University of Virginia Library

Charlottesville.

THE history and growth of cities
present many varied features,
the development of many being
rocket-like, that of others
being governed by the steady and
natural progress of events in their
municipal records. The rise of Charlottesville
partakes of the latter characteristics.
Its status to-day has not
been bolstered up by sensational booms.
On the contrary, indeed, its growth
has been attended—in the early years,
at least—by much irregularity and
considerable slowness. This may
really be considered an advantage, as
the increase of population has assumed
the elements of permanency due to
legitimate and conservative courses of
progress. Up to Revolutionary times
our city kept wending its way slowly
toward its present dimensions, maintaining
its general features of a trim
and thriving little town.

The power by which we recall past
scenes, the rapidity with which they
are brought in review before us, the
faculty by which we can "range o'er
creation" and dwell upon the past and
future, demonstrates that man was
and is destined for immortality. By
the contemplation of the past, we feel
our span of existence extended: we
enter into the thoughts, hopes and aspirations
of generations gone by, and
in such moments hold communion
with the departed spirits of antiquity.
It is not our purpose, however, to inflict
the reader with an endless array
of dry historical data detailing the
achievements of each year. That
would be as tiresome as an old ditty.
Neither are we going to delve deeply
or minutely into the dead past, for our
citizens are essentially a people of today
in all appointments and aspirations.
The past is gone; the future is
not here; the present must be faced as
our sturdy citizens can face it, with a
determination to take advantage of
every opportunity to advance their
own and the municipality's interests.
The main object of this edition of the
Progress is to advertise Charlottesville
and to bring new people and new industries
within our borders. We all
know that every activity that provides
honest employments adds not alone to
the material wealth of the community,
but to its moral and political life. By
attaining to the highest standard of efficiency
as a city government, we shall
offer an incentive that will induce the
settlement here of additional capital
and labor. Arguing thus no single fac
can be more convincing as to the superior
advantages of Charlottesville as a site
of industrial operation than the success
and prosperity of the enterprises
already in operation here. Charlottesville
is the county seat of Albemarle
county, and is situated in the very
heart of Virginia among the foot hills
of the Blue Ridge mountains. By the
City Charter (1887-8) we find that the
corporate limits of the city are as follows:

"That so much of the land as lies
and is contained within the following
boundaries, beginning at the entrance
to the Brennan estate from the Monticello
road (the gate nearest town);
thence north forty-eight, east one
hundred and six poles, crossing the
Chesapeake and Ohio railway, to corner
of the yard belonging to (the farm)
late Thomas L. Farish's estate, on the
road to the Woolen Mills; thence with
said yard fence, north thirty-three and
one-half, east fifty-eight and one-half
poles; thence north twenty-one, west
one hundred and seventy-six and a
half poles, to the northeast corner of
B. C. Flannagan's dwelling-house;
thence north seventy-two and one-half,
west one hundred and fourteen poles,
to the south bank of the Virginia Midland
railway; thence along said southern
bank, south forty-eight and one-half,
west one hundred poles, and
south fifty-eight and one-half, west
thirty-five poles to the south side of
Preston avenue; thence along the south
side of said avenue, north forty-seven
and one-half, west thirty-seven poles
to the southeast corner of John M.
White's lot; thence leaving the road or
avenue, south eighty-seven and one-half,
west thirty-seven and four-tenths
poles, to the southeast corner of Jesse
Seay's lot; thence north eighty-two and
one-half, west one hundred and forty-eight
poles, to the southeast corner of
Mrs. Turner's slaughter-house; thence
north sixty-nine and one-half, west
thirty-four poles, to the lane leading
to the said Mrs. Turner's house; thence
with said lane, south twenty-six, west
thirty poles, to the Chesapeake and
Ohio railway; thence east with said
railway to the crossing of the University
avenue; thence leaving the railway,
south thirteen and one-fourth,
west one hundred and eighteen poles,
crossing the Virginia Midland railway,
to a corner in line with the Fife lots;
thence south eighty-seven and one-half,
east thirty-six poles, to the southern
line of said lots, and along the
same sixty-eight and one-half poles to

the southwest corner of Thomas B.
Bunch's lot, at the head of R. H. Fife's
ice-pond; thence south forty-three and
one-half, east thirty-seven poles, to
corner in branch below said ice-pond;
thence south twenty-four and three-fourths,
east one hundred and twenty-seven
and one-half poles, to the southwest
corner of James S. Barkdale's lot
on the road to Hartman's mill; thence
along the northern margin of said road,
south sixty-one and three-fourths, east
twenty-three and one-half poles to the
southeast corner of said Barksdale's
garden; thence south eighty-one, east
seventy-five poles, to Pollock's branch;
thence with said branch as far as its
several courses will admit, north forty-two
and a-half, east eighty-five poles,
north seventy-four and one-half, east
twenty poles, and north forty-five and
one-half, east eight poles, to a point on
said branch west of J. L. Hay's house;
thence south sixty-nine and one-half,
east one hundred and eleven and one-half
poles crossing the Scottsville road
(and including the said Hay's house),
to the place of beginning, shall be, and
is hereby made the city of Charlottesville;
and the inhabitants of the city of
Charlottesville, for all purposes for
which towns and cities are incorporated
in this Commonwealth, shall continue
to be one body politic in fact and in
name, under the style and denomination
of the city of Charlottesville, and
as such shall have all the rights, immunities,
powers, and privileges, and be
subject to all the duties and obligations
now incumbent and pertaining to said
city as a municipal corporation; and by
that name may sue and be sued, and
be subject to all of the provisions of the
Code of Virginia, except so far as may
be herein otherwise provided."

Charlottesville has a population (including
the University, Woolen Mills
and suburbs) of 12,000, and is steadily
increasing on account of the superior
advantages it offers to those seeking a
healthful, hospitable residential city in
which to educate their children.

The city has a bountiful supply of
pure, free-stone water which reaches
the city by gravity from an immense
reservoir situated in the mountains
four miles away. The sewerage system
is one of the best in the South.

Charlottesville is at the junction of
the Chesapeake and Ohio railway, running
East and West, and of the Southern
railway, running North and South.
More than twenty passenger trains
enter the city daily, in addition to numerous
fast freights and local accommodation
trains. It has direct railway
Communication with Washington,
Baltimore, New York, Atlanta, Richmond
and with deep waters at Newport
News and Norfolk. The new
Chesapeake & Ohio and the Union
Station are among the handsomest in
Virginia. Dame Nature has been
lavish in the bestowal of her charms
upon our city and county. Her cloud-kissing
and tempest-riven hills and
her deep valleys have won for
her a national fame. Other of her attractions
have been told and retold in
school and story books in many climes.
These, great and small, are numerous,
and have been fruitful themes for
artists, poets and biographers, and
objects of admiration for millions of
others who find food for reflection in
grand and awe-inspiring upheavals and
contortions of nature.

There are few cities in the Union that
offer greater advantages to the home-seeker
than Charlottesville. In climate
it realizes that happy mean between
the vigors of the bleak Northern winters
and the torrid heat of the extreme
South. In geographical location Albemarle
county corresponds to that of
South Europe, being between the thiry-sixth
and thirty-ninth parallels of
latitude. It has vast undeveloped resources.
Deep in her bosom are hidden
mineral treasures, which as yet remain
untouched by the hand of man,
while there are mighty forests of timber
of original growth, where the
sound of the woodman's axe has never
been heard. We will dwell more fully
on the resources of this vicinity in
another column.