Fifth Street Viaduct | |
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![]() 1933 Fifth Street Viaduct from the northeast | |
Coordinates | 37°33′12.1″N77°25′39.1″W / 37.553361°N 77.427528°W |
Carries | Fifth Street |
Crosses | Bacon's Quarter Branch |
Locale | Richmond, Virginia |
Official name | Curtis Holt Sr. Bridge |
Other name(s) | Fifth Street Bridge |
History | |
Opened | 1997 |
Location | |
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The Fifth Street Viaduct or the Fifth Street Bridge, officially the Curtis Holt Sr. Bridge, is a bridge crossing Bacon's Quarter Branch in the Shockoe Valley of Richmond, Virginia in the United States. It carries automobile and pedestrian traffic between Downtown Richmond's Jackson Ward and Gilpin Court with the North Side's Chestnut Hill and Highland Park.
The first Fifth Street Viaduct, also called the Northside Viaduct, was an iron structure completed in February 1891 for streetcars, which had been introduced in Richmond in 1887. [1] : p.6 It included a vehicular roadway, a walkway, and double-tracked street railway and was described as "a splendid iron structure 40 feet wide and 1200 feet long, costing about $80,000 ..." in a developer's advertisement at the time. [1] : p.6 The streetcar line allowed for the development of Chestnut Hill and Highland Park which were streetcar suburbs north of the deep Shockoe Valley. The Northside Viaduct was opened to the public on April 23, 1891. [2] Masonry remnants of the north abutment of this original bridge are still visible. [1] : p.6
The extension of Fifth Street north of Hospital St., along with the construction of the Fifth Street Viaduct, or Northside Viaduct, destroyed many graves in the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground . The street and viaduct were constructed directly through the burial ground. At the time of construction, the burial ground appeared on maps as Potter's Field. [3] [4]
The second Fifth Street Viaduct was a reinforced concrete bridge built in 1933 to allow for automobile, streetcar, and pedestrian travel between the neighborhoods of Highland Park and Jackson Ward. The design was drafted by Alfredo C. Janni and the bridge was built by the Richmond Bridge Corporation. [1] : p.13 The 1,185-foot (360 m) bridge consisted of seven double-span rigid frames supported on expansion piers and stiff towers [1] : p.1, 2 and was one of five Richmond bridges built during 1933-34 in a major public works program sponsored by the Richmond Bridge Corporation in conjunction with local authorities [1] : p.2
On December 23, 1933, after several days of preliminary streetcar usage, the Fifth Street Viaduct opened for all forms of travel. [1] : p.16 The bridge was tolled until August 1935 and the City of Richmond agreed to retire the debt of the Richmond Bridge Corporation through annual cash payments. [1] : p.17
On July 17, 1941, at the urging of City Council member John Hirshberg, the Fifth Street Viaduct was officially renamed the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Bridge. [1] : p.17
The current Fifth Street Viaduct opened in August 1997. In 2000, the name of the bridge was changed to the Curtis Holt Sr. Bridge. [5] The renaming of the bridge was among several such renamings cited as the impetus for a failed 2004 Virginia Assembly bill to restrict such actions in the Commonwealth. [6]
The Broadway Bridge is a Rall-type bascule bridge spanning the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States, built in 1913. It was Portland's first bascule bridge, and it continues to hold the distinction of being the longest span of its bascule design type in the world. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in November 2012.
The George Washington Memorial Parkway, colloquially the G.W. Parkway, is a 25-mile-long (40 km) parkway that runs along the south bank of the Potomac River from Mount Vernon, Virginia, northwest to McLean, Virginia, and is maintained by the National Park Service (NPS). It is located almost entirely within Virginia, except for a short portion of the parkway northwest of the Arlington Memorial Bridge that passes over Columbia Island within the District of Columbia.
The history of Richmond, Virginia, as a modern city, dates to the early 17th century, and is crucial to the development of the colony of Virginia, the American Revolutionary War, and the Civil War. After Reconstruction, Richmond's location at the falls of the James River helped it develop a diversified economy and become a land transportation hub.
The Greater Richmond, Virginia area has many neighborhoods and districts.
Highland Park is a neighborhood comprising several historic districts north of downtown Richmond, Virginia. Over time, various boundaries have served to split the neighborhood into sections traditionally labeled East Highland Park, North Highland Park, and South Highland Park. The southern Highland Park boundaries are roughly First Avenue to the west, Fifth Avenue to the east, the Shockoe Valley to the south, and E. Brookland Park Boulevard to the north. The Highland Park Southern Tip neighborhood is also known as the Chestnut Hill-Plateau Historic District. The Highland Park Plaza/Northern Highland Park boundaries are roughly defined by Pensacola ave and the railroad tracks to the north, Fifth avenue to the east, E. Brookland Park boulevard to the south, and Meadowbridge Road to the west. The zip code is 23222.
