Quantcast

Show advanced options

All results / Photos

Sort By

Date

Authors

This group proudly prepares to turn the ground Sept. 29 to officially launch development of the Downtown plaza where a statue to Richmond pioneering businesswoman Maggie L. Walker will stand. Wielding the shovels are, from left: J. Maurice Hopkins of the Mag- gie Walker High School Class of 1965; City Councilman Chris A. Hilbert; Mrs. Walker’s great-great-grandson, Diallo Brooks of Washington; Gov. Terry McAuliffe; Mayor Dwight C. Jones; Mrs. Walker’s great-grandson, Johnny Mickens III of Richmond; Melvin Jones Jr., who helped spearhead the statue effort; and Selena Cuffee-Glenn, Richmond’s chief administrative officer. Location: Broad and Adams streets. The city is investing nearly $1 million to create the statue and plaza to honor Mrs. Walker, who, in 1903, became the first African-American woman to found and head a bank in the United States.

This group proudly prepares to turn the ground Sept. 29 to officially launch development of the Downtown plaza where a statue to Richmond pioneering businesswoman …

Published on October 7, 2016

New city Public Utilities center // Mayor Levar M. Stoney cuts the ribbon to open a new $9.4 million center for the city Department of Public Utilities that includes modern labs and offices. Location: 1801 Commerce Road in South Side. At least 90 employees will work at the facility, including 14 technicians who monitor and test the city’s drinking water and wastewater to ensure the city is meeting federal regulations. The building also will house workers involved with stormwater and wastewater management. DPU purchased the building four years ago for $750,000. The department said the new center will improve efficiency by consolidating in one building employees who were scattered at four sites. Celebrating with the mayor are, from left, Rosemary Green, interim director of Public Utilities; Jennifer Hatchett, director of the new facility; and Robert Steidel, the city’s deputy chief administrative officer for operations.

New city Public Utilities center // Mayor Levar M. Stoney cuts the ribbon to open a new $9.4 million center for the city Department of …

Published on November 24, 2017

Hundreds of people gather for the dedication and grand opening of the $25 million addition to the Virginia War Memorial that honors those who gave their lives in military service. The ceremony, held last Saturday at the war memorial at 621 S. Belvidere St., featured retired Gen. John P. Jumper of Spotsylvania, former chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force, as the keynote speaker. The expansion project took two years to complete and includes the new C. Kenneth Wright Pavilion, a 25,000-square-foot building, and an expanded Shrine of Memory listing the names of those killed in the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and other recent military actions. The facility has a new exhibit hall, art gallery and research library, as well as a 350-seat auditorium. The expansion also provides room for the Virginia Medal of Honor Gallery and created an additional 128 parking spaces in a new underground parking deck.

Hundreds of people gather for the dedication and grand opening of the $25 million addition to the Virginia War Memorial that honors those who gave …

Published on March 6, 2020

Judge Jamison retiring // Family and friends join in unveiling the portrait of outgoing Judge Birdie Hairston Jamison, right, that will hang in the Richmond General District Court. With her at Friday’s ceremony at the Manchester Courthouse are, from left: Sheriff C.T. Woody Jr., Judge Jamison’s sister, Paige Hairston, Delegate Delores L. McQuinn, former Delegate Jean W. Cunningham, Richmond General District Court Chief Judge D. Eugene Cheek, former state Sen. Henry L. Marsh III and Judge Jamison’s other sister, Mable Lewis. Judge Jamison, 57, is the dean of the state’s traffic court judges. She began hearing cases in Richmond in 1991. Her tenure on the court officially ends Tuesday, Nov. 30. She must step down because the General Assembly declined to reappoint her to a new term last January. Numerous speakers at the retirement ceremony lauded her service to the court.

