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Old Posted Mar 9, 2015, 3:09 AM
VTinPhilly VTinPhilly is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by VAHash View Post
I know Richmond Va is looked at as a southern city to most, but i think its city infrastructure and architecture is more similar to D.C. and Baltimore rather Charlotte and Raleigh and cities further south. What do you guys think?? (Feel free to post pics)
Historically and culturally Richmond is definitely "Southern" but in terms of its urban landscape it is much more like larger cities to the north. This I believe is a result of the city having a sizeable population going back before the Civil War; its size due in large part to its role as the South's major industrial center (iron and flour milling).

Richmond more than doubled in population between 1860 and 1900 (from 38,000 to 85,000) and in fact had the greatest population density of any Southern city in 1900. Much of this increase was accommodated in dense new "row house' neighborhoods (The Fan, Jackson Ward, Oregon Hill, Gambles Hill) adjacent to the city's center. Most of the homes in The Fan (a very large area) and some homes in Jackson Ward have been preserved and are reminiscent of neighborhoods in Washington (Capitol Hill); Baltimore (Mt. Vernon); and Philadelphia (Rittenhouse Square).

No other city in the South has anything comparable. Atlanta may have had such neighborhoods at one time as that city was as big as Richmond in 1900. However I believe nearly all of Atlanta's old neighborhoods were destroyed as the city rebuilt itself. Both Charlotte and Raleigh were very small in 1900 (fewer than 20,000 people each) and I doubt either had much in the way of "row house" neighborhoods to begin with.
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