The Northside is an area composed of northern Richmond, Virginia and some parts of Henrico County, Virginia.
Jackson Ward, previously known as Central Wards, is a historically African-American district in Richmond, Virginia, with a long tradition of African-American businesses. It is located less than a mile from the Virginia State Capitol, sitting to the west of Court End and north of Broad Street. It was listed as a National Historic Landmark District in 1978. "Jackson Ward" was originally the name of the area's political district within the city, or ward, from 1871 to 1905, yet has remained in use long after losing its original meaning.
Church Hill Tunnel is an old Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) tunnel, built in the early 1870s, which extends approximately 4,000 feet under the Church Hill district of Richmond, Virginia, United States. On October 2, 1925, the tunnel collapsed on a work train, killing four men and trapping a steam locomotive and ten flat cars. Rescue efforts only resulted in further collapse, and the tunnel was eventually sealed for safety reasons.
Shockoe Bottom historically known as Shockoe Valley, is an area in Richmond, Virginia, just east of downtown, along the James River. Located between Shockoe Hill and Church Hill, Shockoe Bottom contains much of the land included in Colonel William Mayo's 1737 plan of Richmond, making it one of the city's oldest neighborhoods.
Shockoe Slip is a district in the downtown area of Richmond, Virginia. The name "slip" referred to a narrow passageway leading from Main Street to where goods were loaded and unloaded from the former James River and Kanawha Canal. The rough boundaries of Shockoe Slip include 14th Street, Main Street, Canal Street and 12th Street.
Charles Morrison Robinson, most commonly known as Charles M. Robinson, was an American architect. He worked in Altoona and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1889 to 1906 and in Richmond, Virginia from 1906 until the time of his death in 1932. He is most remembered as a prolific designer of educational buildings in Virginia, including public schools in Richmond and throughout Virginia, and university buildings for James Madison University, College of William and Mary, Radford University, Virginia State University, University of Mary Washington, and the University of Richmond. He was also the public school architect of the Richmond Public Schools from 1910 to 1929. Many of his works have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Barton Heights is a streetcar suburb neighborhood and former town in the Northside area of Richmond, Virginia. The area was primarily developed between 1890 and the 1920s.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Richmond, Virginia, United States
The Chestnut Hill–Plateau Historic District is a historic area in the Highland Park neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia. It is also known as 'Highland Park Southern Tip' on city neighborhood maps.
Shockoe Valley is an area in Richmond, Virginia, just east of downtown, along the James River, and is the entertainment center of the city. Located between Shockoe Hill and Church Hill, Shockoe Valley contains much of the land included in Colonel William Mayo's 1737 plan of Richmond, making it one of the city's oldest neighborhoods. Shockoe Valley encompasses the smaller neighborhoods of Shockoe Slip, Shockoe Bottom and Tobacco Row along Cary Street.
Sherwood Park is one of several historical neighborhoods that comprise the area known as Northside in the city of Richmond, Virginia.
The Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground was established by the city of Richmond, Virginia, for the interment of free people of color, and the enslaved. The heart of this now invisible burying ground is located at 1305 N 5th St.
The Shockoe Hill Burying Ground Historic District, located in the city of Richmond, Virginia, is a significant example of a municipal almshouse-public hospital-cemetery complex of the sort that arose in the period of the New Republic following disestablishment of the Anglican Church. The District illustrates changing social and racial relationships in Richmond through the New Republic, Antebellum, Civil War, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow/Lost Cause eras of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Shockoe Hill Burying Ground Historic District occupies 43 acres (17 ha) of land bounded to the south by E. Bates Street, to the north by the northern limit of the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority right-of-way at the southern margin of the Bacon's Quarter Branch valley, to the west by 2nd Street, and to the east by the historic edge of the City property at the former location of Shockoe Creek. The District encompasses most of a 28.5-acre (11.5 ha) tract acquired by the city of Richmond in 1799 to fulfill several municipal functions, along with later additions to this original tract.
Adolph Dill, also known as Addolph Dill, was an American businessman, landowner, and baker during the Antebellum era in Richmond, Virginia. The Confederate States Army took over Dill's bakery to supply soldiers in 1864, re-naming it the "C. S. Bakery".