Park service to hold special tours at Maggie Walker house
12/16/2014, 6 a.m.
It has been 80 years since the death of Maggie L. Walker, the pioneer businesswoman from Richmond.
For five days next week, the National Park Service will commemorate that anniversary.
From Tuesday, Dec. 16, through Saturday, Dec. 20, the park service will offer themed tours at the Maggie L. Walker Historic Site in Jackson Ward. Tours of her home will be given on a walk-in basis during regular hours, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and will focus on the building’s role as the place of Mrs. Walker’s death, wake and memorial.
A daughter of a former slave, Mrs. Walker founded St. Luke Penny Savings Bank in 1903, becoming the first black woman president of a chartered bank in the United States. St. Luke was a precursor to Consolidated Bank & Trust Company, the longtime black-owned Richmond bank that is now a division of Premier Bank.
Mrs. Walker died at 70 on Dec. 15, 1934.
Mrs. Walker’s home at 110 ½ E. Leigh St. has been part of the national park system since 1978. Along with the house, the site includes a visitors’ center at 600 N. 2nd St.
Information: (804) 771-2017 or www.nps.gov/mawa.