Judge Jamison retiring // Family and friends join in unveiling the portrait of outgoing Judge Birdie Hairston Jamison, right, that will hang in the Richmond …

Published on November 25, 2015

Cityscape // Crime tape and police and firefighters in action are all too common in Richmond and other cities. Above, officers and police cars pack the intersection of 3rd and Main streets in Downtown around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday following the police shooting of a man wielding a large knife and an ax. Police Chief Alfred Durham said officers shot the man when he did not respond to commands to drop the weapons, and a Taser proved ineffective in stopping him. When the man attacked the officers, two fired, hitting him. The man, later identified as Alexander J. Schoessel, 23, of Chesterfield, was pronounced dead at 10:31 a.m. Tuesday at a Richmond hospital. Officer John Rotondi also was hit by friendly fire during the incident. He was taken to a hospital, where he was treated and released. Right, firefighters hose down a smoldering pile of driftwood Tuesday afternoon underneath a pedestrian bridge across the James River that connects Brown’s Island and Belle Isle in Downtown.

Cityscape // Crime tape and police and firefighters in action are all too common in Richmond and other cities. Above, officers and police cars pack …

Published on July 28, 2017

Jason Marshall, 9, receives a carton of milk and a boxed lunch from Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham on Monday at the launch of the “No Kid Hungry Virginia” summer meals program. Location: The city’s new Southside Community Center at 6255 Old Warwick Road. Other officials serving meals include, from left: Richmond City Councilman Michael J. Jones, Mayor Levar M. Stoney, Virginia’s First Lady Dorothy McAuliffe and Richmond Delegate Betsy B. Carr. Anyone 18 and under is eligible for free breakfast and lunch through the U.S. Department of Agriculture-supported program without application or registration. Meals are available at 84 sites in Richmond, ranging from city recreation centers, schools and public housing offices to churches and day care centers. The goal is to ensure children receive nutritious meals when school is not in session. In past years, only 35 percent of city youths who receive free meals at school took advantage of the summer program. Mobile phones are making it simpler to find locations. Text the word FOOD or COMIDA to 877-877 and then enter a ZIP code to get information on nearby sites and times of service. Locations also are listed at www.fns.usda.gov/summerfoodrocks.

Jason Marshall, 9, receives a carton of milk and a boxed lunch from Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham on Monday at the launch of the …

Published on June 24, 2017

Members of the Delver Woman’s Club of Richmond celebrate the group’s 75th anniversary through its Legacy Community Service Project – a contribution of $5,685 to Feed More, Central Virginia’s primary hunger relief organization. The ceremony, held June 30 outside Feed More’s North Side headquarters, featured a musical prelude by the Jason Jenkins Quartet. The women’s club, which traces its early roots to a literary club for African-American women, was officially started in 1945 and has dedicated itself to civic engagement and service. The club’s 75th anniversary theme: “The Past, The Present, The Future: Continued Commitment to the Community.” In 1967, the club was among the founding members of Meals on Wheels, a program that delivers meals to seniors in their homes and which now comes under Feed More’s umbrella of agencies. The gift to Feed More by the Delver Woman’s Club’s 70 members, their families and friends will provide 22,740 meals to people in the Richmond area. Participating in the program are, from left, Jean T. Williams, legacy project chair; Theo S. Jones, immediate past president; Douglas H. Pick, Feed More’s president and chief executive officer; and Kathryn Erhardt, Feed More’s manager of planned and leadership giving.

Members of the Delver Woman’s Club of Richmond celebrate the group’s 75th anniversary through its Legacy Community Service Project – a contribution of $5,685 to …

Published on July 9, 2020

Work is underway on the $1.2 million renovation of Virginia Union University’s renamed Wil- lie Lanier Field at Hovey Stadium. Mr. Lanier, a former All-Star and Pro Bowl player with the Kansas City Chiefs from 1967 to 1977, played on Hovey Field when he was a student nearly 60 years ago at Richmond’s Maggie L. Walker High School next door. He has played a vital role in the project to resurface the field from grass to FieldTurf. When the VUU Panthers football team kicks off its 2020 season home opener on Oct. 3 against Shaw University, the new field will be a point of pride for the team and will put VUU on the same level as universities around the nation, officials stated. “That field shows something,” Mr. Lanier stated. “It shows the ability of what it is to provide for those young individuals who can take confidence and pride in where they play and how they are able to perform.” Squares of the old grass field, which has been in place since 1907, are being sold online to help fund the project. Go to https://vuusports.com/sports/2008/11/5/MBB_1105085727.aspx?id=42

