Petition to revitalize the Church Hill Tunnel
A Twitter user contacted us with an interesting idea.
Last week, we received these tweets from Stefanie Lacks on Twitter:
Her idea was an interesting one. For those of you unaware, the Church Hill Tunnel was constructed in 1875 for use by the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway. The tunnel is most remembered for the collapse that took place in 1925, which claimed the lives of workers Tom Mason and Benjamin F. Mosby.
According to the Times-Dispatch:
The infamous collapse occurred Oct. 2, 1925, during a renovation. The precise number of deaths is unknown, but experts believe at least four men were killed. The locomotive’s fireman made it out of the tunnel only to die a short while later. The body of Thomas Joseph Mason, the engineer, was recovered after a prolonged rescue effort. The bodies of two other laborers were never recovered.
According to the Old Dominion Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, there could be up to two or more workers who were left inside the tunnel after it was ordered sealed.
Currently, the tunnel is owned by the CSX Transportation Company.
It is this history that compelled Stafanie to start a petition:
I am petitioning the CSX Transportation company to honor the memory of not only Tom Mason but the countless other lives lost in an endeavor that was never meant to be. By clearing a portion of the overgrown and unruly woods, installing concrete stairs that lead from the top of the hill to the tunnel entrance, placement of benches and markers that tell the dark story of Church Hill Tunnel, this area could be a park and a memorial of sorts – giving residents of Church Hill and Richmond a chance to learn of this incident and to remember who still remains within the tunnel.
Multiple online sources say that the History Channel was interested in taking part in an excavation process, but due to concerns about further cave-ins and dangers posed to surrounding homes, the project was put on hold.
While we continue to research this story, you can find Stefanie’s petition here, and her donation page here.
-
Recommend this
on Facebook -
Report an error
-
Subscribe to our
Weekly Digest
Eric Steigleder
Eric Steigleder is a freelance writer, political junkie, coffee-addict and proud Globehopper regular.
Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
Stefanie Lacks has an excellent idea. I hope the powers that be follow up on this.
I am not against a memorial, but when I saw ‘revitalize’ I thought it was pointing to my idea- redo it into a working tunnel. Richmond should exorcise some ghosts. Boring/tunnelling tech has improved quite a bit in the last hundred years. It could offer a possible alternative to expanding Route 5 and offer a new way into downtown.
Turning the Eastern portal into a public memorial is an excellent idea. I think this could be done in a DIY fashion by neighbors – and considering the culpability of the C & O in the tunnel collapse, I’m not sure CSX should have the last word on the disaster. I think it would be cool to get permission from CSX for neighbors to visit and alter the site, though I don’t know that permission would be strictly necessary. There are four confirmed dead from the collapse in 1925 – Mason, Mosby and two black workers, H. Smith, R. Lewis, who are usually left out of the account. Walter Griggs, who wrote “The Collapse of Richmond’s Church Hill Tunnel,” said:
” […] ‘there has always been a suspicion that more — perhaps many more — were entombed in the tunnel. […] ‘Because if you were an African-American from Georgia … and you came here for a job, your family never expected to see you again. You could have walked in the tunnel and the tunnel collapsed … and nobody would have missed you.’
* Lohmann: A tunnel, a tragedy and a tribute to those who died – Times Dispatch, 2012
This is an old picture and outdated request. Several years back a plaque was placed on the road above the tunnel to honor the victims including Mason. Since then, the entrance has been made into a park-like appearance beside the apartments adjacent to the property, with a historical marker in place.
So, what you are saying stp, is that the addition of a plaque and the pressure washing of the masonry would be ample homage to your family had most of them been entombed in the tunnel? No place to sit and think about the tragedy and honor those that lost their lives? No small public park with benches and flowers to visit and remember the unprecedented engineering feat to attempt to recover those that may still have been alive? No one knows of the horror the crowds of hundreds felt as the stood helpless, holding onto hope as they watched the excavation machines attempting to bore into Church Hill on those wet and rainy days and nights? The workmen were risking their own lives as the hill started to open trenches horizontally and begin to slide beneath their feet due to the rain and heavy equipment? Have a little more respect for those that died and those who lost their loved ones.
I am speaking of the eastern entrance that is buried beneath Chimborazo Park. The western entrance is fine – cleaned up and available at 18th and Marshall.
You all may be interested in some photos I recently came across while working on a project for the Library of Virginia. They show the interior and exterior of the Church Hill Tunnel Collapse from October 1925. This links go to the LVA HistoryPin, where the images are pinned to the map. They are part of the Engineering in Virginia collection.
http://bit.ly/1ttpZP6
http://bit.ly/1raeLwL
I don’t think the people on Church Hill would look kindly on more sinkholes in their properties brought on by fooling with the tunnel. My good friend Professor Walter Griggs wrote a pretty definitive account in re the tunnel.
Walter S. Griggs Jr. has signed the petition. We don’t want the tunnel opened – just see the eastern portal sealed closer to the opening for safety reasons and the area surrounding it made safe and public friendly.
Call me crazy, but I would like to see the tunnel redone to serve as a modern transportation tunnel. I would like for the remains to be exhumed if possible and given proper accounting and burial.