[Illustration: Richmond]
_Broad Street Station_
HOTEL WILLIAM BYRD
HOTEL JOHN MARSHALL
HOTEL RICHMOND
HOTEL KING CARTER
_Capital Square_
_Richmond—Her Story and Her Spirit_
Richmond—Capital of the Cavaliers—a city that is mellow and yet modern,
where the rustle of the past may still be heard amid the bustle of the
present.
To appreciate Richmond one must, before all else, remember that this old
town has roots planted deep in the history of our country. Richmond was
founded in 1737 by William Byrd II, of Westover on the James, forefather
of two of Virginia’s illustrious sons of today, Admiral Richard Evelyn
Byrd and Senator Harry Flood Byrd. But even before Father Byrd laid off
his lots and established Richmond, this site at the falls of the James
River had held a certain degree of importance. Just a few weeks after
the Virginia settlers landed at Jamestown on May 13, 1607, to found the
first permanent English settlement in America, Captain Newport pushed
off up the James to find the route to the gold of the Indies. The
barrier of rocks, known as the falls of the James, must have been an
unwelcome sight to the eyes of that little band of intrepid explorers as
it shattered their dream of easy passage to their expected El Dorado.
Captain Newport, however, was the first of the Virginians to believe
that no hoped-for golden future should stop a man from doing the
sensible, practical things of the moment. Before very long, Captain
Francis West had established a frontier post at the point where the
falls interrupted further navigation of the river. It is hard to realize
that Richmond was once on the western frontier of our country, but such
was the case until about 1660, when settlers began that westward push
that only ended when the Pacific was reached.
Richmond has seen much of the thrilling history of our country unfold.
She was a promising village when George Washington and the son of her
founder, Colonel Byrd, successfully led Virginia’s two regiments with
the troops of her sister colonies and the British regulars in the French
and Indian war. She was hostess to that brilliant group of patriots who
gathered in St. John’s Church in 1775 to discuss what methods could be
taken to avert war with England, only to have Patrick Henry, grown sick
of futile measures which obtained no justice for the colonists, rise to
advocate the arming of the Virginia militia and utter those words which
made him the embodiment of man’s immortal will to freedom: “Give me
liberty or give me death.” She was the capital of the State from which
Thomas Jefferson, Governor of Virginia, had to flee to prevent capture
when Benedict Arnold swooped down on Richmond in 1781 and occupied the
city for the British in America’s war for independence. Cornwallis
visited it later in the same year. She was a thriving center of commerce
in 1812 when the city was often alarmed by the news that the British
were coming again, and in 1846 when her “Grays” were accepted for
service in the Mexican War. She was the capital of the Confederate
States of America from 1861-65, the hope of the South and the despair of
the North for those four long, bloody, heart-breaking years. The best
commanders, the most immense armies the Federal government could
furnish, hammered, hammered at Richmond, while the South’s bravest
hearts and keenest minds stood with their backs often at the very walls
of the city, but would not let them pass. No city in America ever has or
ever will be again so completely the goal of the whole American people.
Those years and the ones that followed taught Richmond something that as
a city she will never forget—that courage can rise above everything. The
incredible sacrifices of Richmond people in that time knit the citizens
together with bonds that even time cannot sunder. She was again prompt
to the call of duty in 1898 when the country was challenged with outside
danger, and once more poured forth her sons and funds in World War I;
also in World War II she gave liberally of her sons and daughters and
resources.
Those wars through which Richmond has lived are but distressing
landmarks on the long trail our country has traveled. Her contribution
has been equally as great in times of peace. In fact, probably her
greatest contribution has been her way of life—a way based on the belief
that the best of the old must be kept and adapted to fit in with the
best of the new. The city has grown steadily; has been rebuilt after
three destructions by fire. Today Richmond is a commercial, industrial,
financial, medical and educational center of the South, and one of the
fastest growing industrial centers in the nation. Richmond’s industry
has been stable and resistant to wide fluctuations in business cycle.
Cities, after all, are but larger patterns of individual people. People
who have been tested by time and tribulation and yet come out smiling,
full of faith and courage, never fail to command our admiration. That
Richmond has done this, we submit as our plea for your appreciation of
our old city.
The people of Richmond have made the city and in turn been made by it.
No one can long live in the mellowness of Richmond without feeling that
here is a calm that is not dead but gay, an ease and a friendliness that
is real and not assumed, a determination to build always for the future
but never to forget the heritage of the past which is our inspiration, a
will to be of such a quality that we cannot fail to give strength to the
nation, going always forward in the spirit of those who would surmount
the obstacles of the present in order to attain goals inspired by ideals
of right and justice.