Midlothian, Virginia is an unincorporated place located in Chesterfield County, Virginia. It was named as a compromise by the Wooldridge brothers who came from the mining villages of East Lothian and West Lothian in Scotland. Midlothian produced the first commercially-mined coal in the United States.
In modern times, the widespread Midlothian area is considered a suburb of the independent city of Richmond in the Richmond-Petersburg region. In the 20th century, as the residential area around Richmond grew, Midlothian evolved into an area of many middle-class neighborhoods.
Geography
Midlothian is located in the Piedmont geologic region of the state, and is made up of mainly a flat, fertile land (it is somewhat of a plain.)
Midlothian is made up of many neighborhoods, shopping centers, schools, and churches, and includes a major regional shopping mall. There is very little farming or manufacturing. Some examples of neighborhoods in Midlothian include Salisbury, Walton Park, Woodlake, Brandermill, Foxcroft, and Hampton Park.
Demographics
Midlothian's demographics are much like Virginia's. It's inhabitants are predominately Caucasian. The next biggest group is African-Americans, followed by Hispanics and Asians.
History
Before the arrival of Europeans in the 17th century, the area was populated by Native Americans. Manakintown was located nearby. French "Huguenot" settlers came to the area to escape religious persecution in Europe. The location above the head of navigation on the James River at Richmond offered some desired isolation for them. With the coming of the Europeans, although there was some farming, the terrain was hilly and largely wooded, and shipping of farm products such as tobacco crops was not easy. However, there was a greater natural resource than farmland as Midlothian history became largely one of coal mining and railroads. Coal mining in the Midlothian area of Chesterfield County began early in the 18th century.
Coal mining
The Village area of today's Midlothian started as a settlement of coal miners in the 1700s. In 1709, Midlothian produced the first commercially-mined coal in the United States. Some of the first coal mines were controlled by the wealthy Wooldridge family. About 1745, two Wooldridge brothers came to Virginia from Scotland. They built their home nearby. The brothers came from separate mining villages, one from the town of East Lothian, the other from West Lothian. They compromised on the name, thus calling it "Mid-lothian". The name was also given to the mines the family owned, and later to the unincorporated town which grew around the property. Somewhere along the way, the name became one unhyphenated word: "Midlothian."
During the American Revolution, coal produced in the Midlothian coal pits supplied the cannon factory on the James River at Westham, upstream from Richmond, where it was used to produce shot and shells for the Continental Army. By the end of the Revolutionary War, coal mined in Chesterfield County was being shipped to Philadelphia, New York and Boston. Thomas Jefferson noted the mines in operation in his "Notes on Virginia" and said the coal produced there was of "excellent quality". He also ordered coal from the Black Heath Mine in Midlothian for use in the White House in Washington DC.
By 1835, there were seven or eight major mines in the Midlothian area.
Coal was the basis of the Midlothian area until the late 1800s when mining ended. Later attempts to reopen the mines were unsuccessful, but thanks to the access of rail to Richmond, the village became a commuter town.
Early roads, first turnpike
In 1804, a toll road was built from Falling Creek to Manchester to ease traffic on what is now Old Buckingham Road. It was paved in 1808, making it Virginia's first paved road, and today it is known as Midlothian Turnpike.
By 1824, an estimated 70 to 100 wagons, each of which was loaded with four or five tons of coal, made a daily trip on the turnpike, transporting to the docks at the river near Manchester the million or more bushels of coal that were produced in Chesterfield County each year.
The heavily-loaded coal wagons tended to cut deep ruts in the turnpike between Midlothian and Manchester, raise clouds of dust in summer and churn the road into mud in the rainy season. As there were few options for shunpiking, citizens whose faster buggies dawdled along behind the lumbering wagons kept urging the state legislature to do something about it - a canal, a better road, but something.
Chesterfield Railroad
By 1824, Midlothian coal mine owners were also frustrated by the difficulty of transporting more than 1,000,000 bushels of coal by wagons and horse teams to waiting ships below the falls in the James River. Seeking a better method of transportation so that their markets could be expanded, in 1825, a group of mine owners, including Nicholas Mills , Beverly Randolph and Abraham S. Wooldridge , resolved to build a tramway.
In the winter of 1827, Claudius Crozet, Virginia's State Engineer, surveyed the proposed route, deeming it feasible for construction. This feasibility study was necessary to obtain funding assistance from the Virginia Board of Public Works.
In February, 1828, the Chesterfield Railroad Company obtained its charter from the Virginia General Assembly. Within a year, $100,000 stock was subscribed, half purchased by the colliers of Chesterfield County and half by Richmond-area investors. The company hired Moncure Robinson, (1802-1891) a European-trained engineer and U.S. railroad pioneer to supervise construction. In 1830, capital stock was increased to $150,000 to cover unexpectedly high construction expenses. By June, 1831, the construction was completed at $127,000 total cost.
