> I hope it is o.k. to post this information here.
>
> The Alliance to Conserve Old Richmond Neighborhoods presents The
> Sixth Annual Susan Carter Williams Memorial Seminar ~ Historic
> Fulton: Past, Present & Future ~ on Saturday, May 15th, from11 am
> until 2 pm at the Richmond Public Library (Main Branch), 101 East
> Franklin Street, Richmond VA.
>
> This program will shed light on a place which is certainly one of
> our most historic neighborhoods but today is unknown to many
> Richmonders. The early residents of Fulton, situated on the banks
> of the James River, were Native American.
>
> The Powhatan Indians were on the site when the first English
> explorers-- led by John Smith-- landed in 1607. America won its
> independence, and the Fulton of colonial times included Rocketts
> Landing, a seaport that employed Irish dockworkers who lived in
> shacks near the water while sea captains lived in fine homes nearby
> on higher ground. In the second half of the eighteenth century,
> when the ports at Norfolk and Newport News grew, factories took over
> much of the Fulton port area . Twelve acres housed the Richmond
> Cedar Works, which produced cigar boxes among other things. The
> Millhizer Bag Company made tobacco pouches and burlap "crocus bags"
> for produce. What was called the "stem factory" by Fulton residents
> dealt in tobacco by-products. The main employers, however, were the
> Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad and the Philip Morris and Lucky Strike
> tobacco factories located on Main Street to the west. The factory
> town of Fulton contained German merchants, Irish saloon keepers and
> some free Blacks who came to the city from the countryside after the
> Civil War. Although many black families soon left during the Panic
> of 1893, more arrived at the turn of the century to join the factory
> workers living in crowded tenements and shacks.
>
> The history of Fulton includes great diversity until, by 1929, most
> white families had moved out, leaving Irish newcomers and Blacks.
> After World War II the Fulton factories began to close, more white
> families moved up to the Hill (called Montrose Heights) or farther
> away, poor black families moved in from the country until, by the
> late 1960s the community was primarily black and contained only half
> the number of people as were there before World War I. As the
> population's income base shifted to welfare and retirement checks,
> blight and crime increased. A flood in 1972 ensured the activation
> of the planned redevelopment, and that changed everything. As
> stated by author, Harry Kollatz, "Richmond's officials couldn't
> figure how to solve Fulton's problems except, ultimately, to get rid
> of Fulton altogether."
>
> Lunch will be included along with the following presentations:
> Fulton: A Visual History of the Hill & Valley ~ Selden Richardson,
> architectural historian and author of Built By Blacks: African-
> American Architecture and Neighborhoods in Richmond, VA
> Moments in Fulton Time, from Powhatan to "Patience Gromes" ~ Harry
> Kollatz, historian and author of True Richmond Stories, and Richmond
> in Ragtime: Socialists, Suffragists, Sex & Murder
> Hope, Renewal & Revitalization ~ Veronica Jemmott, Virginia Local
> Initiative Support Corporation (LISC)
> A panel discussion, with a question-and-answer period open to the
> audience, to consider: Can Fulton's Future Honor Its Past? The
> panel will include Paul DiPasquale (longtime resident of the Greater
> Fulton Area), Spencer Jones (Fulton Family Reunion Committee),
> Veronica Jemmott, Brooke Hardin (Richmond Department of Planning and
> Development Review), The Honorable Cynthia Newbille (Richmond City
> Council), and Selden Richardson.
> Admission for the seminar is: $10 ~~ $5 for Seniors and Students
> (with i.d.) ~~ FREE for members of the Alliance to Conserve Old
> Richmond Neighborhoods and Mount Calvary Baptist Church
> RSVP REQUIRED BY MAY 13th TO RESERVE A SPACE. To RSVP or to get
> more information, call 804.644.5040 or send an email to [log in to unmask]
> .
>
>
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