Ricmond German Christmas Dance | |
---|---|
Genre | debutante ball |
Date(s) | December |
Frequency | annually |
Location(s) | The Commonwealth Club Richmond, Virginia United States |
Inaugurated | 1866 |
Patron(s) | Richmond German Society |
The Richmond German Christmas Dance is an annual ball held during the Christmas season at The Commonwealth Club in Richmond, Virginia. Founded in 1866, shortly after the end of the American Civil War, it is the oldest debutante ball in Virginia.
The Richmond German Christmas Dance was founded in 1866, shortly after the end of the American Civil War by the city's civil leaders. [1] It was named after a popular Prussian dance. The ball served as a way for prominent families of the Antebellum period to maintain their status in the new era. [2]
The dance is one of two premier debutante balls in Richmond, the other being the Bal du Bois. [3] [4] The dance is held annually at The Commonwealth Club, a private gentlemen's club. [5] [6] It is hosted by the Richmond German, a gentlemen's secret dance society. Debutantes are typically relatives of members of the society. [7] [8]
A debutante, also spelled débutante, or deb is a young woman of aristocratic or upper-class family background who has reached maturity and is presented to society at a formal "debut" or possibly debutante ball. Originally, the term meant that the woman was old enough to be married, and part of the purpose of her coming out was to display her to eligible bachelors and their families with a view to marriage within a select circle.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch is the primary daily newspaper in Richmond, Virginia, and the primary newspaper of record for the state of Virginia.
Monroe Park is a 7.5 acres (3.0 ha) landscaped park 1 mile (1.6 km) northwest of the Virginia State Capitol Building in Richmond, Virginia. It is named after James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States (1817–1825). The park unofficially demarcates the eastern point of the Fan District and is Richmond's oldest park. It occupies the center of the Virginia Commonwealth University Monroe Park Campus.
Virginius Dabney was an American teacher, journalist, and writer, who edited the Richmond Times-Dispatch from 1936 to 1969 and wrote several historical books. Dabney won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 1948 due in part to his opposition to the poll tax. In his later years, he was criticized for not standing against Virginia's massive resistance to school integration.
The Virginia Museum of History and Culture founded in 1831 as the Virginia Historical and Philosophical Society and headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, is a major repository, research, and teaching center for Virginia history. It is a private, non-profit organization, supported almost entirely by private contributions. In 2004, it was designated the official state historical society of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
The Diamond is a baseball stadium located in Richmond, Virginia, USA, on Arthur Ashe Boulevard. It is the home of Richmond Flying Squirrels of the Eastern League and the Virginia Commonwealth University baseball team. From 1985 to 2008, it was the home of the Richmond Braves, the Triple-A minor league baseball affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. The Diamond seats 12,134 people for baseball; however, for Flying Squirrels games, advertising banners cover up the top rows of the upper deck, reducing seating capacity to 9,560.
Charles Goodyear was a banker, attorney, and politician from New York. He was most notable for his service as a United States representative from 1845 to 1847 and 1865 to 1867.
The Commonwealth Club, is a private gentlemen's club in Richmond, Virginia, USA. Its present clubhouse was completed in 1891. The defining structure of the Commonwealth Club Historic District, it is located at 401 West Franklin Street. The Commonwealth Club is considered to be one of the finest pieces of architecture in Richmond and was a physical symbol of Richmond's New South movement. The club hosts the annual Richmond German Christmas Dance, the oldest debutante ball in Virginia.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Richmond, Virginia, United States
The 1890 Virginia Orange and Blue football team represented the University of Virginia as an independent the 1890 college football season. The team had no known coach, and went 5–2 and claims a Southern championship. The 115–0 drubbing by Princeton signaled football's arrival in the south.
Beverley Bland Munford was an American lawyer, politician, social reformer, speaker, and author in Richmond, Virginia. He served eight years in the Virginia House of Delegates and four years in the Virginia Senate. He wrote a book about the causes of the American Civil War.
The North Carolina Debutante Ball, also known as the Terpsichorean Society Debutante Ball, is an annual debutante ball held in Raleigh, North Carolina. The ball, hosted by the Terpsichorean Club of Raleigh, is the oldest and most prestigious debutante ball in North Carolina. Originally organized in 1923 as the Raleigh Fall Festival, the formal debutante ball formed in 1927 with the founding of the Terpischorean Club. The ball is held every year over Labor Day weekend in downtown Raleigh.
The Bal du Bois is an annual debutante ball held at the Country Club of Virginia in Richmond. The ball serves as a fundraiser for the Junior Board of Sheltering Arms Physical Rehabilitation Hospital. Since its founding in 1957, the ball has raised over $3.8 million for Sheltering Arms. Along with the Richmond German Christmas Dance, it is one of the premier Virginian debutante balls.
George Alvin Smith was an American merchant who served as the first president of the Smith–Courtney Company in Richmond, Virginia. He fought for the Confederacy in the American Civil War, losing his arm at the Battle of Fredericksburg. Shortly thereafter, he and Charles Rady partnered to sell railway equipment. Following Rady's retirement, Smith and T. L. Courtney expanded the business, producing wood and iron working supplies, engines, boilers, and more.
Eppa Hunton III, known as Eppa Hunton Jr., was an American lawyer, railroad executive, and politician. The son of General Eppa Hunton, he experienced a turbulent childhood with the American Civil War and Reconstruction as its backdrop. After graduating from the University of Virginia School of Law, he practiced law with his father in Warrenton, Virginia, for a number of years before moving south to Richmond in 1901 to help found the law firm Munford, Hunton, Williams & Anderson.
William Douglas Gordon was an American newspaper editor, critic, and attorney. He was editor of The Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch in Virginia for 22 years. He was also a critic and editor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. At his death, The Richmond News Leader wrote, "He was much more than an editor: he was a Norfolk institution."
Eppa Hunton IV was an American lawyer. A native of Richmond, Virginia, he graduated from the University of Virginia and its law school before returning to his hometown, where, excepting his overseas military service in World War II, he resided the remainder of his life. The only son of Eppa Hunton Jr., in 1927 he joined the firm his father co-founded—Hunton, Williams, Anderson & Gay —and practiced corporate law, eventually becoming a senior partner.
Alfred Douglas Price, Sr. (1860–1921) also known as A. D. Price, was an African American businessman and community leader in the late 19th-century and early 20th-century in Richmond, Virginia. He owned a blacksmith shop, funeral home, and a livery. Price was one of the largest African American real estate owners in his city and the A.D. Price Funeral Home is now a national historic site.
The Country Club of Virginia (CCV) is a private country club located in Richmond, Virginia. Spanning 1,111 acres, it contains three eighteen-hole golf courses, two clubhouses, and numerous other sport and recreational facilities. The club was founded in 1908, and its first clubhouse and Herbert Barker-designed golf course were completed in Richmond's Westhampton neighborhood in 1910. Its James River Course, designed by William Flynn, opened in 1928; it has hosted many prominent events, including the 1955 and 1975 U.S. Amateurs and, since 2016, the annual Dominion Energy Charity Classic. A third course, the Tuckahoe Creek Course, opened in 1988.