> 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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