History of the A.P. Hill statue in Bellevue

Richmond.com has an excellent article on the A.P. Hill statue at Hermitage and Laburnum Avenues in Bellevue in Richmond's Northside. Included are some great pics of the statue/intersection from the 60s and 70s.

Westhampton School, The Redskins & Bon Secours

I'll take another slight jump into politics on this blog by saying that I'm not a fan of the deal the city is offering the Redskins and Bon Secours for the proposed Redskins training facility. The Redskins pay nothing in this deal, Bon Secours gets a 60 year/$5,000 a year lease on the Westhampton property, and millions of dollars are diverted from Richmond Public Schools to pay for the construction of the Redskins' training camp. Possibly worst of all is that there's no money from the sale of the school property because of the lease (as opposed to a sale), a sneaky workaround to the 2008 City Council ordinance that states that money made from the sale of surplus school properties are "limited to new school construction and the repair and renovation of active school buildings." Also, Jim Dunn, Bon Secours' vice president of advocacy and community affairs has stated Bon Secours can't make any promises on whether they'll save the Westhampton School building. My bet is there's a good chance they'll demolish it.

Bottom line, as a city tax payer with children in Richmond Public Schools, all of this is telling me the Washington Redskins are more important to our city government than the education of our children.

Even though the Westhampton School has sat empty since Richmond Community High School moved out in 2009, I wanted to put a bit of a face on the property that the City of Richmond seems to be handing to Bon Secours for demolition.

The photos below were taken a few years ago by Little Monkeys Photo Co.

Photos courtesy of Little Monkeys Photo Co.

Pohlig Box Factory - Before and After

Pohlig Box Factory, August 1973:

Pohlig Box Factory, June 2012:

Top photo courtesy of VCU Libraries

Freeman High School's presidential picks - Late 50s/early 60s

Don't forget to vote today!

From the 1961 Freeman High School yearbook:

From the 1957 Freeman High School yearbook:

Frank Zappa at The Richmond Coliseum - November 2nd, 1974

38 years ago tonight Frank Zappa played the Richmond Coliseum:

Ad courtesy of the University of Richmond's Boatwright Library/Digital Initiatives

Obama caused the death of Bill's Barbecue?

A new ad from Mitt Romney rests the blame for the closing of Bill's Barbecue squarely on the shoulders of Barack Obama. Let me take a step into the political arena for the first time in the two year history of this blog and say that his claim is completely ridiculous. Feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments.