Category Archives: News

VCU Student Neighborhood Clean Up Campaign This Saturday

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Culled from email announcements:

The Student Government Association (SGA) of Virginia Commonwealth University is holding a neighborhood clean up for four neighborhoods on Saturday. Volunteers will meet at Monroe Park at 9 AM for a rally to kick off this event. Debbie Anderson (OHNA Secretary) will be the Team Captain for the Oregon Hill neighborhood. After the rally, the volunteers will be divided into four groups and return to the neighborhoods for the clean up. At noon, the groups will head to their respective neighborhood’s meeting places for a party. Oregon Hill will be meeting at the William Byrd Community House.

VCU is providing 6 pizzas, 3 boxes of wings, and 3 sodas for the party after the clean up. Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association will be providing plates, napkins, cups, and, maybe, ice.

The Story On Ellis

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The Times Dispatch ran an article on Wilbur E. Ellis, who at age 90 still works at the firm that hired him almost 70 years ago.

You might have gathered by now that Ellis is a little on the spirited side. Tough, too.

You’d be that way, too, if you were a poor, short kid growing up on Oregon Hill where, in that era, fighting was as popular a sport as baseball or football. Yet, he never took anything off anybody.

At age 8, he was working for a few pennies a week at Tredegar Iron Works, where his father was a foreman. At John Marshall High, he remained south of 5 feet and the most vertically challenged member of the cadet corps. He wound up playing trumpet.

He got mixed up with bootleggers, running illegal whisky, before his future wife, Phyllis Franck, persuaded him to change his ways. He read of an opening at Atlantic Electrical and applied. He was hired, along with another man, for a monthlong tryout. Whoever performed best would get the job full time. The next week, the other guy was arrested for stealing a typewriter from a house.

Police Roll Call On Wednesday

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According to an email from Lt. Hood, Richmond Police and possibly VCU Police will meet at the corners of China and Pine (near Open High School) on Wednesday, October 20th at 4 PM for a roll call. Once the Roll Call is over, about 5-10 minutes, the Sector 413 officers will walk and/or bike around Oregon Hill. If you have been wanting to raise an issue with the police department, this would be the perfect time to do so.

Blog Post on The Cowboy Junkies’ Song

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Ray Bonis, who works at VCU’s library, is a treasure trove of Richmond history knowledge. He shares it in part by being one of the co-authors of the The Shockoe Examiner blog (along with neighborhood resident T. Tyler Potterfield). This week they included an addition to the VCU Special Collections, the original draft, or closest thing to it, of the music group Cowboy Junkies’ song “Oregon Hill”. To see it online, check out the blog post (by clicking here), and do yourself a favor while you are there and bookmark the blog.

Reminder: Oregon Hill Walking Tour On Sunday

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This is a reminder that there will be a walking tour of Oregon Hill on Sunday, October 17 from 2pm to 4pm.

Settled by Irish and Welsh ironworkers in the 1840’s, Oregon Hill is one of the oldest intact neighborhoods in Richmond and continues to thrive as a tight-knit, working class neighborhood. Includes a visit to St. Andrew’s Church and School. Meet at Laurel and Idlewood streets.

For more information, please click here.

HandsOn Open High This Saturday

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This coming Saturday Hands On Greater Richmond is hosting a big volunteer day with projects all over the region. There are at least two of them that are directly related to Oregon Hill. One is at the William Byrd Community House and one is at Open High School. Here is the Open High one’s details:

Description:

Open High School’s mission is to produce students who will be goal oriented individuals proficient in all of the core subject areas. Equally important is our commitment to fostering competence in and an appreciation for the arts and humanities. In addition, we view students as individuals, competent in the use of technology as well as community resources to further their personal and academic goals. Through shared decision-making and community service, it is our belief that students will develop a sense of personal and social responsibility that will guide their future decisions and actions as democratic citizens.

In lieu of a cafeteria, Open High School has a student lounge where students can eat lunch and interact when not in class. But the lounge desperately needs your help to make it an inviting place to hang out!

Specific Tasks:
– Paint the lounge
– Assemble new furniture and tables to be used for eating and studying
– Construct student cubbies

The minimum age for volunteers is 16 years old. All volunteers under the age of 18 are required to bring a signed copy of the Youth Waiver form to the project in order to participate.

Please note: HandsOn Day will start with a Kick Off Celebration at Richmond International Raceway.

Impact Areas: Other

Interests: The interests recommended for this project are:
Construction/Home Repair, Education, Special Events

Skills: The skills helpful for participation in this project are:
Construction, No skills needed

Click here for direct link to the HandsOn Greater Richmond Open High project.

Click here for direct link to the HandsOn WBCH project.

EarthAid.net Groups’ Next Steps?

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Now that other neighborhoods are getting their own EarthAid.net groups, what else can we look for?

The obvious aspect is some friendly competition. Do Oregon Hill households on average use more energy than say, Church Hill households? (My prediction is that OH ones do simply because of the number of VCU students and their computers, hotplates, miniature fridges, etc., but that may be based on a faulty generalization on my part).

Of course to get a good competition, we need more people to join EarthAid.net and share their utility information. Don’t forget, EarthAid.net users can also win rewards from local merchants. Maybe in the future, groups could collectively win rewards.

Regardless, more Richmond neighbors are looking to reduce their energy use (and save money!). On that note, the Sierra Club is a hosting a free, public meeting this Wednesday that will feature local experts on home energy audits as well as solar power.