The Chesterfield Railroad was a 13 mile (21 km) long mule-and-gravity powered line that connected the Midlothian coal mines with wharves that were located at Manchester, directly across from Richmond. It began operating in 1831, was Virginia's first railroad, and was the second commercial railroad to be built in the United States. In 1836, the Chesterfield Railroad Company reported carrying 25,903 cars, 84,976 tons (77,089 tonnes) of coal. It received gross revenues of $83,409. This equaled 19% of stockholders' original investment repaid plus 6% dividend. It was reputed to be the most profitable railroad in the world at the time.
By 1844, it had repaid the stockholders' entire original investment and consequently came under regulation of Virginia Board of Public Works, which adjusted charges to fix a dividend return of 6%. The rate for carrying coal reduced from 6¢ per bushel to 3¢.
In 1850, the steam-driven Richmond and Danville Railroad began operation to Coalfield Station (later renamed Midlothian). Lawsuits followed.
However, the Chesterfield Railroad was quickly supplanted by the competition. It filed its last report with the Virginia Board of Public Works in 1851. With permission from the state legislature, the Chesterfield Railroad was dismantled before the American Civil War.
Richmond and Danville Railroad
The Richmond and Danville Railroad was chartered in Virginia in the United States in 1847. The portion between Richmond and Danville, Virginia was completed in 1856.
The very existence of the Richmond & Danville Railroad was largely due to the efforts of one man, Whitmell Pugh Tunstall of Pittsylvania County, Virginia. Tunstall was a member of the Railroad Convention that met at Danville October 5, 1835, and at Richmond June 11, 1836. He served in the Virginia General Assembly, and fought tirelessly for for the new railroad. Finally, after a struggle of nine years, the charter was granted on March 9, 1847. Records reveal Tunstall's dedication to the cause in this statement made to a friend, "Tis the proudest day of my life, and I think I may now say that I have not lived in vain."
Construction on the 140-mile long line began in 1849 under the supervision of Col. Andrew Talcott , who was later to become the R&D's general manager. By 1850, the new railroad had reached Coalfield Station, near the coal mines in an area known today as Midlothian in western Chesterfield County. There, it competed with the mule-powered Chesterfield Railroad. Lawsuits followed, but the older railroad, the first in Virginia, was quickly supplanted by the competition. The R&D was completed to Danville in 1856.
American Civil War
Known as the "first railroad war," the American Civil War (1861-1865), The Richmond and Danville Railroad was an essential transportation link for the Confederacy throughout the war. It provided the production of south-central Virginia to Richmond. When the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad was cut in 1864, the R&D's connection with the Piedmont Railroad was the only remaining connection from Richmond to the rest of the South.
During the Civil War, the Confederate Army was handicapped by a lack of supplies when there often were plenty of supplies in the depots, but the quartermaster corps of the southern army was unable to deliver the goods efficiently. In once case, however, the war finally forced the states-rights Confederate government to over-rule objections by North Carolina. That state had blocked construction of a rail connection from Greensboro to Danville, fearing that after the war trade from North Carolina's Piedmont would continue to flow to Richmond via the R&D.
Following successful Union attacks on April 1, 1865, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee decided to abandon Petersburg and head west and south in an attempt to join Gen. Joseph Johnston's army in North Carolina.
After evacuating Richmond the next day, on April 2, 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet left Richmond on the R&D. The departing Confederates set fire to the bridge across the James River between Richmond and Manchester. They traveled to Danville, where they attempted to set up a temporary government.
On reaching Amelia Court House , during the morning of April 4, 1865, Lee's first thought was for the commissary stores. He found ordnance supplies in abundance, but no food. Lee waited 24 hours in vain there for R&D trains to arrive with badly needed supplies. Union cavalry, meanwhile, sped forward and cut the Richmond and Danville at Jetersville . Lee had to abandon the railroad, and his army stumbled across rolling country towards Lynchburg. On the morning of April 9, 1865, "Palm Sunday", Lee met Grant in the front parlor of Wilmer McLean's home near Appomattox Court House to surrender.
Reconstruction
At the close of the War Between the States the railroad was in a deplorable condition, tracks torn up and bridges burned. A former Confederate soldier, Algernon S. Buford, proved to be a great leader during the impoverished years following the War. In 1863, Buford had been in charge of the Virginia Depot, on 13th street, south of Cary, (Shockoe Slip), in Richmond. With the support of Virginia Governor Francis H. Pierpont, on September 13, 1865, Buford became president of the 140-mile Richmond and Danville Railroad (R&D). Damage from the war, including the bridge across the James River between Manchester and Richmond was repaired.
During the next 20 years, under Buford's leadership, the railroad grew to become the Richmond and Danville Railroad System, eventually covering 3,300 miles in 9 states. In 1894, the R&D became part of the the Southern Railway Company. In 1980, it changed its name to Norfolk Southern Railway, and became part of today's Norfolk Southern Corporation.
Col. Buford is honored by the naming of the thoroughfare Buford Road in nearby Bon Air, Virginia. Buford personally (as well as through the Richmond and Danville Railroad) was much involved in the development of Brown's Summit (renamed Grand Summit, then Bon Air). In 1877, He was among the first investors and officers in the Bon Air Land and Improvement Company. Other R&D officials involved in the development of Bon Air were General Thomas M. Logan , Col. Andrew Talcott , and Talcott's son, Thomas Mann Randolph Talcott .
20th century: Village becomes suburban area
In the 20th century, coal mining died out, and the area became less populated, remaining largely wooded with farms scattered along mostly rural and dirt roads. Gradually, the highway network and the growth of metropolitan Richmond brought subdivisions. When the Swift Creek Reservoir was created, water and sewer service accelerated residential growth. The expansion of the area assigned to the Midlothian post office caused a much larger area to be considered "Midlothian" than the village area along U.S. Highway 60. An extension of the Powhite Parkway in 1988 and widening of Midlothian Turnpike (US 60), and Hull Street Road (U.S. Highway 360) provided much-needed highway infrastructure as the area continued to grow in population, and forests were turned into subdivisions.
21st Century: Growth issues rule
Completion of Virginia State Highway 288 in 2004 essentially brought Midlothian into the circumferential highway network of greater Richmond. Debate continues regarding whether the few remaining farms and forest areas will be developed with more subdivisions, allowing the western end of Chesterfield County to be essentially "built-out" in the manner that has occurred in other Virginia localities such as Fairfax and Arlington counties in Northern Virginia.
Historic Landmarks
Chesterfield County Historic Landmarks in the Midlothian area include:
- Bellgrade, 11500 West Huguenot Road
- Trabue’s Tavern, 11940 Old Buckingham Road
- Hallsborough Tavern, 16300 Midlothian Turnpike
- Ivymount, 14111 Midlothian Turnpike
Chesterfield Museum
An exhibit on local mining history in the Chesterfield Museum includes a length of iron rail from the incline railway, first in Virginia.
References
- Thomas F. Garner, Jr., editor, Historically Significant Sites on the Mid-Lothian Coal Mining Co. Tract In Chesterfield County, Virginia, a collection of articles and excerpts
- Andrew K. Garner (no relation to Thomas F. Garner.), a resident of Midlothian and a sophomore at Clover Hill High School
- Coleman, Elizabeth Dabney (1954) Forerunner of Virginia's First Railway by Virginia Caval-cade Magazine, Volume IV, Number 3, page 7. Virginia State Library: Winter issue, 1954.
- Scarburgh, George Parker, (1850), Opinion of Honorable George P. Scarburgh, of Accomac, Virginia, in the cases between the Chesterfield Railroad Company and the Richmond and Danville Railroad Company Richmond, VA: H. K. Ellyson
- Gamst, Frederick C. (1990) The Ingenious Railroad on Falling Creek, Virginia's First article in: The Messenger Chesterfield Courthouse, VA (Oct. 1990 issue . No.18, p. 1, 4-9)
- James, George Watson (1967), Gravity plus mules equal "steam." in: Virginia Record Richmond, VA. (Apr. 1967 issue v.89, no.4, p. 8)
- McCartney, Martha W., (1989) Historical Overview Of The Midlothian Coal Mining Company Tract - Chesterfield County, Virginia
- David B. Robinson, Coal Mining in Chesterfield County, Virginia
- Chesterfield County Virginia official website, Historic Chesterfield page
- Chesterfield Railway Chronology
- Trains From Yesterday: The Bicentennial story of Southern Railway
- Burke Davis (1985) The Southern Railway: Road Of The Innovators Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press
- Confederate Railroads website
- Special Collections, Virginia Tech University Library
- Civil War Richmond
- College of William and Mary, Railroads in Antebellum Richmond
- Virginia Places, Sectional Rivalry page
- Lee's Retreat - A Driving Tour
- US Civil War, Appomattox Campaign
- The Stranger's Guide and Official Directory for the City of Richmond Electronic Edition
- Iron Confederacies Timeline
External Links
Last updated: 07-30-2005 04:41:34
