The postcard on the top, as it says, depicts West Hundred Road going east just before crossing Chester Road in 1970. Not really that long ago in Fausz years. The photo features an Esso station at left where the Chester pocket park is today. The Esso in the picture was owned and operated by Aubrey Lindsey, Sr. Catty-corner to the gas station on the right is Hines Food Center with ivy about to engulf the building. The picture on the bottom is a little different compared to the one on the top. Sure the gas station is gone and Sibley’s BBQ…
Browsing: History
Fort Lee is celebrating their centennial this year and in keeping with the theme of military history is Chester’s own Bebe Alexander. The 94-year-old Chester resident donated her father’s WWI uniform (and letters he wrote to her mother) to Fort Lee’s PXtra, and it will be on display for a year. Alexander has previously donated her father’s letters to the Virginia Museum. Her family has a long military history: in addition to her father’s service in WWI, her grandfather fought in the Civil War, her husband in WWII, and her grandson in Operation Enduring Freedom. Alexander is a Gold Star…
Bessie Hicks, circa 1904, holds her son and daughter, possibly waiting for her husband to get home from a hard day’s work at the Matoaca Mill or getting ready to go to work at the sweat shop herself. The Matoaca Mill spun cotton into cloth using newly invented machines. The mill was built close to the Appomattox River because it needed a good supply of water to power its weaving machines with water-wheels. To encourage workers to work at a mill, some mill owners built houses for them. In this way, new villages and towns developed. Many became known as…
A great white oak tree has stood on Chesterfield’s courthouse lawn for over 200 years. Every 10 years, what has been come to known as the Nunnally white oak tree is measured in a formal ceremony and entered into county records. In 2011 the girth was measured at 17 feet, 7 inches. An article pasted into a Woman’s Club of Chester Nomination for the National Register of Historic Trees, a Richmond Times-Dispatch article published on May 13, 1940 reported that the great oak had grown 2 feet 1 ½ inches in girth in the last 10 years.The article further indicated…
Chester’s original “downtown” was a stop which was an intersection of the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad, running north to south, and the Clover Hill Railroad, which became the Bright Hope Railway, then the Farmville and Powhatan Railroad. In 1900, when the Richmond and Petersburg merged with the Atlantic Coast Line, that new railroad intersected the same east west railroad which became the Tidewater and Western Railroad in 1905. The Chester Station, which was located at Curtis Street and the CSX Railroad tracks, was the scene of a battle during the American Civil War. The Seaboard Air Line also passed through…
John Randolph – the name is synonymous with education, healthcare, agriculture, and politics. A number of well-to-do families were all related to Randolph in and around Petersburg. Young John lived at Matoax (Matoaca) until he was nine years old. The old Matoax home was located on Randolph Farm in Chesterfield and is now part of Virginia State University. According to Alan Taylor, “The Internal Enemy,” Randolph vehemently opposed the War of 1812 and the Missouri Compromise of 1820; he was active in debates about tariffs, manufacturing, and currency. With mixed feelings about slavery, he was one of the founders of…
Remember when… From the Village News archives, December 10, 1998. The season officially opened on Dec. 1 with the Annual Illumination Ceremony presented by the Chester Library, then on Harrowgate Road. The tree lighting ceremony was opened by Nancy Van Auken, Chester Library supervisor. She welcomed neighbors and introduced Bermuda District Supervisor Jack McHale, who gave a short holiday speech. Local Girl Scout troops led a Christmas sing-a-long organized by Sarah Gregory, Gale Feind, and Lu Henderson. Then came the signal from McHale to light the tree and the arrival of Santa Claus. Picture above, Santa receives a hug. Photo…
Michael White, in his historical role as a soldier, stood beside his table filled with tools, guns, blankets, odds and ends and a Christmas tree Saturday. Behind him a campfire burned bright, spreading its warmth on a frigid day at Henricus, the Colonial Christmas has begun. In the 1600s in Massachusetts, Puritans outlawed public celebration for an entire generation. The Puritans had contempt Christmas. In contrast to modern practices, the Puritans kept shops and schools open and closed churches on Christmas. The British Parliament decreed that December 25 should instead be a day of “fasting and humiliation” for Englishmen…
By Barbara McHale During the holidays, the Chesterfield-Colonial Heights Christmas Mother Committee is extremely busy preparing for a season of giving. The committee is a nonprofit, charitable organization established in 1972 by Lucy Corr, then superintendent of the Chesterfield County Welfare Department. The program’s sole purpose is to assist families in need in the community during the holiday season. Although the committee was not founded until 1972, the Chesterfield-Colonial Heights Christmas program actually began in 1945. “Miss Lucy” came to Chesterfield County in 1945 to serve as Superintendent of the Welfare Department. Realizing that many families did not have the…
Members of the Old Dominion Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society have started creating new exhibits for use in the baggage room of that museum. The Board of Directors and the Museum Committe have designed several new, light-weight display panels to replace old, heavy, plywood folding screen type panels. Made by Richmond Signscapes and museum member Jennifer Tompkins, the new panels feature a background of “Southern Railway green” with the SR logo at the bottom in yellow. Lighter, more easily moved displays are desirable because the displays need to be moved to the side when the museum is rented…