Elizabeth O’Leary’s “The Carillon Neighborhood: A History”
Elizabeth O’Leary’s The Carillon Neighborhood: A History is a fantastic new addition to the pantheon of Richmond history books. The 59-page softcover booklet is slim but packed with information and graphic resources. Thoroughly researched and “based on historical documents, civic association archives, news clippings, and interviews with over forty current and former residents”, the booklet […]
Elizabeth O’Leary’s The Carillon Neighborhood: A History is a fantastic new addition to the pantheon of Richmond history books.
The 59-page softcover booklet is slim but packed with information and graphic resources. Thoroughly researched and “based on historical documents, civic association archives, news clippings, and interviews with over forty current and former residents”, the booklet tells the story of the Carillon neighborhood from Richmond’s earliest days through the present.
With roots in the Byrd Lottery in the 1700s and the estates of the 1800s, the neighborhood is a compelling reflection of the 20th century in Richmond. While there are a handful of houses predating the turn of the last century, it was not until the 1920s that real residential construction began. The street pattern of the neighborhood recognizable today with it out at this time. The end of the 1920s saw the construction of the Carillon in Byrd Park.
A housing boom in the 1940s saw over 250 single family houses constructed in the Carillon neighborhood. The segregated neighborhood built at this time laid the groundwork for the neighborhood’s finest hour.
The 1960s saw much change. The Downtown Expressway was built in the later half of the decade, and led to the loss of dozens of houses for the western edge of the neighborhood. It was also at this time that the neighborhood gained its first black neighbors.
Rather than falling prey to fear and white flight as happened in many older Richmond neighborhoods, neighbors banded together to maintain an integrated neighborhood. The Carillon Civic Association was started in 1968 to actively promote a united community, and was recognized by then-governor Linwood Holton in 1971 for its efforts. Arts in the Park, the neighborhood’s signature event, began in 1972 as a way to create an activity in which the whole neighborhood could participate.
The neighborhood remains to this day a tight-knit, diverse, and friendly jewel of a neighborhood.
The Carillon Neighborhood: A History is available in person and online at the Virginia Historical Society.
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