28 photos from The Times-Dispatch archives
In June 1976, Elvis Presley performed for a full house at the Richmond Coliseum. This was the singer’s last concert in the city before his death in August of the next year.
In January 1957, Dot Perkins led a dance class in “the hut” at the Powhatan Hill playground in Richmond. The playground received the Quonset hut, a semicircular structure made out of corrugated metal, in 1947 after city officials authorized using $15,000 to erect it. It quickly became a center of extracurricular activities for area children.
In September 1951, a boy fished at the dam of Lakeside Lake in Henrico County. Lewis Ginter built the dam in the 1890s to connect Lakeside Park to the Lakeside Wheel Club. Today, the lake is in on the grounds of Jefferson Lakeside Country Club.
In March 1984, country and bluegrass musician Ricky Skaggs performed for a crowd of more than 3,000 at the Mosque (now called the Altria Theater) in Richmond; his set list included seven No. 1 singles from the previous two years. Skaggs is an accomplished mandolin player and also plays guitar and fiddle. His career includes work with the Country Gentlemen, a bluegrass group from Northern Virginia.
In April 1971, Ernest Edmund of Bremo Bluff in Fluvanna County headed home after a long day of plowing. His dog accompanied him on the journey home down state Route 15.
This 1957 image shows Pratt’s Castle, built as the Richmond private home of William Abbott Pratt in the 1850s. Pratt used all of his fortune to construct his castle, which was modeled after the estates of his Scottish relatives. The castle sat on the southern tip of Fourth Street on Gamble’s Hill, overlooking the James River. It was demolished in the late 1950s to make way for the headquarters of what became Ethyl Corp.
In October 1971, Brenda Faye Childress, the reigning Queen of Tobaccoland, waved from her float during the National Tobacco Festival parade in Richmond. The festival, which ran in Richmond from 1949 to 1984, was a top event in the city during its run and included an array of activities, including dinners, balls, beauty contests, football games and a parade. The queen was selected from a group of crowned tobacco princesses who arrived in Richmond from all over the East Coast.
In May 1973, the Mexican Folk Ballet performed at the Folk Dance Club Festival at the Carillon in Richmond. Under the sponsorship of the city parks department, the International Folk Dance Club organized a weekend of performances from dance groups of many heritages, including Armenian, Israeli, Greek, Mexican and Irish.
In January 1948, a worker cleared snow from the Capitol Square walkways in downtown Richmond. The George Washington equestrian statue is in the background.
In September 1971, the Country Ramblers from Nelson County warmed up for their performance at the first Bluegrass Grove Festival. The three-day event was held at Roy McCraw’s Bluegrass Grove farm in Amelia County and featured bluegrass and folk bands from around the Mid-Atlantic region. Other Virginia acts included the Blue Mountain Boys, the Roanoke Valley Boys and the Dixie Hillbillies.
In April 1965, a huge trash bin was displayed on Fifth Street in downtown Richmond to dramatize an ongoing anti-litter campaign. The effort was organized by several litter-prevention and beautification groups and was supported by Gov. Albertis S. Harrison.
In January 1967, a Richmond Newspapers pressman inspected a copy of that day’s edition during a press run.
In November 1956, The Times-Dispatch newsroom in downtown Richmond was buzzing with activity on Election Night. President Dwight D. Eisenhower was handily re-elected; in Virginia, he received 55 percent of the vote, while Adlai Stevenson collected 38 percent
In May 1987, a canoeist navigated through the James River rapids near downtown Richmond during the Wild Water Race, which was part of Big River Weekend. The event celebrated the outdoors and river-related activities in Richmond.
In April 1976, famed pop artist Andy Warhol — next to one of his Golda Meir portraits — was joined by New York gallery owner Ivan Karp and art collector Frances Lewis, one of the founders of the Best Products Co., at a private party in Richmond. The event celebrated Warhol’s donation of modern art to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
In September 1978, Arthur Hargrove Jr., a Times-Dispatch carrier in the Glen Allen area, delivered one of his final papers. Hargrove, who was retiring after 35 years, rode his bike on his 12-mile route — a type of route normally covered by car.
This January 1975 image of the Mosque auditorium in Richmond was taken through a small window from above. While the building was best known for its theater, over time it housed an array of other features, including a rooftop penthouse, swimming pool, gymnasium, ballroom and bowling alley. The building was renamed the Altria Theater in 2014.
In July 1950, a curb boy at Arnette’s Ice Cream Co. served Beverly Page French a banana split. The ice cream shop, located on Willard Road in Henrico County, was a popular hangout for local teens.
In September 1966, the center segment of the Benjamin Harrison Memorial Bridge was floated into place on the James River. The bridge, which would carry traffic on state Routes 106 and 156 between Prince George County and Charles City County, was completed that year and replaced ferry service.
In July 1977, a sign outside Laird’s Nursery on West Broad Street presented a fanciful plea for the end of the drought, which was severe enough that Gov. Mills E. Godwin authorized two towns to impose emergency restrictions on water consumption. It was the first such drought emergency declaration signed by any Virginia governor.
In May 1977, second- and third-grade students from Whitcomb Court Elementary School in Richmond celebrated May Day as they danced around the maypole.
In March 1972, a Times-Dispatch employee demonstrated the hot type method of page production, which used molten lead as one element in the creation of printing plates for the presses. That month, the RTD and The Richmond News Leader switched to the cold type method, which dropped the hot metal in favor of newer typesetting and platemaking technology.
In October 1952, University of Richmond cross-country coach Fred Hardy trained his runners — team captain Bill Jordan set the pace — ahead of a meet against Virginia Military Institute in Lexington.
In December 1975, Mike Jackson of the Virginia Squires challenged Denver’s Ralph Simpson during an American Basketball Association game at the Richmond Coliseum. The Squires moved to Richmond in 1970 after spending a year in Washington as the Washington Caps.
In October 1954, a group of costumed children celebrated Halloween at the William Fox School playground in Richmond.
In October 1978, a group of mad hatters danced in Shockoe Slip during the Great Pumpkin Party. The Halloween-themed festival drew about 10,000 people, many of them in costume to participate in contests for cash prizes.
In April 1960, members of the Richmond Virginians lined up ahead of their International League season opener at Parker Field against Toronto. The Vees played in Richmond from 1954 to 1964 .
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