There will be a Richmond History Center Oregon Hill Sunday Walking Tour this Sunday, September 16, from 2-4PM. Meet at St. Andrew’s Church (227 South Laurel Street). Cost is $10 per person, $9 in advance, and $5 for History Center Members.
Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association members have new information of a 1994 attempt by VCU to acquire/demolish 911 Green Alley and demolish 917 Green Alley, but the EIR was rejected by the DEQ, in large part because the DHR cited the rarity of surviving livery stables in Richmond. It is indisputable that thirteen years later these same livery stables are an even rarer historic resource.
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Livery stables are very rare survivals in the City of Richmond. The livery stable at 917 Green Alley, built in 1909 by William Rowe Fensom, is the best example of the 6 or so left in the city.
1914 Foster photograph of C. W. Antrim & Sons, “Better Acquaintance Week.” Hugh Antrim is the gentleman in the white suit standing on the left streetcar third from the left of the Morara Coffee sign. Source, John Antrim.
This wonderful photo is from a relation of W. R. Fensom, who built the livery stable at 917 Green Alley. The photo shows Fensom’s mother seated in the vehicle, which is in front of 140 S. Cherry (now demolished at the corner of Cumberland and Cherry). Fensom’s plumbing business was to the rear of this building.
The man in the middle with the hat on is Ashby D. Fensom Sr. I think the older woman sitting in the car is Mrs. Emma Arline Rowe Fensom White. She is the mother of William Rowe Fensom and Ashby D. Fensom Sr.
An article about declining museum attendence in the The Petersburg Progress-Index mentions that the American Civil War Center at Tredegar “isn’t close to their projected 60,000 annual visitors nine months into their opening, and officials would not say how many visitors had come so far”.
The Virginia Department of Historic Resources maintains a record of the registration forms for the National Register of Historic Places for properties and neighborhoods around the state, with Richmond heavily represented. Some interesting area forms include those for Hollywood Cemetery (PDF), Oregon Hill Historic District (PDF), Belle Isle (PDF) and St.Andrew’s Church (PDF). The site also includes maps and photos ([1], [2], [3], [4]).