Work is underway on the $1.2 million renovation of Virginia Union University’s renamed Wil- lie Lanier Field at Hovey Stadium. Mr. Lanier, a former All-Star …

Published on July 2, 2020

Cityscape-City Hall has not been able to remove this stone highway marker noting that a stretch of U.S. 1 in South Side, now known as Richmond Highway, was once called Jefferson Davis Highway to honor the traitorous Confederate president. Location: A grassy strip in front of the city Department of Public Utilities’ Field Operations and Maintenance Facility at Maury Street and Richmond Highway. A Richmond chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy placed the 4-foot-tall marker on the site in 1935. City Council voted last December to change the name of the roadway. Robert Steidel, the city’s chief operating officer, stated Tuesday that this is one of a series of markers placed by the UDC along U.S. 1 in the city and other locations. He said all are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which complicates their removal. He stated that city staff is working with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources to come up with a plan to remove the marker. The plan will be presented first to the City Planning Commission. Meanwhile, the Virginia General Assembly, which nearly 100 years ago designated U.S. 1 as Jefferson Davis Highway, this year approved replacing the Davis name with Emancipation Highway as of Jan. 1, 2022, in localities such as Chesterfield County that have not renamed the roadway.

Cityscape-City Hall has not been able to remove this stone highway marker noting that a stretch of U.S. 1 in South Side, now known as …

Published on May 20, 2021

Cityscape-City Hall has not been able to remove this stone highway marker noting that a stretch of U.S. 1 in South Side, now known as Richmond Highway, was once called Jefferson Davis Highway to honor the traitorous Confederate president. Location: A grassy strip in front of the city Department of Public Utilities’ Field Operations and Maintenance Facility at Maury Street and Richmond Highway. A Richmond chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy placed the 4-foot-tall marker on the site in 1935. City Council voted last December to change the name of the roadway. Robert Steidel, the city’s chief operating officer, stated Tuesday that this is one of a series of markers placed by the UDC along U.S. 1 in the city and other locations. He said all are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which complicates their removal. He stated that city staff is working with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources to come up with a plan to remove the marker. The plan will be presented first to the City Planning Commission. Meanwhile, the Virginia General Assembly, which nearly 100 years ago designated U.S. 1 as Jefferson Davis Highway, this year approved replacing the Davis name with Emancipation Highway as of Jan. 1, 2022, in localities such as Chesterfield County that have not renamed the roadway.

Cityscape-City Hall has not been able to remove this stone highway marker noting that a stretch of U.S. 1 in South Side, now known as …

Published on May 20, 2021

Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Richmond, Lincoln Saunders, left, and Richmond City Council members, Stephanie A. Lynch, 5th District, second from left, Reva M. Trammell, 8th District, Cynthia I. Newbille 7th District, Council President Michael Jones, 9th District, center, Council Vice-President, Kristen M. Nye, 4th District, Ann-Frances Lambert, 3rd District, Katherine Jordan, 2nd District, Ellen F. Robertson, 6th District, and Andreas D. Addison, 1st District, pose for a group photo with Richmond Free Press managing editor, Bonnie Newman Davis, Jean Patterson Boone, publisher and co-founder, and Raymond H. Boone Jr. , vice president for new business development, following a Richmond City Council Recognition Award presented to Jean P. Boone and her husband, Raymond H. Boone Sr., posthumously, the former editor/ publisher/ founder of the Richmond Free Press for their collective work with their staff in the city through their weekly newspaper founded 31 years ago in 1992. Mr. Boone died nine years ago, June 3, 2014, after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer.

Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Richmond, Lincoln Saunders, left, and Richmond City Council members, Stephanie A. Lynch, 5th District, second from left, Reva …

Published on June 15, 2023

Richmond Police officers remove belongings on July 30 from “Grace Park,” a two-month-old encampment created by protesters, after residents of the area complained. Location: The grassy median at Allen Avenue and Grace Street north of the Lee statue on Monument Avenue. On the same day, police also cleared a similar camp on the Monument Avenue median north of the camp. Two people were arrested. By Monday, activists were once again distributing food, water and literature from tables in the Allen Avenue medians. Participants said police officers were regularly checking, but mostly appeared to condone the activity. However, they said police issued warnings against overnight stays on the medians. Police reported that about 11:15 p.m. July 30, shots were fired into a vehicle near the Lee statue circle following an altercation and that the glass door of a residence in the 1600 block of Monument Avenue had been shattered by reported gunfire. Officers canvassing the area found a rifle and ammunition magazines. “Gunfire and violent behavior is not peaceful, nonviolent protest; it is criminal, unacceptable and will not be tolerated in our city,” Richmond Police Chief Gerald M. Smith said in a statement. “The City of Richmond will take all necessary steps to protect residents and visitors and preserve peace and public safety in our communities.”

Richmond Police officers remove belongings on July 30 from “Grace Park,” a two-month-old encampment created by protesters, after residents of the area complained. Location: The …

Published on August 6, 2020

Faith leaders and football/Virginia Union University football team chaplain, the Rev. Joe Ellison, right, gathers with honorees at the 4th Annual Washington Football Team/RVA Faith Leaders Luncheon on Monday at New Kingdom Christian Ministries on Dill Avenue in Highland Park. The luncheon was co-hosted by Rev. Ellison and the church’s senior pastor, Dr. Christopher Moore, left, to honor four Black College Football Hall of Famers. They are, beginning second from left, Virginia Union University Athletic Director Joe Taylor; former Washington Football Team quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Doug Williams, who is now special adviser to the WFT president; Willie E. Lanier, former NFL Kansas City Chiefs player and Pro Football Hall of Famer whose stellar football career started at Maggie L. Walker High School in Richmond; and Coach Willard Bailey, who coached four Virginia teams during an illustrious career at VUU, Norfolk State University, the former St. Paul’s College and Virginia University of Lynchburg. Coach Bailey is the newest inductee in the Black College Football Hall of Fame; he was inducted in June. Joining the group also is the WFT Senior Team Chaplain Bishop Brett Fuller, second from right.

Faith leaders and football/Virginia Union University football team chaplain, the Rev. Joe Ellison, right, gathers with honorees at the 4th Annual Washington Football Team/RVA Faith …

Published on July 29, 2021

The monument was designed by Thomas Jay Warren of Oregon and shows a man, woman and child newly emancipated from enslavement. The man’s back is lined with scars from whipping and the woman is holding aloft a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation. The base contains the names and brief descriptions of 10 Virginians who contributed to the fight for freedom and equality before and after emancipation. They are slave rebellion leaders Gabriel and Nat Turner; Dred Scott, whose unsuccessful lawsuit for his freedom led to the 1857 U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring that people of African descent had no rights under the U.S. Constitution; William Harvey Carney, who fought with the Massachusetts 54th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Colored Troops and was the first African-American to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor; and Mary Jane Richards Bowser, a spy in the Confederate White House in Richmond who provided useful information to Union officials. Also, the Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker, co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and chief of staff to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; John Mercer Langston, Virginia’s first African-American representative in Congress; Lucy Simms, an teacher who advocated for universal education; John Mitchell Jr., the fiery newspaper editor of The Richmond Planet who led a boycott of Richmond’s segregated trolley system and was the first African-American to run for governor of Virginia; and Rosa Dixon Bowser, educator and women’s rights activist who founded the first African-American teachers association in Virginia and the Virginia State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs.

The monument was designed by Thomas Jay Warren of Oregon and shows a man, woman and child newly emancipated from enslavement. The man’s back is …

Published on September 23, 2021

Next