Richmond. 1 City (1990 pop. 87,425), Contra Costa co., W Calif., on San Pablo Bay, an inlet of San Francisco Bay; inc. 1905. It is a deepwater commercial port and an industrial center with oil refineries and railroad repair shops. Richmond is a major center of trade with East Asia, Hawaii, and Alaska. The city's diverse manufactures include machinery and instruments, metal products, chemicals, motor vehicles, and construction materials. There is ship building and biotechnology development. Originally part of a Spanish ranch on the site of Native American shell mounds, it was settled in 1823 and then grew with the coming of the Santa Fe RR at the turn of the 20th cent.
2 City (1990 pop. 38,705), seat of Wayne co., E Ind., near the Ohio line; settled 1806 by Quakers from North Carolina, inc. as a city 1840. In the fertile Whitewater River valley, Richmond is primarily an industrial city. There are printing and publishing industries, and metal products, construction materials, foods, animal feed, electronics and electrical products, machinery, and motor vehicle parts are manufactured. Earlham College and Indiana Univ. East are in the city.
3 City (1990 pop. 21,155), seat of Madison co., central Ky., in the bluegrass region; inc. 1800. It is a tobacco and livestock (cattle and thoroughbred horses) market, and there is diversified manufacturing. In the Civil War the battle of Richmond (Aug. 30, 1862) was a Confederate victory. Eastern Kentucky Univ. and a U.S. army depot are in the city.
4 Former name of the New York City borough of Staten Island.
5 City (1990 pop. 203,056), state capital, E Va., at the head of navigation on the James River; settled 1637, inc. as a city 1782. It is a port of entry and a financial, commerical, shipping, and distribution center, with a deepwater port. Richmond is a major tobacco market; tobacco and tobacco products are among its leading manufactures. Clothing; chemicals; pharmaceuticals; metal, wood, and paper products; and computer components are also produced. There are printing and publishing enterprises and numerous corporate headquarters in the city. Richmond is the seat of the Univ. of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth Univ., Virginia Union Univ., and a theological seminary.
Places of interest include the state capitol (1785), designed by Thomas Jefferson; the Washington Monument; the Valentine Museum; the White House of the Confederacy, once the home of Jefferson Davis, and next to it the Museum of the Confederacy; the American Civil War Center; St. John's Church (1742), where Patrick Henry made his famous “Give me liberty, or give me death” speech; the Edgar Allan Poe Museum (in the oldest surviving building in the city, built c.1740); the Robert E. Lee House (1844); Monument Ave., with its statues of Confederate leaders and tennis player Arthur Ashe; Hollywood Cemetery (1847); the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; and the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.
The first permanent settlement was made in 1637. Fort Charles was built in 1645, and the site became a trading center. The city was laid out in 1737 under the patronage of William Byrd. It was made the capital of Virginia in 1779 and was raided by the British in 1781. During the Civil War, Richmond became the capital of the Confederacy and the constant objective of Union forces. The city was seriously threatened in the Peninsular campaign (1862), when it was saved by the Seven Days battles; in the Wilderness campaign (1864); and in Grant's campaign of 1864–65 around Petersburg, which culminated in Richmond's fall. Much of the city was burned during the Confederate evacuation, Apr. 3, 1865. Richmond National Battlefield Park (see National Parks and Monuments, tablenational parks and monuments, table) includes several of the battlefields.
See E. M. Thomas, The Confederate State of Richmond (1971); L. White-Raible, Richmond: A Renaissance City (1988).
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