square block area as a mixed use development for extending Carytown eastward and also as a "Housing Opportunity Area."

"When [GRTC relocates] this site presents a unique opportunity for high quality mixed-use, urban infill development. Given the size of the site, a mixture of commercial and office uses may be appropriate within the residential development." The plan adds "Any future redevelopment activities should retain and preserve the historic trolley sheds located on-site."

According to Dixon "RRHA’s next task is to work with the City to formulate a redevelopment strategy consistent with market conditions, site conditions, and City and neighborhood priorities."

Dixon says settlement of the land transfer from GRTC to RRHA will be completed within the next 60 days however the actual transfer of the property from the bus company to the government authority could take until late 2011.

"GRTC estimates that environmental assessment and remediation will be completed in late 2011.  RRHA will take title to and possession of the property after remediation is complete and all other pre-settlement conditions have been satisfied." said Dixon of the industrial sized cleanup required of the property before further development is possible.

Our neighbors over at ByrdPark.net have an ongoing discussion about the use of the property with a number of thoughtful suggestions for future development.

This week we visit the future home of the Diamond on North Boulevard where numerous trucks are gathered for an old fashioned rodeo. This aerial shot is taken facing south towards Broad Street, old Parker Field sits to the left. The old Broad Street Train station can be seen in the far upper left corner.

This photo is provided from the Library of Virginia's Flickr Adolph B. Rice Studio collection.

Be sure to thank your nutty & bushy tailed friends as the Smithsonian informs us that today is Squirrel Appreciation Day. According to our well researched sources Squirrel Appreciation Day was first celebrated on Jan 21, 2001 in Ashville, NC:

"Squirrel Appreciation Day is an opportunity to enjoy and appreciate your tree climbing, nut gathering neighborhood squirrels. It's held in mid-winter when food sources are scarce for squirrels and other wildlife. Sure, squirrels spent all fall gathering and "squirreling " away food. But, their supplies may not be enough. And, the variety of food is limited. So, give them an extra special treat today to supplement their winter diets."
--- Holiday Insights

Are you appreciating Richmond's Flying Squirrels yet? The Smithsonian tells us more about this very special variety of winged creatures:

These Squirrels are gregarious, travelling from one Tree to another in Companies of ten, or twelve together. When I first saw them, I took them for dead Leaves, blown one Way by the Wind, but was not long so deceived, when I perceived many of them to follow one another in one Direction: They will fly fourscore Yards from one Tree to another. They cannot rise in their Flight, nor keep in a horizontal Line, but descend gradually, so that in Proportion to the Distance the Tree, they design to fly to, is from them, so much the higher they mount on the Tree they fly from, that they may reach some Part of the Tree, even the lowest Part, rather than fall to the Ground, which exposes them to Peril, but having once recovered the Trunc of a Tree, no Animal seems nimble enough to take them. Their Food is that of other Squirrels, viz. Nuts, Acorns, Pine Seeds, Pishimon Berries, &c.

This week we visit the intersection of West Broad Street and Boulevard where the old People's Drug Store once stood. This photo is taken with Broad Street in the foreground and with North Boulevard in the background (towards I-95).

CVS purchased this location and the entire Peoples chain of drug stores in 1990, taking on the CVS name in 1994 and replacing the structure several years later.

Thanks to the Library of Virginia's Flickr collection for sharing this and many other great photos of Richmond's past.

What sits within the confines of that mighty hill at the south end of Boulevard in Byrd Park? The above photo from the Library of Virginia offers a peak inside to reveal the city's reservoir before a roof was installed over the sprawling facility.

Take a hop in the time machine and visit the Library of Virginia's Flickr page for more photos of Richmond's past.

Local author Harry Kollatz Jr points us to a documentary trailer for his book Richmond In Ragtime: Socialists, Suffragists, Sex and Murder. The Youtube video was crafted by Plant Zero based filmmaker Patrick Gregory and composer/sound designer Lincoln Mitchell.

Here are some fascinating tidbits from Kollatz's book on life in our neighborhoods (Fan, Musuem District & Carytown) during this turbulent Richmond era:

The Lee Park Neighborhood (bounded by Grove-Kensington-Roseneath-Tilden)

Its developers wax hyperbolic about, "Beautiful shade trees adorn the lots -- pure air, pure water and none of the noise and confusion...Lee Park adjoins Lee Annex, and in two or three years (the city s now growing faster) Lee Park property will sell higher than Lee Annex does now..."

Proto-blogger Adon Yoder, a grassroots progressive pamphleteer and self-proclaimed socialist, viewed Lee Park as a real estate deal at the expense of city tax payers. In his "Idea" of Sept. 18, 1909, he pointed out that the realty company of Green & Redd was selling the properties and that Green was a city councilman. Yoder called this a scheme, "with acres and acres of unimproved open fields between it and the city proper."

There was basically nothing between the city limits and Lee Park except for Lee Camp, the destitute Confederate veteran's convalescence center. The wheeling-and-dealing Yoder observed rankled him because basic city services went wanting in other older more established neighborhoods, and yet there was talk of annexing Manchester. (pp. 72-73)

Learn more about this book at Amazon.com (and hurry if you plan to buy! Amazon says only 5 copies are left in stock!)

Free! That's the price of admission to the Virginia Historical Society and its exhibits in 2010. Museum officials anticipate that free admission will result in a greater number of visitors at the popular tourist destination.

Learn more about the decision making process behind this at the Richmond Times-Dispatch

Hop in the Boulevardizen time machine and explore Richmond's past (courtesy of Dementi Studios). Dementi's online gallery of photos offers a fascinating look at Richmond in the early to mid 20th century.

Visit the gallery (click continue on the landing page to view the photos).

The VCU Libraries Digital Collection now includes more than 7,000 photos from the Richmond Commission on Architectural Review with 250 from the Boulevard. The online collection has detailed photographs of addresses up and down our grand avenue.

The photographs posted in the VCU collection range from 1991 to 1997 and show a street lined with properties long neglected and in states of disrepair.

View more photos from this collection at the VCU Libraries Digital Collection

On Sunday Nov 15 from 1-3 PM author Tyler Potterfield will lead a walking tour of the Boulevard. Potterfield will conclude the tour with a signing of his recently released book: Nonesuch Place: A History of the Richmond Landscape. The tour will commence at Main and Robinson St outside of Black Swan Books.

When: Sunday November 15, 1-3 PM

Where: Main St @ Robin St (Black Swan Books)