Lisa writes:
Two firetrucks just came down our road—and I was freaking out since that means there is a fire, an injury or something that means bad news. Turns out it was one truck followed by second carrying Santa Clause! I can tell you that my 9 year old will never get over it. In a cynical day and age, I can tell you that I probably won’t either. Thanks so much to the people that came up with this idea and the people that pulled it off. Merry Christmas!
The above is a photo of a parade through downtown held in 1917, featuring the Monticello Guard, taken by Rufus Holsinger. UVa’s Special Collections Library has 9,500 photos taken by Holsinger in the first decades of the last century, mostly portraits, but many depicting the goings-on around town during his time. Just under 3,000 of these photos are available on the website, including 800 of Charlottesville and 1,100 of UVa. Most of the Charlottesville ones from the the nineteen-teens.
Some of my favorites are Albemarle Grocery Co. (the pink warehouse), Brown Milling Company, (Beck Cohen), Chancellor’s Drug Store (Qdoba), the Charlottesville Dam, downtown, the Gleason Hotel, McGuffey under construction, Midway (West Main and Ridge/McIntire), a drawing of the National Bank (Wachovia), the post office (the JMRL central branch), the Southern Railroad Depot (Union Station), Temple Beth Israel, Timberlake Drugs, Monticello mountain as viewed from Pantops, and a Charlottesville & Albemarle Railway Company trolley car.
If you’re at all interested in local history, you’d best plan to set aside an hour or two to troll through this list. I’d love to see somebody do a then-and-now series of pairings of some of these images. Maybe one day UVa will provide coordinates and direction data for each of these photos. It would be great to map these.
Steve Ashby writes:
Until it shuts down in 6 days, my podcast site will be hosting a series of excerpts from a 1975 Jefferson Cable production “Overview: Downtown Renewal.” With the re-bricking of the Mall, it seems like a good time to look back at just how much controversy the whole idea caused. Despite Hook article article to the contrary, many merchants supported building a pedestrian mall.
I’ve put those excerpts together into a single video, which you can watch here:
Note that it opens with credits, but don’t skip through them—you’ll love the b-roll footage of downtown that’s playing in the background. As a Charlottesville history buff, this stuff is like catnip to me.
12/22 Update: Steve has put an even longer version of the video online in two chunks: Part 1 and Part 2. Thanks, Steve!
A three-judge panel has concluded, after a recount, that Democrat Tom Perriello is now Congressman-elect Perriello, replacing six-term Republican incumbent Rep. Virgil Goode. Perrillo won by 727 votes. He’ll be sworn into the 111th Congress on January 6.
Albemarle’s three high schools are preparing to spend $600k apiece to install synthetic turf, Brandon Shuleeta writes in today’s Daily Progress, and not everybody is happy about it. There’s the obvious mixed economic message being sent, although that’s reduced by the anonymous donor who chipped in $325k/school, and some folks just don’t like the idea of playing on synthetic turf. There are concerns about some nasty chemicals found in the fake grass, a problem that the federal government is of two minds about the seriousness of. The Board of Supervisors has agreed to spend $225k to help get together enough money for the turf, leaving the schools $163k short.
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on four six and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #
Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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