Panoramic view of Richmond - 1912

Here's a great wide angle shot of Richmond in the early 20th Century from the James River in the distance on the left, all the way around to just east of the State Capitol on the right.

Click the photo below so you can see all the detail in the high resolution image.

Photo courtesy of The Library of Congress

Richmond Skyline from across the James - 1907

From the pamphlet for the 1907 Richmond United Confederate Veterans Reunion comes this early shot of the Richmond skyline from across the James.

Photo from the 1907 United Confederate Veterans Reunion pamphlet

View of Richmond from Belle Isle - 1865

Here's an amazing shot for this fine Monday morning, a completely treeless view of downtown Richmond from the top of the hill on Belle Isle in 1865. If you look just to the left of center on the horizon in the distance, you can see the state capitol building. This was taken after the end of the Civil War, although it's hard to see the burned district, even on the hi-rez version of this photo. You can see the remains of the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad bridge though, off to the right, above the cannon.

Photo courtesy of The Library of Congress

View of the burned district and the Capitol across the Canal Basin - 1865

Another Civil War era photo to commemorate the (almost) 150th anniversary of the beginning of the war. This picture was taken sometime between April and June of 1865 looking across the old canal basin.

Photo courtesy of The Library of Congress

Virginia Capitol Bell Tower, girl with swastika - 1908

A group of young women enjoy a nice day sitting in the grass in front of the Bell Tower on the grounds of the Virginia State Capitol in downtown Richmond, circa 1908. The Bell Tower was completed in 1825, and is still used today to call the General Assembly of Virginia into session.

One thing interesting about this photo is the swastika pin one girl has on her collar, about a dozen years before the Nazi party in Germany would adopt it as their symbol.

Here it is uncropped:.

Photo courtesy of The Library of Congress