Learn about the History of the Boulevard tonight

Community Conversation: Up and Down the Boulevard tonight at 6:00 PM at the VMFA.

May 1, 2014; 11:35 AM • by Richard Hayes

Harry Kollatz Jr. aka The Hat of Richmond Magazine gives us a preview of what to expect at tonight’s Community Conversation: Up and Down the Boulevard.

One of Cutshaw’s many projects was Boulevard. It began as bucolic Clover Street, a country lane. With the advent of New Reservoir Park (now Byrd) and the ornamental grey stone Pump House of 1884 behind Byrd Park came the need for a more efficient way to get there.

Potterfield terms Boulevard the city’s “first parkway,” transformed during 1874-1883 into a 92-foot-wide, sophisticated street. Cutshaw doesn’t appear to have considered the generic name a placeholder.

Cutshaw fused the practical with the ornamental. He installed a water main within a central median. South of Broad, he planted three rows of linden trees along Boulevard. It is not known whether he was inspired by Berlin’s (shorter) Unter den Linden boulevard or London’s parks.

Community Conversation: Up and Down the Boulevard
Thursday, May 1, 6 to 8 p.m.
Join us as we collaborate with the Valentine Richmond History Center on its “Community Conversations” series. This month’s topic is the development of the Museum District and public access to cultural, historical and athletic institutions along the Boulevard. It will be held in the Claiborne Robertson Room at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 200 N. Blvd. Free and open to the public. For information, call 649-0711 ext. 322. Pre-registration is not required. Admission is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Image: Cook Collection,Valentine Richmond History Center/Richmond Magazine